By 1854 the Washington Monument was about a third complete when the Washington National Monument Society ran out of funds and had to halt construction. John Carroll Brent called upon Americans to support the effort with a donation of funds and appealed to their patriotism with the upcoming Fourth of July celebrations. The leaflet below […]

This photo begs further investigation (click on it for high-resolution). This looks like a massive train wreck (obviously), and what continues to amaze me is in those days, people would rapidly gather around a crash site to inspect it. Two large freight trains were barreling down the same track towards each other when collided in […]

In January 1860, the Tokugawa shogunate sent a delegation to the United States with the primary objective of ratifying the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation (aka, the Harris Treaty). Commodore Matthew Perry (not Chandler) had opened Japan (forcefully) in 1854 and this was the first Japanese diplomatic mission sent to the United States. This historic event is particularly […]