Civil War Facts 16-30



16. Of the 583 Union Generals, 217 were West Point graduates, or about 37%. Of the 425 Confederate Generals, 146 had graduated from West Point, or about 34%

17. According to official prisoner exchange arrangements made between Union and Confederate authorities, one general was worth 60 enlisted men, while a lieutenant was worth only four.

18. Due to extreme inflation in the South, a barrel of flour could be purchased in Richmond in January 1864 at a price of $250.00!

19. On September 8, 1863, Confederate Lieutenant Dick Dowling of the Confederate Davis Guards withstood the advance of 3,800 Union soldiers at Sabine Pass, Texas--with only 47 men under his command!

20. On May 7, 1863, at his headquarters in Spring Hill, Tennessee, Confederate General Earl Van Dorn was assassinated by a gunwielding civilian who claimed that his wife and Van Dorn were having an affair--a charge Van Dorn's associates denied.

21. Union Private Daniel Hough of the 1st US Artillery and member of the Federal garrison at Fort Sumter became the Civil War's first casualty, when, on April 14, 1861, he was accidentally killed by an exploding cannon during evacuation ceremonies.

22. Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston contracted pneumonia and died on March 21, 1891, after marching in the rain as pallbearer in William T. Sherman, the man who received the surrender of Johnston's army 25 years earlier.

23. General George Meade's favorite mount, Baldy, survived wounds at First Manassas, Antietam, and Gettysburg; carried Meade in action at Fredericksburg and Gettysburg; and trailed Meade's hearse at his funeral in 1872.

24. At the Battle of Second Manassas, General JEB Stuart deceived Federals by having his troopers drag brush along dirt roads, kicking dust up and causing the Federals to believe Confederate reinforcements were arriving.

25. During General JEB Stuart's famous ride around McClellan (June 12-15, 1862) on the eve of the Seven Days' Battles, Stuart's 1,200 horsemen circled the 100,000-man Union Army on the Peninsula near Richmond, destroyed numerous supply wagons, captured 170 prisoners, covered approximately 150 miles--and lost one trooper.

26. Confederate General John C. Pemberton, the officer who surrendered Vicksburg, Miss., otherwise known as "The Confederacy's Gibraltar," was born in Pennsylvania.

27. Winchester, Virginia was occupied by Union and Confederate armies 52 separate times during the course of the war.

28. At the Battle of the Wilderness, the Union's IX Corps was in serious danger of being turned by a strong Confederate attack when one of the soldiers shouted out the opening words of the "Battle Cry of Freedom"--'We'll rally round the flag;/Boys, we'll rally once again!' The Northern troops held their ground.

29. While she was First Lady, Mary Todd Lincoln owned over 300 separate pairs of gloves.

30. When the 33 year-old Confederate General John Pegram was killed during an engagement at Hatcher's Run, Virginia, on February 6, 1865, his funeral was held in Richmond at St. Paul's Church, the same church where he had been married only three weeks earlier.


This page hosted by GeoCities Get your own Free Home Page


1