First Man to the North Pole

Born in Pennsylvania in 1856, Robert Edwin Peary was an American explorer who faced great criticism in his day for claiming to be the first person to have reached the geographic North Pole. It is now suspected that he may have been 30 to 60 miles short of the Pole, but is still credited with the achievement. Some modern critics focus on Peary’s alleged mistreatment of the Inuit people. He died in 1920 in Washington, D.C.

Fourth Man to Walk on the Moon

Captain Bean was lunar module pilot on Apollo 12, mans second lunar landing. In November 1969, Captain Bean and Captain Pete Conrad landed in the moons Ocean of Stormsafter a flight of some 250,000 miles. They explored the lunar surface, deployed several lunar surface experiments, and installed the first nuclear power generator station on the moon to provide the power source. Captain Richard Gordon remained in lunar orbit photographing landing sites for future missions.

First Man to Die in the Civil War

Theodore Winthrop was born in Connecticut as a descendant of John Winthrop, the first governor of Connecticut (G. Curtis 7-8). He attended Yale where he studied Greek and philosophy and received the distinction of the Clark scholarship.  Winthrop led an ill-fated assault on the Confederate left held by four companies of the 1st Regiment North Carolina Infantry.  In the heat of battle, Major Winthrop leapt onto the trunk of a fallen tree and reportedly yelled, “One more charge boys, and the day is ours.” Soon thereafter, he was killed by a musket ball to the heart and became the first casualty of rank for the Northern side.