On August 27, 1859, the first successful oil well was drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake.
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The birthday of Emory Upton (August 27, 1839 – March 15, 1881). He was a United States Army General and military strategist, prominent for his role in leading infantry to successfully attack entrenched positions at the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House during the American Civil War, but he also excelled at artillery and cavalry assignments. His work, The Military Policy of the United States, which analyzed American military policies and practices and presented the first systematic examination of the nation’s military history, had a tremendous effect on the organization and modernization of the U.S. Army when it was published posthumously in 1904. He has rightly been called “The father of the modern U.S. Army.”
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August 27, 1917 was the birthday of American gun designer Robert Hillberg. He was best known as the designer of the C.O.P. four-barrel derringer, Winchester’s Liberator shotguns, the graceful Whitney Wolverine, and the Wildey .44 Magnum gas-operated pistol. He died in 2012.
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Today’s feature piece was too short to qualify as an entry for Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $960,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 120 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.
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