From Dred Scott's tireless bid for freedom to the Cardinals' first World Series win, It Happened in Missouri takes readers on a rollicking, behind-the-scenes look at some of the characters and episodes from the Show Me State's storied past. Find out how a fourteen-year-old boy coordinated the settling of St. Louis. Discover how a steam engine helped save the inaugural ride of the Pony Express through Missouri. And read all about Harry Truman's come-from-behind victory over Thomas Dewey in the 1948 presidential election. These thirty stories include both famous tales, and famous names--and little-known heroes, heroines, and happenings.

In the early 14th century, a new weapon entered the arsenals of European armies. This first generation of black powder weapons put fear into the heart of the enemy and in 1453 Ottoman cannon succeeded in pummelling the once-impregnable walls of Constantinople. But cannons, which are both slow and cumbersome, were difficult to use and often proved inaccurate. The first handgonnes were the answer. Easily dismissed by later historians as nothing more than crude tubes that shot wildly inaccurate lead balls, more recent research has revealed the true accuracy of the medieval handgonne together with its penetrative power. This volume, complete with detailed illustrations and colour photographs of reconstructed handgonnes, reveals the true history of what could easily have been the most revolutionary weapon in history. This book will be a must for medieval enthusiasts and re-enactors.