In the early morning hours of May 9, 1837 the steamboat Ben Sherrod, traveling from New Orleans to Louisville, caught fire. The public was shocked as details of the tragedy emerged,. The tragedy of the burning, sinking, and explosion of the Ben Sherrod should never have happened.
On October 19, 1762 the day was so dark at Fort Detroit that candles were needed to see at noon. A British officer called the day "The most extraordinary dark day perhaps ever seen in the world." Some would take the darkness as a sign.
Solenopsis invicta, the “Red Imported Fire Ant”, native to South America, has proven a tenacious and destructive pest in the United States, costing Americans billions of dollars every year. That is why, in the late 1950s, the United States embarked on an all out war against the six-legged menace.