11 Fierce Historical Figures Most People Have Never Heard Of

Alison Botha Survived Being Suffocated, Disemboweled, And Nearly Beheaded

After a night out with friends in December 1994, Alison Botha was abducted near her home in Port Elizabeth (now known as Gqeberha), South Africa. She was subsequently sexually violated, stabbed, suffocated, nearly beheaded, and essentially disemboweled.

Botha's neck was cut more than 15 times and she had over 30 knife wounds to her torso when she was left to perish. She recalled,

All I could see was an arm moving above my face. Left and right and left and right. His movements were making a sound. A wet sound, it was the sound of my flesh being slashed open. He was cutting my throat with the knife. Again and again and again. It felt unreal but it wasn’t. I felt no pain, but it was not a dream. This was happening. The man was slashing my throat.

But Botha scrawled the names of her attackers in the dirt nearby and made her way to the closest road. Botha later explained, "I realized my life was too valuable to let go... and that gave me the courage to survive."

Botha was taken to the hospital, where doctors were shocked to see the severity of her problems. She survived, then went on to identify the men who harmed her and testified against them at trial. Now an advocate for survivors of sexual cruelty, Botha said the incident "put me on this path [to] help inspire other people."

She tells her story in the 2016 documentary Alison.

Francis Pegahmagabow Was The Deadliest WWI Sniper
Francis Pegahmagabow volunteered for military service in Canada in 1914. A member of the Wasauksing First Nation, Pegahmagabow spent nearly the entirety of WWI serving as a scout and sniper. It was as the latter that Pegahmagabow demonstrated his patience and "unerring aim," both of which resulted in 378 confirmed kills.

Pegahmagabow fought in some of the most deadly WWI incidents. Through it all he survived chlorine gas, shooting wounds, and bouts of pneumonia. During WWI, Pegahmagabow earned numerous medals and, when he was discharged in 1919, left the military as Canada's most decorated First Nations soldier ever.

But Pegahmagabow wasn't done. When he returned to Canada, he remained a member of the militia and entered politics. As an outspoken advocate for the rights of First Nations peoples, Pegahmagabow served as the Supreme Chief of the Native Independent Government during the 1940s.

Age: Dec. at 61 (1891-1952)
Birthplace: Parry Sound, Canada

Jack Churchill Brought A Broadsword, A Longbow, And Bagpipes To WWII
"Mad Jack" Churchill bore no relation to Winston Churchill, but was just as much of a force to be reckoned with during WWII. Churchill, whose full name was John Malcolm Fleming Thorp Churchill, began his military service as a young man in Southeast Asia. While serving during the 1920s and 1930s, Churchill demonstrated his numerous talents, proving to be both a skilled bagpiper and talented archer.

Even though Churchill retired from active military service in 1936, he rejoined in 1939 with the outbreak of WWII. Churchill was sent to France, where he used his longbow on patrol. On many occasions, Churchill reportedly brought out his bagpipes to boost the morale of his fellow soldiers.

He also donned a broadsword, which he used to help capture over 40 prisoners at Salerno in 1943. Churchill reportedly once said, "Any officer who goes into action without a sword is improperly dressed."

In 1944, Churchill was taken prisoner while in Yugoslavia and, although he managed to escape, was recaptured soon after. Undeterred, he escaped once again and asked to be sent to the Pacific theater. The conflict ended before he saw active combat in the Pacific, but after WWII, he spent years as an officer in British Palestine. Churchill retired from the military in 1959, having won two Distinguished Service Order awards.

Age: Dec. at 89 (1906-1996)
Birthplace: Surrey, United Kingdom

Silas Soule's Testimony About The Sand Creek Mass Slaying Helped Prevent A Declaration Of War
Silas Soule lived for only 26 years, but during that time he helped numerous enslaved men and women escape servitude along the Underground Railroad, offered to help abolitionist John Brown break out of jail, and witnessed one of the biggest mass slayings of Native Americans in history.

Soule was a member of the Colorado 1st Regiment Volunteer Infantry when peace talks between US officials and Cheyenne and Arapaho leaders took place in September 1864. As part of those talks, Soule was dedicated to making sure Native Americans were treated fairly. This informed his refusal to fight two months later when US forces went after a Cheyenne and Arapaho village. Soule wrote an account of what he saw as the scene unfolded before him:

The [mass slaying] lasted six or eight hours, and a good many Indians escaped... it was hard to see little children on their knees have their brains beat out by men professing to be civilized. One squaw was wounded and a fellow took a hatchet to finish her, she held her arms up to defend her, and he cut one arm off, and held the other with one hand and dashed the hatchet through her brain. One squaw with her two children, were on their knees begging for their lives of a dozen soldiers, within 10 feet of them all, firing - when one succeeded in hitting the squaw in the thigh, when she took a knife and cut the throats of both children, and then [took her own life]...

Soule went on to testify in front of Congress about the event and his account helped prevent a full-on declaration of official conflict. At the end of the inquiry into the Sand Creek mass slaying, Congress decided the commanding officer was responsible and that it wasn't the result of a larger threat.

Age: Dec. at 26 (1838-1865)
Birthplace: Bath, Maine

Locusta Was The Go-To Poison Expert In The Roman Empire
According to Tacitus, Locusta was retained as a poisoner by Agrippina the Younger when the latter wanted to slay her husband, Emperor Claudius, in 54 CE. By then, Locusta was already in prison, but this didn't stop her from advising Agrippina to use mushrooms on Claudius.

The following year, Emperor Nero reportedly consulted with Locusta about how to poison Britannicus, the son of his predecessor, Claudius. She complied, but because the toxin worked too slowly for Nero, Locusta was threatened with execution. She gave him yet another potion, which worked. At that point, Suetonius explained, Nero pardoned her and "rewarded her with a great estate in land, placing some disciples with her, to be instructed in her trade."

After Nero's demise, Locusta fell out of favor. Emperor Galba ordered her execution during his short reign.

Birthplace: Gaul, France

Peter Freuchen Explored The Arctic And Took On The SS
Peter Freuchen's life spanned more than seven decades, during which he pioneered Arctic exploration, participated in the Danish Resistance of the Third Reich, and even appeared on the game show The $64,000 Question. In the middle of all that, Freuchen had a leg amputated due to frostbite (he also amputated several of his own toes), and was imprisoned by the SS.

Among the highlights of Freuchen's many, many adventures were his time on Baffin Island in 1923, when he became stranded by a blizzard. He was so frostbitten that he had to amputate several of his own toes, and ended up losing his leg. Even after the amputation, however, Freuchen kept taking part in expeditions to Greenland and the Arctic.

During the late 1920s and 1930s, Freuchen worked at as a magazine editor and movie consultant, and wrote several books. During WWII, Freuchen returned to his native Denmark and actively supported the resistance movement. His efforts landed him in prison and he narrowly avoided execution by escaping to Sweden.

Age: Dec. at 71 (1886-1957)
Birthplace: Nykøbing Falster, Denmark

By Dismissing Soviet Military Protocol, Stanislav Petrov Likely Prevented WWIII
Stanislav Petrov was monitoring the Soviet atomic command center in 1983 when reports of a maneuver by the United States came flooding in. When he saw the reports of incoming missiles, Petrov didn't report it to his superiors - rather, he declared the whole thing to be a false alarm.

For Petrov, sending it up the chain of command would have probably resulted in retaliation by the USSR and, ultimately, atomic conflict. He later explained that because the reports said only five missiles were launched by the US, it didn't make sense to retaliate:

I just couldn't believe that... all of a sudden, someone would hurl five missiles at us. Five missiles wouldn't wipe us out. The US had not five, but a thousand missiles... I imagined if I'd assume the responsibility for unleashing [WWIII] - and I said, no, I wouldn't.

Petrov's actions not only prevented open military struggles, but also exposed how flawed the USSR's early warning system truly was. Petrov didn't receive official praise until 2006, but even then, he admitted, "I wasn't 100% sure [that it was a false alarm]. Not even close to 100%."

Age: 83

Vasili Arkhipov Stopped The Cuban Missile Crisis From Going Atomic
The Cuban Missile Crisis, the closest the US and the USSR ever came to actual fighting, was prompted by the latter's installation of missiles on the island of Cuba in 1962.

When President John F. Kennedy decided to blockade the island, a 13-day standoff found both sides on the brink of atomic aggression. A Soviet B-59 submarine was headed toward Cuba in late October 1962 when it encountered depth charges dropped by the US. Having gone silent, the submarine's crew weren't aware of any negotiations underway, nor did they have any insight into the fact that the charges were nonlethal. The submarine's commanding officers discussed launching its massive atomic torpedo.

All three commanding officers had to agree for the launch to commence, but one refused to consent - Vasili Arkhipov. While the captain of the ship, Valentin Savitsky, reportedly cried out, "We’re gonna blast them now! We will die, but we will sink them all - we will not become the shame of the fleet," Arkhipov stood his ground. As a result, the torpedo wasn't fired and atomic conflict was avoided.

Age: Dec. at 72 (1926-1998)
Birthplace: Soviet Union

After Galvarino Had His Hands Cut Off, He Replaced Them With Blades
During the Arauco conflict between the Indigenous Mapuche people and Spanish colonialists, Galvarino was one of the leaders of an insurrection at Lagunillas, Chile. As a Mapuche warrior, Galvarino was captured at Lagunillas in 1557 and punished by having his hands cut off. According to legend, Galvarino accepted his mutilation willingly and without fear.

Galvarino was released - essentially as a message to his people about what would happen in the wake of future resistance to Spanish authority. Upon his return, Galvarino called his fellow Mapuche to action and, as he went back to fight against the Spanish, attached knives to each of his wrists. At the next fight he participated in, Galvarino rallied his men, holding up his arms as he said:

[M]y brothers, see that you all fight very well, you do not want [to] be as I am without hands, so that you will not be able to work nor to eat... Those that you are going to fight with cut them, and also will do to whichever of you they take, and nobody is allowed to flee...

Galvarino was again taken captive, and executed soon after.

Horatius Cocles Held Off An Entire Army All By Himself During The Sixth Century BCE
In the early days of the Roman Republic, the city of Rome was forced to defend itself against numerous Etruscan neighbors, including the city of Clusium. When King Lars Porsena of Clusium launched an onslaught against Rome during the late sixth century BCE, he set his sights on Pons Sublicius - one of the few bridges that went across the Tiber River.

Roman forces tried to stop Porsena and his men from getting to the bridge, but were forced to retreat across the structure in flight. When Porsena and others followed them, one lone soldier, Horatius Cocles, stayed behind to defend the bridge.

Historical sources indicate Horatius was a junior guard at the bridge and, when he saw his "own men... deserting their posts and throwing away their arms," he took it upon himself to act. Horatius built a shield wall out of cadavers and was hit by several arrows and spears before leaping "fully armed into the river and swimming across... [where] he emerged upon the shore without having lost any of his weapons."

Some sources indicate Horatius survived; others say he perished in the fight.

Helge Meyer And His 'Ghost' Camaro Delivered Relief Supplies In Bosnia
Helge Meyer, a former Danish soldier, heard a calling from God to go to Bosnia and bring aid to those affected by the ethnic conflict that raged during the early 1990s.

The dangerous situation in Bosnia made it difficult for outsiders to help, but Meyer came up with a solution. He bought a used 1979 Chevrolet Camaro, equipped it with steel panels, Kevlar plates, and state-of-the-art communication equipment, and boosted the engine for quick maneuvering.

US military officials in Germany helped Meyer airdrop with his Camaro into Bosnia, where he delivered food, medical supplies, and other needed materials to individuals in cities like Vukovar.

Meyer was unarmed, he said, "My Bible. No handguns, no grenades, nothing like that. My only weapon is my Bible." In 1994, one American serviceman described Meyer as "truly a 'one-of-a-kind' man who is always willing to go the extra mile... He is, without fail, someone who can get the mission done with a genuine concern for those involved."

11 Fierce Historical Figures Most People Have Never Heard Of

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