Bob Ford

If you love history, consider sponsoring this column or an individual story you’d like to read about. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com for more details.  In August and December of 1859, lawyer Abraham Lincoln climbed aboard a passenger car of the new Hannibal & St Joseph Railroad and came to town.  These trips were after his

That’s the question an anonymous sponsor wanted me to find out. 

I know, the vast majority of lawyers are honest, hardworking and respect their clients but, I’ve seen my fair share of “bad actors.” 

A “forever war” was just the type of conflict the military and defense industries were dreaming of, great for the bottom line. 

This Vietnam story is with compliments from Kenneth Reeder. To sponsor an individual story, submit your idea to robertmford@aol.com.  Helicopters have always fascinated me.  Imagining the ability to hover and fly like a bird in the late 15th century, you would have to be a visionary genius. Leonardo da Vinci designed his “aerial screw” centuries

On Jan. 29, 1861, Kansas gained its statehood, setting in motion a chain reaction that led to this country’s most devastating war.

If you would like to sponsor an individual historic story or theme: Vietnam, baseball, hunting or Old St Jo submit a short idea to, robertmford@aol.com  The answer is four!  A U.S. territory can become a state by appointing delegates to a constitutional convention, drafting a state constitution compatible with the U.S. Constitution.  There are several

If you love history, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support this column. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com for details and/or donate via Venmo @bobfordshistory.  “It’s almost like our state denies what happened here,” complains Paul Bahnmaier, president of the Territorial Capital Museum in Lecompton, Kansas. “We were visiting Fort Sumter last summer and the

This article is written for the News-Press Now and the Missouri Highway 36 Heritage Alliance.  Like a good fictional novel, how did this group of world-changing men grow up along a 200-mile stretch of highway in one state? These Missourians not only left an impactful legacy, but when their country mobilized for war, like a

You’ve heard it all your life … “the best thing since sliced bread.” 

No, we are not talking about your 14-year-old granddaughter wanting a new nose ring. We are describing what motivates a combat air crew through difficult times in war! 

If you like history, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support the work. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com and/or appreciate via Venmo @ bobfordshistory.  Vicksburg, Ms., was a citadel of defense for the South, with steep banks, deep ravines and jungle-like terrain.  General Grant had finally gotten his 70,000-man Army of the Tennessee around the

If you love history, we are seeking sponsors and or contributors to support this column. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com for details and/or donate via Venmo @bobfordshistory  One hundred and sixty two years ago this week, the Civil War was decided in the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River.  Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his 75,000-man

Who better to be the eastern bookend of Missouri’s ingenious Highway 36 then America’s Bard, Mark Twain. 

Sam had an idea, but needed help. 

If you love history and these articles, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support the work. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com and/or donate via Venmo @bobfordshistory.  This week 83 years ago, the most consequential naval engagement of World War II in the Pacific took place, the Battle of Midway.  After Lt. Commander Joseph Rochefort and

If you like history, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support this column. Contact Bob, robertmford@aol.com for details and/or donate via Venmo @bobfordshistory.  “Military Intelligence is the key to war, without it, you cannot win.” — Sun Tzu  After the successful “Doolittle Raid” on mainland Japan in response to Pearl Harbor, the Japanese knew

If you love history, please consider sponsoring this column, your customers will appreciate it. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com for details or to donate, Venmo @bobfordshistory.  Do Napoleon and Hitler know what a scale is on a map?  Please tell me the draw in capturing Moscow for European warriors who had great success up to that

If you love history, we are seeking sponsors to run this column. To comment or join in supporting this non-profit, contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com. Missouri got smart. As the country argued where the national western terminus, or the jumping off point, of the proposed transcontinental railroad should be, the state made a move. In 1847,

If you love history, we are seeking sponsors to support the work. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com for details.  Everybody has a bad day at the office once in a while, but if your job involves decisions that determine thousands of lives and you falter, history will make you infamous.  Most bad decisions in war are

If you enjoy history and these articles, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support the work. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com and/or donate via Venmo @bobfordshistory  Music has the power to start a revolution, or even calm a baby.  The drumbeat of native culture is as important to them as Bach and Beethoven is to

If you like history and these articles, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support the work. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com and/or donate via Venmo @bobfordshistory This article was written on the road — and from my phone — right after a Royals loss. I’m bummed with how the Royals season has started, so much

If you like history and these articles, we are seeking sponsors and contributors to support the work. Contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com and/or donate via Venmo @Bobfordshistory. As thousands of Union soldiers lay wounded, freezing or dead on Marye’s Heights, General Ambrose Burnside made his first wise decision of the battle. On Dec. 14, 1862, one

If you love history we are seeking comments and sponsors to support this column. Contact Bobat robertmford@aol.com for details. Frontal assaults on an entrenched position rarely work. I get the idea, throwing a massive group of men at the enemy’s main line, designed to overwhelm them for a quick decisive victory.  There’s a fine line

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) — Generally speaking, Abraham Lincoln had a big problem during the Civil War … many of his top generals didn’t get along. Between some of them it was so contemptuous they sabotaged each other’s strategies and actions, costing soldiers lives.  Fact is, to become a general you had to be

This article is written for News-Press NOW, The St Joseph Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and Missouri’s Highway 36 Heritage Alliance. From path to trail to railroad and now the “Genius” Highway 36, this famed coast-to-coast route through Northern Missouri has the All-American story, not just about the towns and the nation it connected, but the

If you love history, we are seeking comments and sponsors to support this column. Contact Bob at Robertmford@aol.com for details.  Opening Day, those two words alone make you feel like a kid heading home to your own birthday party!  Baseball is a metaphor for life with so many parallels.  It has been my distinct pleasure to

If you love history, we are seeking sponsors to run this column. To comment or join in supporting this non-profit, contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com. ‘Damn the Torpedoes, full speed ahead!’ Those were the words of America’s first U.S. Navy Admiral, David Farragut, as he forced his armada past Fort Morgan into Mobile Bay. On Aug.

By Bob Ford If you love history, we are seeking sponsors to run this column. To comment or join in supporting this non-profit, contact Bob at robertmford@aol.com. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton authorized Massachusetts Governor John Andrews to call for volunteers for an all-black infantry regiment. He received help from a number of Massachusetts men and