Category: Note

In a nationwide television address on March 23, 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan announced the Strategic Defense Initiative, a proposed strategic defensive system against potential nuclear attacks. — Today is the anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death speech. It was delivered to the Second Virginia Revolutionary Convention meeting at St. John’s Church, Richmond, on March 23, 1775. (2025 will be the 250th anniversary of the speech.) — This is also the birthday of Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. He directed 30 films. His samurai films (many starring Toshiro Mifune) such as Yojimbo, Sanjuro, The Hidden …

On March 22, 1820, U.S. Navy Commissioner Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel. — Today is the birthday of Benjamin Tyler Henry. (March 22, 1821–December 29, 1898) was an American gunsmith and manufacturer. On October 16, 1860, he received a patent on the Henry .44 caliber repeating rifle. The first Henry rifles were not produced for army use until mid-1862. — This is also the birthday of Louis L’Amour. (Born 1908, died 1988.) Some of his novels have survival themes. One of particular interest to survivalists is Last of the Breed. — The sale ends tonight.  In honor of …

On March 21, 1685, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who is generally considered the greatest composer of all time, was born. — March 21st, 1778: Just three days after Hessian mercenary forces assaulted the local New Jersey militia at Quinton’s Bridge, the same contingent surprised the colonial militia at Hancock’s Bridge five miles from Salem. In what became known as the Massacre at Hancock’s Bridge, at least 20 members of the militia lost their live — some after attempting to surrender. The Loyalists reputedly exclaimed “Spare no one! Give no quarter!” as they stormed the occupied house. Judge Hancock and …

March 20th is the birthday of writer Mel Tappan. (Born 1933, died 1980.) His perennially popular survivalist books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival have a well-deserved following. I designated March 20th National Survivalism Day, in his honor. It is also apropos that National Survivalism Day falls in March–one of the months that both Northern Europeans and Native Americans refer to as The Starving Season–when stored food runs low, but before spring bounty appears. Plan ahead. Stock up. Don’t let your family starve. I’m sure that Mel Tappan would approve. — On March 20, 1854, a meeting of Whigs, anti-Nebraska …

Wyatt Earp was born March 19, 1848, in Monmouth, Illinois. We was a central figure in the legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. Prior to his time in Tombstone, Wyatt had moved around the western boom towns, often getting into trouble, though he served as an assistant city marshal in Dodge City, Kansas. In 1881 Earp, along with his brothers Morgan and Virgil Earp and together with Doc Holliday faced off against cowboys the Clanton gang. Three of the Clanton gang were killed and Morgan, Virgil and Doc Holliday were injured. The gunfight only reached public attention in …

On March 18, 1766, The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act of 1765 after violent protests from American colonists, including a group known as the Sons of Liberty. — March 18th is the birthday of novelist John Updike. (He was born in 1932 and died in 2009.) — We are now down to less than 160 of the waterproof SurvivalBlog 2005-2023 Archive USB sticks on hand.  These will likely sell out in the next few days. This always happens when folks see that the supply is dwindling.  There will not be another batch produced this year, so get your order …

On March 17, 1891, the British Steamer Utopia sank off Gibraltar, killing 574 passengers and crew. The ship primarily carried Italian immigrants, in cramped “steerage” bunks. Here is a description of the disaster at The Dawlish Chronicles: “On the afternoon of March 17th 1891 the SS Utopia reached Gibraltar. Captain John McKeague was familiar with this anchorage and he headed his ship towards her usual mooring in the inner harbour. Light was failing and only too late did McKeague realise that two Royal Navy Battleships, HMS Anson and HMS Rodney were already there. At this time these two ships of …

On March 16, 2014, in a popular referendum, Crimea voted to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation; despite opposition from numerous countries, Russia later annexed the region. On March 14, 1926, American inventor Robert H. Goddard launched the first successful liquid-propellant rocket. Today is the anniversary of the Battle at Pound Gap Kentucky. (1862) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 111 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the …

On March 15, 1917, during the first phase of the Russian Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, thus ending the rule of the Romanov dynasty. In 44 BC Roman dictator Julius Caesar was launching a series of political and social reforms when he was assassinated March 15th, the Ides of March, by a group of nobles, among whom were Cassius and Brutus. This is the birthday of General and President Andrew Jackson, in 1767. He was the 7th President of the United States (1829-1837.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 111 of the …

60 years ago today, on March 14, 1964, in the first courtroom verdict to be televised in the United States, Jack Ruby (Jacob Rubenstein) was found guilty of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald, the alleged assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy. — Today is the birthday of fighter ace Major Raoul Lufbery (born 1885). He was shot down and killed in 1918. — This is also the birthday of Marlin Perkins. He was well-known as the television host of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. He was born in 1905 in Carthage. Missouri. We died in June, 1986. — …

On March 13, 1781 English astronomer William Herschel observed the seventh planet from the Sun, Uranus— first described by him as “a curious either nebulous star or perhaps a comet” and named for the father of the god Saturn. — Born March 13, 1865: Elbert H. Searle, inventor of the Savage Models 1907, 1915 and 1917 semi-automatic pistols. Searle was born in Massachusetts and worked in Philadelphia. He applied for many gun design patents. He patented the first squeeze-cocking pistol, which sadly was never produced. (A prototype, along with blueprints was sold at auction, in 2023.) He died at age …

On March 12th, 1999, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic became members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) shortly before the group’s 50th anniversary. Today is the birthday of science fiction author Harry Harrison, who is best known for his Deathworld trilogy. (He was born in 1920 and died in 2012.) On March 12, 1850, the first US $20 gold piece was issued. — We are now down to only 185 of the waterproof SurvivalBlog 2005-2023 Archive USB sticks on hand.  These will likely sell out in the next few days. This always happens when folks see that the …

On March 11, 2004, Madrid suffered a series of terrorist attacks when 10 bombs, detonated by Islamist militants, exploded on four trains at three different rail stations, killing 191 people and injuring some 1,800 others. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic. Trapper and survivalist Claude Lafayette Dallas, Jr. was born March 11, 1950. The subject of several books and movies, Dallas had a “colorful” life. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of two game wardens, in Idaho. He served 22 years of a 30-year sentence before being …

Today we remember the birthday of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, an outstanding improviser whose style was characterized by lyricism and purity of tone, was born on March 10, 1903 in Davenport, Iowa. — On March 10, 1910, China officially ended slavery. But unofficially, China now has one of the world’s largest slave populations. These are mostly political prisoners, working in prison factories. Sadly, there is no way of reliably knowing whether or not most of the “Made In China” merchandise that you buy might originate from these prisons. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 111 …

Pancho Villa‘s men killed more than a dozen residents in a raid on Columbus, New Mexico. March 9, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Forces bombed Tokyo with napalm, causing fires that destroyed a quarter of the city and killed some 80,000 civilians. Today is the birthday of writer John McPhee (b. 1931), a master of creative nonfiction. One of McPhee’s most widely read books is Coming into the Country, which eloquently describes the Alaskan wilderness. On March 9, 432 BC, the Parthenon was consecrated in Athens. March 9th is the birthday of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first man to …