Mount Vesuvius eruption of the volcano occurred in March of 1944

 The same Mount Vesuvius that erupted in 79 AD and buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum under layers of rock and ash has actually erupted several times throughout history. In fact, it is the only volcano located on the European mainland that has erupted in the last several decades. The last significant eruption of the volcano occurred in March of 1944. This eruption destroyed four nearby villages. During the eruption, the U.S. Army Air Force was stationed in nearby Terzigno and the volcanic eruption damaged several aircrafts, but not these B-25 bombers who got a bird’s eye view of the eruption. 

Japanese-American family waiting for relocation to internment camp, 1942,

 Japanese-American family waiting for relocation to internment camp, 1942, photo by Russell Lee for the Office of War Information

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, all Japanese, whether citizens or not, living on the West Coast were rounded up and sent to “internment camps” in the interior Mountain West. In 1988, the US government apologized and paid restitution to all camp survivors

tornado struck the town of Waynoka, Oklahoma

 When this tornado struck the town of Waynoka, Oklahoma, in May of 1898, someone was prepared with a camera to capture the twister. Some claim that the two unidentified gentlemen in this photograph were engaging in storm chasing when this image was taken, but David Hoadley, who was born in 1938, a whole forty years after this photograph was taken, is the first recognized storm chaser. Hoadley began his career as a storm chaser in 1956 in North Dakota, using date from nearby airports and weather offices. Hoadley founded “Storm Track” magazine. If the men in this pic were, indeed, storm chasing, they were most likely just amateurs who liked to watch wicked weather.

St. Valentine's Day Massacre

 On February 14, 1929

Chicago gang war between Al Capone and George "Bugs" Moran culminates with several Moran confederates being gunned down in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

Reenactment of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, which occurred when reputed members of the Al Capone gang disguised themselves as policemen and murdered members of the George "Bugs" Moran gang in a garage, located at 2122 North Clark Street in the Lake View community, being held by Cook County Coroner Dr. Herman N. Bundesen and investigators, Chicago, Illinois, 1929. 

Bloody Sunday

 Bloody Sunday or Red Sunday is the name given to the events of Sunday, 22 January [O.S. 9 January] 1905 in St Petersburg, Russia, when unarmed demonstrators, led by Father Georgy Gapon, were fired upon by soldiers of the Imperial Guard as they marched towards the Winter Palace to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II of Russia.

Bloody Sunday caused grave consequences for the Tsarist autocracy governing Imperial Russia: the events in St. Petersburg provoked public outrage and a series of massive strikes that spread quickly to the industrial centres of the Russian Empire. The massacre on Bloody Sunday is considered to be the start of the active phase of the Revolution of 1905. In addition to beginning the 1905 Revolution, historians such as Lionel Kochan in his book Russia in Revolution 1890–1918 view the events of Bloody Sunday to be one of the key events which led to the Russian Revolution of 1917.

The statue of King George III

 The story of the statue of King George III that once stood in New York’s Bowling Green is well known - the statue was dragged from its plinth by a revolutionary mob five days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence (and a month and a half before New York was recaptured by the British). After being abused and broken apart it was shipped to Litchfield, Connecticut, where it was melted down and cast into musket balls, the perfect metaphor of revolutionary struggle and triumph.

Less well known is the part of the story where the convoy bearing the king’s broken remains stopped overnight in Wilton, Connecticut. During the early morning hours American Loyalists living in the area took a number of the statue’s pieces and hid them in various locations in the town. Those pieces included one of the king’s arms. It remained concealed - apparently buried for decades, perhaps centuries, in a garden plot - until 1991, when a resident of the town who lived in a home owned by Tory Job Burlock rediscovered it. It is now about to go up on auction.

Teddy Roosevelt running for the presidency

 This photo is a fake. It was created for a political ad when Teddy Roosevelt was running for the presidency for the Progressive Party, whose mascot was the moose. During this election, Roosevelt was running against Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate, and William Howard Taft, the Republican incumbent. The photography firm of Underwood and Underwood carefully cut a photograph of Roosevelt on a horse and superimposed it on the image of a moose crossing a river. This image appeared in the September 8, 1912, edition of the New York Tribune.

Golden Gate Bridge. In the 1930s

 It took some guts to work on the construction of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge. In the 1930s, there was an unwritten rule regarding high-steel bridge construction projects like this one…for every $1 million in cost, the engineers should expect one fatality among the workers. But the $35 million Gold Gate Bridge had an impressive safety record with only 11 deaths. A huge net suspended under the work site is credited with saving at least 19 people. Those 11 construction worker deaths are overshadowed by the more than 1,500 people who have thrown themselves off the bridge, making it the top suicide bridge in the world.

The Washington Korean War Memorial

 One of the most haunting memorials in Washington is the Korean War Memorial. You can see the war in the faces of the 19 men portrayed. They’re tired, they’re far from home, they’re afraid, they’re determined, they’re vigilant. Their gazes follow you as you pass. They await whatever happens next but they’re prepared, nothing escapes their attentiveness.

Appomattox Court House

 The Surrender That Ended The Civil War While historians can argue about when exactly the Civil War ended, the widely accepted narrative states that it came to a close on April 9, 1865, when Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. Pictured: Soldiers wait outside the court house in Appomattox as the higher-ups work out the official terms of surrender. Timothy H. O'Sullivan/Library of Congress