Ripley's Believe It or Not by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! for June 28, 2015
Transcript:
Camels once roamed the Canadian Arctic! For most of the American Civil War (1861-1865), soldiers only saw combat about one day month, or just 12 days a year. To blend into its Andes Mountains habitat, the newly discovered Pristimantis Mutabilis frog changes its skin texture from smooth to prickly.
Templo S.U.D. over 9 years ago
I guess on the other days of the Civil War, it was strategizing, recruiting, training, amputating, etc.
Charlie Fogwhistle over 9 years ago
Goes from smooth to prickly at will, eh? I’v known women like that.
cripplious over 9 years ago
Custer crossed enemy lines several times to attend weddings of fellow classmates opposing him. That happens when a people split and fight over the same land
Alan Jones over 9 years ago
They’re going to get into trouble for having a drawing of “that” flag in the picture.
SusanSunshine Premium Member over 9 years ago
It was NOT a “civil” war…
Sure, there were those little vignettes… handed down in the stories, faded pictures…. of civility.Dinner at the battlefield, a general visiting his opponent…
It took them a long time to lick their wounds, move on, and prepare to march into battle again…
But when they did… they marched or rode out by the thousands, in visible columns… Hundreds died in minutes… mowed down en masse.Fighting guns and cannons by the rules meant for swords… they were true “cannon fodder.”
Besides that, they got infected, they had no refrigeration, and were marching for weeks eating spoiled food…many more died of germs than weapons.A nasty business.
Until Vietnam, more American men had died in the Civil War than in ALL OTHER wars we’ve ever fought, combined …. and it’s still pretty close.
Over 2% of the US population was dead by the end of the war…. so if that happened by fighting only one day a month (I hadn’t heard that) it was a good thing there weren’t more days of battle…
derdave969 over 9 years ago
Days of battle weren’t the main problem. Disease in camp (and POW camp) was. Depending on where you look the total deaths in the war were around 650000. Of those about 205000 were combat related. The rest were mostly from disease in camp.
rbullfogg over 9 years ago
What is even more scarier is that, NOW THIS YEAR, 15 states have now signed petitions to succeed from the union. Because of the state of affairs that this country is putting us in to.
Nighthawks Premium Member over 9 years ago
you’ll never succeed if your can’t spell secede
corpcasselbury over 9 years ago
The Overland Campaign of 1864 (Grant vs. Lee) saw constant fighting for over a month, until the siege of Petersburg began. The troops were not used to fighting every single day lke that, and the casualties were appalling on both sides.
Charlie Fogwhistle over 9 years ago
Doesn’t matter if the battle was over in 2 minutes if you were on the receiving end of a well aimed mini-ball.
Carl Rennhack Premium Member over 9 years ago
@Susan Sunshine—-This is one of your best posts ever!
People who want to know more about the Civil War should read “The Cause of All Nations” by Don H. Doyle. The author details how dictatorial powers in Europe (especially The Vatican!) tried to destroy the Union. Mr. Doyle confirms the ideas put forth by former priest Charles Chiniquy in his “Fifty Years in the Church of Rome.”
On a lighter note…During one of his 1858 debates with Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln described the USofA government as a “confederacy”!!
Space_cat over 9 years ago
A day of combat feels like a year that will never end, 12 days of combat may equal 12 years of hell!A few minutes is more than enough for most folks, some of us will be fighting those battles over and over in our heads every waking and sleeping moment for the rest of our lives.For many, it is never truly over.
Jogger2 over 9 years ago
A church in Harpers Ferry flew the British flag during the Civil War. Soldiers on both sides saw the flag, and were careful to avoid firing on it for fear that an attack on the church could cause England to join the war on the other side.
Lamberger over 9 years ago
That Confederate Battle Flag never flew over a civilian confederate building. The Confederate Flag, per se, flew over them. The Confederate Battle Flag is commonly, incorrectly conflated with the Confederate Flag, which was "stars and bars’ (circle of blue stars on blue in the left corner of a red, white and red striped field), and then later, the battle flag in the top left corner of a white background flag. Finally a vertical red bar was added at the right end of the white background. The Confederate Battle Flag was the flag of the Army of North Virginia, under Gen Robert E Lee, who was highly regarded by both the North and the South.
ClarkSavageJr over 9 years ago
More to the point, in just a couple of days, more Americans died at the Battle of Antietam Than in the entire Vietnam war. The rivers ran red.
goweeder over 9 years ago
First frog with goose bumps I’ve ever seen.
Tarredandfeathered over 9 years ago
Camels also once roamed the Southwest United States..Search for the United States Camel Corps on Wikipedia.…Feral camels continued to be sighted in the Southwest through the early 1900s, with the last reported sighting in 1941 near Douglas, Texas.…
BRI-NO-MITE!! Premium Member over 9 years ago
The US army was using camels in the Southwest during the 1850s, an experiment advocated by then Secretary of War Jefferson Davis.