Spanish Explorers in Virginia

Most people think that the English were the first Europeans to explore what is now Virginia, founding Jamestown in 1607. There is evidence, however, that the Spanish beat the English to Virginia by several decades.

An attempt at colonization was made in 1570, when Governor Pedro Menendez of Florida, authorized an expedition. At the time, it was believed that the Chesapeake Bay was the long sought short passage to China. Jesuit missionaries convinced the Governor to send their small unarmed expedition to the area as a forerunner to future colonization. On September 10, 1570, a small band of Jesuits headed by Father Segura, vice provincial of the Jesuits settled near a place the Native Americans called Axacan. The nearest surviving Indian word that suggests the name, is "Occoquan”. One historical school places the unfolding drama in a village located on the Occoquan River in Northern Virginia.

The Jesuits were convinced that they could gain the trust of the natives and willingly convert thousands to Christianity for one simple reason; they were accompanied by a prince of that country who had converted to Christianity in Spain itself.



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American Werewolves?

                                                                        

What are the explanations for werewolves? Hypertrichosis is a scientific explanation.

Hypertrichosis (also known as “wolfitis”) is a rare medical condition which results in the growth of abnormal amounts of hair all over the body. A number of people suffering from hypertrichosis became famous sideshow freaks working for American impresario P.T. Barnum. Fedor Jeftichew (picture #1), born in St. Petersburg, Russia, signed on with P.T. Barnum at the age of sixteen in 1884. Barnum made a point of pointing out how much Jeftichew resembled a dog and he was known as “Jo-Jo the Dog Faced Boy”. Jeftichew barked and growled for gawking crowds to enhance his image as a half man-half beast monster. “Lionel the Lion Faced Man”, was another victim of hypertrichosis who worked for Barnum. “Lionel”, actually named Stephan Bibrowski (picture #2), was born in Poland in 1891 and began appearing in the Barnum and Bailey’s Circus in 1901. Bibrowski’s body was entirely covered by hair except for the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet. Hair hung eight inches from his face and four inches from the rest of his body. In real life, Bibrowski was well educated and spoke five languages.




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Germany’s Plan to Attack America

In 1897 a staff officer, Lieutenant Eberhard von Mantley was ordered to draft an operational plan for a combined German naval and infantry attack on America. In the late 19th century both America and Imperial Germany were expanding in the Pacific and German military planners could envision a day when the two countries might clash. Known as Operational Plan 3, the German strategy involved a combined arms thrust against America’s strategic center of gravity, the East Coast. "Here is the core of America and it is here that the United States could be most effectively hit and most easily forced to sign a peace deal," von Mantley wrote.

Sixty German ships with troops and supplies were to make their way across the Atlantic and attack the important U.S. Naval facilities at Norfolk and Newport News, Virginia. Simultaneously, several thousand troops were to occupy Boston, while heavy cruisers bombarded Manhattan.

The plan was scrapped in 1907, the same year that President Theodore Roosevelt sent the greatly strengthened and enlarged U.S. Navy on an around the world “goodwill” mission.  Known as the “Great White Fleet”, the mission demonstrated America’s new role as a world power.

The Great White Fleet

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Did George Washington have an illegitimate son?

Did George Washington have an illegitimate son? Linda Allen Bryant, a direct descendent of a slave named West Ford (1784?-1863) points to correspondence between George and his brother, John Augustine, to argue that George Washington visited his brother’s plantation in 1784, and that a gap in Washington’s personal diary that year could account for a sexual liaison during this visit. According to an oral tradition passed down in the Ford family, a story first publicized in the 1940s, when confronted by her mistress, Hannah Washington, a pregnant slave named Venus confessed the paternity of her child, "The old General be the father, Mistress."

In all likelihood, the Mount Vernon Ladies Association argues, West Ford was indeed the son of a Washington, but not of George Washington. At the present development stage of DNA science, no direct link to George Washington can be established. The Mount Vernon Ladies Association has pledged its cooperation with testing as DNA science progresses.

PBS video: "George and Venus"



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What George Washington Ate

If you went back in time, you would soon discover that things sounded, smelled and tasted differently in the past. Consider food. In colonial Northern Virginia the cycle for meals was totally different from the modern cycle, as were the foods served. At Mount Vernon, at least three meals were served daily. Breakfast was served promptly at 7:00 am; dinner at 3:00 pm; and a light supper was served at 9:00 pm. George Washington once wrote to a friend, “A glass of wine and a bit of mutton are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of them are always welcome.”

Certain foods likely to be found on George Washington’s table included carrot puffs, chicken fricassee, Virginia ham, pickled red cabbage, and onion soup. Even though these foods appear familiar, the seasonings were very different from those used in modern cooking. Colonial cooks liked nutmeg and especially enjoyed a sweet taste. Salt and pepper were not heavily used. Some foods would make the modern diner blanche, rabbits and poultry, for example, were not only prepared with their heads and feet still attached, they were served at dinner that way as well.

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Food in the American Civil War

Napoleon was the first to realize the military advantage of being able to scientifically control an army’s food supply. In 1795 he offered a huge cash prize to anyone who could find a way to improve the method of supplying food to the campaigning French army. Nicholas Appert patented a method of hermetically sealing food for future use. This was an important step forward in military logistics. In 1823, Thomas Kensett, an American invented the tin can. Appert’s sealing method and Kensett’s tin can gave the Union army a tremendous logistics advantage by the time of the American Civil War. Northern factories and food processing facilities canned milk, meats, oysters and vegetables by use by the troops. The Confederate army was at a disadvantage, with most of its canned goods coming either through the capture of Union supplies or via blockade runners.

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Hidden History of Northern Virginia

Northern Virginia is Washington, D.C.’s front porch, and while the history of the entire nation has been made in Washington, Northern Virginia has a rich regional history flowing from its connection to the capital. For example, there would be no Washington, D.C., if General George Washington had not lived in nearby Mount Vernon, Virginia.

Included here are the often-overlooked stories of Northern Virginia from colonial to modern times—stories such as the Rebel blockade of the Potomac River, the imprisonment of German POWs at super-secret Fort Hunt during World War II and the building of the Pentagon on the same site and in the same configuration as Civil War–era Fort Runyon. And then there are the people—Alexandria-hometown boy Robert E. Lee, Annandale’s “bunny man” who inspired one of the wildest and scariest urban legend, slaves in Alexandria’s notorious slave pens, suffragists dragged from in front of the White House and imprisoned in the Occoquan Workhouse and many other folks who have left their imprints on the region and the nation.



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