The American Civil War; North versus South, Yankees versus Rebels....

We have studied the Civil War a few times in the past and now The Mystery of History volume 4 has brought us back to it.  You can check out our other studies here, here, here, and here.

Lets review and learn a little more.

~The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861 and ended in 1865.  The war was fought between the North (union states) and the South (the Confederate states, wanted to leave the union).

~Confederate States included Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia.

~The Confederate States were the first to pull the trigger on the U.S. Union military at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.

Before the Battle of  Fredericksburg.

~The problems began when Abraham Lincoln was elected president and wanted to end slavery.  There were uncompromising differences between the North and the South.  North wanted to abolish slavery, the South did not.

~The majority of the war was fought in the southern states, and the destruction was massive!

Robert E. Lee

~Key battles within the Civil War:  The Battle of Gettysburg, Battle of Chickamouga, Battle of Chancerllorsville, Monitor and Meerrimack, Battle of Antietam, Battle of the Wilderness, Battle of Second Manassa, Battle of Stone's River, Battle of Shiloh, Battle of Fort Donelson, Fort Sumter, Bull Run, Vicksburg, Fredericksburg, Seven Days Battle.

~Over 370,000 people were badly injured and more than 620,000 were killed.
~Jefferson Davis was considered the president of the south while Robert E. Lee headed up the Confederate Army.

Ulysses S. Grant

~Abraham Lincoln was the president of the U.S. with Ulysses S. Grant leading the Union Army.

~The Gettysburg Address was delivered by Lincoln on November 19, 1863.  He said this Civil War was going to preserve a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.



~In January 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slave to be freed.  Subsequently, many of the freed slaved joined the Union.

~On April 9, 1865 after exhaustive battling, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant.  This brought an end to the Civil War which was not at all civil.

**How about some obscure/lesser known facts about the Civil War.

For example, have you ever heard of a rectal acorn?  Apparently, the Confederate soldiers would place tiny, secret messages in an acorn fashioned out of brass and basically stick it up their butt until they reached their destination to pass along the message.  Hmmmm.

**It is said that Lincoln did not actually believe whites and blacks could live together so his plan was to relocate the blacks to Central America.

**Robert E. Lee traveled with a hen.  The hen laid one egg under his cot every morning.

**Ever heard of rose-colored glasses?  During the Civil War colored lenses were to treat medical disorders.  If you had syphilis, you would have yellow, if you were depressed, you would have pink, and if you went insane, you would have blue.

Actual Civil War glasses.  I actually
know a few people that
need these blue glasses.  Where
do I place the order?

**When a child died, their parents would take a photo of the child to hold on to the memories.  It is possible that if you see a child from the Civil War time period that looks like they are asleep, it is probably a picture of a deceased child.

**Lincoln's favorite song was Dixie.

**The expression Rule of Thumb has a dark meaning.  During the Civil War, a husband could beat his wife but only with an instrument no thicker than his thumb.

How about some Civil War Slang:

~Apple Lady=Hard apple cider.

~Arkansas toothpick=A knife.

~Copperhead=A Northerner with sympathies for Southerners.

~Fit to be tied=Angry.

~Flux=Diarrhea.

~Irish shanty=Outhouse.

~Sawbones=A surgeon.

~Shakes=Malaria.

~Wallpapered=Drunk.

~Worth a goober=Something that amounts to a lot.

~Yellow hammers=Troops from Alabama.

Civil War officially wrapped up.
 Ducksters.
Fact Monster.
The History Channel.
Civil War on Pinterest.
Great map.