1Fountain Hughes
Fountain Hughes lived through slavery, the Civil War, World War 1, World War 2, and the beginning of the Cold War.
2. Many Civil War battles have two names because the Union named battles after natural features and the Confederacy after the man-made structures/towns nearby
3. The first American civil war reenactors were actually veterans of the war.
4. During the Civil War, a man gained national recognition by repeatedly auctioning off a plain sack of flour. By doing so, he raised $250,000 which aided wounded soldiers.
5. Frederick Douglass consulted with President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and helped influence the Emancipation Proclamation. After President Lincoln’s death, Mrs. Lincoln sent Douglass her late husband’s walking stick.
Latest FactRepublic Video:
15 Most Controversial & Costly Blunders in History
6Benjamin Runkle
An officer in the American Civil War, Benjamin Runkle, was mistakenly left for dead on the battlefield. An obituary was written for him while he was still alive, but ironically Runkle outlived the man who wrote it, and in return wrote an obituary for his obituary writer
7. The US Postal Service began home delivery during the Civil War after a postal worker became so torn up by seeing women lined up in the cold to see if a letter had arrived from a son or husband at the front lines that he started delivering mail to homes.
8. Soon after the outbreak of the American Civil War, former President Franklin Pierce tried to assemble all other living former US presidents to use their influence to end the war.
9. Major General Henry A. Barnum was shot through the side in the Civil War. Assumed dead, he was taken the prisoner and survived. He kept the bullet tract open as a trophy by running a ramrod through the wound every day. He was later shot in two more battles and survived them both.
10. Prior to the American Civil War, most citizens of the United States referred to their country in the plural ("The United States are wealthy", "The United States have a large population")
11The Rebel yell
The "rebel yell" that terrified the Union Army during the U.S. Civil War has been successfully reconstructed
12. During the U.S. Civil War, former President John Tyler became a Confederate and was elected to serve in the Confederate congress. He is the only U.S. President to not be mourned officially in Washington D.C. due to his being a Confederate supporter.
13. Wilmer McLean's house was involved in the 1st Battle of Bull Run, where the Civil War began. After, he moved 120 miles away to Appomattox Courthouse to avoid further battles, and 2 years later, the Civil War ended in his parlor where General Lee surrendered to General Grant.
14. The song "Cotton Eyed Joe" predates Tchaikovsky and the US Civil War.
15. The Saguaro Cactus takes 75 years to grow its first "arm;" and a Saguaro that dies this year has, on average, been around since before the Civil War.
16Calixa Lavallée
The writer of "O Canada" was wounded while fighting for the Union in the American Civil War.
17. Civil War Veteran Jacob Miller, who was shot in the forehead on Sept.19th, 1863 at Brock Field at Chickamauga and left for dead. He lived with an open bullet wound for many years, with the last pieces of lead dropping out 31 years after he was first shot.
18. In the Civil War, Generals were 50% more likely to die in combat than Privates
19. There are currently living children of Civil War Veterans 150 years after the war, who can still recall their fathers' war stories.
20. Contrary to popular belief, almost all surgery during the American Civil War was performed under general anesthesia and "pain bullets" are a myth. They were actually chewed by pigs.
21Confederates descendents
After the Civil War many wealthy Confederate families fled to Brazil, today many Southern cultures and traditions can still be seen in the descendants of these "Confederados"
22. More soldiers died of accident/disease in the American civil war, rather than actual combat.
23. An estimated 400 women disguised themselves as men to fight in the US Civil War, including one whose cover was blown when she absentmindedly tried to put her pants on over her head, thinking they were her dress
24. Pro-slavery activist Edmund Ruffin the man who fired the first shot of the Civil War was so distraught by Confederate surrender that he wrote in his diary he would never submit to "Yankee rule" and committed suicide by gunshot to the head
25. There is a huge abandoned fortress (Fort Jefferson) 70 nautical miles off the coast of Key West in Florida. Fort Jefferson remains the largest all-masonry fort in the United States and was briefly used as a prison for Union deserters in the Civil War.
