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2/22/2008: After a few scant weeks of training, Lyman K. Raymond experienced his first Civil War engagement outside the town of Okolona, Mississippi against Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Of the battle that took place on this day, February 22, 1864, Raymond recorded the following entry in his journal: "we destroid 15 miles [of] Mississippi Central R[ail] R[oad]. Burnt $2,000,000 worth of cotton and several million lbs. of corn. I was taken prisoner, but mad[e] my escape.

2/23/2008: “Friends and Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust…”

2/25/2008: According to Linda W. Slaughter, an early founder of North Dakota’s historical society, “All things existent must have a beginning…”

2/27/2008: In an age of email and cell phones, sometimes postal services are taken for granted. This is unfortunate, as the history of mail is rich. That friendly postman in his or her official blues comes from a great background.

3/13/2008: Wind farms are cropping up throughout the state in response to the need for clean energy but the use of wind power to create electricity is nothing new in North Dakota. On this date in 1936, the Napoleon Homestead reported that rural electrification was coming to North Dakota and indeed, in 1937, the Baker Rural Electric Cooperative became the first to electrify their transmission lines.

3/16/2008: John F. McGrann was completing a week-long circuit of the state of North Dakota on this day in 1924. Mr. McGrann, as the vice-president and business manager of the newly formed North Dakota Automobile Association, was making his rounds in an attempt to promote his novel idea for increasing tourism to the state.

3/18/2008: Leo Bertrand was born on this date, in 1930, and grew up on what was known as the “Bertrand Corner” at University and 2nd Ave S in Fargo. It was on this intersection that Leo’s father, Ralph, renovated three different properties in which he reared his four children.

3/20/2008: The hot desert winds filtered through the dunes and around the ancient antiquities of Egypt. It drifted down past the Great Pyramid, winding around the Tombs of the Pharaohs, past the Sphinx and Governor Arthur A. Link before it swayed the fig trees on the banks of the Nile. Actually, on this day in 1976, unlike the Sphinx, Governor Link had been a recent arrival to Egypt with the North Dakota Industrial Commission, including Attorney General Allen I. Olson and also Dick Crockett of the Greater North Dakota Association. Like similar efforts today, the main purpose of the trip was to promote North Dakota products and create new markets in developing countries.

3/22/2008: While the Tyler family was building one of the grandest homes in Fargo in 1882, tragedy was about to strike.

3/23/2008: On this day, March 23, 2007, the movie Red Tail Reborn was released on DVD. Red Tail Reborn tells the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first and only African American pilots of WWII. Despite opposition to their service, the Tuskegee Airmen proved adept pilots; boasting one of the best combat records in American history.