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Added February 7, 2010
About 11,000 black men served in the US Navy. 179,000 served in the army.
Four physicians participated in the removal of Stonewall Jackson's arm after the battle of Chancellorsville. Dr's Harvey Blake, R T Coleman, Hunter McGuire, and a doctor names Walls. McGuire did the actual amputation.
Confederate General Richard Taylor was commanding general of the Department of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. He was also the son of Pres Zachary Taylor
Gen Hooker was the first to create badges to identify individual units. This idea is still used today
150 confederate guns, the largest number assembled, were at Gettysburg. The noise form the guns could be heard 160 miles away in Pittsburgh.
As many as 400 women disguised themselves as men to fight in the war
3 of 4 of the surgeries were amputations
Night time truces were often called, so that the men could retrieve their dead and wounded
Winchester Virginia's occupation was changed more the any other town in the war – 32 times
Lt Rutherford B Hayes and Sgt William McKinley, of the 23 Ohio, both faught in the battle of Antietam. Both went on to be presidents of the United States.
A retired U S Grant waited for two days in Gen George McClellan's office hoping to get an officers commission. McClellan did not have time to see him. McClellan also snubbed Abraham Lincoln in McClellan's home. Lincoln went to see him to get him to move his troops against the enemy. Lincoln was asked to wait for a long time. When he asked a servant, Lincoln was told the McClellan has gone to bed.
Added January 16, 2010
Land mines were created by Gen Gabriel J Rains and used for the first time in defense of Richmond. Due to a lack of gunpowder, Rains had to make his own. One of the ingredients was saltpeter, which is found in urine. His men collected urine from chamber pots and outdoor latrines. At the time land mines were considered unfair, and Rains was ordered not to use them.
Grant's assault on Lee at Cold Harbor on June 3, 1864, caused 7000 union casualties and 1500 confederate casualties in 8 minutes. It was the bloodies 8 minutes of the war.
Irwin P McDowell, one time commander of the army of the Potomac, and PGT Beauregard, one time commander of the army of Northern Virginia were classmates at West Point.
In addition to writing the words to The Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Ward Howe is credited with introducing the idea of Mother’s Day.
Francis E Dumas and Martin R Delany, were the highest ranking black officers in Civil War. They were majors.
Pea Ridge (Elkhorn Tavern in Arkansas), on July 8, 1862 was the largest battle west of the Mississippi River.
Edmund Ruffin, who has been identified as the person who fired the first shot at Ft Sumter, committed suicide when Lee surrendered his troops to Grant.
Daniel Decatur Emmett wrote Dixie as a concluding song to a minstrel show. Early in the Civil War the tune was popular in the north and the south. It later became a southern song. The composer was not sympathetic to the Southern cause.
Added December 24, 2009
David Glasgow Farragut became the first rear admiral in US history as a reward for his victory in New Orleans.
Farragut joined the navy at age 9. At 12 he was given command of a British ship captured in the war of 1812
Ben Butler was the only general to purchase and use Gatling Guns in the war. He used his own money to buy them.
The 1860 census showed a population of 31,443,321 for the Union and 22,339,989 for the south. 3,521,110 of the confederate population were slaves.
George E Pickett was last in his West Point class of 1846
1200 men in the Civil War received the Medal of Honor.
Stonewall Jackson liked West Point so well,l that he made it one of the stops on his honeymoon.
An army of 100,000 men needed 2500 supply wagons, at least 35,000 horses and mules. 600 tons of supplies were needed every day.
There were 1008 generals (North 583, South 425)
47 Northern generals, and 77 Southern generals were killed
146 Southern generals, and 219 Northern generals went to West Point
153 Southern generals, and 188 Northern Generals had no military training
132,554 Northern men and 3674 Southern men enlisted in their respective navy. 5000 of the northern men enlisted in the marines.
On December 3, 1862, the eve of the battle of Stone's River, the opposing ary bands lined up with in hearing sistance of each other and competed by playing Yankee Doodle Dandy, hail Columbia, and Dixie and The Bonnie Blue Flag.
Germany furnished the most foreign born soldiers
Added November 21,2009
The union needed $ to finance the war, and passed the first national income tax on Aug 2, 18691. Taxes were paid on income over $800.
The 23,000 casualties at Antietam was almost 4 times the number on Normandy Beach in WW II
When the war began Lee was 54 and Grant was 39
Both Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet were shot by their own men at The Battle of the Wilderness. Only Longstreet survived
The saying "it's so cold out there it could freeze the balls off a brass monkey" came from when they had old cannons like ones used in the Civil War. The cannonballs were stacked in a pyramid formation, called a brass monkey. When it got extremely cold outside they would crack and break off...Thus the saying.
The order of secession of the 11 Confederate states was: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee.
Charles Frances Adams was the American Ambassador to England. He was the son of John Quincy Adams.
A photograph of A Lincoln made on Tuesday, February 9, 1864 is the image that was used on the five dollar bill.
Col Merriwether Lewis Clark was the son of William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame. Hence his name.
Added September 25 2009
Before the Monitor and the Virginia met at Hampton Roads, the Monitor had to be there. It was extremely slow under its own power.
Prior to the draft in 1863, men could “buy” their way out of the military for $300. some of the men that took advantage of this were: M P Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, and Jay Gould.
The muzzle loading guns that were mostly used in the war, were not of the best quality, and they were often broken and jammed. It took a minute to reload them. Each soldier carried about 40 rounds of ammunition, so they could be out of ammunition in less than an hour. Battles could last for many hours, or days. When their ammunition was gone, the soldiers resorted to bayonets, rock throwing and hand to hand combat.
The youngest Union general was Galusha Pennypacker, who was less than 21 years old.
In the presidential election of 1864, Lincoln got 55% of the popular vote, and 78% of the soldiers vote.
Abraham Lincoln was the first person in history to place an order for machine guns
The Ladie's Gunboat Societies held fundraisers to get money to build Confederate ironclads.
A new fabric was created in the north to make the thousands of uniforms. I was a compressed wool fabric called shoddy. This material was of poor quality and fell apart quickly. This gave rise to the term shoddy, meaning anything not well made
The north named the armies after the area in which they fought. (army of the Potomac) The south named them after states (Army of Northern VA)
The siege of Petersburg was July 15, 1864 ti Narcg 25, 1865. There were 42,000 northern casualties, and 25,000 for the south.
Added August 29, 2009
Samuelo Phillips Lee, a relative of Robert E Lee remained in the union navy on blockade duty. He became a rear admiral by the end of the war.
38,000 African Americans died in battle. 24 earned the medal of honor
The draft came into being in 1863. In July of that year, New York rioted in protest. All military personnel were sent to Gettysburg, so the New York Police had to deal with the rioters. On July 17, 1863, the rioting mob approached the New York Times, whose editor, Henry Jarvis Raymond, a friend of President Lincoln, wrote strongly against the rioters. He set up 3 Gatling Guns, and armed his employees with rifles. When the crowd saw this, they backed away.
Of the northern deaths. 67,088 of these were killed in battle, 43,012 later died of wounds received in battle, 224,580 died of disease, 5,000 drowned, 520 were killed by murderers, 391 committed suicide, 64 executed for crimes. The numbers for the south are questionable. There were about 94,000 killed in action, or wounded and died of wounds, 164,000 died of disease.
200,000 union soldiers, and 104,000 southern soldiers deserted.
26,000 of 214,000 confederate prisoners died in prison.
The Civil War produced the first instant coffee.
Gen Joseph Hooker allowed civilians to enter military camps under his command. Some of these visitors were prostitutes, hence the name “hooker”.
Gen Simon Bolivar Buckner surrendered Ft Donelson to his former West Point Class mate US Grant.
Confederate General John Floyd was a prewar sec of war. It is said he transferred arms to the south before the war started.
By the end of the war,180,000 African Americans served for the north. Greater than half were former slaves.
Added July 26. 2009
The commander of Fort Sumter, when it was fired on, was from KY and a former slave owner. Anderson stayed with the Union Army.
White soldiers got $15 a month and clothing. African Americans got $10 a month, and had to pay $3 for clothing.
In June of 1864, congress provided equal pay for all.
William Seward, President Lincoln's secretary of state, predicted that the war would last ninety days – a popular feeling at the time. The Chicago Tribune said two to three months. Illinois could whip the south by herself. The New York Times predicted 30 days/
From his early days in New Salem IL, Mr. Lincoln always kept important papers in his hat. He started as a New Salem postman to take mail to residents
Besides Abraham Lincoln (Republican ) and Stephen Douglas (Democrat), the election of 1860 included John C Breckenridge (Due to a split in the Democratic Party), and John Bell of the Constitutional Party
The cost of the Civil War was $2.5 million per day
At he end of the war the national debt was $2 billion.
Before the war, Ambrose Burnside was the treasurer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and reported to George B McClellan. Burnside replaced McClellan a commander of the Army of the Potomac.
In 1863 a Union boat left Nashville TN with several passengers. It was not allowed to dock at Louisville or Newport KY, because the passengers were prostitutes that were removed from camps around Nashville.Added September 25 2009
Before the Monitor and the Virginia met at Hampton Roads, the Monitor had to be there. It was extremely slow under its own power.
Prior to the draft in 1863, men could “buy” their way out of the military for $300. some of the men that took advantage of this were: M P Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, John D Rockefeller, and Jay Gould.
The muzzle loading guns that were mostly used in the war, were not of the best quality, and they were often broken and jammed. It took a minute to reload them. Each soldier carried about 40 rounds of ammunition, so they could be out of ammunition in less than an hour. Battles could last for many hours, or days. When their ammunition was gone, the soldiers resorted to bayonets, rock throwing and hand to hand combat.
The youngest Union general was Galusha Pennypacker, who was less than 21 years old.
In the presidential election of 1864, Lincoln got 55% of the popular vote, and 78% of the soldiers vote.
Abraham Lincoln was the first person in history to place an order for machine guns
The Ladie's Gunboat Societies held fundraisers to get money to build Confederate ironclads.
A new fabric was created in the north to make the thousands of uniforms. I was a compressed wool fabric called shoddy. This material was of poor quality and fell apart quickly. This gave rise to the term shoddy, meaning anything not well made
The north named the armies after the area in which they fought. (army of the Potomac) The south named them after states (Army of Northern VA)
The siege of Petersburg was July 15, 1864 ti Narcg 25, 1865. There were 42,000 northern casualties, and 25,000 for the south.
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