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We’re all familiar with the legendary "great men" of American history, their faces gracing currency and towering monuments. But what about the unsung heroes, such as baseball’s first iconic mascot or the Native American who came to the rescue of Ulysses S. Grant? After recently exploring remarkable American women, today we turn our attention to 10 captivating yet forgotten men from American history.
10. Don ‘Mr. Wizard’ Herbert – TV’s Original Science Educator
Long before Neil deGrasse Tyson or Bill Nye became household names, Don “Mr. Wizard” Herbert was already paving the way. In the 1950s, while shows like The Mickey Mouse Club and Adventures of Superman captured young audiences, Don Herbert’s groundbreaking show, Watch Mr. Wizard, stood apart. Filmed in Herbert’s garage, the show introduced curious kids to scientific wonders, with each episode exploring topics like matter and electricity through hands-on experiments and captivating demonstrations.
Mr. Wizard was the first to merge entertainment and education for television viewers. In an effort to connect with his young audience, Herbert purposely ditched the traditional lab coat, opting instead for a casual, everyday look. Rather than relying on fancy test tubes or intimidating equipment, he used ordinary household items and common appliances to carry out his unique and fascinating scientific experiments.
As Bill Nye recalled in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, “Mr. Wizard stood eggs on end, hammered nails with cryogenic bananas, and graphed shrinking gases on their way to absolute zero.” Needless to say, Watch Mr. Wizard became a massive hit.
Fan clubs began springing up all over North America, but sadly, NBC canceled the show in 1965. Fortunately, Herbert made a triumphant return in 1983 on Nickelodeon. He even made an appearance on the debut episode of The Late Show—after all, David Letterman was a big fan as a child.
Herbert went on to inspire future infotainers like Steve Spangler and Bill Nye the Science Guy. Before his passing at the age of 89, Herbert received the Council of Elementary Science International’s Science Advocate Award. However, his true legacy lies in the profound influence he had on children across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, shaping young minds and revolutionizing television education.
9. Kurt Chew-Een Lee – The First Asian-American Marine Officer
In 1946, Kurt Chew-Een Lee made history by becoming the first Asian-American officer in the Marine Corps. But that’s just the beginning of his remarkable journey.
Born in 1926, Lee enlisted in the Marines in 1944. Initially, he was tasked with teaching Japanese, but by the time the Korean War arrived, he had risen to first lieutenant and was commanding his own machine gun platoon. Despite his rank, Lee faced significant discrimination from some of his men, who mockingly referred to him as a “Chinese laundryman.”
There were also concerns about whether he would be willing to kill Chinese soldiers. After all, the Chinese entered the Korean War in 1950, aligning with North Korea. Would Lee fight for his country or for his ancestral roots?
On November 2, 1950, Lee provided an answer through action. During a fierce battle with North Korean forces, his platoon was outnumbered by a fresh wave of Chinese troops. After the firing subsided, the Americans couldn’t figure out where the Chinese soldiers were hiding.
Lee took matters into his own hands, venturing into no-man’s-land alone, firing shots and tossing grenades in an attempt to draw out the enemy’s location. He even used his Chinese heritage to confuse the opposing forces, shouting at them in Mandarin. Although wounded during this daring solo mission, Lee’s bravery allowed his platoon to pinpoint and defeat the enemy troops.
For his courageous actions, Lee was awarded the Navy Cross and advised to rest and recover. But Lee wasn’t the type to take it easy. With his arm still in a sling, he “borrowed” an Army jeep and headed back into the fray. Just weeks later, he led his platoon through the mountains to successfully rescue 8,000 Marines who were on the verge of capture by Chinese forces.
Later, Lee received the Silver Star after his platoon found themselves under intense enemy fire. While bullets zipped by, Lee was constantly moving, helping his men find cover. Despite being hit by a machine gun bullet, he returned to action during the Vietnam War.
Lee retired from the Marines in 1968 with the rank of major. Fortunately, the rest of his life was relatively peaceful. In March 2014, he passed away at the age of 88.
8. Max Patkin – The Clown Prince of Baseball
Baseball can sometimes be a slow game, and that’s when you need a mascot to spice things up, like the San Diego Chicken or the Phillie Phanatic. But before those costumed characters made their debut, there was Max Patkin, known as “The Clown Prince of Baseball.”
During World War II, Max Patkin served as a sailor stationed in Hawaii. One day, he found himself pitching in an Army-Navy exhibition game against the legendary Joe DiMaggio. After Joltin' Joe hit one of Patkin’s pitches out of the park, Max playfully followed him around the infield, mimicking DiMaggio’s iconic run.
The crowd loved it, and after the war, Patkin was hired to perform for the Cleveland Indians. Over the years, he entertained fans of the St. Louis Browns and many minor league teams. Beyond baseball, he also performed with famous names like Groucho Marx, Dick Van Dyke, and the Harlem Globetrotters, even making a cameo in the Kevin Costner film Bull Durham.
What made Patkin so beloved? His unique act involved mimicking players' movements, taking naps on bases, and dancing to “Rock Around the Clock.” With his hat cocked sideways, he would entertain the crowd with humorous jabs like, “What a crowd! I had more people in my bed last night.”
At the end of his act, Patkin would step up to the plate, crawl through the catcher’s legs, dash around the field, and eventually get ejected by the umpire. He became particularly famous for his geyser routine, in which he drank a glass of water and then produced an astonishing mist of water from his mouth. Sometimes, he could spray 30 blasts after just one glass.
After performing over 4,000 times (and missing only one game, which occurred after his wife hit him with a hammer in anger), Patkin made his final appearance in Glens Falls, New York, in 1993, six years before passing away at the age of 79.
7. Emory Douglas – The Black Panther Artist
Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party was committed to confronting government oppression of African Americans and offering support to their community. But in order to spark a revolution and rally the masses, they needed an effective medium to spread their message. In 1967, the Panthers created their own newspaper.
The true strength of the paper, however, lay in its striking illustrations of anthropomorphic pigs and fearless black men wielding firearms. The creative force behind these powerful images was Emory Douglas, the official artist of the Black Panther Party.
Douglas had a tumultuous youth, often in and out of trouble with the law. At 15, he was incarcerated for burglary, which led him to work in a prison print shop. There, he developed a passion for graphic design. Upon his release, he attended San Francisco City College to study commercial art.
Merging his artistic talents with his political views, Douglas eventually crossed paths with Black Panther leaders Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton. He proposed enhancing their newspaper with his artwork, which, he believed, could serve as a powerful tool for reaching the black community. The Panthers were impressed and appointed Douglas as their Minister of Culture.
Working from his apartment, Douglas crafted his collages and controversial posters using razor blades and press type. It was a challenging job, made even more difficult by the FBI’s constant interference. According to Douglas, the government tried to sabotage his distribution efforts, even going as far as attempting to entrap him by having an agent pose as a potential art buyer.
Despite these obstacles, Douglas pressed on. He claims that the paper reached an audience of 400,000 at its height. His artwork was frequently reproduced and displayed on city walls and university campuses. Some of his famous illustrations featured Nixon with a swastika on his forehead, and a black woman armed with an RPG. Douglas is also credited with popularizing the image of a pig to symbolize government corruption.
Though the paper ceased publication in 1979 (and the Panthers soon after), Douglas continued his artistic endeavors. Most recently, he worked as a graphic artist for San Francisco’s Sun-Reporter.
6. William Temple Hornaday – The Man Who Saved The American Bison
At one point, trains crossing the American prairie would come to a standstill for hours while massive herds of bison passed by. But as settlers and hunters pushed westward, the American bison began to vanish. By 1886, it was estimated that fewer than 300 bison remained in the wild. This is when William Temple Hornaday took it upon himself to shoot a few before it was too late.
But Hornaday wasn't out hunting for sport. Born in 1854, he was the Leonardo da Vinci of taxidermy, traveling the world to hunt exotic animals and turning them into living works of art. He eventually became the chief taxidermist for the Smithsonian.
Hornaday saw taxidermy as a way to preserve animals for future generations, especially the bison, which he feared were disappearing. Since the Smithsonian lacked specimens, he decided to take it upon himself to stuff a few to keep their memory alive.
In 1886, Hornaday set off to Montana for his “Last Buffalo Hunt.” He called the experience “exceedingly unpleasant,” but after collecting 25 trophies, he preserved them and put them on display for the public. Though his intentions were good, his perspective shifted over time, and by the 1900s, he spearheaded the first captive breeding program for bison.
In 1905, Hornaday, along with President Theodore Roosevelt, established the American Bison Society, which helped breed bison in New York and transported them back to the wild by train, boosting their population. Hornaday also played a key role in creating bison ranges in Montana and Kansas, advocating for critical conservation laws like the Migratory Bird Act, penning a best-selling book defending American animals, and founding the National Zoo to protect endangered species. Without his efforts, the American bison could have vanished.
However, Hornaday's legacy isn’t without its darker aspects. In 1896, when he became director of the Bronx Zoo, he was the one who oversaw the controversial display of a Congolese man named Ota Benga, who was exhibited as though he were an animal.
5. Captain Edward Dwight: The Would-Be Black Astronaut
In 1983, Guion Bluford Jr made history as the first African American in space. However, the course of history might have been different if President John F. Kennedy hadn’t visited Dallas. Kennedy initially envisioned sending a white man, an Asian man, and a black man to the Moon, and he considered Captain Edward Dwight as a contender for that third spot.
Born in 1933 in Kansas City, Kansas, Dwight developed a passion for airplanes early on and set his sights on becoming an Air Force pilot. His dream was challenged by two major obstacles: he was black and slightly shorter than the Air Force's minimum height requirement of 163 centimeters (5'4″). Despite these hurdles, Dwight convinced officials in Washington, D.C. to conduct pilot testing at his college. He aced the exam, impressing military leaders and ultimately becoming a B-57 pilot.
Many of Dwight’s superiors recognized his potential, but everything took a turn in 1961 when Kennedy invited him to join the space program. Some worried that this opportunity could damage his career, advising him to decline. However, with his mother's support, Dwight showed up at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California, determined to seize the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
At first, Dwight became a national sensation, gracing the covers of magazines like Ebony and Jet, receiving fan letters, and even parades. But at Edwards, he encountered significant racial prejudice. His white peers felt resentful of what they saw as the government's attempt to force Dwight upon them. Legendary instructor Chuck Yeager allegedly instructed other candidates to give Dwight the cold shoulder, hoping to break his resolve.
Despite the mounting pressure, Dwight refused to back down. However, after the tragic assassination of President Kennedy, Dwight was removed from the space program. To make matters worse, he was assigned to be the American liaison to the German space program—a program that, in reality, did not exist. Instead of following orders, Dwight commandeered a jet, flew to Washington D.C., and asked the Kennedy brothers for assistance. Unfortunately, they were powerless to help. Feeling frustrated, he resigned from the Air Force in 1966.
Today, Dwight has found success as an artist. Since 1974, he has created over 100 sculptures of iconic African-American figures, including Frederick Douglass, Louis Armstrong, and Martin Luther King Jr. While he may not have reached the Moon, he certainly achieved greatness here on Earth.
4. Sidney Rittenberg: The American Who Worked for Mao
During World War II, the US Army assigned Sidney Rittenberg to study Chinese at Stanford before sending him to Asia to work with the Chinese government. Although he fell in love with China, Rittenberg was disillusioned by the widespread corruption, both among the Chinese and the Americans. Nonetheless, after the war, he chose to stay in China, working for the United Nations. Once again, he was confronted by corruption at every turn... except in the figure of Mao Tse-tung.
Rittenberg became convinced that Mao and his communist movement were the only ones truly practicing honest government. In 1946, he traveled to Yan’an, Mao’s mountain headquarters. There, he met the future dictator, who interrogated him with numerous questions about America.
Moved by Mao’s ideology, Rittenberg became the first American to join the Chinese Communist Party. During the 1946 war between Mao’s guerrillas and the nationalists, Rittenberg supported the communist cause by producing radio propaganda. He even translated for Mao twice, facilitating communication with American officials.
In 1949, the communists seized control of China. However, suspecting Rittenberg of being a spy, Joseph Stalin pressured Mao to imprison him for six years in solitary confinement. “The first year was in complete darkness,” Rittenberg recalled in an interview with The Atlantic. “It was not good.” When Stalin died in 1955, Rittenberg was released and rejoined the revolutionary movement.
Rittenberg quickly returned to broadcasting, translating and spreading propaganda through China Radio International. Initially, he was very popular among the Chinese people. But with the rise of the radical Red Guard in 1966, everything changed. The Red Guard, suspicious of all foreigners, accused Rittenberg of counterrevolutionary actions. Despite the lack of evidence, he was again thrown into solitary confinement for another 10 years, while his Chinese wife was sent to a labor camp.
After Mao’s death, Rittenberg was released once more. Miraculously, he still held on to his belief in Mao’s vision. However, disillusioned by the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, Rittenberg eventually left China. Returning to the United States, he founded a firm that assisted major companies like Microsoft and CBS News in establishing operations in China.
Today, Rittenberg acknowledges that Mao was a dictator and a criminal. Yet, despite the years of suffering he endured in prison, Rittenberg still views Mao as a well-meaning hero at heart.
3. Barnett Davenport: The First Notorious Mass Murderer in America
While mass killings are a tragic part of America’s history, who can be called the first known mass murderer in the nation? (We are specifically referring to individual criminals, not state-sanctioned acts of violence.)
According to historian Michael-John Cavallaro, the title of America’s first known mass murderer goes to Barnett Davenport, a soldier from the Revolutionary War who served under both George Washington and Benedict Arnold. However, Davenport was far from a hero. During his time at Valley Forge, he not only deserted twice, but he was also a convicted robber and horse thief.
Davenport had a deep fascination with murder. After deserting the army for the second time in 1780, the 20-year-old found work with Caleb Mallory, a farmer from Connecticut who ran a grist mill. Caleb lived with his wife, daughter, and three grandchildren. Once Davenport joined the Mallory household, a new and ominous presence had entered the family’s life.
On February 3, Davenport crept into Caleb’s bedroom and savagely attacked the elderly man, along with his wife and their eight-year-old granddaughter, using a swingle, rifle, and pestle. After ransacking the room for valuables, Davenport set fire to the house, killing Caleb’s younger grandsons, ages six and four, in the flames. Their mother survived, as Davenport had convinced her to go on vacation just prior to the murders, likely to get her out of the way.
The newspapers at the time called the murders “the most horrid crimes ever committed in this country, or perhaps any other.” In his confession, Davenport described the night as a “night big with uncommon horror.” However, he only admitted to the killings after authorities found him hiding in a cave nearby six days later.
Authorities also took into custody his brother, Nicholas. Initially, it was a case of mistaken identity. Barnett had used his brother’s name, “Nicholas,” when arriving at the Mallory mill to cover his tracks. Even after Barnett clarified the confusion, the police still believed Nicholas was involved. He was sentenced to 40 lashes and life in prison. Barnett, on the other hand, also received 40 lashes and was executed in May of 1780.
Nicholas was freed after serving two years, but his punishment was far from over. Since he had not reported his brother’s desertion, Nicholas was ordered to remain in New Milford, Connecticut, for the rest of his life. He stayed there until he passed away at 58.
2. Newton KnightThe Man Who Rebelled Against The Confederacy
In 1861, Mississippi broke away from the Union, driven by the state’s strong ties to slavery. For Newton Knight, a poor farmer who did not own slaves, this posed a dilemma. He had no stake in slavery and certainly didn’t feel compelled to defend it.
Knight also opposed the “Twenty Negro Law,” which allowed men who owned 20 or more slaves to avoid military service. As one of Knight’s friends put it, it was “a rich man’s war and a poor man’s fight.” Faced with the threat of execution if he didn’t enlist, Knight eventually signed up as an orderly.
When Confederate soldiers raided his farm and took his horses, Knight snapped. He deserted his regiment and walked 320 kilometers (200 miles) back to his farm, only to find corruption, crushing poverty, and failing crops. In 1863, he was arrested, allegedly tortured, and sent back to the front lines.
Knight deserted once more at the first opportunity. He was not alone—over 100 of his neighbors did the same. Together, they returned to Jones County and took up arms, officially declaring war on the Confederacy.
Under Knight’s leadership, the “Jones County Scouts” (also known as the “Knight Company”) used the swamps as cover and launched guerrilla attacks on Confederate forces. The situation became extremely volatile in 1863 when Knight reportedly killed a Confederate major in his bedroom. In the following year, Knight allegedly sent General William T. Sherman a declaration of independence, stating that the “Free State of Jones” was breaking away from the Confederacy.
Enraged by this defiance, Confederate Colonel Robert Lowry assembled 500 men to crush the Knight Company. Lowry resorted to using vicious dogs and executing prisoners, but the “Southern Yankees” proved resilient. By the end of the Civil War, the Knight Company had survived, and the Confederacy had crumbled.
After the war, Knight became a US marshal, fought against the Ku Klux Klan, and led efforts to distribute food to starving Mississippians. Later, he shocked his community by marrying Rachel, an ex-slave and one of his closest wartime allies, who had used a mixture of red pepper and glass to fight off Lowry’s attack dogs.
Knight passed away in 1922. However, his legacy is poised for a revival with a forthcoming biopic starring Matthew McConaughey, ensuring his story will continue to resonate in the 21st century.
1. Ely ParkerThe Native American General
Ely Parker stood out among the generals of 19th-century America. While most of his contemporaries were white, Parker was a Native American from the Seneca tribe. Born Hasanoanda, he later adopted a new name after attending a Christian school as a child. By the age of 15, he had become fluent in English and served as the official translator for his tribe.
At 18, Parker dined with President James Polk. Throughout the 1830s and 40s, he fought against white settlers attempting to seize land from the Tonawanda Reservation. However, a pivotal moment in his life came when he met Ulysses S. Grant, a former Army officer. The two forged a lasting friendship, and in the 1860s, when Grant became the general of the Union Army, he appointed Parker as his military secretary.
This was a stroke of fortune for Parker, as many had overlooked him for Civil War service. Under Grant’s command, Parker participated in battles such as Vicksburg and Chattanooga and even met Abraham Lincoln. On one occasion, Parker saved Grant from potential capture by warning him just in time about an impending threat from Confederate forces.
One of Parker’s most significant contributions came when he drafted the surrender documents for Grant and Robert E. Lee at Appomattox. After Lee signed the document, he shook Parker’s hand and remarked, 'I’m glad to see one real American here.' Parker’s response was, 'We are all Americans.'
On April 9, 1865, Parker became the Union’s only Native American brigadier general. Four years later, President Grant appointed him as the first Native American Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Despite facing strong opposition, Parker was wrongfully charged with fraud for sending food to starving Native Americans. Although Congress later cleared his name, disillusioned with politics, Parker left Washington, DC, in 1871.
After a short time working on Wall Street, Parker took a position as a clerk for the New York Police Department under Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt. Upon his death in 1895, Parker’s remains were returned to his homeland and laid to rest with his ancestors.
