10 Famous People Known In Their Time For Surprising Things

DUSTIN KOSKI SEPTEMBER 3, 2014Over time, the public perception of prominent peop
le is bound to shift. New information may come to light, political correctness m
ay evolve, or certain myths may change in significant ways. Some cases go far be
yond mere shifts in perspective and become something else entirely, such as the
cases below.10Paul Revere10_Paul_RevereKnown now as:
One of the riders instrumental through his famous Midnight Ride in assembling a force
of militia for the 1776 Battles of Lexington and Concord, which were vital to Am
erican victory in the Revolutionary War. Historians have since noted that for al
l his fame widely attributed to the poet Henry Longfellow s poem written long after
Revere s death Revere hardly was the most significant person in that historical effo
rt. For example, one Sybil Ludington rode twice as far as he did on that momento
us night.Known then as:
Part of an immense military debacle that devastated America s armed forces. Much l
ess remembered than the Battles of Lexington and Concord is the 1779 Battle of P
enobscot Bay. Despite having a four-to-one advantage in ships and a larger numbe
r of soldiers, it was such a complete defeat for the Americans that they lost ev
ery one of their 43 ships and half of their army in a bungled joint effort. Head
s inevitably had to roll for such a disgrace, and one of those was Paul Revere s,
who was court-martialed and placed under house arrest on charges of cowardice. A
lthough two years later he was cleared of the charges, such a scandal completely
overshadowed his Midnight Ride at the time.
9Pocahontas9_John_Smith_SavedKnown now as:
The savior of early American explorer John Smith during an attempted execution i
n 1608 by her tribe, the Powhatans. This was supposed to have brokered a tempora
ry peace between the Native Americans and their English conquerors. Her act was
also a symbol of how the Native Americans could be reasoned with and America mad
e a safe place to settle.Known then as:
There s considerable evidence that, rather than being any sort of heroic savior, P
ocahontas was notable purely for being the first Native American to marry a Euro
pean. She was merely an ambassador between Britain and America. Much less known
than her original name is her adopted one of Rebecca Rolfe, which she d taken befo
re traveling to the British Isles with her husband John. The story of her saving
John Smith wasn t told by him until 16 years after it was supposed to have happen
ed and well after Pocahontas had died. Such a dramatic event would have surely com
e up earlier if it were true. At the time, Smith said only that Pocahontas broug
ht him presents of appeasement from her tribe, which is hardly as dramatic or in
spiring as saving him from execution.8Confucius8_Konfuzius-1770Known now as:
An invaluable teacher that codified and formalized China s ancestor worship with h
is teachings known as The Analects. His wisdom has influenced generations for mi
llennia and is still celebrated. Even the wisest of us gather quotations of his
for guidance. Known then as:
A not terribly successful teacher. Confucius spent years going from fiefdom to f
iefdom looking for a client monarch. While there were some that appreciated his
ideas, they did not begin to be adopted in his day. Confucius was so careless at
recording his teachings that he didn t personally write anything in The Analects,
leaving that task to his survivors. Legend says that the reason we know of Conf
ucius today at all is because of a lucky happenstance centuries after his death
in 479 B.C. The Analects remained obscure documents until after the reign of an
emperor who sought to destroy all books of philosophy. During that purge, a copy
of The Analects was hidden in a wall. It was recovered 60 years after the emper
or died, when the new ruler was much more tolerant of philosophical writings. It
seems safe to say that few people at the time of Confucius s passing would have s
uspected he d still be spoken of today.7King John7_King_John_from_NPGKnown now as:
One of the worst rulers in British history, King John was so awful that he was f
amously forced by the nobles to sign the Magna Carta in 1215. Most devastatingly
, he was portrayed as a sniveling, greedy Lion in the Walt Disney version of Rob
in Hood. Known then as:
Contemporary accounts suggest that King John was a much better ruler than his re
putation suggests. Rather than being a tyrannical money-grubber, King John was d

escribed in his day as being generous to the poor, forgiving debts when it was c
lear that his subjects couldn t pay as a result of deprivation from rebellions tha
t happened during his reign. He was also praised for his capability as a militar
y commander and for his humane treatment of prisoners of war.Much of the reason
that his legacy is so negative is because he was ultimately ousted from power, s
o his enemies got to write the more prominent stories about him. On top of that,
he alienated much of the clergy by taxing them. That some clergymen still had n
ice things to say about him (such as the above account about forgiving the debts
of the needy) is a good testament to how the positive accounts of him are not m
erely propaganda.6King SolomonIFKnown now as:
His name is basically shorthand for a wise ruler. The single most famous inciden
t from his reign is supposed to be a showcase for his shrewdness and insight int
o human nature: Two women came before Solomon, each claiming to be the mother of
a baby. Solomon advised cutting the baby in half. It turned out, of course, tha
t the real mother was the one that was willing to give up her baby instead of se
eing it cut.Known then as:
A horrible tyrant that abused his people. To build a luxurious palace for himsel
f, he emulated the pharaohs of Egypt by enslaving many Judean citizens. Indeed,
the suffering he inflicted upon the people of Judah was so severe that even the
Bible states that the next king of Judah, Rehoboam, was asked if he would be as
harsh on his people as his predecessor was. (For the record, Rehoboam supposedly
caused open rebellion by saying my father chastised you with whips, but I will c
hastise you with scorpions. ) In his time, this would likely have overshadowed his
reputation for being wise.5Josef Stalin5_Marshall_StalinKnown now as:
A dictator who rivals Adolf Hitler for the evil he committed. His purges have be
en estimated by some to have lead to the deaths of more people than the Third Re
ich s Final Solution. His decision to keep Eastern Europe behind the Iron Curtain en
sured that the Soviet Union was the enemy of much of the world for decades.Known
then as:
During his reign despite his purges Stalin was beloved by the Russian people. The po
pulation seemed to have not blamed Stalin for the atrocities they suffered, with
If only Stalin knew being a popular expression. When he died, reportedly there wa
s panic in Moscow over how society would continue without him, similar to what h
appened after the death of Kim Jong-Il. Not that America didn t have some affectio
n for him: For a time, he was known in America by the nickname Uncle Joe. 4Alexande
r The Great4_Alexander_KnotKnown now as:
A genius when it came to military matters, administration, and philosophy. After
all, he was a student of Aristotle, and some of that genius is presumed to have
rubbed off on him. He s the one that found a way of undoing the Gordian Knot. Nap
oleon Bonaparte said of him Everything is profoundly calculated, executed with au
dacity, and conducted with wisdom. Known then as:
Many of the things that Alexander did during his conquests seem more worthy of th
e Terrible moniker. After he d sacked the city of Tyre, he had 2,000 people crucifi
ed. On top of that, he had sold most of the women into slavery. In the city of G
aza, he had the garrison leader killed by dragging him behind a chariot. Even wh
en he took control of the Persian capital Persepolis, which surrendered peaceful
ly, a massacre ensued and the women were again sold off into slavery.Alexander d
id much to alienate his own followers, too. After his failed conquest of India,
he marched his army home through coastal desert. He claimed this was their punis
hment for not completing the conquest. In the course of this march, two-thirds o
f the troops died. He had a reputation for not sparing anyone he suspected, and
the number of potential suspects increased as his paranoia grew. He had them kil
led in brutal ways, including death by stoning and torture on the rack. One of t
hose he put to death through torture was Callisthenes, a philosophy teacher of a
suspected attempted assassin and someone that even Alexander himself had admire
d. That execution in particular had outraged Greece even more than the destructi
on of the city of Thebes, which at least had the justification of being triggere
d by treachery.3Gregor Mendel3_Gregor_MendelKnown now as:
The father of genetic studies for his manipulation of pea plants. Mendel s work wa
s also widely lauded for confirming and explaining the means by which evolution

occurred. That s to say nothing of how genetics helped increase crop yields, savin
g an estimated billion people during the 1970s Green Revolution.Known then for:
His work with the St. Thomas s Abbey in Austro-Hungary. In his time, Mendel s work w
ith genetics was completely misunderstood by seemingly everyone from his superio
rs to his scientific peers. Instead, Mendel made his name through working as a f
riar and eventually being elected abbot of his abbey in 1868. There, he became k
nown as a financial wizard and supporter of the poor. Unfortunately, he alienate
d a lot of people in 1874 when he opposed a tax placed upon the church and refus
ed to send any payments. It wasn t until well over a decade after his 1884 death t
hat anyone paid serious attention to his genetic research. 2Joan Of Arc2_Vigiles
_du_roiKnown now as:
A maiden who answered a call from God to become a soldier and lead France to a m
iraculous victory. According to her testimony before an English court prior to h
er execution, she never killed anyone in the heat of battle. She was made a sain
t 489 years after her execution.Known then as:
Despite her legacy, Joan of Arc said and did some things that seriously undermin
e her claims of not killing even in the heat of battle. At the time, she bragged
that she made good slashes with her sword in battle, meaning at least that she sw
ung her sword at the enemy. A bit more damning to her nonviolent reputation is t
he fact that she broke the same sword by hitting a camp follower across the back
with it. That s hardly something you d expect of a saint and is also an act that th
e King of France took to be a bad omen, causing Joan to lose his favor. This isn t
to denigrate her enormous achievements and her service to France, just to corre
ct some erroneous mythologizing.1Al CaponeAl CaponeKnown now as:
One of the worst thugs of the underworld who climbed to the top of the liquor tr
ade, at least according to recent movies like The Untouchables. People currently
believe such far-fetched stories as the one where he killed someone with a bat
at the table during a dinner party. The movie even portrays him as blowing up sh
ops with little girls inside.Known then as:
While there s no denying that Capone has ordered and inflicted significant violenc
e, the man had a better grasp of public relations that you d expect of a mobster f
rom that time. After the collapse of the stock market in 1929, he donated clothe
s and other goods to the impoverished and opened soup kitchens in Chicago. Some
newspapers claimed that Capone was doing more for the poor of Chicago than the U
S government (although this was in part due to Capone s thugs busting newspaper wo
rker strikes). These tactics seemed to have worked, as shown by such bits of evi
dence as a 1927 poll of Chicago college students, who ranked him as one of the 1
0 most outstanding people in the world. Although that was a poll of college stud
ents, so take that for what it s worth, capisce?