Seemingly safe in northern New England, the residents of St. Albans, Vermont, were astonished in October 1864 when a group of Confederate soldiers appeared in their midst, terrorizing residents, robbing banks, and stealing horses. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll tell the story of the St. Albans raid, the northernmost land action of the Civil War.

We'll also learn about Charles Darwin's misadventures at the equator and puzzle over a groundskeeper's strange method of tending grass.

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Sources for our feature on the St. Albans raid:

Dennis K. Wilson, Justice Under Pressure: The Saint Albans Raid and Its Aftermath, 1992.

Robin W. Winks, The Civil War Years: Canada and the United States, 1998.

Stuart Lutz, "Terror in St. Albans," Civil War Times Illustrated 40:3 (June 2001).

Rick Beard, "When the Rebels Invaded Vermont," New York Times, Oct. 17, 2014.

"A Reminiscence of the St. Albans Raid," Montreal Daily Witness, April 5, 1878.

"Confederate Raid on St. Albans, Vt.," Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Oct 21, 1914.

"Leader of Raid on St. Albans, Vermont, Centre of Controversy at Champlain Celebration," Boston Evening Transcript, May 9, 1912.

Edgar Andrew Collard, "Of Many Things ...," Montreal Gazette, March 28, 1969.

"English View of the St. Albans Raid Case," Halifax Morning Chronicle, Jan. 24, 1865.

Listener mail:

Wikipedia, "Line-Crossing Ceremony" (accessed March 18, 2016).

R.D. Keynes, ed., Charles Darwin's Beagle Diary, 2001.

Jacqueline Klimas, "Navy Leaders Try to Stamp Out Hazing, But Many Sailors Question the Rules," Military Times, July 2, 2013.

Wikipedia, "Plimsoll Shoe" (accessed March 18, 2016).

This week's lateral thinking puzzle is from Paul Sloane and Des MacHale's 1998 book Ingenious Lateral Thinking Puzzles.

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Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.

If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!