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32. On September 6, 1863, at Little Rock, Arkansas, Confederate Generals John S. Marmaduke of Missouri and Lucius M. Walker of Tennessee settled a dispute with a duel--in which General Walker was shot to death.
33. Confederate General Robert S. Garnett (not to be confused with the Richard B. Garnett of Pickett's division, killed at Gettysburg) became the first general to die in the war, when he was shot to death by Federal forces during a rearguard action near Corrick's Ford, Virginia, on July 13, 1861.
34. The last Confederate flag was officially lowered on November 6, 1865, when Lieutenant James I. Waddell lowered the colors aboard the CSS Shenandoah at Liverpool, England.
35. General Grant received the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, Sherman accepted the surrender of the Army of Tennessee, but Union General E.R.S. Canby was the only Union officer to accept the surrender of two major Confederate forces--the 12,000 troops of the Confederate Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, and the 43,000 troops of the Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department.
36. John Wilkes Booth, who did not enter Confederate military service, did in fact have previous military experience. He served in a Virginia militia unit which participated in the capture of John Brown and his raiders at Harper's Ferry in 1859.
37. Confederate Officer Victor Girardey, a captain of Georgia troops, became the only Confederate Officer to be promoted from captain to general when, during the Battle of the Crater, he so distinguished himself that he earned promotion to brigadier general. He did not hold this position for an extended amount of time, however, for he was killed in action near Richmond just 13 days later.
38. Union Colonel Wladimir Krzyzanowski, a Polish immigrant who commanded New York troops, failed to get confirmation as general from the U.S. Senate, reportedly because the lawmakers could not pronounce his name.
39. Confederate General Adam R. Johnson, a leader of Confederate partisans, became known as "Stovepipe" after capturing the town of Newbergh, Indiana from a large garrison of Union troops. Johnson bluffed a surrender from the Northern troops with the use of only 12 men and "artillery" made from an old wagon and joints of stovepipe.
40. During the Civil War, Southerners, who found "spiritous liquors" unavailable, would often drink "ginger beer," a mixture of molasses, ginger, water, and yeast warmed to fermentation.
41. If you think the Ironclad, Fort Sumter, Headquarters U.S.A., and the Blue Goose were the names of ships in the U.S. Navy, you're wrong. All were notorious Washington D.C. bordellos in operation during the Civil War.
42. During the First Battle of Manassas, Mrs. Judith Henry, an elderly, bedridden occupant of the Henry House, was mortally wounded when an artillery shell passed into her house and exploded.
43. On December 30, 1862, the night before the Battle of Stone's River, Union and Confederate musicians positioned within easy hearing distance fought their own battle--of the bands, as they played performances of "Yankee Doodle" and "Hail Columbia" versus "Dixie" and "The Bonnie Blue Flag."
44. At 4:30 a.m. on Friday, April 12, 1861, Captain George S. James, commanding the Confederate artillery at Fort Johnson overlooking Charleston harbor, ordered Henry S. Farley to fire a 10-inch mortar at Fort Sumter, beginning the bombardment of Fort Sumter and firing the first shot of the Civil War.
45. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, with about 51,000 combined casualties suffered. But which battle is second place?? The Battle of Chickamauga, fought September 19-20, 1863, saw 34,624 men killed or wounded (16,170 Union and 18,454 Confederate) out of 125,000 total men engaged. It was a Confederate victory, despite the heavier casualties their forces sustained.
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