1.
American Civil War
–
The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
2.
Prince William County, Virginia
–
Prince William County is a county on the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 402,002, on 1 July 2015 and its county seat is the independent city of Manassas. A part of Northern Virginia, Prince William County is part of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, in 2012 it had the seventh highest income of any county in the United States. It was Virginias first majority-minority county, with Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic and, when John Smith and other English explorers ventured to the upper Potomac River beginning in 1608, they recorded the name of a village the Doeg inhabited as Pemacocack. It was located on the west bank of the Potomac River about 30 miles south of present-day Alexandria, unable to deal with European diseases and firepower, the Doeg had abandoned their villages in the area by 1700. The county was named for Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, in 1790 the population of the county was 58% white, most of the remainder was black and enslaved. The county had been an area of plantations, where crops were being changed to mixed crops due to soil exhaustion. In the first two decades after the Revolution, the number and percentage of blacks increased in Virginia as some whites freed their slaves. Most free people of color in the state were descended from unions between white women and African-American men, slave, indentured servant or free. Under colonial law since 1662, children took the status of their mother, so children born to women were free. The county was rural and agricultural for decades, the population into the early 20th century was centered in two areas, one at Manassas, the other near Occoquan and Woodbridge along the Potomac River. Beginning in the late 1930s, a suburban population was attracted to new housing that was developed near the existing population centers. By 2000, this was the third-most populous local jurisdiction in Virginia, from 2000 to 2010, the population increased by 43. 2%. This was the first county in Virginia to be minority-majority, the new majority is composed of Hispanic, African American, in 2012 it was the seventh-wealthiest county in the country. The estimated population of 2014 is more than 437,000, the Marine Corps Heritage Museum and the Hylton Performing Arts Center opened in the 21st century. The American Wartime Museum is also to be located in this county, during the commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, re-enactment of the famous First and Second Battles of Manassas was planned. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 348 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Loudoun and Fairfax Counties, on the west by Fauquier County, on the south by Stafford County, the magisterial districts each elect one supervisor to the Board of Supervisors which governs Prince William County
3.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
4.
Union (American Civil War)
–
The Union was opposed by 11 southern slave states that formed the Confederate States, or the Confederacy. All of the Unions states provided soldiers for the U. S. Army, the Border states played a major role as a supply base for the Union invasion of the Confederacy. The Northeast provided the resources for a mechanized war producing large quantities of munitions and supplies. The Midwest provided soldiers, food, horses, financial support, Army hospitals were set up across the Union. Most states had Republican governors who energetically supported the war effort, the Democratic Party strongly supported the war in 1861 but in 1862 was split between the War Democrats and the anti-war element led by the Copperheads. The Democrats made major gains in 1862 in state elections. They lost ground in 1863, especially in Ohio, in 1864 the Republicans campaigned under the National Union Party banner, which attracted many War Democrats and soldiers and scored a landslide victory for Lincoln and his entire ticket. The war years were quite prosperous except where serious fighting and guerrilla warfare took place along the southern border, prosperity was stimulated by heavy government spending and the creation of an entirely new national banking system. The Union states invested a great deal of money and effort in organizing psychological and social support for soldiers wives, widows, orphans, and for the soldiers themselves. Most soldiers were volunteers, although after 1862 many volunteered to escape the draft, Draft resistance was notable in some larger cities, especially New York City with its massive anti-draft riots of 1863 and in some remote districts such as the coal mining areas of Pennsylvania. In the context of the American Civil War, the Union is sometimes referred to as the North, both then and now, as opposed to the Confederacy, which was the South. The Union never recognized the legitimacy of the Confederacys secession and maintained at all times that it remained entirely a part of the United States of America, in foreign affairs the Union was the only side recognized by all other nations, none of which officially recognized the Confederate government. The term Union occurs in the first governing document of the United States, the subsequent Constitution of 1787 was issued and ratified in the name not of the states, but of We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. Union, for the United States of America, is repeated in such clauses as the Admission to the Union clause in Article IV. Even before the war started, the preserve the Union was commonplace. Using the term Union to apply to the non-secessionist side carried a connotation of legitimacy as the continuation of the political entity. In comparison to the Confederacy, the Union had a large industrialized and urbanized area, additionally, the Union states had a manpower advantage of 5 to 2 at the start of the war. Year by year, the Confederacy shrank and lost control of increasing quantities of resources, meanwhile, the Union turned its growing potential advantage into a much stronger military force
5.
United States
–
Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Confederate States of America
–
The Confederate States, officially the Confederate States of America, commonly referred to as the Confederacy, was a breakaway country of 11 secessionist slave states existing from 1861 to 1865. It was never recognized as an Independent country, although it achieved belligerent status by Britain. A new Confederate government was established in February 1861 before Lincoln took office in March, after the Civil War began in April, four slave states of the Upper South – Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina – also declared their secession and joined the Confederacy. The government of the United States rejected the claims of secession, the Civil War began with the April 12,1861, Confederate attack upon Fort Sumter, a Union fort in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. In spring 1865, after four years of fighting which led to an estimated 620,000 military deaths, all the Confederate forces surrendered. Jefferson Davis later lamented that the Confederacy had disappeared in 1865, Missouri and Kentucky were represented by partisan factions from those states, while the legitimate governments of those two states retained formal adherence to the Union. Also fighting for the Confederacy were two of the Five Civilized Tribes located in Indian Territory and a new, but uncontrolled, Confederate Territory of Arizona. Efforts by certain factions in Maryland to secede were halted by federal imposition of law, while Delaware, though of divided loyalty. A Unionist government in parts of Virginia organized the new state of West Virginia. With the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,1863, the Union made abolition of slavery a war goal, as Union forces moved southward, large numbers of plantation slaves were freed. Many joined the Union lines, enrolling in service as soldiers, teamsters and laborers, the most notable advance was Shermans March to the Sea in late 1864. Much of the Confederacys infrastructure was destroyed, including telegraphs, railroads, plantations in the path of Shermans forces were severely damaged. Internal movement became increasingly difficult for Southerners, weakening the economy and these losses created an insurmountable disadvantage in men, materiel, and finance. Public support for Confederate President Jefferson Daviss administration eroded over time due to repeated military reverses, economic hardships, after four years of campaigning, Richmond was captured by Union forces in April 1865. Shortly afterward, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, President Davis was captured on May 10,1865, and jailed in preparation for a treason trial that was ultimately never held. The U. S. government began a process known as Reconstruction which attempted to resolve the political and constitutional issues of the Civil War. By 1877, the Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the former Confederate states, Confederate veterans had been temporarily disenfranchised by Reconstruction policy. The prewar South had many areas, the war left the entire region economically devastated by military action, ruined infrastructure
7.
Gouverneur K. Warren
–
Gouverneur Kemble Warren was a civil engineer and Union Army general during the American Civil War. He is best remembered for arranging the last-minute defense of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg and is referred to as the Hero of Little Round Top. Warren was born in Cold Spring, Putnam County, New York, and named for Gouverneur Kemble, a prominent local Congressman, diplomat, industrialist and his sister, Emily Warren Roebling, would later play a significant role in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. He entered the United States Military Academy at age 16 and graduated second in his class of 44 cadets in 1850 and he was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. In the antebellum years he worked on the Mississippi River, on transcontinental railroad surveys and he served as the engineer on William S. Harneys Battle of Ash Hollow in the Nebraska Territory in 1855, where he saw his first combat. He took part in studies of possible railroad routes, creating the first comprehensive map of the United States west of the Mississippi in 1857. This required extensive explorations of the vast Nebraska Territory, including Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, part of Montana, one region he surveyed was the Minnesota River Valley, a valley much larger than what would be expected from the low-flow Minnesota River. In some places the valley is 5 miles wide and 250 feet deep, Warren first explained the hydrology of the region in 1868, attributing the gorge to a massive river, which drained Lake Agassiz between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago. The great river was named glacial River Warren in his honor after his death, at the start of the war, Warren was a first lieutenant and mathematics instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, across the Hudson River from his hometown. He helped raise a regiment for service in the Union Army and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 5th New York Infantry on May 14,1861. Warren and his regiment saw their first combat at the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia on June 10 and he was promoted to colonel and regimental commander on September 10. He commanded a brigade during the Seven Days Battles and was wounded in the knee at the Battle of Gaines Mill, at the Battle of Malvern Hill, his brigade stopped the attack of a Confederate division. Warren was promoted to general on September 26,1862. When Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker reorganized the Army of the Potomac in February 1863, he named Warren his chief topographical engineer, as chief engineer, Warren was commended for his service in the Battle of Chancellorsville. At the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, as Confederate General Robert E. Lee began his invasion of Pennsylvania, Warren suffered a minor neck wound during the Confederate assault. On March 13,1865, he was brevetted to major general in the army for his actions at Bristoe Station. During the Mine Run Campaign, Warrens corps was ordered to attack Lees army, although initially angry at Warren, Meade acknowledged that he had been right. During these Virginia campaigns, Warren established a reputation of bringing his engineering traits of deliberation and caution to the role of infantry corps commander
8.
A. P. Hill
–
Ambrose Powell Hill, Jr. was a Confederate army general who was killed in the American Civil War. A native Virginian, Hill was a career United States Army officer who had fought in the Mexican–American War, Hill is usually referred to as A. P. Hill, to differentiate him from another, unrelated Confederate general, D. H. Hill. Hill, known to his family as Powell, was born in Culpeper, Virginia, Hill was nominated to enter the United States Military Academy in 1842, in a class that started with 85 cadets. He made friends easily, including such prominent future generals as Darius N. Couch, George E. Pickett, Jesse L. Reno, George Stoneman, Truman Seymour, Cadmus M. Wilcox, and George B. McClellan. His future commander, Thomas J. Jackson, was in the same class, Hill had a higher social status in Virginia and valued having a good time in his off-hours, whereas Jackson scorned levity and practiced his religion more fervently than Hill could tolerate. In 1844, Hill returned from a furlough with a case of gonorrhea, reassigned to the class of 1847, he made new friendships in particular with Henry Heth and Ambrose E. Burnside. He graduated in 1847, ranking 15th of 38 and he was appointed to the 1st U. S. Artillery as a second lieutenant. He served in a company during the final months of the Mexican-American War. After some garrison assignments along the Atlantic seaboard, he served in the Seminole Wars, again arriving near the end of the war and he was promoted to first lieutenant in September 1851. From 1855 to 1860, Hill was employed on the United States coastal survey and he was once engaged to Ellen B. Marcy, the wife of Hills West Point roommate George B. McClellan, before her parents pressured her to break off the engagement, on July 18,1859, he married Kitty Morgan McClung, a young widow, thus becoming the brother-in-law of future Confederate cavalry generals John Hunt Morgan and Basil W. Duke. On March 1,1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, after Virginia seceded, he was appointed colonel of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment. The 13th Virginia was one of the regiments in Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Hill was promoted to general on February 26,1862. Hills division initially formed part of James Longstreets command and his division did not participate in the Battle of Seven Pines, the battle in which Joseph E. Johnston was wounded and replaced in command of the Army of Northern Virginia by Robert E. Lee. June 1 was the first day that Hill began using a nickname for his division and this contradictory name for the largest division in all of the Confederate armies may have been selected because Hill wished his men to have a reputation for speed and agility. Hill launched multiple attacks throughout the Seven Days Battles, including at Mechanicsville, Gainess Mill, and Glendale, his division was held in reserve at Malvern Hill
9.
II Corps (Union Army)
–
There were five corps in the Union Army designated as II Corps during the American Civil War. Of these five, the one most widely known was the Army of the Potomac formation, the II Corps was prominent by reason of its longer and continuous service, larger organization, hardest fighting, and greatest number of casualties. Of the one hundred regiments in the Union Army that lost the most men in battle, the II Corps also fought in nearly every battle in the main eastern theater, from the 1862 Peninsula Campaign to the Confederate surrender at Appomattox Court House. The corps was organized under General Orders No,101, March 21,1862, which assigned Brigadier General Edwin Vose Sumner to its command, and Brigadier Generals Israel B. Richardson, John Sedgwick, and Louis Blenker to the command of its divisions, within three weeks of its organization the corps moved with George B. McClellans Army of the Potomac on the Peninsula Campaign, except for Blenkers division, which was withdrawn on March 31 from McClellans command, Blenkers division never rejoined the corps. The remaining two divisions numbered 21,500 men, of whom 18,000 were present for duty, the casualties of the two divisions in that battle amounted to 196 killed,899 wounded, and 90 missing. In the Seven Days Battles the corps lost 201 killed,1,195 wounded, the corps then marched on the Maryland Campaign, during which Brigadier General William H. Frenchs 3rd Division was added on 10 September 1862. At the Battle of Antietam the corps was engaged, its casualties amounting to more than double that of any other corps on the field. Out of 15,000 effectives, it lost 883 killed,3,859 wounded, and 396 missing, total,5,138. The Irish Brigade, of Richardsons 1st Division, also sustained a loss in its fight at the Bloody Lane. Barlow to lead the 61st and 64th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiments to break through the Confederate line, richardson was killed in this battle, and Sedgwick received three wounds. The next engagement was at the Battle of Fredericksburg, in the meantime Sumner had been promoted to the command of a Grand Division—II and IX Corps—and General Darius N. Couch, a division commander of the IV Corps, was appointed to his place. Brigadier General Winfield S. Hancock succeeded to the command of Richardsons 1st Division, and Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard took Sedgwicks place, the percentage of loss in Hancocks Division was large, Caldwells Brigade losing 46 percent killed and wounded. After Fredericksburg, the Grand Divisions were discontinued and, Sumner retiring on account of age and physical disabilities, Couch led the corps at the Battle of Chancellorsville, with Hancock, John Gibbon, and French as his division commanders. Sedgwick had been promoted to the command of the VI Corps, and Howard, during the fighting at Chancellorsville, Gibbons 2nd Division remained at Fredericksburg, where it supported Sedgwicks operations, but with slight loss. Not long after Chancellorsville, Couch was relieved at his own request, Hancock succeeding to the command of the corps, Caldwell to that of Hancocks Division. At the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, Brigadier General Alexander Hays brigade joined, the fighting was deadly in the extreme, the percentage of loss in the 1st Minnesota of Gibbons Division, being almost without an equal in the records of modern warfare
10.
Army of the Potomac
–
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April. The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was only the size of a corps. Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, and it was the army fought the wars first major battle. The arrival in Washington, D. C. of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan dramatically changed the makeup of that army, on July 26,1861, the Department of the Shenandoah, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. The men under Bankss command became a division in the Army of the Potomac. The army started with four corps, but these were divided during the Peninsula Campaign to produce two more, after the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Army of the Potomac absorbed the units that had served under Maj. Gen. John Pope. It is a popular, but mistaken, belief that John Pope commanded the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1862 after McClellans unsuccessful Peninsula Campaign, on the contrary, Popes army consisted of different units, and was named the Army of Virginia. The Army of the Potomac underwent many changes during its existence. The army was divided by Ambrose Burnside into three divisions of two corps each with a Reserve composed of two more. Thereafter the individual corps, seven of which remained in Virginia, Hooker also created a Cavalry Corps by combining units that previously had served as smaller formations. In late 1863, two corps were sent West, and—in 1864—the remaining five corps were recombined into three, burnsides IX Corps, which accompanied the army at the start of Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign, rejoined the army later. For more detail, see the section Corps below, the Army of the Potomac fought in most of the Eastern Theater campaigns, primarily in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. After the end of the war, it was disbanded on June 28,1865, the Army of the Potomac was also the name given to General P. G. T. Beauregards Confederate army during the early stages of the war. However, the name was changed to the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1869 the Society of the Army of the Potomac was formed as a veterans association and it had its last reunion in 1929. Because of its proximity to the cities of the North, such as Washington. Philadelphia, and New York City, the Army of the Potomac received more media coverage than the other Union field armies
