tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-315543542024-03-14T03:01:58.533-06:00Shon Powers' Civil War BlogA series of essays by an Independent Scholar and US Civil War History Buff
(An Amatuer Civil War Historian)FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-68853710565192108012009-04-24T20:38:00.000-06:002009-04-24T20:50:38.238-06:00April's Main Points.The main points of the Civil War in April;<br /><br />April 3, 1865; Richmond falls to Union troops.<br /><br />April 6-7, 1862; Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing, TN)<br /><br />April 9, 1865: Confederate Armyof Northern Virginia surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse, VA<br /><br />April 13, 1865: President Lincoln assassiated, dies the next day.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-45597390761351791152009-02-12T02:13:00.001-06:002009-02-12T02:15:01.291-06:00I share a birthdayI share a birthday with Union Major General Winfield Scott Hancock (February 14), II Corps Commander.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-6597167999002978282009-02-12T02:02:00.004-06:002009-04-16T02:24:21.331-06:00Noted birthdayToday is the 200th birthday of President Abraham Lincoln.<br /><br />That is something to celebrate.<br /><br />Born on the frontier.<br />No more than a few years education.<br />Taught himself the law.<br />Became a circuit lawyer.<br />Elected to the Illinois Legislature.<br />Served a term in the US Congress.<br />Failed to be elected Senator.<br />Elected the 16th President.<br />Saw his nation at war with each other.<br />Took great risks.<br />Became the driving force for freeing the slaves.<br />Became a martyr as victory was achieved.<br /><br />Listed as one of the 5 greatest Presidents.<br /><br />Born 200 years ago today.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-13219196867211254822009-02-03T00:52:00.002-06:002009-02-03T01:08:06.306-06:00Remembering February 1, 1861Texas seceded on February 1, 1861, one of the original group of states to do so.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-47021977540107252362009-01-16T08:47:00.003-06:002009-03-04T06:20:45.432-06:00New Year2009 is here, and I look forward to seeing a few anniversaries that will take place this year;<br /><br />Abrahan Lincoln's 200th Birthday will be observed in February.<br /><br />Robert E Lee 202nd Birthday will also be noted.<br /><br />There wll also be several 144th anniversaries:<br /><br />Sherman's Carolinas Campaign<br />The Fall of Charleston, SC<br />The destruction of Columbia, SC<br />The epic voyage of CSS Shenandoah<br />The last-ditch effort by the CSA to enlist African-Americans in its ranks (too little too late)<br />The Fall of Wilmington, NC<br />The destruction of Confederate defenses in the Shenandoah Valley<br />The establishing of the Freedmen's Bureau<br />The Battle of Averasboro, NC<br />The Battle of Bentonville, NC<br />The Battle of Fort Steadman, VA<br />The Battle of Five Forks, VA<br />The Battle of Selma, AL<br />The Fall of Petersburg, VA<br />The Fall of Richmond and the flight of the Confederate Government<br />The Surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia<br />The Assassination of President Lincoln<br />The Surrender of the Army of Tennessee<br />The Capture of Jefferson Davis<br />The Battle of Palmito Ranch, TX<br />The Passage of the 13th Amendment, outlawing Slavery<br />The Start of Reconstruction<br /><br />Good anniversaries this year, still looking forward to the 150th anniversaries, starting with the 150th Anniversary of the Secession of South Carolina, December 20, 2011.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-59559508908968876672008-11-03T18:26:00.000-06:002008-11-03T18:29:42.472-06:00Grave of General William Scurry, CSA, Texas State Cemetery, Austin, TX<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-XAjKxJoI/AAAAAAAAAB4/pmSeVYigydQ/s1600-h/Grave+of+GEN+Scurry,+CSA.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264592525115598466" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-XAjKxJoI/AAAAAAAAAB4/pmSeVYigydQ/s320/Grave+of+GEN+Scurry,+CSA.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div></div>FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-7472072303415965392008-11-03T18:21:00.000-06:002008-11-03T18:25:33.379-06:00Grave of General Ben McCulloch, Texas State Cemetery, Austin, TX<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-WBVMLEmI/AAAAAAAAABw/_AiyUbkJQJg/s1600-h/Grave+of+GEN+Ben+McCulloch.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264591439031636578" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-WBVMLEmI/AAAAAAAAABw/_AiyUbkJQJg/s320/Grave+of+GEN+Ben+McCulloch.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div> </div><div>McCulloch was killed at Elk Horn Tavern, AR.</div>FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-37102426259054477172008-11-03T18:07:00.002-06:002008-11-03T18:21:32.164-06:00Grave of General A. S. Johnston, Texas State Cemetery, Austin, TX<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-U33AvmcI/AAAAAAAAABo/Cx4DsVhZ-RU/s1600-h/GEN+Johnston%27s+tombstone.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264590176800184770" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-U33AvmcI/AAAAAAAAABo/Cx4DsVhZ-RU/s320/GEN+Johnston%27s+tombstone.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-UablrhsI/AAAAAAAAABg/J9Ye5H-DybU/s1600-h/GEN+Johnston%27s+crypt.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264589671222707906" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-UablrhsI/AAAAAAAAABg/J9Ye5H-DybU/s320/GEN+Johnston%27s+crypt.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-T7fHvLlI/AAAAAAAAABY/4pTSvWNB5Zs/s1600-h/Marker+on+GEN+Johnston%27s+grave.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264589139594915410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-T7fHvLlI/AAAAAAAAABY/4pTSvWNB5Zs/s320/Marker+on+GEN+Johnston%27s+grave.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-S0FGsixI/AAAAAAAAABQ/-Gqhb1Mlq8s/s1600-h/Grave+of+GEN+A+S.+Johnston,+CSA.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5264587912840514322" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 240px" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ailn5sFKamw/SQ-S0FGsixI/AAAAAAAAABQ/-Gqhb1Mlq8s/s320/Grave+of+GEN+A+S.+Johnston,+CSA.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Grave of General Albert Sidney Johnston, killed at Shiloh, TN</div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-67970195840552573122008-09-07T13:48:00.000-06:002008-09-07T13:49:56.707-06:00Still here....There will be a new post soon, I'm adding some pictures that I will take next week.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-76795098421166692462008-02-13T11:14:00.000-06:002008-02-13T11:48:20.344-06:00My Book is out....Announcing the e-publishing of my book, "An Amatuer's Look at the American Civil War."<br /><br />1. Go to <a href="http://www.lulu.com/">http://www.lulu.com/</a><br /><br />2. Click on "Buy"<br /><br />3. Under the books heading, click on "History"<br /><br />4. Towards the bottom you will see "Try out advanced search" click on that.<br /><br />5. Type in my last name, Powers, in the Name field.<br /><br />6. My book is on page 5.<br /><br />It is available only as a e-book right now.<br /><br />I'll be the first to admit that I probably have not addressed every single aspect of the WBTS. But then and again, that would be what a Second Edition is for.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-10194631596659258302008-01-26T13:19:00.000-06:002008-01-26T13:34:20.524-06:00It's been a while...It has been some time since I posted here. I've been busy editing my book that I have been writing for the past two years. It's called "An <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Amateurs</span> Look at the American Civil War." Its a collection of facts, events, and any other bits of information that I have assembled about the Civil War. It is currently at 850 pages of information and i have arranged it as such:<br /><br />Civil War <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Calendar</span>: Events arranged by month, by day, and then by year. Everything from major battles, minor skirmishes, political happenings, and newspaper headlines. Sprinkled throughout are quotes, some familiar, some not.<br /><br />Military Life: A collection of military information to include weapons, how to load and fire said weapons, uniforms, and equipment, rations, regulations, and a cookbook.<br /><br />Interesting Facts: This area explores the issues, personalities, and strange facts that came out of the war. Included are essays on African-Americans, women, the Irish, other <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">foreigners</span> in the two armies, Reconstruction, and ending with a roll call of the occupations of those who survived as well as those who fell.<br /><br />Editing is going on at this time with the possibility of publishing this fall, most <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">likely</span> as an e-book.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-35310514999265352802008-01-08T11:25:00.000-06:002008-01-08T11:27:26.639-06:00CopperheadsAs with any other war in US history, the Civil War had its own anti-war opposition. There was a small, vocal, and sometimes violent group that took it upon themselves to work against the war policies of the Lincoln Administration. This group primarily consisted of a faction of the Democratic Party known as Peace Democrats and would be considered quite radical today. They were assisted by several northern newspapers and had the support of lawyers and other professionals.<br /><br />There are two stories of the origin of the name for their group, Copperheads. The most popular one was that some members cut the Goddess of Liberty images out of copper pennies and fixed them to the lapels of their coats to identify themselves to each other. The other one was they were described by their Republican opponents as venomous snakes, such as the Copperhead snake.<br /><br />There was not a single organization called Copperhead, the anti-war opposition actually consisted of several groups:<br /><br />Knights of the Golden Circle<br /><br />The Knights of the Golden Circle was an already established group (established in 1854) that wanted to maintain the balance of Slave and Free states. One of their goals was to expand the US into Mexico and the Caribbean in order to keep that balance. The group planned what was called filibustering expeditions to countries like Cuba. They planned to raise and equip a small armed force, invade said country and take over its government, and then turn that country over to the US as a new territory, usually with the aim of creating a Slave state. These plans never got beyond the discussion stage. In 1861, they had some involvement in Kentucky’s secession movement, but beyond that, there was not too much that they were able to do. Actions they did take included resisting the draft and harassing Union patrols looking for deserters. One popular tactic was to entice Union soldiers to desert by providing civilian clothes, maps to safe houses, and train tickets. Not many took up the offer. The group came to an end in 1865 amid allegations that they assisted in the Lincoln Assassination.<br /><br />Order of American Knights<br /><br />Established in 1850 by Phineas C. Wright, the Order of American Knights was much feared throughout the Civil War, mostly for imagined reasons. This organization patterned themselves after the Knights of the Golden Circle in their Southern sympathies as well as their tactics. Their base of membership stretched throughout the North, however, their true numbers were inflated. One thing that caught the attention of Union authorities was a meeting held in December, 1863 in Chicago, where they denounced the Lincoln Administration’s activities as unconstitutional and called for the Peace Democrats to prepare to take up arms against a looming dictatorship. The same group met in February, 1864 and, expressing misgivings about Wright’s views and tactics and actually voted to dissolve the organization. Wright himself was arrested and imprisoned for the remainder of the war. He spent the immediate post-war years trying to establish Democrat exile communities in South America.<br /><br />Sons of Liberty<br /><br />The Sons of Liberty was a new group to the anti-war movement, conceived in 1863 and was fully formed the following year when the former Order of American Knights was dissolved and their members renamed themselves the Sons of Liberty. This organization is not the same as the Sons of Liberty formed before the American Revolution, although their members probable thought they were. This group was a little more active, organizing themselves into military style formations in response to the Conscription Act of 1863, planning to take over sever state governments in the Northwest and secede from the Union, and to form mutual protection societies for their members. They went so far as to plan (with some help form the Confederacy) to free Confederate prisoners from Camp Douglas, Chicago, IL, arm them, and then seize control of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Kentucky. Democratic Party authorities in Illinois found out and demanded they stop. This, coupled with reports from a government detective that had infiltrated the group which was published in several Republican newspapers, ended the plot and the leaders were arrested. They were tried before a military commission, found guilty of inciting insurrection and giving aid and comfort to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CSA</span>, and sentenced to death. One leader, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Lambdin</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Milligan</span>, appealed his conviction on the grounds that a military commission could not try civilians. In a Supreme Court decision known as Ex <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Parte</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Milligan</span>, the court overturned the convictions and set them free. At the end of the war, the organization soon fizzled out.<br /><br />These organizations were at their strongest when Union was prospects were at their lowest. Union defeats on the battle field were usually followed by calls for negotiations with the Confederacy with the aim of just ending the war, even if it meant victory for the South. When 1864 brought Union victory, especially the capture of Atlanta, their calls fell on increasingly deaf ears.<br /><br />One view that they had was that the war was supposed to be fought strictly for the preservation of the Union. When President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, they expressed their view that emancipation was unconstitutional and the aim of the war had been changed to a social one, namely freedom for African-Americans. Their racist views were widely published in various newspapers and proclaimed in speeches.<br /><br />Another view that had was that President Lincoln was a despot who trampled on the rights of dissenters, closed Democrat newspapers, suspended <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">habeas</span> corpus, and was leading the nation into a military dictatorship. They believed in their hearts that their way of life was being threatened by a Republican controlled Congress. When the Conscription Act was enacted, some of that opposition took form in the New York City Draft Riots.<br /><br />The most vocal of the dissenters was Ohio Congressman Clement <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Vallandingham</span>, who was a Supreme Commander of the Sons of Liberty. On 14 January, 1863, he made a speech on the floor of the House of Representatives that not only called the war illegal and immoral, but claimed that it would eventually lead to the secession of the Northwest States.<br /><br />Later that spring, Major General Ambrose Burnside, at the time commander of the Military District of Ohio, published General Order No. 38, declaring that support for the Confederacy in the district would no longer be tolerated. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Vallandingham</span> openly defied the order by making speeches on 5 May, 1863 and was arrested. He was tried with “expressing treasonous sympathy” and sentenced to prison for the duration of the war. Lincoln stepped in the commuted the sentence to banishment to the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">CSA</span>. He was soon turned over to confederate authorities, but they had no use for him. He soon relocated to Canada, where he could still maintain some sort of activity.<br /><br />In the Election of 1864, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Vallandingham</span> was placed on the ballot as the Peace Democrat candidate for Ohio Governor. He was soon aided in returning to the US, where he aided in the writing of the Peace Plank of the party platform. His views that the war was a failure, however, lost its punch in the light of Union victories as well as their candidate, former Major General George McClellan, rejecting the Peace Platform. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Vallandingham</span> even lost in the Ohio Governor’s race. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Vallandingham</span> himself met an ignoble end, post-war he had returned to the law profession and, while demonstrating to a friend how the victim was shot, forgot to check that the pistol he was using was loaded, and shot himself.<br /><br />With the re-election of President Lincoln and the prospect that the war would soon end with total Union victory, the Copperheads soon faded from importance.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-62390747042065099032007-12-10T14:13:00.000-06:002007-12-10T14:14:34.198-06:00HorsesUnion:<br /><br />Ulysses S. Grant: Cincinnati, Fox, Jack, Jeff Davis, Kangaroo, Rondy.<br /><br />Nathaniel Banks: Charlie.<br /><br />John Buford: Grey Eagle.<br /><br />Ambrose Burnside: Old Bob.<br /><br />Benjamin Butler: Almond Eye.<br /><br />Joshua Chamberlain: Charlemagne.<br /><br />John Gibbon: Fanny<br /><br />Joseph Hooker: Lookout.<br /><br />Henry Hunt: Bill.<br /><br />Philip Kearny: Moscow, Decatur, Bayard.<br /><br />Patrick Kelly: Faugh-a-Ballagh.<br /><br />Judson Kilpatrick: Beppo, Old Spot. <br /><br />John Logan: Slasher.<br /><br />George McClellan: Kentuck, Daniel Webster, Burns.<br /><br />George Meade: Old Baldy, Blackie, Gertie, Old Bill.<br /><br />Alfred Pleasonton: Slicky<br /><br />John Reynolds: Fancy, Prince.<br /><br />Winfield Scott: Napoleon.<br /><br />John Sedgewick: Cornwall, Handsome Joe, Rambler.<br /><br />Philip Sheridan: Aldebaron, Rienzi.<br /><br />William Sherman: Lexington, Sam, Dolly.<br /><br />Daniel Sickles: Grand old Canister, Grape, Tammany.<br /><br />George Thomas: Billy.<br /><br />Strong Vincent: Old Jim.<br /><br />Confederate:<br /><br />Robert E. Lee: Ajax, Brown Roan, Traveller, Lucy Long, Richmond.<br /><br />Edward P. Alexander: Dixie.<br /><br />Patrick Cleburne: Dixie.<br /><br />Richard Ewell: Rifle.<br /><br />Nathan Bedford Forrest: King Philip, Highlander, Roderick.<br /><br />Richard Garnett: Red Eye.<br /><br />John Gordon: Milroy.<br /><br />Davis Gregg: Pretty.<br /><br />Wade Hampton: Butler, Beauregard, Captain.<br /><br />John Bell Hood: Jeff Davis<br /><br />Thomas Jackson: Old Sorrel.<br /><br />Albert S. Johnston: Fire-eater.<br /><br />Joseph Johnston: Fannie.<br /><br />Fitzhugh Lee: Nellie Gray.<br /><br />James Longstreet: Hero.<br /><br />John Hunt Morgan: Black Bess.<br /><br />Sterling Price: Bucephalus.<br /><br />Robert Rhodes: Firefly.<br /><br />George Steuart: Pocahontas.<br /><br />J.E.B. Stuart: Virginia, Highfly, Skylark, General, Chancellor, Bullet, My Maryland. <br /><br />Walter Taylor: Fleetfoot.<br /><br />Isaac Trimble: Jinny.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-46131618759959195112007-12-01T14:12:00.000-06:002008-01-26T13:36:20.701-06:00I've been away for a while, helping my wife with the passing of her Mother. I will be returning to this blog within the next week.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-8480305013620236002007-11-05T13:12:00.000-06:002007-11-05T13:24:24.054-06:00WomenThere is another aspect of the Civil War that should be included in every history, the contributions and impact that women made in the conflict. Many of these women were not the stay at home type who saw their husbands, fathers, and brothers march off to war. The maintained farms, worked in factories, nursed the wounded, clerked in government offices and, in about 1250 cases, donned a male disguise and actually carried a musket.<br /><br />Others left diaries that gave insights into the civilian side of life on the Home Front, or in some cases, when the front reached their home. The chronicled the struggles of life while the men were away as well as the struggle to get food on the table in a time that armies were stripping the farms bare. There were also insights into the political issues at the time. There might have been a few Scarlett O’Hara types, with their parasols and saying, “fiddle-de-de,” but a good look at the women of the period would find that they were a lot tougher than popular literature suggested. Especially since some of these women were African-Americans, who also endured being slaves.<br /><br />Union:<br /><a title="Alcott-L.jpg" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Alcott-L.jpg"></a><br /><br />Louisa May Alcott started working in a Georgetown, MD hospital helping wounded Union soldiers. She wrote letters to her family which described her experiences working there. Those letters became Hospital Sketches. She was more famous for her post-war novels, Little Women and Little Men.<br /><br />Susie Baker was a slave in Georgia who managed to learn to read and write. She put those skills to good use while a laundress with the 33rd United States Colored Troops. After the war, she helped organize part of the Women’s Relief Corps, as well as becoming a nurse.<br /><br />Clara Barton started her working life in the US Patent Office. She soon took up nursing and after the war, was instrumental in founding the America Red Cross.<br /><br />Mary Bickerdyke served as a nurse in about 19 engagements in the West and as an agent of the Sanitary Commission. Her assistance was such that Major General Thomas Sherman made her the only civilian woman allowed in his area of operations. At the end of the war, she was allowed to ride at the head of a group of Sanitary Commission agents at the Grand Review. Post-war she worked on securing pensions for Union veterans and even secured one herself. She was more known to the troops as “Mother” Bickerdyke.<br /><br />Elizabeth Blackwell put her status as the first female medical doctor to good use, helping found the Sanitary Commission, which was a great help to many Union soldiers, in camp or in the hospital.<br /><br />Mary Elizabeth Bowser was an African-American servant working in the Confederate White House. She also was a very well educated woman who picked up lost of information that the Union was able to use, some of that from CS President Jefferson Davis!<br /><br />Kady Brownell was a color-bearer in the 1st Rhode Island at the First Battle of Manassas, VA, the unit her husband was also serving in. She was officially on the rolls as a “Daughter of the Regiment,” as well as a vivandiere, or sutler. The couple also served with the 5th Rhode Island.<br /><br />Florena Budwin enlisted in the Union Army with her husband. Both were captured and sent to Andersonville, where he died. She was transferred to the Florence, SC prison, where she died.<br /><br />Frances Clayton followed her husband into the Union Army, participating in 18 engagements until her husband was killed in the Battle of Stones River in 1862. She was wounded in the same battle and her gender was discovered as she was being treated. She was one of about 1000 women who disguised themselves was men and followed the Union colors.<br /><br />Lizzie Compton never gave up trying to enlist as a Union soldier. She claimed to have been in seven different units.<br /><br />Pauline Cushman tricked some Confederate sympathizers in New Orleans by accepting $300 just to go on a stage and present a toast to the CSA. She made the toast, received the money, and used it to start her career as a Union spy.<br /><br />Frances Day entered the 126th Pennsylvania as Sergeant Frank Mayne in order to be near her sweetheart. She deserted after her beau died of illness.<br /><br />Dorothea Dix broke gender barriers by becoming the first female superintendent of US Army nurses. As a matter of fact, the demands placed on manpower by the war effort led to women being hired by many departments of the Federal Government.<br /><br />A little girl named Emily disguised herself as a boy and joined a Michigan regiment. She died at Lookout Mountain, outside Chattanooga, TN.<br /><br />Anne Etheridge followed her husband into Union service, but did not follow him when he deserted. She became a “Daughter of the Regiment” in the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Michigan before the war’s end.<br /><br />Ella Gibson was elected chaplain of the 1st WI Heavy Artillery.<br /><br />Cornelia Hancock started her nursing career in the camp hospitals that sprang up following the Battle of Gettysburg.<br /><br />Mrs. Judith Henry became the first woman to die in the war when she was hit by Federal artillery at the First Battle of Manassas<br /><br />Albert Cashier was injured in an automobile accident in 1911. In the hospital, it was found that “Cashier” was actually a woman named Jennie Hodgers who disguised herself as a man, served in the 95th Illinois Infantry, and kept the deception into the 20th Century.<br /><br />Clara Harris was a close eye witness to the Lincoln Assassination.<br /><br />Julia Ward Howe was taking a carriage ride with her husband when she spotted a group of Union soldiers singing “John Brown’s Body.” She remarked that there should be better words to that tune. That night, she could not sleep and began writing a poem that she felt was better suited for the music. The poem became “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” and was a great hit with the troops. Sadly, the Atlantic Monthly only paid her $4 for the poem.<br /><br />Elizabeth Keckley, an African-American seamstress, was the closest confidant of First Lady Mary Lincoln. She also worked for Confederate First Lady Varina Davis.<br /><br />Mary Livermore bucked more traditional women’s roles to co-direct the Chicago office of the Sanitary Commission.<br /><br />In 1864, near Florence, AL, Confederate troops captured a Federal soldier named Frank Miller, shooting him in the leg while he tried to escape. Upon searching him, it turned out that he was a woman, named Frances Hook. She had enlisted with her brother, only to see him die at Shiloh.<br /><br />Mary Siezgle was another woman who enlisted in the Federal Army in order to be near her husband. They served in the 44th New York Infantry.<br /><br />Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was first published as a serial in the National Era. The following year it was released in book form. It sold 1,000,000 copies, a mega-best seller in its time. During the war, President Lincoln met Stowe and remarked to her, “so you are the little woman whose book started this war.” (Really interesting was that the villain, Simon Legree, was described as a Northerner.)<br /><br />Mary Tepe, known as French Mary, was a vivandiere, a female sutler. She sold pies, tinned meat, personal care items, and sometimes whiskey. She also mended and washed soldiers’ uniforms. She became a vivandiere when her husband enlisted in the 114th Pennsylvania. At Fredericksburg, VA she was wounded while tending a group of wounded. She was decorated for braving 13 battles while serving her husband’s unit.<br /><br />Franklin Thompson enlisted into the 2nd Michigan Infantry during the first call up of volunteers by the Lincoln Administration. After demonstrating to the surgeon the ability to handle a musket and tear a cartridge (and not much else) he was mustered in. There were two reasons he did nit have to serve in the Union Army, he was a Canadian, and he was actually a she named Sarah Emma Edmonds. Following the war, her comrades campaigned successfully for her to receive a pension.<br /><br />Several Union soldiers noticed the peculiar way John Thompson was putting on his socks. Further investigation discovered that “Thompson” was female.<br /><br />Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave, became the most well known “conductors” in the Underground Railroad, the system of safe houses that assisted escaped slaves. She also served as a scout for the Union Army in South Carolina.<br /><br />Residents of Richmond, VA took no notice of the woman who was wondering the streets, talking to herself. “That’s just Crazy Bet,” they would say with contempt for the local Unionist. In fact, Elizabeth Van Lew’s insanity was an act covering the fact that she was running a spy ring that extended into the office of President Jefferson Davis himself.<br /><br />Elizabeth Cooper Vernon was training male volunteers in military methods at the start of the war.<br /><br />Jennie Wade was the only civilian killed during the Battle of Gettysburg, having been struck by a stray bullet while baking bread on 3 July, 1863.<br /><br />Private Lyons Wakeman died of illness during the Red River Campaign. The 153rd New York soldier was really Sarah Rosetta Wakeman.<br /><br />Mary Walker, M.D., was the only female surgeon in the Union Army. She was also the only woman to receive a Medal of Honor during the Civil War. (It was revoked in 1919 and reinstated in 1977)<br /><br />Confederate:<br /><br />Two brothers, Sam and Keith Blalock, members of the 26th North Carolina, were seen to have a really close relationship. It was because “Sam” was actually Keith’s wife, Malinda.<br /><br />Belle Boyd made sure Major General Thomas Jackson knew about Federal troop movements in the Shenandoah Valley, VA.<br /><br />Mary Chesnut was the wife of James Chesnut Jr, an early Confederate Congressman. She began writing a diary about what she saw and heard throughout the war. She witnessed the bombardment of Fort Sumter from a rooftop and documented everything until the war came to an end. Her diary is considered one of the most detail personal accounts of the period.<br /><br />Mary Ann Clark was one of 250 known Southern women who disguised themselves as men and fight for the Cause. She was a Lieutenant under Braxton Bragg.<br /><br />Kate Cumming’s diary of her experiences as a nurse was published in 1866 as “A Journal of Hospital Life in the Confederate Army of Tennessee.”<br /><br />Rose Greenhow might have survived falling out of a lifeboat near the Cape Fear River, NC, is she had undone the belt with $2000.00 in gold that she was wearing.<br />Mrs. Judith Henry became the first woman to die in the war when she was hit by Federal artillery at the First Battle of Manassas.<br /><br />Charlie Hopper looked to be about 16 to the members of the 1st Virginia Cavalry. It is not known if they ever found out if “Hopper” was really Charlotte Hope.<br /><br />Sarah Morgan was another diarist whose detailed accounts dive a look at how things went in the South.<br /><br />Sarah Jane Ann Perkins served in a Confederate artillery battery until captured at Hanover Junction.<br /><br />Mary Pittman, disguised as a Lieutenant Rawley, rode with Nathan Bedford Forrest. She took up spying, but defected to the Union.<br /><br />Sally Tompkins became the only woman commissioned in the Confederate Army. It was a reward for running a successful hospital. Her hospital was the most successful in the Confederacy, with only 73 patients out of 1300 dying under her care.<br /><br />Loreta Janeta Velazquez, over her husband’s objections, followed him into Confederate service. She took the name Harry T. Buford and was identified as a Lieutenant. In her memoirs, she details her participation in battles as diverse as Ball's Bluff and Shiloh.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-8612218435647549022007-09-24T14:17:00.000-06:002007-09-24T14:23:50.074-06:00African-American TroopsThere can never be a gook look at the Civil War without noting the contribution of African-Americans in the conflict.<br /><br />The whole idea of having African-Americans fight for their freedom seemed to have been a sticky issue from the start. Freed slaves actually fought in the American Revolution as full-fledged members of George Washington’s Continental Army as well as several units that fought in the War of 1812. Most noted were the African-Americans who fought with Andrew Jackson’s army at the Battle of New Orleans.<br /><br />By the time the Mexican War was being fought (1846-1848), Blacks had been barred from military service. It seemed that their past service had been largely forgotten amid racial prejudices. There was one exception, the Navy. In filling out crew rosters for their warships, Navy recruiters were not picky about who served as powder monkeys (usually boys who hauled bags of gun powder to the cannon), <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">cannoneers</span>, or riggers (needed for sail-powered ships). Many pictures of US Navy crews from the 1860’s showed not a few black faces among them.<br /><br />As the Civil War began, many Northern African-Americans heeded President Abraham Lincoln’s call for volunteers and rushed to recruiting stations, only to be turned away by the recruiting sergeants.<br /><br />In the South, there was no question about Blacks serving in the Confederate Army, it was not happening. Officially, slave could be rented to the armies as teamsters, cooks, manual labor, wagon drivers, and other support functions. Unofficially, many of these African-Americans also held muskets and stood in volley lines, keeping up as good a fire as their White counterparts. When Major General Patrick <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Cleburne</span> suggested that slaves should be allowed to serve in the army in exchange for their freedom, he was ripped apart in the realm of popular opinion and ended up losing his command for that opinion.<br /><br />In New Orleans, a group of Free Blacks got together and began drilling as a unit. They were soon named the Louisiana Native Guards, a militia unit that pledge to help the defense of the city, an obvious target for a Union invasion. This group of African-Americans was pledging their services to the Confederacy! However, local defenders were not interested and abandoned the Native Guards to the advancing Federals. As a result, they switched allegiances to the Union. Among their duties, they garrisoned Ship Island, off <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Gulfport</span>, MS, a major Union base in the region.<br /><br />It was not until 1862 that the Federal Government, and especially Lincoln, saw the necessary of allowing Blacks into the Army. Their numbers would be sorely needed. This action resulted of two things; there was pressure from several African-American groups who were demanding that they be in the fight, also there was the need to put the war on a more moral footing. The second item stemmed from the recent issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, which changed the object of the war from just only a war to preserve the Union to the added object to ending Slavery once and for all. Blacks knew from that point that it was their fight too. Lincoln authorized the addition of 100,000 African-Americans to the army with one provision; all the officers had to be White.<br /><br />Finding officers to command these new units were problematic as first. Many Northerners were as prejudiced as Southerners and would have no part in this enterprise. However, many officers, at first from abolitionist families, as well as a few enlisted, enticed with the promises of a commission, soon joined.<br /><br />When this news hit the Confederacy, reaction was intense. The Confederate Congress quickly passed a law that allowed captured Black troops to be “returned to a state of slavery” (even if that soldier was a Free Black to begin with) and any officers who were captured while in command of African-American troops were to be subject to execution for “inciting servile insurrection.” Still that did not deter the Northerners.<br /><br />In February of 1862 there was an effort already to put African-Americans in uniform. Union Major General David Hunter had been placed in command of the Union Department of the South, which covered the coastal areas of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeast Florida with 18,000 troops. Hunter felt that that was not enough to do the job, and Washington was not sending reinforcements any time soon.<br /><br />13 April, 1862: General Hunter issued a declaration that all slaves of “enemies of the United States” were to be confiscated and declared free. The main object here was to deprive local plantations of needed labor. This also gave him a pool to tap for manpower.<br /><br />Later that month, Hunter ordered able-bodied Blacks gathered in order to raise a regiment, named the 1st South Carolina (US) Infantry. They were initially used as labor, but it was intended to be a combat unit. That is, if the US Government would recognize the unit and fund it. This proved to be a problem since President Lincoln had already quashed the declaration. Since the government refused to pay and equip the unit, the experiment soon fell apart with it’s disbanding on 10 August, 1862.<br /><br />27 September, 1862: The Louisiana Native Guards was officially accepted into Union service as the 1st Regiment Louisiana Native Guards. What was amazing at the time was the line officers (Captains and Lieutenants) were Black.<br /><br />12 October, 1862: The 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">nd</span> Regiment Louisiana Native Guards was mustered into service.<br /><br />29 October, 1862: The 1st Kansas (Colored) Volunteer Infantry took part in a skirmish at Island Mound, MO. This unit was locally raised and not yet in Federal service. This was the first time that Blacks fought in Missouri as a unit, rather than as individuals as they had been since the fighting began. That unit would receive Federal recognition on 1 January, 1863.<br /><br />24 November, 1862: The 3rd Regiment Louisiana Native Guards was mustered into service.<br /><br />Around that same time, the 1st and 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">nd</span> Regiments took part in operations in the Bayou La <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Fourche</span>, south of New Orleans.<br /><br />As 1863 dawned, the commander of Union forces in Louisiana at the time, Major General Nathaniel Banks, succumbed to pressure from locals, who believed that the presence of Black troops would cause problems, sent the 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">nd</span> Regiment to Ship Island and the 1st to the old Confederate forts of Jackson and St. Philip. The 3rd was used in operations around Baton Rouge between February and May of 1863. Other operations included a skirmish at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Pascagoula</span>, MS on 9 April, 1863 and an assault on Port Hudson, LA on 27 May, 1863.<br /><br />These actions began to answer a question that was in the minds of the Northern public (as well as a few generals and politicians); will the Black Man fight. Notwithstanding that African soldiers had been in several armies throughout history. The answer to that question was a resounding YES!<br /><br />In Massachusetts, there was an effort to raise an African-American regiment. They put out a call for volunteers and received a response from not just Massachusetts men, but from all over the US. This group included Northern Free Blacks as well as those who just escaped slavery in the South. This group was designated the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span> Massachusetts and command was given to Robert Gould Shaw, a son of a prominent abolitionist family. Shaw had troubles from the start, getting his green troops trained for battle amid rumors that they would only be used only for manual labor and as garrison troops, getting his troops the equipment they needed from reluctant supply officers, and the biggest insult of all, the pay.<br /><br />Union Privates received a monthly pay of $13.00 a month and their clothing was taken care of. The War Department declared that African-Americans would receive $10.00 a month, with $3.00 taken for uniforms. In a world in which $10.00 was a small fortune, that was a lot of money lost. In order to quell a possible riot, Shaw and his officers pledged not to receive their pay until the inequality was addressed.<br /><br />28 May, 1863: The 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">th</span> MA paraded through the streets of Boston, to the delight of both Blacks and Whites, and boarded transports to South Carolina. They soon arrived at St. Simeon’s Island and Shaw reported to the garrison commander, Colonel James Montgomery.<br /><br />11 June, 1863: Elements of the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">th</span> MA and the 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">nd</span> South Carolina (US) African Descent marched to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Darien</span>, GA where the raid that Colonel Montgomery was carrying out resulted in burning the town down. Shaw was not happy at the operation and felt that the honor of the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">th</span> was dirtied. He managed to have his regiment transferred to Charleston, SC.<br /><br />8 July, 1863: The 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">th</span> MA was quickly transferred to James Island, where they would take part in operations against Confederate defenses there.<br /><br />11 July, 1863: Shaw and his troops arrive.<br /><br />16 July, 1863: The 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">th</span> gets their first taste of combat. While performing picket duty on Sol <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">Legare</span>’s Island, about 300 Confederates attacked. The purpose of this attack was to capture the camp of the 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17">th</span> Connecticut and capture as many of the soldiers as possible. The African-Americans of the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18">th</span> MA held their ground, losing several troops in order to give the 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19">th</span> CT time to get away. Their losses were 14 killed, 18 wounded, and 13 missing (those missing were found to have been captured and executed).<br /><br />Having proved themselves, Shaw volunteered for another mission. There had been an attempt to take a Confederate artillery position called Battery Wagner. This position was at the north end of Morris Island and covered the harbor entrance to Charleston. On 10 July, Federal forces were savaged an attempt to take the fort. The Union commander, Brigadier General Quincy Gilmore, decided to soften up the place with both land-based and naval bombardment. As plans were made to assemble another ground assault, Gilmore would have heard of the request to include the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20">th</span> MA and approved their transfer.<br /><br />18 July, 1863: 9:00 a.m.: As the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21">th</span> MA arrived on Folly Island, south of Morris Island, the bombardment was already in progress. Gilmore thought that after he was through, units like the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22">th</span> would only need a mopping-up operation to secure the fort.<br /><br />Gilmore had experience in battering down forts, he was the one who took out Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, GA. There was a difference; Pulaski was a brick fort that could be battered down. Wagner was a sand and earth fort that swallowed incoming shells while its garrison rested in shelters called <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23">bombproofs</span>.<br /><br />5:00 p.m.: Shaw and his troops were ferried across to Morris Island, where he was offered the honor of being the first regiment into the attack. The 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24">th</span> would be backed up by the 6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25">th</span> Connecticut, 48<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26">th</span> New York, 3rd New Hampshire, 9<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27">th</span> Maine, and 76<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28">th</span> Pennsylvania. They were backed up by three artillery batteries.<br /><br />The entire formation had to march up a narrow strip of sand between a marsh and the Atlantic Ocean. As they approached the fort, they would be subject to artillery fire from the Confederate defenders.<br /><br />About 6:00 p.m., the formation began to advance.<br /><br />First thing the Federals found out was that not all the Confederate guns were destroyed, solid cannon shells began to pound the approaching formations. Shaw told his men to lie down among the dunes until darkness fell.<br /><br />7:45 p.m.: Shaw gave the order, “Move in quick time until within a hundred yards of the fort, then double quick and charge.” With that he yelled “FORWARD!” The formation moved as one, despite the shell and grapeshot that began to pepper the Federals. Every hole that appeared in the line was quickly filled in as the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29">th</span> approached the wall, where they found a moat that had to be crossed before the wall could be climbed. On the wall were troops of the 31st, 51st, and 61st North Carolina, firing down into the mass of Union troops.<br /><br />The 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30">th</span> was not the only ones there, the 6<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31">th</span> CT and 48<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_32">th</span> NY were at the southeast corner trying to get in themselves.<br /><br />Sergeant William Carney found his unit’s National Flag next to its fallen color bearer. He picked it up and, despite being wounded several times, kept the flag up in the face of the enemy. He would become the first African-American to receive the Medal of Honor for that.<br /><br />Shaw rallied his men to the top of the forts wall, where he was fatally wounded. The other top officers were either killed or wounded. Captain Louis Emilio became the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_33">de</span>-facto commander of the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_34">th</span> MA and rallied his men to the top of the wall.<br /><br />The first wave of the assault was hung up along the wall. There was a delay in sending in the second. When they were finally sent in, that wave was also stopped.<br /><br />Emilio had the task of reassembling what was left of the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_35">th</span> MA, even as scattered unite had managed to get into the fort itself, where very few came out.<br /><br />When everything was finished, the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_36">th</span> MA lost 256 in the assault, including most of the officers.<br /><br />Shaw was buried with several of his soldiers. The Confederates refused to send his body across the lines, stating, “We buried him with his n*****s.” Shaw’s father, however, considered that an honor.<br /><br />The heroics of the 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_37">th</span> Massachusetts proved to be the spark that opened the way for more African-Americans to join the US Army. So many units were being formed that a new designation was needed: United States Colored Troops.<br /><br />In 1864, there were other opportunities for African-American troops to prove their worth.<br /><br />20 February, 1864: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_38">Olustree</span>, FL: The 54<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_39">th</span> MA was in battle again, along with the 8<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_40">th</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_41">USCT</span>, the 1st North Carolina (US) Colored and the 2<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_42">nd</span> South Carolina (US) African Descent. Union forces were attempting to push their way from Jacksonville to Tallahassee when they were repulsed by 1200 Confederates under Brigadier General Joseph Finnegan. The African-American troops covered the retreat, buying time with their lives.<br /><br />There were also tragedy thrown at them.<br /><br />12 April, 1864: A garrison of African-Americans and Tennessee Unionists were overrun at Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi River, by Confederates under Lieutenant General Nathan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_43">Bedford</span> Forrest. Whether it was done after the surrender, or because they refused to surrender, most of the garrison was massacred.<br /><br />There was the also the issue of prisoners of war. The official Confederate position was that African-Americans in uniform was not to be afforded POW status. There were black troops in prisons like <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_44">Andersonville</span>, GA and Belle Island, VA, but they were used for manual labor. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant, in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of all Union forces, stopped the practice of prisoner exchanges until his African-Americans were given the same status as White troops.<br /><br />During the Overland Campaign against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, African-Americans made up two brigades of IX Corps and fought from the Wilderness to <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_45">Petersburg</span>.<br /><br />In contrast, Major General William Sherman’s armies did not have a single Black soldier. It seemed that Sherman had no use for them.<br /><br />30 July, 1864: The Battle of the Crater: The plan for when the mine was detonated had both African-American brigades spearhead the assault. As a matter of fact, they had trained for a straight month while the mine was being dug. Sadly, General Grant had ordered the IX Corps commander, Major General Ambrose Burnside, not to send in the Black troops for political and public relations reasons. An unprepared brigade, led by a drunkard and coward, was sent in first. The African-Americans were sent in later, after the assault had bogged down, losing scores in the process.<br /><br />Despite the bravery of the African-Americans, only one, Sergeant Decatur Dorsey, 39<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_46">th</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_47">USCT</span>, received the Medal of Honor.<br /><br />On the Confederate side, the debate about using Black troops was not decided until it was becoming too late. Despite protests from hard-liners, the Confederate Congress approved the enlistment of African-Americans into the Confederate Army. Two regiments of mixed White and Black troops drilled to the delight of Richmond residents, but it was too little, too late.<br /><br />As Richmond fell on 3 April,1865, the first Union troops to enter the former Confederate Capital were members of the 28<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_48">th</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_49">USCT</span>. This spoke volumes to the defeated Confederates. Other units were involved in the Appomattox campaign, resulting in the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia.<br /><br />The last engagement of the Civil War, at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_50">Palmito</span> Ranch, TX (11-12 May, 1865) also saw the last use of African-American troops as the 62<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_51">nd</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_52">USCT</span> made up a large part of the Union force that was repulsed.<br /><br />Following the war’s conclusion, African-African troops made up a large part of the force needed to police the former Confederate States. This action left bad feelings amongst the local population that might have contributed to the Black Codes that were enacted following the end of Reconstruction. They were also involved in operations along the Rio Grand River that were conducted to keep Imperial Mexico from invading.<br /><br />Even so, the pace of disbanding Black units were not as fast as the White ones, but in the course of time, the volunteer regiments were disbanded. Those who wanted to continue in the Army were assigned to the 9<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_53">th</span> and 10<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_54">th</span> US Cavalry, who would become known as “Buffalo Soldiers” and would see large scale battle again in the Spanish-American War (at times alongside former Confederates). The 24<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_55">th</span> and 25<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_56">th</span> US Infantry was also authorized.<br /><br />African-Americans earned their citizenship at places like Fort Wagner and the Crater. Sadly, that reward was not realized until the 1960’s, one hundred years after their battles.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-47869162088477260832007-09-15T11:49:00.000-06:002007-10-21T09:22:22.592-06:00MarinesThere has not been much information on the role of the Marines in the Civil War. Their traditional role, ship security, small scale land missions, and fighting at sea, was not called for in the major land battles of the war. Still, Marines played a part in the eventual Union victory.<br /><br />Union:<br /><br />In 1861 the US Marine Corps consisted of the Commandant, usually a Colonel, a Major who had the dual jobs of Adjutant and Inspector, another Major who was the Paymaster, a Quartermaster, another Major, and an Assistant Quartermaster, a Captain, making up the Command Section.<br />Operations consisted of a Lieutenant Colonel, four Majors, 13 Captains, 20 First Lieutenants, 20 Second Lieutenants, 101 Sergeants, 137 corporals, and 1347 Privates.<br />This was soon raised to include one additional Colonel, one additional Lieutenant Colonel, one additional Assistant Quartermaster, seven more Captains, 10 more First Lieutenants, and 10 more Second Lieutenants. A total Enlisted strength of 220 more corporals, and 2500 privates was also authorized.<br /><br />The US Marine Corps was the size of almost three standard Civil War regiments.<br /><br />The US Marines had already played a role in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">pre</span>-Civil War tensions; it was a detachment of Marines, led by US Army Colonel Robert E. Lee, who put down John Brown’s Revolt in 1859.<br /><br />The raise in Marines was done after a detachment of 13 Officers and 336 Enlisted were among those running from the battlefield at First Bull run (<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Manassas</span>, VA). Some of these additions were also for replacing officers who resigned their commissions and joined a newly created Confederate States Marine Corps.<br /><br />Two noted missions that the Marines were a part of was an assault on Fort Sumter, Charleston, SC on 8 September, 1863, which failed, an engagement at Honey Hill, SC in 1864, and the assault on Fort Fisher, 15 January 1865 as part of a sailor/Marine force.<br /><br />Marine uniforms were a little bit different then the Army’s. The headgear was the traditional kepi with a badge consisting of an “M” set in a red oval. The blouse was the same as the Army’s and was colored the same shade of blue. The trousers were white instead of sky blue. Enlisted rank was noted as upward pointing red chevrons while the officer rank was marked by the use of Russian Knots instead of the rank badges the Army used.<br /><br />Confederate:<br /><br />The CS Marine Corps was initially made up of six companies <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">officered</span> by former US Marine officers. The Corps was soon commanded by a Colonel, with a Lieutenant Colonel, three Majors (adjutant, paymaster, and quartermaster), a Sergeant Major, a Quartermaster Sergeant, and two Musicians in the Command Section.<br />Operation were conducted at the company level with 10 Captains, 10 First Lieutenants, 20 Second Lieutenants, 40 Sergeants, 40 Corporals, and 840 Privates.<br /><br />The companies were assigned thus:<br /><br />Company A: formed at New Orleans in 1861 and was assigned to Richmond in 1862.<br /><br />Company B: formed at New Orleans in 1861 and was assigned to Richmond in 1862.<br /><br />Company C: formed at New Orleans in 1861 and was assigned to Richmond in 1862.<br /><br />Company D: formed at Memphis and Mobile, assigned to Mobile.<br /><br />Company E: formed at Savannah, assigned to Charleston in 1864 and sent a detachment to Wilmington.<br /><br />Company F: formed at New Orleans, moved to Mobile after New Orleans fell.<br /><br />Parts of these companies were detached to ship duty aboard the following: <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">CSS</span> Atlanta, Baltic, Charleston, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Chicora</span>, Columbia, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Dalman</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Drewry</span>, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Fredericksburg</span>, Gaines, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Gallego</span>, Huntress, Indian Chief, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Isondiaga</span>, Jamestown, Macon, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">McRae</span>, Morgan, Nashville, North Carolina, Palmetto State, Patrick Henry, Raleigh, Resolute, Richmond, Sampson, Savannah (both the steamer and the ironclad vessels), Tennessee, Time, United States, Virginia, Virginia II, Tallahassee/<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Olustree</span>, Shenandoah, Georgia, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Rappahannock</span>, Stonewall, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">Artic</span>, and Georgia.<br /><br />The first CS Marines fought during the attack of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">CSS</span> Virginia on the Federal blockade on 8-9 March, 1862. Their last engagement was at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15">Saylor</span>’s Creek on 6 April, 1865.<br /><br />CS Marine uniforms almost copied the US Marine model, except that the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16">overblouse</span> was gray and the enlisted chevrons were brown. It is not known if the kepis had any ornamentation, as records were destroyed in 1865. The same white trousers were used.<br /><br />Weapons for either side would be the standard rifled muskets and sidearms, but specially treated to prevent corrosion while at sea.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-73177676749280580682007-09-11T14:12:00.000-06:002007-09-11T14:14:35.996-06:00Confederate ExilesAs the Civil War was winding down, many Confederates, seeing the writing in the wall, resolved not to allow themselves to be placed back under Federal laws. Some, like Edwin <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Ruffin</span>, chose to commit suicide, while others chose exile:<br /><br />4 July, 1865: Confederate Brigadier General Joseph Shelby led a group that included former Governors <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Pendleton</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Murrah</span> (Texas), Charles <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Morehead</span> (Kentucky), and Henry Allen (Louisiana). Also among this group were Generals John <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Magruder</span>, Hamilton Bee, Thomas <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Hindman</span>, and Sterling Price. They crossed the Rio <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Grande</span> to establish a colony in Mexico.<br /><br />Major Washington Goldsmith, who commanded Georgia troops, helped establish a colony in British Honduras (now Belize).<br /><br />John Taylor Wood, a Confederate Navy Captain, relocated to Nova <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Scotia</span>, rather than swear an oath to the United States.<br /><br />A Confederate community in Ontario, Canada hosted Jubal Early, John Hood, James Mason (CS Commissioner to the UK), and John Breckenridge.<br /><br />A very large Confederate colony was formed north of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Sao</span> Paulo. This community still exists in the form of the town of Americana, populated with <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">descendants</span> of the founders.<br /><br />Matthew Maury, former US Navy oceanographer and former Confederate Navy purchasing agent in Europe, directed the Imperial Mexican Observatory.<br /><br />Judah Benjamin, former CS Secretary of State, became a Queens Counsel for <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Lancashire</span>, England.<br /><br />Others who lived in England, included Louis <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Wigfall</span> and Robert <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">Toombs</span>.<br /><br />Many of the estimated 10000 exiles did return to the US, but only after taking the oath of loyalty to the United States. Others were staunch Confederates to the end and never returned.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-25453766878627723802007-09-07T05:40:00.000-06:002007-09-07T05:42:34.601-06:00Naval Forces of both sides.Union:<br /><br />Pre-CW strength: 1563 officers and 7500 enlisted were in the US Navy at the outbreak of the Civil War.<br /><br />Of the officers, 321 resigned their commissions when their states seceded (or were possibly going to in the case of Franklin Buchanan, who resigned when he thought Maryland was seceding. When Maryland did not secede, Buchanan tried to take back his resignation, but that was refused).<br /><br />The pre-CW navy consisted of:<br /><br />21 sloops of war: 5 in Home Squadron, 4 in the East Indies, 2 in the Mediterranean, 1 near Brazil, 3 patrolling the African Coast, and 6 in the Pacific.<br /><br />12 steamers (steam powered ships): 4 in Home Squadron, 1 in the East Indies, 1 in the Mediterranean, 1 near Brazil, 4 patrolling the African Coast, and 1 in the Pacific.<br /><br />3 frigates: 1 in Home Squadron, 1 in the East Indies, and 1 near Brazil.<br /><br />2 storeships: 1 in the hone Squadron and 1 patrolling the African Coast.<br /><br />The main advantage the North had was the ability to draw upon civilian sources for ships and personnel. Also there was a great advantage that the Union was able to control the possession of the Navy Yards, with their dry docks and maintenance facilities. Norfolk, VA was briefly held by the Confederates but had to give that up in 1862. Pensacola, FL could not be taken as long as the Union held Fort Pickens.<br /><br />The main problem was that even as President Lincoln was ordering a blockade of Southern ports, there were not enough ships to even begin one. It was fortunate that Lincoln had Gideon Welles as Secretary of the Navy. He embarked on a program of not only constructing new ship, but buying civilian ships for conversion to war vessels. Finding volunteers to crew them were not too hard, many civilians were run off the seas by the presence of Confederate commerce raiders that were already making an influence.<br /><br />Another advantage that the union had was the ability to use new technologies, and the industrial base to exploit that advantage. Even though the Confederates were the first to deploy a warship with iron cladding on the outside, the Union was not far behind, and soon overtook the South in iron warship production.<br /><br />The Blockade:<br /><br />The coasts of the CSA were segmented into four zones by the time a proper blockade was in place, in 1862.<br />As of 1864 (unless otherwise mentioned):<br /><br />North Atlantic Blockading Squadron:<br />Commanders:<br /><br />Flag Officer Louis M. Goldsborough (1861-1862)<br />Rear Admiral Samuel P. Lee (1862-1864)<br />Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter (1864-1865)<br />Rear Admiral William Radford (1865)<br /><br />Flagship: USS Minnesota<br />Ironclad steamer: USS Roanoke<br />Steamers: Fort Jackson, Shenandoah, Connecticut, St. Lawrence, Keystone State, Hetzel, Florida, Louisiana, Cambridge, State of Georgia, Mercedita, Maratanza, Morse, Nansemond, Southfield, Niphon, Daylight, Montgomery, Commodore Perry, Mount Vernon, Britannia, Governor Buckingham, Houquah, Lockwood, Underwriter, Calypso, Commodore Barney, Commodore Hull, Wyandotte, Mt. Washington, Commodore Jones, Stepping Stones, Lilack, Young Rover, Mystic, Emma, General Putnam, Victoria, Hunchback, Shawsheen, Samuel Rotan, Whitehead, Cohasset, Fab-Kee, and Seymour.<br />Gunboat: Miami.<br />Supply ship: Newbern.<br />Support ship: Release.<br />Sloop: Granite.<br />Tugboats: Alert and Zouave.<br />Storeship: Albemarle.<br /><br />Area covered: Coasts of Virginia and North Carolina.<br /><br />South Atlantic Blockading Squadron:<br />Commander:<br /><br />Real Admiral John Dahlgren (1863-1865)<br /><br />Flagship: USS Wabash<br />Ironclad Steamers: Lehigh, Passaic, Nantucket, Montauk, Nahant, Patapsco, New Ironsides, and Catskill.<br />Steamers: Canandaigua, Housatonic, Pawnee, Sonoma, Paul Jones, Mahaska, Cimmaron, Nipsic, Chippewa, Unadilla, Ottawa, Huron, Water Witch, Marblehead, Wissahickon, Seneca, Memphis, Lodona, Flambeau, Commodore McDonough, Mohawk, Home, Potomska, Stettin, Iris, Philadelphia, O. M. Pettit, Norwich, Mary Sanford, E. G. Hale, South Carolina, Oleander, Geranium, Larkspur, Daffodil, Jonquil, Carnation, Clover, Dandelion, and Columbine.<br />Barques: Ethan Allen, Brazilliera, A. Houghton, Kingfisher, Fernandina, and Midnight.<br />Schooners: Hope, Dan Smith, F. A. Ward, Racer, C. P. Williams, George Mangham, Norfolk Packet, and Blunt.<br />Ordinance sloop: John Adams.<br />Storeships: Supply and Vermont.<br /><br />Area covered: Coasts of South Carolina, Georgia, and of east Florida to Key West. Main focus was on Charleston, SC.<br /><br />East Gulf Blockading Squadron (ships assigned as of 1863):<br />Commanders:<br /><br />Rear Admiral William Mervine (1861)<br />Flag officer William McKean (1861-1862)<br /><br />Flagship: St Lawrence.<br />Steamers: San Jacinto, Penguin, Sagamore, Tahoma, Port Royal, Somerset, Lodona, Fort Henry, Huntsville, Magnolia, and Stars and Stripes.<br />Barques: Pursuit, Gemshok, James L. Davis, Roebuck, James S. Chambers, Amanda, Ethan Allen, and Houghton.<br />Sloop of War: Dale<br />Schooners: Eugenie, Beauregard, and Wanderer.<br /><br />Area covered: West Florida coast from Key West to the Alabama-Mississippi line.<br /><br />West Gulf Blockading Squadron:<br />Commanders:<br /><br />Rear Admiral David Farragut (1862-1864)<br />Flag Officer James Palmer (1864-1865)<br />Real Admiral Henry Thatcher (1865)<br /><br />Flagship: USS Hartford.<br />Steamers: Pensacola, Ossipee, Richmond, Lacawanna, Itasca, Monongahela, Metacomet, Oneida, Princess Royal, Seminole, Octorara, Kanawha, Genesee, Galena, Owasco, Katahdin, Port Royal, Chocura, Pembina, Penobscot, Kennebec, Pinola, Cayuga, Estrella, New London, Aroostook, Sciota, Arkansas, Albatross, John P. Jackson, Virginia, Pengyin, Tennessee, Arizona, Antona, Granite City, Jasmine, Hollyhock, Commodore, and Eugenie.<br />Steam Frigate: Colorado.<br />Sloops: Portsmouth and Vincennes.<br />Barques: W. G. Anderson, Arthur, and J. C. Kuhn.<br />Brig: Bohio and Seafoam.<br />Support Ships: Fearnot, and Nightingale.<br />Barquentine: Horace Beals.<br />Yacht: Corypheus.<br />Schooners: Maria Wood, Orvetta, John Griffiths, Sam Houston, Sarah Bruen, Henry James, and Oliver H. Lee.<br />Storeship: Potomac.<br /><br />Area covered: The coast from the Alabama-Mississippi line to the Rio Grande River (Texas-Mexico border).<br /><br />Mississippi River Squadron:<br /><br />Flagship: Blackhawk.<br />Ironclad Steamers: Essex, Eastport, Lafayette, Benton, Louisville, Tuscumbia, Choctaw, Conestoga, Mound City, Lexington, Pittsburg, Chillicothe, Neosho, Carondelet, and Osage.<br />Steamers: Moose, Taylor, Forest Rose, Fort Hindman, Hastings, Brilliant, St. Clair, Silver Cloud, Covington, Queen City, Tawah, Key West, Peosta, Reindeer, General Price, General Bragg, Rattler, Exchange, Brown, Linden, Kenwood, Fair Play, Springfield, Fawn, Paw Paw, Naunkeag, Silver Lake, Champion, Alexandria, Great Western, Judge Torrence, New Era, Signal, Prairie Bird, Curlew, Little Rebel, Victory, Tensas, General Pillow, Bobb, Argosy, Ouachita, New National, General Lyon, and Samson.<br />Hospital Steamer: Red Rover.<br />Tugboats: Pansy, Fern, Thistle, Laurel, Mignonette, Daisy, Mistletoe, Myrtle, Dahlia, Hyacinth, and Ivy.<br />Inspection Ship: Abraham.<br /><br />Potomac River Flotilla:<br /><br />Steamers: Ella, Yankee, Commodore Read, Currituck, Jacob Bell, Fuchsia, Couer de Lion, Resolute, Freeborn, Anacostia, Wyandank, Tulip, Primrose, Teaser, and Dragon.<br />Schooners: Sophonia, Matthew Vassar, Adolph Hugel, and William Bacon.<br /><br /><br />East India Squadron (Indonesia, Singapore):<br /><br />Side-wheel sloops: Saginaw and Wyoming.<br /><br />West Indian Squadron (Caribbean):<br /><br />Side-wheel gunboat: Tioga.<br />Screw driven vessels: Galatea and Neptune.<br />Sloop: Macedonian.<br />Barque: Gemsbok.<br />(These vessels were assigned to the East Gulf blockading Squadron in 1864.)<br /><br />Brazil Squadron (South Atlantic):<br /><br />Screw driven vessel: Wachusett.<br />Side-wheel vessels: Pulaski and Emma Henry.<br /><br /><br />Mediterranean Squadron:<br /><br />Screw driven vessel: Iroquois.<br />Sloop: Constellation.<br /><br />European Squadron (North Atlantic, North Sea):<br /><br />Frigate: Niagara.<br />Screw driven sloops: Kearsarge and Sacramento.<br /><br />Africa Squadron:<br /><br />Sloop: Constellation until 1862, then assigned to European Squadron.<br /><br />Pacific Squadron:<br /><br />Barques: Saranac, Fredonia, and Massachusetts.<br />Side-wheel sloop: Saginaw.<br />Screw driven vessels: Lancaster and Wyoming.<br />Double-ended gunboat: Wateree.<br />Side-wheel gunboat: Monongo.<br />Storeships: Falmouth and Relief.<br />Sloops: John Adams, Jamestown, and St. Mary’s.<br /><br />Receiving ships:<br /><br />These vessels served as basic training centers and never left port:<br /><br />Allegheny, at Baltimore, MD.<br />North Carolina, at New York, NY.<br />Ohio, at Boston, MA.<br />Potomac, at Pensacola, FL.<br />Princeton, at Philadelphia, PA.<br />Clara Rolson and Grampus, assigned to the Mississippi River Squadron.<br />John Hancock, at San Francisco, CA.<br /><br />Special Squadron:<br /><br />This group was formed in January 1864 to hunt Confederate commerce raiders:<br /><br />Steamers: Mohican, Sacramento, Michigan, Wachusett, and Iroquois.<br />Steam sloop: Kearsarge.<br />Support ship: Onward.<br />Sloop: St. Louis.<br /><br /><br />Confederate:<br /><br />The CSA was not a seafaring region to begin with, but they had to in order to keep the field armies supplied. With this in mind, there were a few miracles, such as CSS Virginia, an ironclad worship, or the H. L. Hunley, a submarine. They did, however, had these insurmountable disadvantages:<br /><br />Lack of industry: with one major factory and a few minor ones, the industrial base was just not there. Iron for cladding was rolled at the Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond, VA, usually from salvaged iron, railroad rails, or even church bells.<br /><br />Lack of facilities: The North had all the proper naval facilities, even in their territory. They briefly held the Norfolk Navy Yard long enough to build the Virginia, but had to abandon it. They made up for that by using fields, swamps, and inlets for construction sites.<br /><br />Lack of trained personnel: Only 321 officers had left the US Navy for Southern service and almost no enlisted. The officers made a good core for the embryonic service, but the enlisted force had to be started from scratch.<br /><br />Lack of ships: since there was not a wholesale defection of Navy vessels, the CS Navy had to build that from scratch as well. CS President Davis started that by authorizing Letters of Marque and Reprisal, allowing privately owned ships to be used in military operations against Union shipping. These were considered pirates by the Federals and their crews subject to the death penalty, but not many cases were prosecuted. From these privateers came the commerce raiders that were the bane of the Union.<br /><br />Ships basically had to be either built, bought, of finagled from foreign sources, or locally produced by rather inventive methods.<br /><br />All of this, under the auspices of Secretary of the Navy, Stephen Mallory.<br /><br />Besides commerce raiding, the CS Navy was primarily a costal and river operations force, using small vessels to keep things going.<br /><br />The vessels mentioned were with these particular fleets at one time or another. Some were destroyed or captured. Others were captured Union naval or civilian vessels.<br /><br />Texas Costal Flotilla:<br /><br />Gunboats: Bayou City, Clifton, General Bee, Josiah H. Bell, Mary Hill, and Uncle Ben.<br />Steamers: A. S. Ruthven, Era No. 3, Florida, Grand Bay, Island City, Jeff Davis, John F. Carr, Lone Star, Lucy Gwinn, Neptune, Roebuck, and Sun Flower.<br />Sail vessels: Breaker, Dodge, Elma, Fanny Morgan, George Buckhart, Julia A. Hodges, Lecompt, Royal Yacht, and Velocity.<br /><br />Mississippi Defense Fleet:<br /><br />Ironclad: Louisiana<br />Gunboats: A. B. Seger, Anglo-Norman, Anglo-Saxon, Arrow, Barataria, Calhoun, Diana, Dollie Webb, General Quitman, Governor Moore, Ivy, Jackson, A. J. Cotton, James L. Day, McRae, Mobile, Oregon, Pamlico, Tuscaora, Webb, and Carondelet.<br />Spar Torpedo Boat: Pioneer.<br />Rams: Colonel Lovell, Defiance, General Beauregard, General Bragg, General Breckinridge, General Earl Van Dorn, General Lovell, General M. Jeff Thompson, General Sterling Price, General Sumter, Little Rebel, Resolute, Stonewall Jackson, Warrior, and Web.<br />Sail vessels: Coryphus, Washington.<br />Tugboats: Bell, Algerine, and Boston.<br />Steamers: Dan, Darby, Empire Parish, General Quitman, Gossamer, Hart, Landis, Mosher, Music, Orizaba, St. Philip, Star, Texas, and W. Burton.<br />Side-wheel vessel: Phoenix.<br />Floating Battery: New Orleans.<br /><br />Mississippi River Fleet:<br />Ironclads: Arkansas, and Missouri.<br />Gunboats: General Polk, Grand Duke, J. A. Cotton, Livingston, Maurepas, Pontchartrain, Queen of the West, St. Mary, Slidell, and Tom Sugg.<br />Steamers: Admiral, Alfred Robb, Argo, Argosy, Argus, B. M. Moore, Beauregard, Ben McCullough, Berwick Bay, Bracelet, Charm, Cheney, Clara Dolson, Cotton Plant, Countess, De Sota, Dew Drop, Doubloon, Dr. Batey, Dunbar, Edward J. Gay, Elmira, Emma Bett, Era No. 5, Fairplay, Fred Kennett, Frolic, Gordon Grant, Grampus, Grand Era, Gray Cloud, H. D. Mears, H. R. W. Hill, Hartford City, Hope, J. D. Clark, J. D. Swain, Jeff Davis, John Simonds, John Walsh, Julius, Kanawha Valley, Kaskaskia, Kentucky, Lady Walton, Linn Boyd, Louis D’Or, Louisville, Magenta, Magnolia, Mars, Mary E. Keene, Mary Patterson, May, Merite, Mohawk, Moro, Muscle, Natchez, Nelson, New National, Nina Simmes, Ohio Belle, Osceola, Pargoud, Paul Jones, Prince, Prince of Wales, R. J. Lockland, Red Rover, Republic, Robert Fulton, St. Francis No. 3, Sallie Wood, Sam Kirkman, Samuel Orr, Scotland, Sharp, Sovereign, Starlight, T. D. Hine, 35th Parallel, Trent, Twilight, Vicksburg, Victoria, Volunteer, W. W. Crawford, Wade Water Belle, White Cloud, and Yazoo.<br /><br />Mobile Defense Squadron:<br />Ironclads: Huntsville, Tuscaloosa and Tennessee II.<br />Gunboats: Gaines, Morgan, Baltic, and Selma.<br />Steamers: Alert, Crescent, Dick Keys, and James Battle.<br />Spar Torpedo Boats: St. Patrick, Mobile II, and Gunnison.<br />Cutter: Lewis Cass.<br />Transport: Iron King.<br />Tender: Swan.<br />Floating Batteries: Danube and Phoenix.<br />Receiving Ship: Dalman.<br />Pensacola Defense Squadron:<br />Steamers: Governor Milton, Berosa, Neafie, Helen, and Spray.<br />Gunboat: Chattahoochee.<br />Transport: Turel.<br />Sloop: Helen.<br />Storeship: Bradford.<br /><br />Savannah Defense Squadron:<br />Ironclads: Atlanta and Savannah.<br />Gunboats: Macon and Isondiga.<br />Steamers: Amazon, Beauregard, and Jeff Davis.<br />Tenders: Firefly and Resolute.<br />Transports: General Lee, Ida, Leesburg, Robert Habersham, and Talomico.<br />Sail Vessel: Gallatin.<br />Receiving Ships: Sampson, and Savannah.<br />Floating Battery: Georgia.<br /><br />Charleston Defense Squadron:<br />Ironclads: Chicora, Palmetto State, Charleston, and Columbia.<br />Gunboat: Peedee.<br />Steamers: Chesterfield, Darlington, and Lady Davis.<br />Spar Torpedo Boat: David, Midge, Torch, Numbers 1 through 8, and H. L. Hunley (officially listed as a spar torpedo boat, but this was a submarine).<br />Sail Vessel: Petrel.<br />Tenders: Catawba, Aid, and General Clinch.<br />Transports: Etiwan, Huntress, Marion, Planter, Queen Mah, Sumter, and Transport.<br />Receiving Ship: Indian Chief.<br /><br />North Carolina Coast and River Fleet:<br />Ironclads: Albemarle, Nuese, North Carolina, and Raleigh.<br />Gunboats: Fanny, Ellis, Seabird, Uncle Ben, and Yadkin.<br />Steamers: Appomattox, Bombshell, Clarrendon, Cotton Plant, Curlew, Currituck, Dolly, Egypt Mills, Equator, Forrest, Governor Morehead, Junaluska, Weldon N. Edwards, and Winslow.<br />Tender: Caswell.<br />Floating Battery: Artic.<br />Transports: Albemarle, Colonel Hill, Hawley, and Wilson.<br />Sail Vessels: Black Warrior, Jeff Davis, Manassas, and Renshaw.<br />Storeship: M. C. Etheridge.<br /><br />Virginia Coast and River Fleet (except James River):<br />Ironclad: Virginia.<br />Spar Torpedo Boats: Scorpion and Squib.<br />Gunboats: Jamestown, Satellite, and Teaser.<br />Steamers: Curtis peck, General Scott, City of Richmond, Harmony, Logan, Northampton, Rappahannock, Reliance: Roanoke, Rondout, Towns, and Young America.<br />Tugboats: John B. White and Pohowatan.<br />Sail Vessels: Beauregard, Duane, and Germantown.<br />Receiving Vessel: Confederate States.<br /><br />James River Squadron:<br />Ironclads: Virginia II, Richmond, and Fredericksburg.<br />Gunboats: Beauford, Drewry, Hampton, Nansemond, Raleigh/Roanoke, Patrick Henry (CS Naval Academy), and Torpedo.<br />Steamers: Allison, Beaufort, Schultz, Seaboard, and Shrapnel.<br />Spar Torpedo Boats: Hornet and Wasp.<br />Torpedo Boat Tender: Torpedo.<br />Sail Vessel: Gallego.<br /><br />Commerce Raiders: Alabama, Alexandria, Florida, Georgia, Georgiana, Nashville, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Sumter, Tallahassee, Tacony, and Tuscaloosa.<br /><br />CS Government Blockade Runners: Bat, Deer, Owl, Stag, Lark, Wren, Condor, Falcon, Flamingo, Ptarmigan, Arizona, Atlantic, Austin, Beauregard, Bahama, Bermuda, Colonel Lamb, Hope, Cornubia, Don, Granite City, Greyhound, Harriet Pickney, Juno, Laurel, Lynx, Magnolia, Matagorda, Merrimac, Phantom, Robert E. Lee, Theodora, Victoria, and William G. Hawes.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-5204101891220670852007-08-28T14:37:00.000-06:002007-08-28T14:39:25.429-06:00ReconstructionThere can be no look at the Civil War without looking at its aftermath. It was not that both sides turned in their arms, one in victory and the other in defeat, and went home to their shops and farms, which is what the common soldier wanted to do, but what to do politically with the former <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CSA</span>.<br /><br />President Lincoln wanted a kind and gentle reunion of the states, problem was, he was dead from an assassin’s bullet. His successor, Andrew Johnson, was a War Democrat who was on the Union ticket as Vice-President until that bulled thrust him into the center of the post-Civil War maelstrom.<br /><br />Johnson, former Military Governor of Tennessee, had some of his own ideas that would have played better in the South than in the North in some matters. On the subject of the recently free slaves, he would accept that, but was against equal rights for African-Americans. He also wanted to let the states handle their own affairs.<br /><br />This did not sit well with the most powerful faction in Congress, the Radical Republicans. They wanted harsh measures placed on the South, even demoting those states to Territorial Status. Even so, they did push through a plan to split the former <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">CSA</span> into military districts and to have the US Army maintain control.<br /><br />District 1: Virginia, Commanded by Major General John <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Schofield</span>.<br /><br />District 2: North Carolina and South Carolina, Commanded by Major General Daniel Sickles.<br /><br />District 3: Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, Commanded by Major General John Pope<br /><br />District 4: Mississippi and Arkansas, Commanded by Major General Edward <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Ord</span><br /><br />District 5: Louisiana and Texas, Commanded by Major General Philip Sheridan, who also had the job of securing the border with Imperial Mexico.<br /><br />Tennessee, Johnson’s home state, was not in any district.<br /><br />Congress and President Johnson were already on a collision course over several issues:<br /><br />Johnson had issued a proclamation allowing whites-only conventions to elect members of Congress from the South. Congress retaliated by refusing to seat those elected.<br /><br />Congress also passed laws (over the President’s veto) to strengthen the Freedmen’s Bureau, an organization dedicated to help freed slaves adjust to their new life. Part of that help was to establish small farms, which ended up under the control of landlords (usually their former masters) who saddled the African-Americans with a debt that few could repay. Other services included education and legal help.<br />There were also plans in the works for readmitting the Southern States; all they had to do was to ratify the 13<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">th</span>, 14<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">th</span>, and 15<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">th</span> Amendments to the Constitution. As soon as that was accomplished, the state was readmitted, but the military government would still be in place.<br /><br />1865: South Carolina, the cradle of the rebellion, was readmitted.<br /><br />1866: Tennessee followed suit.<br /><br />1868: North Carolina, Florida, Alabama, and Arkansas were back in.<br /><br />1870: Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas were finally reunited.<br /><br />Another sticking point was what to do with former Confederates. Most were receiving pardons in exchange for swearing a loyalty oath to the United States. Many of the Radical Republicans wanted men like former CS President Jefferson Davis and former General Robert E. Lee tried for treason. Davis was already in jail after being captured during his attempt to flee the country. Lee had returned to private life and would accept an offer to become president of Washington College in Lexington, VA. Neither would come to trial, but Davis would suffer two years behind bars before his release.<br /><br />Eventually, Congress voided the Constitutions of the southern states, instead mandating that new conventions, this time staffed with African-Americans and Whites who did not support the Confederacy, elect new members of Congress. This would be a condition of lifting the military rule. As a result, two Senators and 15 Representatives were African-American.<br /><br />Things finally came to a head when Congress passed a law limiting President Johnson’s ability to control the action of the military in the South, this being in response to Johnson preventing military commander from protecting African-Americans from assault. Johnson responded by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Radical Republican. In February of 1868, Congress responded by drawing up, and then approving, Articles of Impeachment. This is a Constitutionally approved method to remove a President, believed to be guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors,” from office. When the House of Representatives approved the articles, the Senate moved to hold the formal trial. When the final Senate vote was called, it fell one vote short of the 2/3 needed to find Johnson guilty, and remove him from office. This did have an affect on the Election of 1868, keeping the Republicans in the White House with the election of General of the Armies Ulysses S. Grant.<br /><br />Grant continued the policies of the Radicals, pushing the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which granted US Citizenship to African-Americans, the 14<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">th</span> Amendment, which prohibited states from limiting the rights of citizens, and the 15<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">th</span> Amendment, which granted all male citizens (including African-Americans) the right to vote.<br /><br />All of these rules and requirements wore hard on former Confederate citizens; these changes that were overturning their world was enforced by the bayonets of garrison troops, many of then African-Americans, and assisted by Northerners and a few African-Americans acting as agents. They were known by their luggage, which was made of the same material that carpets were made of. These agents were called “Carpetbaggers” as a term of derision.<br /><br />Some Southerners decided on direct action, starting with assaulting Blacks whenever possible, and then banding into groups to terrorize and intimidate African-Americans from exercising their new rights. The most notorious of these was the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Ku</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Klux</span> Klan, with former Confederate General Nathan <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">Bedford</span> Forrest a reputed founder. These groups launched several attempts to stop African-Americans from voting, which resulted in several states imposing martial law and using their militias to attack the Klan. Congress responded by making it a Federal offense to prevent someone from voting. President Grant used that law in 1871 to enforce voting rights and to target Klan members in south Carolina.<br /><br />During Grant’s second term, the tide was turning against harsh measures against the South in the hopes that Westward migration would help meld the two regions. Also, the Grant Administration was beset with scandals that lessened its effectiveness. A crisis in South Carolina resulted in Grant sending in Federal troops, but it was seen as unpopular.<br /><br />Even though the 15<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">th</span> Amendment had been approved, many Northern states had instituted literacy tests on order to keep several minority groups from voting, a measure that would soon take place in the South.<br /><br />Reconstruction came to an end with the Election of 1877. Rutherford B. Hayes, a former Union general, was declared the winner of a highly contested election by agreeing to remove all Federal troops from the South. The military governments were also being disbanded and the states returned to civilian control:<br /><br />1869: Tennessee and Virginia<br /><br />1870: North Carolina.<br /><br />1871: Georgia.<br /><br />1873: Texas.<br /><br />1874: Alabama and Arkansas.<br /><br />1876: Mississippi and South Carolina.<br /><br />1877: Louisiana and Florida.<br /><br />However, without the influence of Federal troops and other Federal intervention, the Southern States soon voted in Democrat majorities and the few gains that African-Americans had made were quashed, not to be revived for nearly a century.<br />The Union was once again whole, a set of problems was solved, but a new set of problems was there. These problems would not be addressed until the 20<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">th</span> Century.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-69743063692193463012007-08-28T14:34:00.000-06:002007-08-28T14:37:21.680-06:00MedicalAt the beginning of the war, the US Military Medical Department consisted of one Colonel, the Surgeon General, thirty Majors, Surgeons, and 84 Captains and below, the Assistant Surgeons. This was not even close to being adequate for the massive army that was needed to put down the rebellion. Add to this the fact that several doctors were from the South and therefore going with their seceded states, and the US Army had a problem operating a Medical Department at first. Of course, the CS Medical Department had to start from scratch.<br /><br />The Union’s doctors was led at the beginning by Thomas Lawson, a veteran of the War of 1812, and one that had a reputation of being a martinet. He also was dying of cancer, so the Surgeon General position became vacant very fast.<br /><br />As far as appointing doctors were concerned, it was left to the states to commission those who wanted to be in the Medical Service.<br /><br />The thing was, many of these doctors had just graduated from medical school, at the time not the eight-year course of study, complete with grueling exams and several years residency to top it off with. These medical students had two, three, and maybe four years worth of education.<br /><br />It also did not help that many medicines used at the time were just as likely to kill as heal. Medicines such as blue mass and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">calomel</span> contained mercury, a toxic metal.<br /><br />Medical science was not complete; people knew that there was a connection between sanitation and health, but did not know why. Doctors knew that a clean camp had healthier troops in it rather than a dirty camp. It was that the discovery of bacteria laid years in the future. Doctors also had to put up with regular outbreaks of malaria and yellow fever, but could not figure how it was spread or that there seemed that there was a “season” for these diseases. That would not be discovered until the Spanish-American War and the discovery by Army Surgeon Walter Reed that mosquitoes were the ones spreading the disease.<br /><br />Another thing that could have been considered was water sources, which were mainly streams and rivers. There were no clean water sources, other than wells, and filtration and boiling water were know, but seldom practiced. <br /><br />As a matter of fact, the basic health advice of the 1860’s seemed to be thus:<br /><br />1. Avoid use of ardent spirits (alcoholic beverages).<br /><br />2. Do not drink very cold water. Cool water is best.<br /><br />3. Tea, coffee and chocolate are best at meals.<br /><br />4. Do not overeat and limit between meal eating.<br /><br />5. Wear flannel in all weather conditions.<br /><br />6. Wash clothes regularly or hang them in the sun.<br /><br />7. Have a bed of hay, straw, or other such material for sleeping on. Avoid bare ground.<br /><br />8. Sleep as much as possible.<br /><br />9. Make sure there is a fire after rain and damp weather.<br /><br />10. Wash entire body whenever possible with soap and water.<br /><br />11. Wear a white flannel around the bowels if disease prevails (the book never said which disease).<br /><br />12. Keep in open air but not in direct sunlight.<br /><br />13. Wear shoes with thick soles.<br /><br />14. Wear a silk handkerchief in your hat in order to prevent sun stroke.<br /><br />15. Never eat a heavy meal before a march or a battle.<br /><br />16. Coffee is a great restorative after a march or battle. <br /><br />17. Never sleep without a cover.<br /><br />18. If you must drink brandy, do so after a march or battle.<br /><br />19. Drink as little as possible, even water.<br /><br />20. If a wound is jetting blood, that means an artery is cut. Tie a handkerchief between the wound and the heart or else the wounded man will die. Use a stick or other thin device to tighten the handkerchief.<br /><br />21. For a wound in the abdomen, make the wounded man comfortable, for this is fatal.<br /><br />22. A full beard will give protection against dust and cold. Also will aid perspiration.<br /><br />23. Avoid fats.<br /><br />24. Keep your hair cut short and wash the scalp every morning.<br /><br />25. Wear wool socks and loose shoes.<br /><br />26. Keep toe and finger nails cut.<br /><br />27. Wash feet in the evening and the hands and face in the mornings. This will keep the skin soft.<br /><br />28. When hurt, the best position is on the back with the head elevated.<br /><br />29. Put a coat on after a march to avoid a cold.<br /><br />30. Get water to an injured person immediately. If you have no vessel, tie your shirt into a bag and use that.<br /><br />31. If you are wet, keep moving and you will be all right.<br /><br />32. If your cooking water comes from a pond or a sluggish stream, boil it, let it cool, and then stir it to get oxygen into it.<br /><br />33. If you wear garish clothes in battle, you will be more likely to be hit.<br /><br />34. Envelop a canteen with a wet woolen cloth to chill the water.<br /><br />35. During a rest stop in the march, lie down. You will get more rest.<br /><br />36. A tablespoon of cornmeal in a glass of water will aid in “evacuation of the bowels.”<br /><br />37. Loose bowels is the first step toward cholera and the remedy is a diet of boiled rice. If it’s an advanced case, wrap the abdomen tightly in flannel.<br /><br /><br />Some of these “cures” and advice often contributed to killing the patient. For example: Confederate General Thomas Jackson was recovering from having his left arm amputated following his being wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville. He had a stomach complaint that was remedied by wrapping the abdomen with cold, wet towels. This caused the pneumonia that killed him. <br /><br />The other thing to consider was the advancement of military hardware. Thirty years previous, the US Army’s main long arm was a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">smoothbore</span> musket that took a ball slightly smaller than the barrel, resulting in low accuracy over long ranges. A French officer named Claude <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">Minie</span> developed a bullet that was cone shaped with a base that expanded to fit the barrel when the powder charge was fired. This, plus the addition of rifling and a percussion ignition system, and the accuracy and lethality of the long arm increased dramatically. A charging column of infantry could now be hit at longer ranges with relative ease. <br /><br />When a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">Minie</span> ball struck a person, the damage was horrific. The bullet did not have a metal jacket around it, so the lead cone turned into a mushroom upon entering the body, causing more damage. This round also traveled at speeds slowed than sound, so heat was not generated as in today’s supersonic bullets. The slow, tumbling, lead mushrooms smashed organs and tore blood vessels, making death almost certain.<br />When the round struck bone, it was really bad; the bone did not break, but shattered laterally. This is why most led and arm wounds resulted in amputation.<br /><br />A head shot was almost instantly fatal.<br /><br />Unless an arm or leg wound was in the muscle, the limb was usually lost.<br /><br />A hit in either the upper or lower torso meant death, but slow and very painful. It was possible to survive that, but it would not have been easy.<br /><br />Another thing to consider was infection, foreign objects, such as the cloth of a uniform, was dragged into the wound, causing complications. This happened to Union Major General Winfield Hancock. On Day Three of the Battle of Gettysburg, he was on a horse overseeing the defenses at Cemetery Ridge and observing the approaching Pickett-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">Pettigrew</span>-<span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Trimble</span> charge. During the exchange of musket fire, a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Minie</span> bullet struck the pommel of his saddle, tearing off a small nail and a bit of the leather, and drove the mess into Hancock’s right hip. The wound became infected and the resulting fever almost killed him. To get him on the road to recovery, an ingenious doctor placed a saddle on a sawhorse, and then he placed Hancock on the saddle. After figuring out the angle of the bullet’s trajectory, he was able to probe the wound with a small hook, finding and extracting the nail, which allowed the wound to be drained. Even with that help, Hancock never fully recovered from the wound. <br /><br />As the war went on, a system of getting the wounded to medical attention was developed. For this, an Ambulance Corps was established so patients could be moved quickly from the battlefield to the field hospital. More often than not, the wounded soldier was either carried by friends, or stretcher bearers who were made up of musicians. There was a position where the ambulance could be found, but the usual case was that the wounded soldier was carried all the way. Sadly, causality collection was not as efficient as claimed, resulting in wounded soldiers lying on the battlefield for as many as 48 hours, many of dying from wounds that would have been survivable if the soldier was taken to the field hospital. <br /><br />Upon arrival at the field hospital, the wounded was subjected to a triage method that divided them into at least three categories:<br /><br />Those with minor wounds who could wait on treatment.<br /><br />Those with wounds that are survival with treatment (this was usually the amputations).<br /><br />Those with wounds that ware mortal. No treatment was prescribed but to make the patient comfortable as possible.<br /><br />These hospitals were set up in farmhouses, barns, or any shelter that came to hand. The conditions on such places were not ideal, with surgeries being performed on planks laid over sawhorses, or even a door. The surgery “table” might be washed between operations, but that was not guaranteed. The surgeon’s instruments, the scalpels, bone saws, and probes, were usually not sterilized, so infections were passed on from patient to patient. The surgeon’s collection of instruments more resembled a carpenter’s toolbox than a doctor’s kit. Ether and chloroform was used to put the patient to sleep, but if that was in short supply, that did not stop the doctor. A skilled physician could complete an amputation within 15 minutes, and then be ready for the next one. The limbs were supposed to be burned, but more often than not, they were piled outside. One Union soldier’s account told of pigs eating the amputated limbs. <br /><br />After treatment, the patient could either be returned to duty (minor wounds), or sent out of the area to a regional military hospital. If possible, the soldier could be sent home to fully recover (called recovery leave).<br /><br />Both sides organized large scale hospitals in order to care for the wounded. Union hospitals were established in Washington D.C. as well as Nashville, TN, Jefferson, IN, and many other cities in the North. Washington alone boasted 25 hospitals, both military and private. Add to this the convalescent camps, and the Union had a somewhat decent system in order to treat the wounded.<br /><br />One innovation that resulted was a Nursing Corps that was staffed by females. Women were already working as government clerks, but wanted to do more.<br /><br />Louisa May Alcott, who would write Little Women, worked in a hospital.<br /><br />Dorothea Dix, a social activist, was instrumental in recruiting women for the Nursing Corps. She did have some rather peculiar qualifications, no women under 30 and they could not be pretty.<br /><br />Clara Barton did not qualify to work with Dix, but that did not stop her from attaining a position at another hospital. She would go on to create the American Red Cross. She worked with another nurse, Susie King Taylor, who became the only African-American to publish a memoir of her war experiences. <br /><br />Mary Ann “Mother” <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Bickerdyke</span> was so successful in the Western Theatre that by order of Major General William Sherman, she was the only woman allowed in his hospitals.<br /><br />Another nurse, this one male, was the writer Walt Whitman, who worked in several hospitals after nursing his wounded brother back to health.<br /><br />Not only there were women nurses, but at least one woman doctor, Dr. Mary Walker.<br /><br />The Confederates were not without their own system of helping their wounded. They were hampered with lack of supplies and facilities. They did manage to create a model hospital, Chimborazo, at Richmond, VA. <br /><br />Southern nurses included Kate Cummings, who defied Southern attitudes towards women to become a nurse, as well as Sally Louisa <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Tomkins</span>, who was commissioned a Captain in the Confederate Army for her work.<br /><br />With resources being stretched, it soon fell on private organizations to pitch in and help. The U.S. Sanitary Commission and the U.S. Christian Commission brought food, clothing, and comfort to troops in the field and in the hospital, even running several private hospitals. Several states also formed organizations so that their troops could be helped.<br /><br />Sadly, beyond a few private organizations, there were no Sanitary Commissions in the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">CSA</span>. <br /><br />Of course with remedies such as these, it was a wonder anybody survived:<br /><br /> 1. Thieves Vinegar: Take a handful each of rue, sage, mint, rosemary, wormwood, and lavender and out into a gallon of vinegar to infuse. Let sit in a warm place for four days. Strain the mixture and then add one ounce of camphor. Wash the face and hands with it before exposure in a hospital or sick room. It is called Thieves Vinegar because of a legend of thieves using this liquid to protect them as they plundered the houses of people sick with Bubonic Plague at Marseilles, France.<br /><br />2. Prevention of Mosquito Bites: Mix oil of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">pennyroyal</span> with olive oil and spread on the skin to repel mosquitoes. <br /><br />3. Sprains and Bruises: mix one pint of train oil, ½ pound of stone pitch, ½ pound of resin, ½ pound of beeswax, and ½ pound of stale tallow. Boil for ½ an hour and skin off any scum. Pour liquid into cups to cool. When needed, spread it on a cloth and apply it to the sprain or bruise.<br /><br />In Paris, the treatment for a sprain was to have the doctor grease his thumbs and press them on the sprain for ½ hour. Within one day, the patient was relieved.<br /><br />A specific treatment for a sprained ankle was to wash the ankle with salted water and keep the foot as cold as possible. Elevate the foot, don’t eat too much, and take a “cooling medicine” until the sprain is cured.<br /><br />Another cure for a bruise was to bath the area with water and apply a paper or cloth spread with treacle. <br /><br />4. Stings: Take a wine glass of vinegar and mix in common (baking) soda. Apply it to the affected areas.<br /><br />Another treatment was to apply a plaster of moistened salt. This was to draw out the venom of a bee or wasp sting.<br /><br />5. Blisters on the feet: Rub the feed with spirits mixed with tallow from a candle.<br /><br />6. Dirt in the Eye: Place a finger on the affected patients cheek and slightly pull down, exposing the area under the eye. For over the eye, use a knitting needle over the eyelid to hold it up. Use a silk handkerchief to remove the dirt. Bathe the eye and have the patient stay out of the sun for the day. If there is any inflammation, have the patient take a purgative and apply a cooling lotion.<br /><br />7. Frostbite: For the feet, apply deer’s marrow to the affected area.<br /><br />For other areas, take chrome yellow and hog’s lard and mix them into an ointment. Apply to affected areas after warming the ointment.<br /><br />8. Coughs: Take one teacup of molasses, add two tablespoons of vinegar and bring to a simmer. Then add three teaspoons of paregoric and as much refined niter as you can place on a breakfast knife. Take two or three teaspoons before bed and one of two during the day to dispel coughs. <br /><br />9. Nosebleed: Blow powdered gum Arabic or alum up the nose with a quill to stop the bleeding.<br /><br />10. Headaches: Use <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11">epodeldoe</span>, spirits of wine, and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12">sal</span> <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13">ammoniac</span> applied as a lotion to the forehead. <br /><br />11. Bleeding Wounds: Apply flour and lint to the wound.<br /><br />12. Infectious wounds: Apply sugar to the wound. Another procedure is to wash the wound with wine, then apply sugar.<br /><br />13. Warts: Wet the wart with tobacco juice and apply chalk. Another method is to rub the area with fresh beef.<br /><br />14. Corns: Mix and melt together two ounces of beeswax and two ounces of ammonia. Then add ½ ounce of verdigris. Spread on linen and apply it to the corn.<br /><br />15. Bunions: If caught early, bind the foot tightly to prevent bunion growth. If inflames, a poultice of twelve grains of iodine and a ½ ounce of lard can be applied. This should be done two to three times daily. If the bunion is enlarged, apply salad oil. Wear lose shoes or slippers.<br /><br />16. Boils: Treatment is a poultice of molasses or honey mixed with flour. Apply until it disappears. If the boil is painful, a poultice of bread, milk, volatile liniment and laudanum should be used. <br /><br />Or, when one was sick, these nutritional tidbits:<br /><br />1. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">Panada</span>: Take some bread slices, cut off the crust, and boil then in water. After five minutes, take out the bread and pound it in a bowl, adding a little of the water it was boiled in. Mix in butter, sugar, and nutmeg to taste.<br /><br />2. Toast Water: Take one slice of bread and toast it. Lay the toast in a bowl and pour on boiling water. Cover bowl with a saucer and let cool.<br /><br />3. Beef Tea: Take one pound of beef and slice it into thin strips. Add salt and boil it in water for an hour. Pour through a strainer into a cup and serve.<br /><br />4. Broth: Take meat (chicken, beef, or veal), add two tablespoons of rice and boil it until tender. If needed, serve the broth fifteen minutes after boiling, otherwise cover and keep overnight.<br /><br />5. Water Gruel: Start with two tablespoons of cornmeal or oatmeal with three tablespoons of water. Mix a pint and a half of boiling water slowly to the mixture. Once everything is mixed, put the whole mixture in a skillet and boil it for thirty minutes. Skim the mixture and season with salt. Sugar and nutmeg can also be used.<br /><br />6. Rice Gruel: Mix one tablespoon of rice, one and a half pints of water, and either a cinnamon stick or a lemon peel. Boil it until soft and add a pint of milk. Strain the mixture and add salt, sugar, nutmeg, and butter to taste. <br /><br />7. Milk Porridge: Same as the gruel but with equal parts of flour, cornmeal, milk and water. The flour, cornmeal and water is cooked first. Then the milk is added prior to boiling. <br /><br />8. Mutton Custard for Bowel complaints: Take two ounces of mutton suet and shred it. Add cinnamon and nutmeg and boil it in a pint of milk. Skim off any scum that rises. Take a half teacup of this three or four times a day.<br /><br />9. Bread Jelly: Boil a quart of water and set it aside. Take a 1/3 loaf of bread, cut off the crust, and toast it. Pot the toast into the water and boil it slowly until the liquid turns into jelly. Strain the mixture and set it aside. When used, sweeten it with sugar and a little lemon peel.<br /><br />10. Wine Whey: Boil a ½ pint of milk. Add two glasses of wine and a teaspoon of sugar. After the mixture boils, take it off the fire and set aside. Curds (solids) will form and sink to the bottom of the pot. Pour the whey (liquid) into another pot and add boiling water. Add sugar to taste. Use in cases of typhus.<br /><br />11. Calves Feet Broth: Take two calves feet and boil them in three quarts of water. When water is half boiled away, take off the fat, season with salt, and serve in a teacup with a spoonful of wine.<br /><br />12. Rice Jelly: Take ¼ pound of rice, mix in ½ pound of sugar, and add enough water to cover it. Boil until it becomes glutinous. Strain it and set it aside. Season to taste.<br /><br />13. Hot Lemonade: Cut up a whole lemon, add a teacup of sugar and boiling water. Great for colds.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-10193083256176070562007-08-21T11:57:00.000-06:002007-08-21T11:58:52.471-06:00Concerning the mess:1. Bread must be fully baked and eaten cold. The soup must be boiled for five hours before serving. Vegetables (when there were any) must be cooked until soft and digestible.<br /><br />2. Messes are prepared by squads assigned to kitchen police for that day.<br /><br />3. Ensure that all cooking vessels are properly cleaned.<br /><br />4. The cooks are responsible for feeding prisoners.<br /><br />5. No one is allowed in the kitchen area unless authorized.<br /><br />6. An NCO must be in charge at all times.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-82953768334766575622007-08-21T11:56:00.000-06:002007-08-21T11:57:38.842-06:00Other things:1. Cartridge boxes and bayonet scabbards will be polished with blacking, not varnish.<br /><br />2. Mark haversacks with the letter of the company and the number of the soldier.<br />(EX: C 57)<br /><br />3. Mark the flap of the knapsack with the unit designation, and company letter, and the soldier’s number. (EX: 69NY<br /> C 57)<br /><br />4. Haversacks and canteens will be worn on the left side, canteen over haversack.<br /><br />5. Private soldiers will wear uniform at all times, other clothing is not authorized.<br /><br />6. Soldiers will be issued one plate, one cup, one fork, one spoon, and one knife for messing purposes.<br /><br />7. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">NCOs</span> and soldiers are to pay compliments to Navy and Marine officers.<br /><br />8. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">NCOs</span> and soldiers are to render customs and courtesies to any and all officers above them.<br /><br />9. Salutes: With arms: bring the musket to right shoulder arms, then bring the left arm across the chest, touching the musket.<br />Without arms: bring the right hand to the corner of the visor, palm facing out.<br /><br />10. If seated, the NCO or soldier will rise on the approach of an officer and render a salute.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-22254740212127099672007-08-21T11:55:00.000-06:002007-08-21T11:56:31.618-06:00Some things that Officers should know:1. If an officer is given temporary command, changing the chain of command was not authorized without the approval of the next higher commander.<br /><br />2. If an officer takes permanent command of a unit, the outgoing commander will turn over all orders in force, public property, and unit funds.<br /><br />3. An officer should not correct non-commissioned officers in front of privates.<br /><br />4. Captains and Lieutenants are responsible for the upkeep and cleanliness of their company areas. They are also responsible for the cleanliness of the men, their uniforms, equipments, and weapons.<br /><br />5. Officers will be in proper uniform at all times.<br /><br />6. Company officers and higher will frequently inspect the kitchen areas to ensure sanitation.<br /><br />7. The Commanding Officer (the Colonel) will set the schedule for the duty day while in camp.<br /><br />8. No officer could inhabit a house, although vacant, without permission of the brigade or division commanders.<br /><br />9. Officers in command of the picket line will inspect the line frequently.<br /><br />10. Officers were responsible for controlling the men while on the march.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31554354.post-77936284990359475162007-08-21T11:54:00.000-06:002007-08-21T11:55:41.783-06:00Care of Weapons (according to the Revised Regulations for the Army, 1862):1. All arms will be kept in the condition that they were issued. Breakdown of weapons are not allowed except when authorized by a commissioned officer.<br /><br />2. After firing, wash out the barrel, then run a cloth down the barrel in order to dry it. After cleaning, put a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">tampion</span> in the muzzle to keep dirt and water out.<br /><br />3. Do not have arms loaded in camp unless authorized.<br /><br />4. Ammunition will be inspected as frequently as possible. Any unauthorized expenditure of rounds will result in the cost of the rounds being docked from the soldier’s pay.<br /><br />5. Do not mix blank and ball rounds.<br /><br />6. Expose ammunition to the sun to keep them dry.FSPowershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08308355741067150885noreply@blogger.com0