Furlong the fundamental unit of land measurement. A furlong was forty rods, an acre four by 40 rods, or four rods by one furlong, and thus 160 square rods. At the time, the Saxons used the North German foot, which was 10 percent longer than the foot of today. When England changed to the shorter foot in the late 13th century, rods and furlongs remained unchanged, since property boundaries were already defined in rods and furlongs. The only thing that changed was the number of feet and yards in a rod or a furlong, and the number of square feet and
Harold A. Furlong Harold A. Furlong Harold Arthur Furlong (August 25, 1895 – July 27, 1987) was a United States Army First Lieutenant and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in France during World War I. After earning the Medal of Honor, he joined the Michigan National Guard, retiring in May 1946. Rank and organization: First Lieutenant, U.S. Army, 353d Infantry, 89th Division. Place and date: Near Bantheville, France, 1 November 1918. Entered service at: Detroit, Mich. Birth: Pontiac, Mich. G.O. No.: 16, W.D., 1919: Citation: Immediately after the opening of the attack