You Might Not Be Familiar With These 32 Fascinating Historical Events That Not Many Talk About

Inspired by Jules Verne's novel Around the World in Eighty Days, journalist Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, writing under the name Nellie Bly, set out in November 1889 to make the fictional journey a reality, aiming to circle the globe in 75 days. Despite some rough weather on the Pacific crossing that put her two days behind schedule when she reached San Francisco, her employer at the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer, arranged a private train to speed her home. Ultimately, Nellie Bly completed her groundbreaking trip around the world in an astonishing 72 days, arriving back in New Jersey in January 1890, a feat she chronicled in her book.

During the American Civil War, specifically after the Battle of Shiloh, some soldiers' wounds were observed to emit a faint glow, a phenomenon that became known as "Angel's Glow." It is now believed that this glow was caused by infection with the bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens. Interestingly, this particular bacterium produces antibiotics, which likely aided in the survival of these soldiers by preventing more dangerous infections in their wounds.

The Harlem Hellfighters, an African American regiment, earned their fierce nickname from their German adversaries due to their incredible bravery and fighting spirit during World War I; they were also known as the "Black Rattlers" and the French called them "Men of Bronze." This unit distinguished itself by spending an astounding 191 consecutive days in front-line trenches, more continuous combat time than any other American unit of comparable size. Tragically, their valor came at a high cost, as they also endured more casualties than any other American regiment, with over 1,400 losses.

The explicit goal of Canada's Indian residential school system was to assimilate Indigenous children, a process that involved isolating them from their families, cultural heritage, and spiritual traditions. Over the system's more than 160-year existence, around 150,000 children were taken from their homes and placed in these institutions, which operated across most provinces and territories. These boarding schools were predominantly administered by various Christian churches, with funding provided by the Canadian government's Department of Indian Affairs, especially after the Indian Act of 1876, and attendance was made compulsory in 1894; the last federally-funded school did not close until 1997.

Soon after the American Revolution began, Morocco extended a significant early gesture of recognition to the fledgling United States by allowing American ships access to its ports in 1777. This act made Morocco one of the very first countries to acknowledge the new American republic. This early relationship eventually led to the signing of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship in 1786, one of the longest unbroken friendship treaties in U.S. history.

The worst maritime disaster in United States history occurred on April 27, 1865, when the commercial side-wheel steamboat Sultana exploded and sank on the Mississippi River. This tragic event resulted in an estimated 1,864 casualties. The steamboat was severely overcrowded at the time, carrying many Union soldiers recently released from Confederate prisoner-of-war camps, which contributed significantly to the immense loss of life.

Nine months before Rosa Parks' famous act of defiance, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, on March 2, 1955, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus. This brave act by Colvin, a pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement who later became a retired nurse aide, was an early challenge to segregation laws, though Rosa Parks' subsequent action, supported by the NAACP, ultimately sparked the pivotal 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.

The Whiskey Rebellion, a period of violent protest in the United States from 1791 to 1794, occurred during George Washington's presidency. Farmers on the western frontier strongly opposed the "whiskey tax," the first tax levied by the new federal government on a domestic product, which was intended to help pay off Revolutionary War debts. These farmers, accustomed to distilling surplus grains into whiskey, resisted the tax, leading to a significant challenge for the young nation's authority

One of the deadliest industrial disasters in U.S. history occurred on March 25, 1911, when a fire broke out at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in Manhattan's Greenwich Village. The tragedy claimed the lives of 146 garment workers – 123 women and girls, and 23 men – who perished from the fire itself, smoke inhalation, or by falling or jumping from the building. Many of the victims were young, recent Jewish and Italian immigrant women and girls, with ages ranging from as young as 14, like Kate Leone and Rosaria "Sara" Maltese, up to 43-year-old Providenza Panno. This horrific event became a pivotal moment in labor history, highlighting the dangerous working conditions many faced and leading to significant reforms in workplace safety.

During World War II, between November 1944 and April 1945, Japan launched about 9,300 "Fu-Go" balloon bombs towards North America, hoping to cause widespread panic and forest fires. These weapons were large paper balloons, 33 feet in diameter, filled with hydrogen and carried across the Pacific by high-altitude air currents, now known as the jet stream. Each balloon carried incendiary devices and an anti-personnel bomb, using a clever sandbag system to maintain altitude, though only about 300 were ever found or seen in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

Things really started heating up between American colonists and British officials after a group of locals, led by folks like Abraham Whipple and John Brown I, decided to take matters into their own hands in June 1772. The British ship HMS Gaspee, which had been a real pain enforcing unpopular trade laws (the Navigation Acts) around Newport, Rhode Island, got stuck in shallow water while chasing another boat, the Hannah. This gave the colonists their chance; they rowed out, attacked, and burned the Gaspee right down to the waterline. Coming just a couple of years after the Boston M******e, this bold move definitely pushed everyone closer to the brink of the American Revolution.

In mid-1932, a large group of around 43,000 people, including 17,000 World War I veterans and their families, converged on Washington, D.C. This demonstration, known as the Bonus Army March, saw about 15,000 of these veterans set up camps in the capital. Their demand was for the early cash payment of service bonus certificates they had been promised for their wartime service, a payment not scheduled to mature for several more years. This event occurred during the depths of the Great Depression, adding urgency to the veterans' plight.

In August 1946, a rebellion known as the Battle of Athens (or the McMinn County War) erupted in Athens and Etowah, Tennessee, as citizens, including some returning World War II veterans, rose up against their local government. The residents leveled serious accusations against local officials, including claims of predatory policing, instances of police brutality, widespread political corruption, and voter intimidation. This armed confrontation was a direct response by the community to what they perceived as an entrenched and abusive local power structure.

Originating in Guizhou, Southern China, the 1957–1958 Asian flu pandemic, caused by an influenza A virus subtype H2N2, spread globally. This worldwide health crisis is estimated to have caused between 1 and 4 million excess deaths, ranking it among the most lethal pandemics in history. Just a decade later, a related viral strain, H3N2, would trigger the Hong Kong flu pandemic of 1968–1970.