Episode #71: 1826 Timeline Twist & The Great Christmas Eggnog Riot

West Point Military Academy, J. Hill, George Catlin, 1828, Aquatint and etching with applied watercolor

6/27/2025: On today’s episode, we discuss the invention of “Friction Lights/Lucifers”, the very first Cowes Regatta, brought to us by the playboy prince, George IV, the cinematic universe of Kevin Costner brought to us by The Last of the Mohicans, the first ever photograph, and the time when frenemies turned penpals (Jefferson and Adams) died within hours of each other on the Jubilee of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, in the 1826 Timeline Twist. Next, Amy Jo presents the delightful story of dairy laden debauchery at West Point Military Academy, when cadets had had enough of the strict rules, and hatched a plan with the help of the “most important bartender in American history”, Benny Havens. After the success of the secret nighttime mission, the revelry escalated into door-knocking games, hiding in plain sight, the reading of The Riot Act, the suspicion of an impending massacre, stolen instruments, murder plots, piled furniture, and finally an inquest.

John Walker Lights

Lucifer Matches

The Cowes Regatta as shown in East Cowes Castle by J. M. W. Turner 1827

The bridge as pictured in a Staffordshire stoneware plate in the 1840s. (From the home of J L Runeberg)

View from the Window at Le Gras, Nicéphore Niépce (Gernsheim's enhanced version)

Thomas Jefferson; John Adams (Getty/Photo Montage by Salon)

Bouffants, 1830s

Painting of U.S. Military Academy superintendent Sylvanus Thayer by Robert Walter Weir

U.S. Military Academy commandant William Worth (1820–28) between 1845 and 1849

West Point Postage Stamp

Tavern owner Benny Havens

Jefferson Davis as President of the Confederate States of America in 1861. Davis was among the seventy cadets who took part in the Eggnog Riot of 24–25 December 1826.

Eggnog. Credit: Monica Farber / Southern Living

Portrait of Ethan Allen Hitchcock between 1851 and 1860. Hitchcock served as a faculty member at West Point at the time of the Eggnog Riot in 1826.

Eggnog taste test winners. Credit, Alice Gao

Sources/Photo Sources

Intro Sources:

NA

Timeline Twist Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1826

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Egyptian_invasion_of_Mani

https://www.bbc.co.uk/ahistoryoftheworld/objects/hQR9oN5LTeCLcuKfPDMJ9A

https://www.artandobject.com/news/what-you-might-not-know-about-worlds-oldest-photograph 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowes_Week

https://www.bbc.com/storyworks/a-year-of-great-events/cowes-week 

https://blogs.loc.gov/headlinesandheroes/2022/07/deaths-of-john-adams-and-thomas-jefferson-on-july-4th/ 

https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/three-presidents-die-on-july-4th-just-a-coincidence 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/time-traveler/1826

Timeline Twist Photo Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowes_Week#/media/File:East_Cowes_Castle,_by_J_M_W_Turner_1827.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menai_Suspension_Bridge#/media/File:Select_Sketches_-_Menai_Bridge_2.jpg

https://madeupinbritain.uk/Match

https://ddbean.com/the-engineering-of-matches/

https://www.salon.com/2018/02/19/what-john-adams-really-thought-about-thomas-jefferson-i-shudder-at-the-calamities/

https://timetravelingincostume.blogspot.com/2017/10/those-whacky-biedermeier-hair-ribbon.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras#/media/File:View_from_the_Window_at_Le_Gras,_Joseph_Nic%C3%A9phore_Ni%C3%A9pce.jpg

The Great Christmas Eggnog Riot Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/egg-nog-its-all-fun-and-games-until-someone-starts-a-holiday-riot-180949281/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/geoffwilliams/2016/11/29/a-brief-history-of-eggnog-its-past-is-stranger-than-you-think/ 

https://www.army.mil/article/49823/the_eggnog_riot 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBTDAvZoq-g

https://www.history.com/articles/when-eggnog-sparked-a-riot-at-west-point

The Great Christmas Eggnog Riot Photo Sources:

https://www.cartermuseum.org/collection/west-point-military-academy-1985282 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot#/media/File:SylvanusThayer.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot#/media/File:Benny_Havens_(page_54_crop).jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot#/media/File:William_J_Worth.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot#/media/File:Gen_Ethan_Allen_Hitchcock.jpg 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog_riot#/media/File:President-Jefferson-Davis.jpg 

https://www.seriouseats.com/eggnog-taste-test-best-brand-of-eggnog-organic-valley-hood-southern-comfort-turkey-hill 

https://www.southernliving.com/recipes/classic-eggnog 

https://info.mysticstamp.com/this-day-in-history-december-24-1826/