Did That Really Happen?

Like many of you, I love to read.

We all have our favorite genres, and mine is history.  That doesn't make me an expert, but it's interesting, entertaining and helps me understand the world as it exists today.  Even those of us who enjoy learning about history are fooled by myths we were taught in school, and are commonly accepted today.  Two men, Robert Peary and Frederick Cook, are credited with being the first to reach the North Pole.  However, neither man may have done so.  Is July 4th Independence Day in the United States?  Well, yes and no.  The Continental Congress actually voted to approve a resolution for independence from Great Britain on July 2nd, 1776.  The Declaration of Independence was sent to the printer on July 4th.  Paul Revere gets sole credit for going to Lexington and Concord to warn that the British were coming.  Two other men also sounded the alarm, and Revere was captured by the British before he made it to Concord.  During the Revolutionary War, Americans spent most of their time fighting each other, not the British.  Historians remind us that only about one third of Americans supported independence, one third supported the British and the other third didn't really care.  Many famous people are thought to be mythical, but are not.  Johnny Appleseed, Mother Goose (Elizabeth Goose) and Mrs. O'Leary, whose barn was the source of the fire that burned down much of Chicago in 1871, are just a few examples.  History is full of twists and turns and I love it!