Russian and American history

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire%E2%80%93United_States_relations#Russian_involvement_in_the_American_Revolutionary_War

cites Frank A. Golder, "Catherine II and the American Revolution," The American Historical Review 21.1 (1915): 92–96.

http://knowledgenuts.com/2015/02/01/how-the-russian-navy-saved-the-union-in-the-civil-war/
In some peculiar way, our history and Russia's are linked.

Another interesting thing, is that the Nez Perce Indians and/or
Shoshone, both of whom had the appaloosa horse as it came to be
known, claimed their spotted horses did not come from the Spanish
sourced Plains Indians they traded with, but from a couple of
spotted stallions that came off a Russian trading ship. This kind of
spotting is to be found in one or more breeds in Asia, including in
Siberia. Even in at least one cave painting.

The Nez Perce preferred the blanket pattern, where the spots are on
the horse's croup (top of butt), which is why you rarely see spotted
horses in old Nez Perce photos, since the photos mostly are taken
from the front, as they are about the Indians not the riders. The
majority of their horses weren't spotted, but it was considered a
very classy thing. Eventually after the American Army attempted
to minimize Nez Perce rebellion risks by killing or removing and
selling their horses, including the spotted ones, one tribal
subgroup's few representatives attempted to collect and breed only
the spotted ones.

Art and I think legend indicates that the leopard pattern was
preferred by the Shoshone, who were often enemies of their Nez
Perce neighbors. This odd type of spotting is to be found in an
occasional art from Europe, so obviously this and the pinto got
here from Spanish sources, but the vast majority of the appaloosa
type spotting came from the Nez Perce and Shoshone, which
means it comes from Russia.

Russia was trading and setting up trade colonies in Alaska,
originally Russian property, and as far south as Ft. Ross near San
Francisco, CA, "Ross" refers to Russia. The bear on the California
flag also refers to the Russian background. The Russian Orthodox
Church was also the first to evangelize the Inuit (eskimo) and
others in Alaska, whether they got this going in the Pacific north
west or not I don't know.

After the Spanish took over, an Aleut eskimo Russian Orthodox
named Peter was in California and seized by Spanish who
demanded he convert to Roman Catholicism. St. Peter the Aleut
was tortured to death but would not change from Orthodox to
Roman Catholic.