U. S. History: The Rest of the Story

A young George Washington threw a dollar coin across the Rappahannock River, as everyone knows.

The rest of the story: Washington crossed the Rappahannock by stealth of night to retrieve his dollar, which after all was a day's wage at the time. Washington found the coin by torchlight, but in the process inadvertently burned down a cherry tree.

The urban legend that President John F. Kennedy was saying he was a jelly donut when he said "Ich bin ein Berliner" is incontrovertibly false.

The rest of the story: Jelly donuts are called "Berliners" in other parts of Germany, but not in Berlin. What Kennedy meant to say is, "I am a Pfannkuchen."

Qanon is a conspiracy driven right wing extremist movement fueled by misinformation. It has established a foothold on the Internet

The rest of the story: The roots of QAnon can actually be traced all the way back to 10th century England. Only then, since there was no Q in the Old English alphabet, it was known as þAnon (ThornAnon).

Lou "The Toe" Groza could kick field goals from distances other kickers of his time rarely even attempted. In fact, his kicking ability was such a rarity that the National Football League investigated him in 1950. And came up with nothing. But "The Toe" did have a secret.

The rest of the story: In a real life occurrence of the bestowal by radiation of super powers on fictional characters (Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, etc.) in comic books and movies, Lou Groza's toe was magically empowered by a malfunctioning fluoroscope (an x-ray machine used to fit shoes found in almost every shoe store at the time). The NFL dropped the ball on that one!

It is a matter of public record that in 1947 the United States offered Mindanao to Denmark in exchange for Greenland and the Danish West Indies, an offer the Danes rebuffed.

The rest of the story: The deal fell through when Denmark insisted that Wilmington, Delaware be added to the offer. To this day no one knows what plans the Danes had for Wilmington.

Mexican General Santa Anna, who had earlier been disgraced by losing Texas to Sam Houston's troops during the Texas Revolution, found redemption when he lost a leg while defending Vera Cruz during what became known as "The Pastry War." His leg was eventually given a state funeral during which it was celebrated with songs, poems and orations.

The rest of the story: Some Mexican officials were so in awe of the General’s "magical" leg that they wanted to dig it up and make it vice president after Santa Anna regained the presidency.

Following the loss of his leg, Santa Anna was fitted with an artificial leg, which he left behind when surprised by the U.S. Army at the Battle of Cerro Gordo during the Mexican-American War. It was recovered by the 4th Illinois Infantry, among whose ranks was a Lt. Abner Doubleday. It has been reported that Doubleday used Santa Anna's captured leg as a bat in an impromptu baseball game played by members of the 4th.

The rest of the story: Doubleday had three hits (2 singles and a triple) in four at bats, leaving Santa Anna's leg with a .750 batting average, almost five times higher than the Mexican General's batting average (1-6, .167) in battles he fought against U.S. armies.

In his 20s, Abraham Lincoln was an almost unbeatable wrestler—and a notorious trash talker to boot ("I'm the big buck of this lick!"). He won about 300 matches and lost only one.

The rest of the story: He lost that one match because a jealous Stephen A. Douglas willfully distracted Lincoln from ringside at a critical moment in the match, just like Damien Priest distracted AJ Styles at Wrestlemania Backlash 2022.

Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders was a collection of disparate individuals: cowboys, miners, glee club singers, college athletes, Native Americans, law enforcement authorities, etc.

The rest of the story: A group that never gets mentioned for some reason is the seven rodeo clowns who often entertained their fellow Rough Riders by riding into camp on a single burro.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin created a rigid airship which eventually led to the establishment of a German airline (DELAG). DELAG began transporting passengers with these Zeppelins beginning in 1910 and continued successful operations (with some hiccups during and shortly after WWI) until 1937. That was when the Hindenburg disaster resulted in the deaths of 36 people in Manchester Township, New Jersey. DELAG never recovered.

The rest of the story: The noble born von Zeppelin was himself regarded as "a big gasbag."

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