December 1963

The first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution might have earned a fortune if he had chosen to commercialize his inventions. But American science would have suffered

Take a cup of Choctaw and add Frenchmen: aventuriers de bois and Acadian refugees from Nova Scotia
Blend in a Mississippi Bubble, a sprinkling of fugitives from justice, and a few filles de joie
Now sift in Catalans, Spanish planters, gens de couleur , and a large gombo nègre
Make a Code Noir and some Quadroon Balls
Stir together gently, adding Dalmatian oystermen, Filipino shrimpers, Germans, and “Kaintucks” (often rather tough)
Add a pinch of pirates
Simmer slowly under six flags
Serves most of southern Louisiana

Hundreds of miles from salt water, two tiny, improvised fleets hammered away at each other in one of the decisive naval engagements of the War of 1812

Its diners were sumptuous, its sleepers luxurious, its lounges a rendezvous for the nation’s notables. And it even made a regular gambling stop at Reno

Medicine was primitive and their knowledge of it limited, but in their hazardous journey to the Pacific, Lewis and Clark lost only one patient

His family and aides knew John Renolds as a bachelor whose only love was soldiering. The tragic aftermath of his death at Gettysburg revealed one of the Civil War’s most poignant romances

DRED SCOTT v. SANFORD

SHUN THE CUP, & KEEP THY FEET TO THE PATH

In San Francisco Warren G. Harding lay dead, and the nation was without a Chief Executive. In the early morning hours, by the light of a flickering oil lamp, an elderly Vermonter swore in his son as the thirtieth President of the United States