Author: James Wesley Rawles

January 22, 1879: In the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, a British garrison of 139 soldiers held off an estimated 4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the defenders. The image above is a still from the well-known 1964 movie Zulu, that fairly accurately showed the Battle of Rorke’s Drift. On January 22, 1944, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy. — The 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog Archive USB sticks are selling very quickly. Many folks are ordering 2, 3, or more. One reader ordered ten sticks. Last week, I posted a list of the …

On January 21, 1506, Swiss Guards first arrived at the Vatican as watchmen for the pope. On January 21, 1525, the Swiss Anabaptist Movement began when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. This movement led to great consternation in the Catholic church, persecution, and the eventual dislocation of many Anabaptist dissidents, including the followers of Jakob Ammann – The “Amish.” Confederate General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, West Virginia. His statue …

On January 20, 1778 British explorer James Cook landed at Waimea, on Kauai island, becoming the first European to visit Hawaii. — On January 20, 1981 the Iran hostage crisis ended when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini released  American hostages were released by the Iranian government, following 444 days of captivity, to be reunited with their families. Not coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, the same day. — January 20th, 1993, Bill Clinton was first sworn in as President. That was the day that I resigned my commission as a U.S. Army Captain. I did so, because my service obligation …

On January 19, 1978, the last Volkswagen Beetle made in Germany left VW’s plant in Emden. Beetle production in Latin America would continue until 2003. — And on January 19, 1746, “Bonnie Prince Charlie“, Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s Jacobite army occupied Stirling, Scotland. — This is also is the birthday of the late Carla Emery (born 1939, died October 11, 2005). She is well known in self-sufficiency circles as the author of The Encyclopedia of Country Living. (This book was re-released in a 40th Anniversary edition.) — January 19th is the birthday of General Robert E. Lee. — SurvivalBlog Writing …

On January 18, 1943, at the height of the Second World War,  the United States banned the sale of presliced bread. The move was intended to cut down any ancillary charges, following the recent increase in the cost of flour — thus lessening or preventing increases in the retail price of bread. — The German Empire, forged as a result of diplomacy rather than an outpouring of popular nationalist feeling, was founded on January 18, 1871 in the aftermath of three successful wars by the North German state of Prussia. — January 18th 1813 was the birthday Joseph Glidden, who …