How much do you remember?

It is the day to "Remember 9/11" again. America does remember this day pretty well, but what of other days? 

Immediately after the attack on the two towers, American flags were seen everywhere. Flags were proudly waving outside houses, businesses, off freeway over passes, on vehicles etc. 

Then the Lakers went to the playoffs. I remember seeing those American flags quickly disappear not long after the attacks.

So, how well do we remember? Why do we remember? Are we prompted to remember when it serves a purpose? What are those purposes? Why does the government like to remember 9/11, but doesn't want to answer for the attack on Benghazi?

So how well do we remember? Let's take a stroll down memory lane...

Remember Impressment! 

Remember when the British government was taking our men and "press ganging" them into the service of the Royal Navy against their wills to fight in their imperialistic wars? Oh it began as early as the 1660s, but it was one of the main reasons President James Madison declared war on them in 1812. Do you remember that atrocity? 

Remember the Whiskey Rebellion!

Remember the Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 when farmers rebelled against a new tax impossed on the whiskey they made from their leftover grain and corn? It was a tax designed by the treasury secretary Alexander Hamilton to increase the power of the central government. 

500 armed men attacked the home of tax inspector General John Neville. A militia of 13,000 men were sent to suppress the insurgency. The rebels disbanded. Despite 20 arrests, all were either acquitted or pardoned. In the end, there were approximately 16 deaths related to this event. 

Remember the Barbary Pirates!

Remember when the Barbary corsairs and crews from Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, and Morocco were capturing our merchant ships, enslaving American sailors, and were demanding tributes and ransoms so that we could be afforded safe passage through the Mediterranean? Well, the Barbary Wars led to our current policy of not negotiating with terrorists, so you should.

 

 Remember the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair!

Remember when the British vessel, HMS Leopard attacked the USS Chesapeake off the coast of Virginia on 22 June 1807? This British ship attacked and boarded our ship in search of deserters from the Royal Navy. They killed four of our sailors, wounded 17 and captured four men. Again, another reason we went to war with them in 1812.

Remember the Nat Turner Rebellion!

Remember when Nat Turner, a slave, led more than 70 enslaved and free blacks in an attack to "kill all the white people" in Southampton County, Virginia during the month of August, 1831? Nat Turner was taught to read and instructed in the principles of the Bible. He became a preacher for his people and used the word of God to kill anywhere from 55 to 65 white men, women, and children. 

Remember the Alamo!

Remember when Mexican troops under President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Bexar in 1836 on a 13-day siege that ended in the deaths and wounding of around 600 Americans?

Remember the 1838 Mormon War!

Remember when war was declared on Mormons by the Governor and citizens of the state of Missouri in 1838? At least 21 Mormons were killed by the Missourians at such places as Haun's Mill and an unknown number of non-combatants died due to exposure and hardship as a result of being expelled from their homes in Missouri. With Governor Lilburn Bogg's extermination order, nearly an estimated ten thousand Mormons were forced to leave the state and settled in what would become Nauvoo, Illinois. 

Remember John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry!

  

 Remember when John Brown attempted to start an armed slave revolt in 1859 by seizing a United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia? His attack resulted in the death and wounding of one U.S. Marine. Additionally, he was responsible for the death of six civilians and the wounding of nine others. John Brown told the court that not only was he willing to give his life to free the slaves, he was willing to give the lives of millions to free the slaves. 

Side note, before the War Between the States, at least a dozen nations peacefully emancipated their slaves. The British went as far as to raise money to purchase the slaves freedom from their masters. Clearly, there was no need for such violence or bloodshed, if the war was truly only about freeing slaves. 

Remember the Maine! 

Remember when the USS Maine was lost in Havana Harbor on the evening of 15 February 1898? She was sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain and exploded suddenly without warning and sank, killing nearly three quarters of her crew. The cause still remains the subject of speculation, but "remember the Maine, to Hell with Spain!"

 Remember the Los Angeles Times Bombing!

Remember when a union member belonging to the International Association of Bridge and Structural Iron Works detonated a bomb at the Los Angeles Times on October 1, 1910, which resulted in the deaths of 21 people and the wounding of over a 100? 

Remember the Battle of Columbus!

Remember when Pancho Villa led his Division of the North on an assault of the boarder town of Columbus, New Mexico on March 9, 1916 that resulted in the deaths and wounding of over 80 American lives?

 

Remember the Black Tom Bombing!

Remember the act of sabotage by German agents to prevent ammunition supplies from being used by the Allies in World War I  in Jersey City, New Jersey on July 30, 1916? Seven people were killed.

Remember the Attack on Orleans!

  

Remember when a German U-boat opened fire on the town of Orleans, Massachusetts and several merchant vessels nearby on July 21, 1918?  The submarine was responsible for the sinking of one tugboat and four barges. 

Remember the Wall Street Bombing!

  

 

Remember the Wall Street bombing that occurred on September 16, 1920? The blast killed 38 and seriously wounded 143 people. The bombing was never solved. 

 Remember the Bath School Disaster!

Remember when Andrew Kehoe violently attacked children, his wife, fire-bombed his farm and set off a major explosion in the Bath Consolidated School before killing himself in Bath Township, Michigan on May 18, 1927? He killed 38 school children and six adults and injured at least 58 other people.

Remember the 7th! 

Remember when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941?

 Remember the United States Capitol Shooting (1954)!

 Remember when four Puerto Rican nationalists fired 30 rounds from the Ladies' Gallery of the House of Representatives chamber in the United States Capitol on March 1, 1954? 

 Remember the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing!

Remember when a racially motivated terrorist bombing was carried out on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama that killed four girls on September 15, 1963?

Remember the Pueblo!

Remember when North Korean forces attacked and captured the USS Pueblo in international waters on January 23 1968, which resulted in several deaths and injuries of American sailors? The surviving crew were taken prisoner and held for 11 months. On December 23, 1968, 82 American sailors were released.

Remember EC-121M!

Remember when a North Korean MiG-17 shot down a U.S. Navy EC-121M Warning Star on a reconnaissance mission in international waters on April 15, 1969 killing all 31 Americans on board?

Remember the Kent State Shootings!

Remember when the Ohio National Guard fired 67 rounds into a group of unarmed college students exercising their first amendment right protesting the war on May 4, 1970, which resulted in the death of four students and the injury of nine others?

Remember the 1983 U.S. Embassy Bombing!

 

Remember the suicide bombing of the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon that killed 63 people on April 18, 1983?  

 Remember the Beirut Barracks Bombings!

Remember when the Multinational Force in Lebanon attacked the Beirut Barracks with two truck bombs housing U.S. and French military forces resulting in the deaths of 299 service men?

Remember the Oklahoma City Bombing!

Remember when Timothy McVeigh attacked the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995? The bombing claimed 168 lives and injured more than 680 people.

Remember the CIA Headquarters Shootings!

Remember when Mir Qazi, a man "angry with the policy of the U.S. government in the Middle East, particularly toward the Palestinian people," attacked CIA employees outside CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia on January 25, 1993? He killed two and injured three others. 

 

 Remember the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing!

Remember when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York, NY on February 26, 1993? Ramzi Yousef and co-conspirators killed six and injured 1,042 people.

  Remember the Cole!

 

Remember the al-Qaeda attack on the USS Cole in the Yeman port of Aden on October 12, 2000 that resulted in the death of 17 sailors and the injuring of 39 others?

This is just a few days and events that should be remembered by Americans. How many did you know about or remember? So, when we remember the events that took place 12 years ago, let's not forget the other important events. Or...we just might see them repeated.