Infinite Wisdom

"It is right to learn even from one's enemies."

La Triviata

• The actress Brook Shields is descended from two notable warrior monarchs, King Henri IV of France (r. 1589-1610), and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (r. 1519-1558) and King of Spain (r. 1516-1556), as well as Lucrezia Borgia (1580-1519), and thus Pope Alexander VI (r. 1492-1503), not to mention numerous other lesser known aristocratic types.
• The average age of American privateersmen during the Seven Years' War was 24, most of whom were not trained seamen, but rather farm boys, indentured servants, townsmen, some of whom were fleeing the law, military authorities, or outraged fathers of "ruined" damsels, but most were seeking wealth and adventure.
• In just six days of combat during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (September 26-31, 1918), the 35^th Division, in which Captain Harry S Truman served as a battery commander, had to be pulled out of the line, having suffered 7,300 casualties, nearly a third of overall strength, and about half of its front line infantry, largely the result of massive command changes on the eve of battle that replaced many trusted National Guard officers with unknown Regulars who mishandled the operation.
• In 1926, Polish Premier Joseph Pilsudzki awarded 51 Japanese officers the Virtuti Militari, Poland's highest decoration, for their service in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905), despite the fact that at the time he had been unsuccessful in securing Japanese financing for a Polish insurrection.
• On the eve of the Spanish-American War, in early 1898, Annie Oakley wrote a letter to Pres. William McKinley offering to recruit for field service a company of 50 expert women sharpshooters.
• Aside from asserting America’s role in the naval war against Germany, one reason for the assignment of the 6^th Battleship Squadron to the British Grand Fleet in late 1917 was that it permitted the Royal Navy to decommission a number of obsolescent battleships, releasing considerable manpower for anti-submarine duties.
• Among the faithful who in 1696 contributed to the foundation of Trinity Church, in New York, was Captain William Kidd, one of the town's most upstanding citizens, aside from a penchant for piracy.  
• During World War II, the art works of London's National Gallery were secretly shipped to a quarry in Wales, where they remained for the duration.

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