| California (Mono County), Mammoth Lakes — Legend of Deadman | | | In 1861 the burned and headless body of Robert Hume, a prospector, was found in a shallow grave not far from this site. Later, the head was located in a nearby stream (now known as Deadman Creek). Hume was last seen alive with his partner, Farnsworth, searching for the fabled Lost Cement Mine. When next seen, Farnsworth was asked about his partner, to which he told a story of a surprise indian attack and barely escaping with his life. A subsequent investigation proved this to be untrue. . . . — Map (db m615) | | Kentucky (Edmonson County), Cave City — 1385 — Sand Cave | | | Floyd Collins was first to explore Sand Cave. Fallen rock trapped him in narrow passage 150 ft. from entrance, Jan. 30, 1925. Rescuers reached him with food and heat for short time. Aid cut off by shifting earth closing passage. Engineers sank 55-foot shaft but were unable to reach Collins' body until February 16. Rescue attempt publicized worldwide. Aroused sympathy of nation. — Map (db m319) | | Maryland (Allegany County), Cumberland — Capture of Generals — Capture of Generals B.F. Kelly and George Crook — Nights, February 21–22, 1865 | | | A company of Confederates, young men from Cumberland, Maryland, Hampshire and Hardy Counties, West Virginia, captured several picket posts, obtained the countersign “Bulls Gap,” rode into the city, captured two commanding Union Generals, Kelly and Crook, and Adj. General Thayer Melvin, and sent them to Richmond, Virginia, as prisoners of war, without firing a shot.
General Crook was captured in this building, then known as “Revere House.” Generals Kelly and Melvin . . . — Map (db m490) | | Maryland (Washington County), Boonsboro — The Lost Orders | | | No other document of the Civil War has generated so much controversy as Lee's Special Orders No. 191. These “Lost Orders” detailed the movements of Lee's army for the operation against Harpers Ferry. On September 9 Lee sent copies of the order to his subordinate commanders. The copy that General George B. McClellan read on September 13 was found by three Federal soldiers in an abandoned campsite near Frederick in an envelope wrapped around three cigars. The envelope was addressed to . . . — Map (db m2042) | | New Jersey (Mercer County), West Windsor Township — Martian Landing Site | | | On the evening of October 30, 1938, Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre presented a dramatization of H.G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds as adapted by Howard Koch. This was to become a landmark in broadcast history, provoking continuing thought about media responsibility, social psychology and civil defense. For a brief time as many as one million people throughout the country believed that Martians had invaded the Earth, beginning with Grover's Mill, New Jersey. — Map (db m4636) | | Texas (El Paso County), El Paso — 5407 — The Rainmakers of 1891 | | | Working on the theory that explosives could cause rainfall because many war battles had been followed by rain, the U.S. Department of Agriculture conducted experiments in rainmaking. During a West Texas drought in 1891 the agency brought the experiment to Midland, with some success. Desperate for rain, El Paso city leaders convinced the Department to come here and try the same procedure. On September 18, some 370 charges of dynamite and other explosives were fired from the heights of Mt. . . . — Map (db m4788) |
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