Site of Idaho's Bear River Massacre Located

In January 1863, Union Army Soldiers killed hundreds of Northwestern Shoshone. The attack, known as the Bear River Massacre, took place at the confluence of Battle Creek and Bear River in eastern Idaho, but pinpointing it had been challenging since the river's course has shifted multiple times in the past century and a half.
Now a team of archaeologists lead by Ken Reid has used modern technology and maps made by soldiers who took part in the attack to determine that it took place around 2,300 feet north of where the creek and river join today. When Col. Patrick Connor and his 300 soldiers and cavalry launched their attack on January 29, 1863, Shoshone women and children tried to flee at the bottom of a nearby ravine.

U.S. Returns Christopher Columbus Letter to Italy

After his initial voyage in 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to his patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, which was reprinted and distributed to spread information about the New World. According to a report published in Live Science, a joint American-Italian investigation team has determined that one of the 80 surviving copies of the letter, donated to the Library of Congress, has been stolen from the Riccardiana Library in Florence. Italy, where a forgery had been left in its place. The forged document, in addition to having mismatched stitching, lacked an original Riccardiana Library stamp. Investigators also found that bleach had been used to remove the Riccardiana Library's stamp from the letter in the  Library of Congress. How the theft took place is still under investigation.