Justin Dimick’s Civil War Mission of Mercy

Boston’s Fort Warren housed Confederate POWs during the Civil War, but it was no Andersonville. Only 13 Confederate prisoners out of the more than 2,000 rebels who were imprisoned within its walls died during the Civil War — or just over half of 1 percent, compared to the 12 percent mortality rate for Confederates in…

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Did Leif Erikson “Discover” America?

Forget about Christopher Columbus. Let’s talk about another European explorer who’s being commemorated this weekend–Leif Erikson. Did he lead the first European expedition to North America 500 years before Columbus? Why is there a plaque marking his former home–in Cambridge, Massachusetts? Were Vikings living in Minnesota long before the NFL showed up in Minneapolis? That…

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