July 21, 1404: The Battle of Shrewsbury: The Army led by the Lancastrian King of England, Henry IV [1] defeated a rebel army led by Henry “Harry Hotspur” Percy of Northumberland. This ended Percy’s challenge to the throne. This was the first battle in which English archers fought each other on English soil.
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July 21,1904: After 13 years of construction, the 4,607-mile Trans-Siberian railway was completed.
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In honor of the birthday week of Samuel Colt, we are running a special sale at Elk Creek Company [2]. Many antique and percussion replica gun prices have been reduced — including all of our Colts — and I’ll include the bonus of an autographed hardback copy of my novel Expatriates with the first 10 orders. The sale will end on Saturday, July 26th, 2025.
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Today’s feature piece is by SurvivalBlog staffer Tom Christianson.