in the song yankee doodle dandy, 'macaroni' was a slang term denoting a man who dressed effeminately. the melody predates the current song by at least 3 centuries, and was popular across europe and scandinavia.

the modern lyrics were meant to be a slur on american soldiers by the british troops, but the american militia adopted the song. it has been a patriotic song ever since.

on her way to the guillotine, marie antoinette stepped on her executioner's foot. her last words were, 'pardonnez-moi, monsieur. je ne voulais pas le faire.'

france sent 300,000 soldiers to fight in the american revolutionary war. at the time, england had a total of 40,000 troops in the colonies, and no backup.

during the revolutionary war, the number of rebels and loyalists to england were about equal in number, along with a 3rd group that didn't care one way or the other.

(that's right: the number of people fighting for independence were in the minority, which helps explain why french soldiers were so necessary to victory.)

another forgotten fact about the revolutionary war: almost all of the native american tribes sided with the british.

molly pitcher, a heroine of the revolutionary war, was a fictional character not even invented until 1875.

forgotten historical fact: without french support, money, and soldiers, the american colonists would have lost the war for independence against england.

the only participant of the revolutionary war buried at west point wasn't a soldier. margaret corbin was a soldier's wife; her husband manned a cannon. when he was killed by enemy fire, margaret took over, and continued to fire on the british and hessian forces despite being shot in the arm, shoulder, and face.

she continued to serve until the war was over, when she was given a soldier's pension.