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TIL of Clement Vallandigham, a lawyer and congressman during the Civil War. The Union deported him for supporting the Confederacy. After the war, he died by accidentally shooting himself during a murder trial while trying to show the murder weapon could have misfired. His client got off as a result

d8b9r TIL that birch trees have bark that peels because they can photosynthesize through their bark. Peeling off the old bark removes lichen and fungus that would prevent photosynthesis.
ADwvo TIL Joseph Kennedy threatened to sue ABC for revealing that his son John F. Kennedy's Pulitzer-prize winning book Profiles in Courage was ghost-written. They retracted the story. The book wasn't considered for the prize until Joe convinced a boardmember to persuade others to vote for it.
vPwNB TIL that Meikayla Moore, a professional footballer who plays as a defender for the New Zealand national team, scored a hat-trick of own goals in a match against the United States in 2022. The United States coach commented that "she's incredible and ... her positioning was very [good]".
QJlGp TIL when Robert E Lee and the Confederate army surrendered, Union soldiers saluted them and gave them rations (the confederate soldiers were starving). Normally victorious armies would taunt defeated ones, but Ulysses S Grant respected the Confederates too much and ordered that they be treated well.
QJxke TIL that statistical analysis of 6619 generals found that Napoleon Bonaparte had a Wins Above Replacement score (a statistical measure originating from baseball which determines a player's importance to victory) that was 23 standard deviations above the average general.