Al Nofi's CIC
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Issue #207, July 28th, 2008 |
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This Issue...
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Infinite Wisdom
"The enemy came, was beaten; I’m tired, good night."
| -- | Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne,
le Vicomte de Turenne,
Report to King Louis XIV on
the Battle of the Dunes,
June 14,1658
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La Triviata
- In 1879, Maj. J. Gordon Bryce, a former British Army officer raising ostriches in New Mexico, proposed that the U.S. Army make use of his avians as cavalry mounts, citing not only their great speed, considerable endurance, lower feed costs, and great hardiness in arid conditions, but also the fact that their eggs could be used to supplement standard rations.
- During the preliminary bombardment of Guam, in July of 1944, U.S. battleships fired 6,258 rounds of 14-inch and 16-inch shells, a weight of metal totaling perhaps 5,000 tons.
- Despite the loss of several captured French and Spanish vessels to the hazards of the sea, prize awarded by the Royal Navy after the Battle of Trafalgar on October 25, 1805, was so great that Lord Nelson's estate received £3,362 7s 6d (easily over $4 million using the “unskilled wage” standard), while common seamen received £16 (c. $20,000), and more if they had been wounded.
- A species of tree common to northwestern Turkey bears the scientific name Pinus equi troiani, or “Trojan Horse Pine,” commemorating a possible early use of the wood.
- During the fighting at Ft. Ticonderoga, in upper New York, on July 12, 1777, Lord Balcarres, commanding the British light infantry, counted nearly 30 bullet holes in his clothing, yet had actually received only one wound, and that a small graze on the hip.
- When Montenegro attacked Turkey on October 9, 1912, initiating the First Balkan War, the first shot was fired by Prince Peter Nikolavich, youngest son of the king.
- During the late nineteenth century the Royal Navy was so devoted to maintaining a pristine appearance that not only were ring-bolts on the weather decks of ships polished until they gleamed, but at night they were furnished with little knitted "caps" so that they would not be harmed by the dew.
- Joseph G. Swift the first man to graduate from West Point, in 1802, was the father of Alexander Swift, who was the first graduate in the Class of 1830.
More...
Portions of "Al
Nofi's CIC" have appeared previously in Military Chronicles,
Copyright © 2005 Military
Chronicles (www.militarychronicles.com), used with permission, all rights
reserved.
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