1.
American Civil War
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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.
Kurz and Allison
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Kurz and Allison were a major publisher of chromolithographs in the late 19th century. Based at 267-269 Wabash Avenue in Chicago, they built their reputation on large prints published in the mid-1880s depicting battles of the American Civil War and this was a period of recollection among veterans, and the company was trying to capitalise of this sentiment. In all, a set of battle scenes were published from designs by Louis Kurz. Kurz, a native of Salzburg, Austria, had emigrated to the United States in 1848, while the prints were highly inaccurate and considered naive fantasies like Currier and Ives prints, they were still sought after. They did not pretend to mirror the events but rather attempted to tap peoples patriotic emotions. When the Spanish–American War broke out in 1898, the company created several large prints of the major battles, later conflicts such as the Russo-Japanese War were also illustrated by the company. Louis Kurz first worked as a lithographer in Milwaukee, together with Henry Sifert, after the Civil War, he was one of the founders of the Chicago Lithographing Company. He worked there until the company was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 and he then returned to Milwaukee, and started the American Oleograph Company. He moved back to Chicago in 1878, where in 1880 he became a partner in the newly founded firm of Kurz, alexander Allison probably provided financial backing. According to Neely and Holzeer The influence of the Gettysburg cyclorama on the Kurz, … The print openly copied vignettes from the painting and in at least one instance perpetuated a historical error. In June 1886 Louis Prang published a series of prints under the title Prangs War Pictures, shortly thereafter Kurz and Allison reissued their print of the Battle of Gettysburg and designed and issued additional prints in the same format. Three such prints were issued in 1886, three in 1887, seven in 1888, six in 1889, four in 1890, six in 1891, one in 1891, four in 1892, and one in 1893. According to Neely and Holzeer Kurz and Alison, although inspired by Prangs work, Kurz and Alison remained true to the popular tradition in lithography embodied in the work of Currier and Ives, Prang was aiming higher. Several of the Kurz and Alison Civil War prints featured Black soldiers, particularly Storming Fort Wagner and The Fort Pillow Massacre, at least one lithograph entitled George Washington at Mount Vernon is known to exist depicting George Washington, Martha Washington and Marthas two children. The firm also produced a number of black and white lithographs on religious subjects. These were marketed to localized communities with ethnic identities, often separated from their compatriots, many of the firms prints were reproduced in New Mexican tinwork. Prints depicting the Civil War battles by Kurz and Allison are among the most sought after collectibles of Civil War enthusiasts, according to the Martin Art Gallery, Muhlenberg College. In spite of their lack of accuracy, Kurz and Allison prints are still used as book covers
3.
Frederick County, Virginia
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Frederick County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 78,305, the county was formed in 1743 by the splitting of Orange County. Frederick County is included in the Winchester, VA-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, the area that would become Frederick County, Virginia was inhabited and transited by various indigenous peoples for thousands of years before European colonization. The Indian Road refers to a pathway made by local tribes. Frederick County was established in 1743 from parts of Orange County, the Virginia Assembly named the new county for Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of King George II of Great Britain. As Commander-in-Chief of the new Colonial Virginia regiment in 1754, Colonel George Washingtons headquarters were located in Winchester before and during the French and he resigned from military service in 1758, only to be appointed General by the Continental Congress sixteen years later. Meanwhile, Washington represented Frederick County in his first elective office, daniel Morgan was another famous General during the American Revolutionary War, from. Winchester changed hands between the Confederate and Union Armies on average every three weeks during the war. Many battles were fought in Frederick County, unlike those of neighboring Berkeley and Jefferson counties, Frederick County residents voted to remain in Virginia despite being occupied by the Union Army at the time. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 416 square miles. This is the northernmost county in the Commonwealth of Virginia, the population density was 143 people per square mile. There were 23,319 housing units at a density of 56/square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 94. 99% White,2. 62% Black or African American,0. 16% Native American,0. 66% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 56% from other races, and 1. 01% from two or more races. 1. 70% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,19. 20% of all households were made up of individuals and 6. 80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the family size was 3.02. In the county, the population was out with 26. 40% under the age of 18,7. 00% from 18 to 24,31. 90% from 25 to 44,24. 10% from 45 to 64. The median age was 37 years, for every 100 females there were 100.10 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.70 males, the median income for a household in the county was $46,941, and the median income for a family was $52,281
4.
Shenandoah County, Virginia
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Shenandoah County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,993 and it is part of the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. The Senedos, possibly an Iroquoian group, are thought to have occupied the area at one time, the name of both the Valley and of the County is most likely connected with this Native American group. Colonial Governor Gooch formally purchased the entire Shenandoah Valley from the Six Nations of the Iroquois by the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744, the Iroquois controlled the valley as a hunting ground. European settlement had begun by that time. During Pontiacs War, Shawnee attacks reached as far east as the current county, Shenandoah County was established in 1772. It was originally named Dunmore County for Virginia Governor John Murray, Dunmore was Virginias last royal governor, and was forced from office during the American Revolution. During the war, in 1778 rebels renamed the county as Shenandoah, during the Civil War, the Battle of New Market took place May 15,1864. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 512 square miles. The Fort Valley and western slopes of the Massanutten Mountain are located within the county. 93. 0% were White,1. 7% Black or African American,0. 5% Asian,0. 2% Native American,2. 8% of some other race and 1. 6% of two or more races. 26. 4% were of American,22. 0% German,10. 3% English and 7. 6% Irish ancestry, as of the census of 2000, there were 35,075 people,14,296 households, and 10,064 families residing in the county. The population density was 68 people per square mile, there were 16,709 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county was 95. 60% White,1. 17% Black or African American,0. 18% Native American,0. 35% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,1. 79% from other races, and 0. 89% from two or more races. 3. 40% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,25. 10% of all households were made up of individuals and 11. 30% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the family size was 2.86. In the county, the population was out with 22. 30% under the age of 18,6. 60% from 18 to 24,27. 60% from 25 to 44,26. 20% from 45 to 64. The median age was 41 years, for every 100 females there were 94.90 males
5.
Warren County, Virginia
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Warren County is a U. S. county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The 2010 census places Warren County within the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV Metropolitan Statistical Area with a population of 37,575, the county seat is Front Royal. By 1672 the entire Shenandoah Valley was claimed for hunting by the Iroquois Confederation following the Beaver Wars, some bands of the Shawnee settled in the area as client groups to the Iroquois and alternately to the Cherokee after 1721. The Iroquois formally sold their entire claim east of the Alleghenies to the Virginia Colony at the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744, Warren County was established in 1836 from Frederick and Shenandoah counties. At that time the county had a population of 7,000 people, wedding records show marriages of people born in the 1770s marrying in the 1800s who head households of four to eight “free colored” so the early demographics of the population are unclear. Joist Hite lead the Sixteen Families into the Lower Shenandoah Valley, some consider that group the first European settlers of the area, others believe different claims. Either way, Presbyterians of Scotch-Irish lineage and Quakers followed, rail service was established in 1854 with the construction of the Alexandria, Orange and Manassas Gap Railroad between Manassas and Riverton. This line was extended to Strasburg in time to become a factor in the Battle of Front Royal on May 23,1862. Lumber, agriculture, manufacturing and grain mills provided employment in the region for decades after the Civil War, the county is named for Joseph Warren. During the Civil War the Battle of Front Royal took place in the county on May 23,1862. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 217 square miles. The population density was 148 people per square mile, there were 13,299 housing units at an average density of 62 per square mile. The demographics of the county is 92. 71% White,4. 83% Black or African American,0. 27% Native American,0. 43% Asian,0. 02% Pacific Islander,0. 46% from other races, and 1. 29% from two or more races. 1. 56% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race,24. 00% of all households were made up of individuals and 8. 80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.57 and the family size was 3.04. In the county, the population was out with 25. 60% under the age of 18,7. 60% from 18 to 24,30. 60% from 25 to 44,23. 90% from 45 to 64. The median age was 37 years, for every 100 females there were 96.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.90 males, the median income for a household in the county was $42,422, and the median income for a family was $50,487
6.
Geographic coordinate system
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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
7.
Union (American Civil War)
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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
8.
United States
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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
9.
Confederate States of America
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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
10.
Philip Sheridan
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Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1865, his cavalry pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee and was instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox, Sheridan fought in later years in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains. Both as a soldier and private citizen, he was instrumental in the development, in 1883, Sheridan was appointed general-in-chief of the U. S. Army, and in 1888 he was promoted to the rank of General of the Army during the term of President Grover Cleveland. Sheridan claimed he was born in Albany, New York, the child of six by John and Mary Meenagh Sheridan, Catholic immigrants from the parish of Killinkere, County Cavan. He grew up in Somerset, Ohio, fully grown, he reached only 165 cm tall, a stature that led to the nickname, Little Phil. Sheridan worked as a boy in general stores, and eventually as head clerk. In his third year at West Point, Sheridan was suspended for a year for fighting with a classmate, the previous day, Sheridan had threatened to run him through with a bayonet in reaction to a perceived insult on the parade ground. He graduated in 1853, 34th in his class of 52 cadets, Sheridan was commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant and was assigned to the 1st U. S. Infantry regiment at Fort Duncan, Texas, then to the 4th U. S, most of his service with the 4th U. S. He lived with a mistress during part of his tour of duty and he was promoted to first lieutenant in March 1861, just before the Civil War, and to captain in May, immediately after Fort Sumter. In the fall of 1861, Sheridan was ordered to travel to Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, for assignment to the 13th U. S. Infantry. He departed from his command of Fort Yamhill, Oregon, by way of San Francisco, across the Isthmus of Panama, frémont, whose administration of the Department of the Missouri was tainted by charges of wasteful expenditures and fraud that left the status of $12 million in debt. Sheridan sorted out the mess, impressing Halleck in the process, much to Sheridans dismay, Hallecks vision for Sheridan consisted of a continuing role as a staff officer. Nevertheless, Sheridan performed the task assigned to him and entrenched himself as an excellent staff officer in Hallecks view, in January 1862, he reported for duty to Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis and served under him at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Sheridan soon discovered that officers were engaged in profiteering and they stole horses from civilians and demanded payment from Sheridan. He refused to pay for the property and confiscated the horses for the use of Curtiss army. When Curtis ordered him to pay the officers, Sheridan brusquely retorted, Curtis had Sheridan arrested for insubordination but Hallecks influence appears to have ended any formal proceedings. Gen. William T. Sherman, who offered him the colonelcy of an Ohio infantry regiment and this appointment fell through, but Sheridan was subsequently aided by friends, who petitioned Michigan Governor Austin Blair on his behalf
11.
Jubal Early
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Jubal Anderson Early was a lawyer and Confederate general in the American Civil War. He served in the Eastern Theater of the war for the conflict, as a division commander under Stonewall Jackson and Richard Stoddert Ewell. He was the Confederate commander in key battles of the Valley Campaigns of 1864, including a raid to the outskirts of Washington. The articles written by him for the Southern Historical Society in the 1870s established the Lost Cause point of view as a long-lasting literary, Early was born in the Red Valley section of Franklin County, Virginia, third of ten children of Ruth and Joab Early. The Early family was a well-connected old Virginia family, Earlys father operated an extensive tobacco plantation of more than 4,000 acres at the foot of the Blue Ridge. Early attended local schools as well as academies in Lynchburg. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1837, ranked 18th of 50, during his tenure at the Academy he was engaged in a dispute with a fellow cadet named Lewis Addison Armistead. Armistead broke a plate over Earlys head, an incident that prompted Armisteads resignation from the Academy. After graduating from the Academy, Early fought against the Seminole in Florida as a lieutenant in the 3rd U. S. Artillery regiment before resigning from the Army for the first time in 1838 and he practiced law in the 1840s as a prosecutor for both Franklin and Floyd Counties in Virginia. He was noted for a case in Mississippi, where he beat the top lawyers in the state and his law practice was interrupted by the Mexican-American War, in which he served as a Major with the 1st Virginia Volunteers from 1847 to 1848. He served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1841 to 1843, Early was a Whig and strongly opposed secession at the April 1861 Virginia convention. However, he was roused by the actions of the Federal government when President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. He accepted a commission as a general in the Virginia Militia. He was sent to Lynchburg, Virginia, to three regiments and then commanded one of them, the 24th Virginia Infantry, as a colonel in the Confederate army. Early was promoted to general after the First Battle of Bull Run in July 1861. In that battle, he displayed valor at Blackburns Ford and impressed General P. G. T, during the Gettysburg Campaign, Earlys Division occupied York, Pennsylvania, the largest Northern town to fall to the Rebels during the war. Early was trusted and supported by Robert E. Lee, the commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee affectionately called Early his Bad Old Man, because of his short temper
12.
Union Army of the Shenandoah
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The Army of the Shenandoah was a Union army during the American Civil War. First organized as the Department of the Shenandoah in 1861 and then disbanded in early 1862, it became most effective after its recreation on August 1,1864, under Philip Sheridan. Its Valley Campaigns of 1864 rendered the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia unable to produce foodstuffs for the Confederate States Army, the new Army of the Shenandoah was composed of the Union VI Corps, XIX Corps, and George Crooks Army of West Virginia. It was placed under Sheridans command with orders to repel Early, deal with Confederate guerillas, and press on into the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Early, ever the cunning strategist, kept his force moving so as not to be trapped by Sheridans vastly superior force, his raid had, if anything, a good deal of success for southern morale. Confederate General Robert E. Lee, coming to the conclusion that Early had done all that was practical, ordered Early to return two of his divisions to Richmond and remain to tie up Sheridan. Learning of this, Sheridan waited until Early weakened himself and then attacked at the Third Battle of Winchester on September 19, reinforced again in reaction to the threat of Sheridans 31, 000-man army, Early moved against Sheridan once more. Initially successful, the Confederates were repelled by a Union counterattack, following their victory, portions of the Army of the Shenandoah were detached to Grant at Petersburg and to William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia. Command of the army passed to Brig. Gen. A. T. A. Torbert until June 27,1865. April 27 - July 25,1861, Major General Robert Patterson July 25,1861 - March 18,1862, Major General Nathaniel P. Banks 21 May –3 July 1864, Major General David Hunter August 7 – October 16,1864, Major General Philip Sheridan October 16 – October 19,1864, Major General Horatio G
13.
Valley Campaigns of 1864
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The Valley Campaigns of 1864 were American Civil War operations and battles that took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from May to October 1864. Military historians divide this period into three campaigns, but it is useful to consider the three together and how they interacted. At the beginning of 1864, Ulysses S. Grant was promoted to lieutenant general and he chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, although Maj. Gen. George G. Meade remained the actual commander of that army. He left Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman in command of most of the western armies, therefore, scorched earth tactics would be required in some important theaters. The first campaign started with Grants planned invasion by Sigel, Sigel was in command of the Department of West Virginia, and his orders from Grant were to move up the Valley with 10,000 men to destroy the railroad center at Lynchburg, Virginia. Sigel was intercepted by 4,000 troops and cadets from the Virginia Military Institute under Confederate Maj. Gen. John C. He retreated to Strasburg, Virginia, and was replaced by Maj. Gen. David Hunter, Hunter resumed the Union offensive and defeated William E. Grumble Jones, who was killed in the battle. On June 11 Hunter fought at Lexington against John McCauslands Confederate cavalry, joined by Duffié on June 13, Hunter sent Averell to drive McCausland out of Buchanan and capture the James River bridge, but McCausland burned the bridge and fled. Hunter joined Averell in Buchanan on June 14 and on June 15 advanced via the road between the Peaks of Otter to occupy Liberty that evening, breckinridge sent Brig. Gen. John D. Imboden and his cavalry to join McCausland. Breckinridge arrived in Lynchburg the next day, Maj. Gen. Daniel Harvey Hill and Brig. Gen. Harry T. Hays constructed a defense line in the hills just southwest of the city. When McCausland fell back he was engaged by the pursuing Averell cavalry in the afternoon Skirmish at New London, the Union launched another attack on McCausland and Imboden that evening, and the Confederates retreated from New London. Hunter was foiled in his plan to destroy railroads, canals, Hunter, short on supplies, retreated back through West Virginia. Robert E. Lee was concerned about Hunters advances in the Valley, which threatened critical railroad lines and provisions for the Virginia-based Confederate forces. He sent Jubal Earlys corps to sweep Union forces from the Valley and, if possible, to menace Washington, D. C. hoping to compel Grant to dilute his forces against Lee around Petersburg, Virginia. Early was operating in the shadow of Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson, Early got off to a good start. He drove down the Valley without opposition, bypassed Harpers Ferry, crossed the Potomac River, Grant dispatched a corps under Horatio G. Wright and other troops under George Crook to reinforce Washington and pursue Early. Early defeated a force under Lew Wallace near Frederick, Maryland. Early attacked a fort on the northwest defensive perimeter of Washington without success, Union cavalry attacked Earlys supply trains at Purcellville as the Confederates withdrew across the Loudoun Valley towards the Blue Ridge Mountains
14.
Battle of Summit Point
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The Battle of Summit Point, also known as Flowing Springs or Camerons Depot, was an inconclusive battle of the American Civil War fought on August 21,1864, near Summit Point, West Virginia. The battle was part of Union Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridans Shenandoah Valley Campaign, while Sheridan concentrated his army near Charles Town, Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A. Early and Maj. Gen. Richard H. Anderson attacked the Union forces with converging columns on August 21, Anderson struck north against the Union cavalry at Summit Point. The Union forces fought effective delaying actions, withdrawing to near Halltown on the following day, the battle resulted in approximately 1,000 casualties
15.
Third Battle of Winchester
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The Third Battle of Winchester, was fought in Winchester, Virginia, on September 19,1864, during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. As Confederate Lt. Gen. Jubal A, Early raided the B&O Railroad at Martinsburg, WV, Union Maj. Gen. Philip H. Sheridan advanced toward Winchester along the Berryville Pike with the VI Corps and XIX Corps, crossing Opequon Creek. The Union advance was delayed long enough for Early to concentrate his forces to meet the main assault, the Confederate line was gradually driven back toward the town. Mid-afternoon, the VIII Corps and the cavalry turned the Confederate left flank, because of its size, intensity, serious casualties among the general officers on both sides, and its result, many historians consider this the most important conflict of the Shenandoah Valley. Sheridan was given command of the Army of the Shenandoah and sent to the Shenandoah Valley to deal with Earlys Confederate threat, for much of the early fall of 1864, Sheridan and Early had cautiously engaged in minor skirmishes while each side tested the others strength. Early mistook this limited action to mean that Sheridan was afraid to fight, Sheridan learned of Earlys dispersed forces and immediately struck out after Winchester, the location of two previous major engagements during the war, both Confederate victories. Early quickly gathered his army back together at Winchester just in time to meet Sheridans attack on September 19. The Union forces coming in from the east had to march on the road through Berryville Canyon. This delay allowed Early to further strengthen his lines, Gordons division arrived from the north and took up position on the Confederate left. The Sixth Corps was supported by well placed batteries but Emory had no artillery going into the due to the rugged and wooded nature of the terrain. After encountering heaving resistance from the Confederate divisions of Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur on the Berryville Pike, Gordons division in front of the XIX Corps, Sheridan succeeded in driving back the Confederates from their initial positions in confusion. Fortuitously for Jubal Early, Maj. Gen. Robert Rodes division arrived on the field and counterattacked into this gap. Ramseur and Gordon rallied their divisions and joined in the counterattack, shortly after Rodess troops advanced to the attack, he was struck by a shell fragment that mortally wounded him, robbing Early of his best subordinate general. Nevertheless, Rodess troops continued their attacking unaware of his fall, Sheridan, however, closed the breach by advancing the reserve divisions of the VI and XIX Corps. In the northern sector of the battlefield, Brig, Gen William Dwights division held the Union right flank after much bitter fighting against Gordon and elements of Rodess command. Sheridan also ordered Brig. Gen. James H. Wilsons cavalry division to advance toward Earlys right flank, wilson started late and did not succeed in his mission in spite of the weak nature of the Confederates in his front. Sheridan rode to his right flank where he found the hard pressed XIX Corps and vociferously assured General Emory that Crook was coming up and that the Union forces would whip the rebels. Crook decided to relieve the XIX Corps with Col. Joseph Thoburns division and then personally led Col. Isaac Duvals division on a march north of Red Bud Run
16.
Battle of Fisher's Hill
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The Battle of Fishers Hill was fought September 21–22,1864, near Strasburg, Virginia, as part of the Valley Campaigns of 1864 during the American Civil War. Despite its strong position, the Confederate army of Lt. Gen. Jubal Early was defeated by the Union Army of the Shenandoah. Sheridan had almost 35,000 men in the Shenandoah Valley opposing Early, Early, following the Third Battle of Winchester took a strong position. His right rested on the North Branch of the Shenandoah River, the left flank of his infantry was on Fishers Hill. Confederate cavalry was expected to hold the ground from there to Little North Mountain, Maj. Gen. George Crook advised Sheridan to flank this position. His command was assigned to move along the slopes of the mountain to attack the cavalry. Crooks attack began about 4 p. m. on September 22,1864, the infantry attack pushed the Confederate troopers out of their way. Maj. Gen. Stephen Dodson Ramseur tried refusing the left flank of his division, Crook and Brig. Gen. James B. Rickettss division, of Horatio G. Wrights VI Corps struck Ramseurs line, Wrights remaining divisions and XIX Corps broke the Southern line. The Confederates fell back to Waynesboro, Virginia, Brig. Gen. Alfred Torbert was sent into the Luray Valley with 6,000 cavalrymen to force his way through the 1,200 Confederate cavalrymen under Brigadier General Williams Wickham. Torbert was then supposed to move through the New Market and Luray Gap in Massanutten Mountain and come up behind Early, Torbert fell back after making a token effort against Wickhams force at Milford and Early escaped. Four Union Army enlisted men and one received the Medal of Honor in the action at Fishers Hill. A Memoir of the Last Year of the War for Independence in the Confederate States of America, columbia, University of South Carolina Press,2001. War Department, The War of the Rebellion, a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union, washington, DC, U. S. Government Printing Office, 1880–1901
17.
Confederate States Army
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The Confederate States Army was the military ground force of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. S. Military Academy and colonel of a regiment during the Mexican War. In March 1861, the Provisional Confederate Congress established a more permanent Confederate States Army, the better estimates of the number of individual Confederate soldiers are between 750,000 and 1,000,000 men. This does not include a number of slaves who were pressed into performing various tasks for the army, such as construction of fortifications. Since these figures include estimates of the number of individual soldiers who served at any time during the war. These numbers do not include men who served in Confederate naval forces, although most of the soldiers who fought in the American Civil War were volunteers, both sides by 1862 resorted to conscription, primarily as a means to force men to register and to volunteer. In the absence of records, estimates of the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were draftees are about double the 6 percent of Union soldiers who were conscripts. Confederate casualty figures also are incomplete and unreliable, one estimate of Confederate wounded, which is considered incomplete, is 194,026. These numbers do not include men who died from causes such as accidents. Other Confederate forces surrendered between April 16,1865 and June 28,1865, by the end of the war, more than 100,000 Confederate soldiers had deserted. The Confederacys government effectively dissolved when it fled Richmond in April, by the time Abraham Lincoln took office as President of the United States on March 4,1861, the seven seceding slave states had formed the Confederate States. The Confederacy seized federal property, including nearly all U. S. Army forts, Lincoln was determined to hold the forts remaining under U. S. control when he took office, especially Fort Sumter in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina. Under orders from Confederate President Jefferson Davis, C. S. troops under the command of General P. G. T, Beauregard bombarded Fort Sumter on April 12–13,1861, forcing its capitulation on April 14. The Northern states were outraged by the Confederacys attack and demanded war and it rallied behind Lincolns call on April 15, for all the states to send troops to recapture the forts from the secessionists, to put down the rebellion and to preserve the Union intact. Four more slave states joined the Confederacy. The Confederate Congress provided for a Confederate army patterned after the United States Army and it was to consist of a large provisional force to exist only in time of war and a small permanent regular army. Although the two forces were to exist concurrently, very little was done to organize the Confederate regular army, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States began organizing on April 27. Virtually all regular, volunteer, and conscripted men preferred to enter this organization since officers could achieve a rank in the Provisional Army than they could in the Regular Army
18.
General officers in the Confederate States Army
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The general officers of the Confederate States Army were the senior military leaders of the Confederacy during the American Civil War of 1861–1865. They were often former officers from the United States Army prior to the Civil War, most Confederate generals needed confirmation from the Confederate Congress, much like prospective generals in the modern U. S. armed forces. Much of the design of the Confederate States Army was based on the structure, the Confederate Army was composed of three parts, the Army of the Confederate States of America, the Provisional Army of the Confederate States, and the various Southern state militias. Graduates from West Point and Mexican War veterans were highly sought after by Jefferson Davis for military service, like their Federal counterparts, the Confederate Army had both professional and political generals within it. Ranks throughout the CSA were roughly based on the U. S. Army in design and seniority. On February 27,1861, a staff for the army was authorized, consisting of four positions, an adjutant general, a quartermaster general, a commissary general. Initially the last of these was to be a staff officer only, the post of adjutant general was filled by Samuel Cooper and he held it throughout the Civil War, as well as the armys inspector general. As officers were appointed to the grades of general by Jefferson Davis. The dates of rank, as well as seniority of officers appointed to the grade on the same day, were determined by Davis usually following the guidelines established for the prewar U. S. Army. These generals were most often infantry or cavalry brigade commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals, and War Department staff officers. By wars end the Confederacy had at least 383 different men who held this rank in the PACS, the organization of regiments into brigades was authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861. Brigadier generals would command them, and these generals were to be nominated by Davis and these generals also often led sub-districts within military departments, with command over soldiers in their sub-district. These generals outranked Confederate Army colonels, who commonly led infantry regiments and this rank is equivalent to brigadier general in the modern U. S. army. These generals were most commonly infantry division commanders, aides to other higher ranking generals and they also led the districts that made up military departments, and had command over the troops in their districts. By wars end, the Confederacy had at least 88 different men who had held this rank, divisions were authorized by the Congress on March 6,1861, and major generals would command them. These generals were to be nominated by Davis and confirmed by the Senate, Major generals outranked brigadiers and all other lesser officers. This rank was not synonymous with the Unions use of it, as Northern major generals led divisions, corps and this rank is equivalent in most respects to major general in the modern U. S. Army. All of the Confederacys lieutenant generals were in the PACS, the Congress legalized the creation of army corps on September 18,1862, and directed that lieutenant generals lead them
19.
Union Army
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The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War,1861 to 1865. It included the permanent regular army of the United States, which was augmented by numbers of temporary units consisting of volunteers as well as conscripts. The Union Army fought and eventually defeated the Confederate Army during the war, at least two and a half million men served in the Union Army, almost all were volunteers. About 360,000 Union soldiers died from all causes,280,000 were wounded and 200,000 deserted. When the American Civil War began in April 1861, there were only 16,000 men in the U. S. Army, and of these many Southern officers resigned and joined the Confederate army. The U. S. Army consisted of ten regiments of infantry, four of artillery, Lincolns call forced the border states to choose sides, and four seceded, making the Confederacy eleven states strong. The war proved to be longer and more extensive than anyone North or South had expected, the call for volunteers initially was easily met by patriotic Northerners, abolitionists, and even immigrants who enlisted for a steady income and meals. Over 10,000 Germans in New York and Pennsylvania immediately responded to Lincolns call, as more men were needed, however, the number of volunteers fell and both money bounties and forced conscription had to be turned to. Nevertheless, between April 1861 and April 1865, at least two and a million men served in the Union Army, of whom the majority were volunteers. It is a misconception that the South held an advantage because of the percentage of professional officers who resigned to join the Confederate army. At the start of the war, there were 824 graduates of the U. S, Military Academy on the active list, of these,296 resigned or were dismissed, and 184 of those became Confederate officers. Of the approximately 900 West Point graduates who were civilians,400 returned to the Union Army and 99 to the Confederate. Therefore, the ratio of Union to Confederate professional officers was 642 to 283, the South did have the advantage of other military colleges, such as The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute, but they produced fewer officers. The Union Army was composed of numerous organizations, which were generally organized geographically, Military Division A collection of Departments reporting to one commander. Military Divisions were similar to the modern term Theater, and were modeled close to, though not synonymous with. Department An organization that covered a region, including responsibilities for the Federal installations therein. Those named for states usually referred to Southern states that had been occupied and it was more common to name departments for rivers or regions. District A subdivision of a Department, there were also Subdistricts for smaller regions
20.
Major general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general, a major general typically commands division-sized units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps, some of these slots are reserved or finitely set by statute. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for review before it can be sent to the President, through the Secretary of Defense for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, the nominee is promoted to rank on assuming a position of office that requires an officer to hold the rank. For positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, since the grade of major general is permanent, the rank does not expire when the officer vacates a two-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, and/or when the officer receives a new assignment or a promotion, in the case of the Air National Guard, they may also serve as The Adjutant General for their state, commonwealth or territory. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement of general officers, all major generals must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise, all officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense may defer a general officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, because there are a finite number of General Officer positions, one officer must retire before another can be promoted. As a result, general officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. The rank of general was abolished in the U. S. Army by the Act of March 16,1802. Major general has been a rank in the U. S. Army ever since, to address this anomaly, Washington was posthumously promoted by Congress to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. The position of Major General Commanding the Army was entitled to three stars according to General Order No.6 of March 13,1861
21.
Strasburg, Virginia
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Strasburg /ˈstrɑːzbərɡ/ is a town in Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States, which was founded in 1761 by Peter Stover. It is the largest town by population in the county and is known for its pottery, antiques, the population was 6,398 at the 2010 census. German-speaking Pennsylvanians were among the first non-native settlers to arrive in the northern Shenandoah Valley, the luscious greenery and fertile land were prime targets for immigrant farmers. On August 21,1734 speculator Henry Willis was granted 2,030 acres total of land by William Gooch, Virginias Lieutenant Governor. Gooch wished to settle the valley to create a buffer between Native American tribes and the rest of the Virginia colony, during the summer of 1735, Willis sold his entire property to Jacob Funk. Jacob in return, partitioned his new purchase, reselling a part of it to his brother John, the thriving agricultural community that developed in the fertile bottomland along the banks of the Shenandoah River boasted scenic views of the Massanutten and Allegheny Mountains. Later nicknamed “Pot Town, ” Strasburg also became a center for the production of utilitarian and fancy earthenware and stoneware pottery. Today Strasburg boasts a growing economy, museums, charming eateries, numerous antique stores. Despite its location only 80 miles from Metro D. C, Strasburg has maintained its hospitable small town charm. Peter Stover is considered the founder of the town of Strasburg, Stover was born in 1715 to a German-Swiss father, Christian Stauffer I. in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Stauffer took his family to America in 1718, to religious freedom. His son Peter migrated south to Virginia by 1730 and to the Shenandoah Valley as early as 1739, on May 2,1749 Stover purchased 483 acres of land from Jacob Funk, his future father-in-law. The purchase was divided into plots for sale to other settlers. Stover applied for a charter in November 1761 giving the town the official name of Strasburg. The name was taken from Strasbourg, the capital of Alsace, France, some called the area Staufferstadt, the German name for Stoverstown. Ten trustees were named, William Miller, Matthew Harrison, Jacob Bowman, Valentine Smith, Charles Buck, Peter Stover, Isaac Hite, Leonard Batice, John Funk, Peter eventually married Frainey Funk, before he died August 13,1799 at the age of 84. He was survived by eight children, being a philanthropist for most of his life, Stovers will left land and $10,000 to the community to establish schools. A monument resides in Strasburgs Riverview Cemetery honoring Peter Stover, Strasburg has experienced rapid growth along its northern corridor due to the fact that Washington D. C. is approximately 80 miles away
22.
Middletown, Virginia
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Middletown is a town in Frederick County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,265 at the 2010 census, Belle Grove Plantation, about a mile southwest of Middletown, was first settled in about 1750 and its historic Federal-style manor house was completed in 1797. Middletown was the site of military operations in the American Civil War including the Battle of Cedar Creek. The area where this occurred has been protected as part of the Cedar Creek. Wayside Theatre, also located in Middletown, was one of Virginias oldest professional live theaters, the town is home to Lord Fairfax Community College. In 2012 the town of Middletown elected the youngest Mayor in Frederick County history at the age of 24, Middletown is located at 39°1′41″N 78°16′45″W. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has an area of 0.6 square miles. At the 2000 census, there were 1,015 people,409 households and 280 families residing in the town, the population density was 1,851.9 per square mile. There were 432 housing units at a density of 788.2 per square mile. The racial makeup of the town was 93. 69% White,4. 43% African American,0. 20% Native American,0. 39% Asian,0. 30% Pacific Islander, hispanic or Latino of any race were 0. 79% of the population. 27. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 10. 0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.96. 26. 7% of the population were under the age of 18,8. 4% from 18 to 24,32. 9% from 25 to 44,20. 5% from 45 to 64, the median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 89.4 males, for every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.0 males. The median household income was $36,538 and the family income was $42,031. Males had an income of $30,893 and females $23,125. The per capita income was $18,613, about 6. 8% of families and 7. 6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4. 9% of those under age 18 and 11. 9% of those age 65 or over. Media related to Middletown, Virginia at Wikimedia Commons Official website
23.
Winchester, Virginia
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Winchester is an Independent City located in the northwestern portion of the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2010 census, the population was 26,203, as of 2015, its population is an estimated 27,284. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions, the Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester with surrounding Frederick County for statistical purposes. Winchester is home to Shenandoah University and the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, indigenous peoples lived along the waterways of present-day Virginia for thousands of years before European contact. Archeological, linguistic and anthropological studies have provided insights into their cultures, the Algonquian-speaking Shawnee began to challenge the Iroquoians for the hunting grounds later in that century. The explorers Batts and Fallam in 1671 reported the Shawnee were contesting with the Iroquoians for control of the valley and were losing, during the later Beaver Wars, the powerful Iroquois Confederacy from New York subjugated all tribes in the frontier region west of the Fall Line. By the time European settlers arrived in the Shenandoah Valley around 1729, the Iroquois Six Nations finally ceded their nominal claim to the Shenandoah Valley at the Treaty of Lancaster. The treaty also established the right of colonists to use the Indian Road, the father of the historical Shawnee chief Cornstalk had his court at Shawnee Springs until 1754. The Shawnee settled for years in the Ohio Country before being forced by the US government under Indian Removal in the 1830s to remove to Indian Territory. Winchester had a role as a frontier city in those early times. French Jesuit expeditions may have first entered the valley as early as 1606, the first confirmed exploration of the northern valley was by the explorer John Lederer, who viewed the it from the current Fauquier and Warren County line on August 26,1670. In 1705 the Swiss explorer Louise Michel and in 1716 Governor Alexander Spotswood did more extensive mapping and surveying, in the late 1720s, Governor William Gooch promoted settlement by issuing large land grants. Robert King Carter, manager of the Lord Fairfax proprietorship, acquired 200,000 acres, the Scots-Irish comprised the most numerous group of immigrants from the British Isles before the American Revolutionary War. The settlement of Winchester began as early as 1729, when Quakers such as Abraham Hollingsworth migrated up the Great Valley along the long-traveled Indian Path from Pennsylvania and he and others began to homestead on old Shawnee campgrounds. Tradition holds that the Quakers purchased several tracts on Apple-pie Ridge from the natives, the first German settler appears to have been Jost Hite in 1732, who brought ten other families, including some Scots-Irish. Though Virginia was an Anglican colony, Governor William Gooch had a tolerant policy on religion, the availability of land grants brought in many religious families, who were often given 50-acre plots through the sponsorship of fellow-religious grant purchasers and speculators. As a result, the Winchester area became home to some of the oldest Presbyterian, Quaker, the first Lutheran worship was established by Rev. John Casper Stoever, Jr. and Alexander Ross established Hopewell Meeting for the Quakers. By 1736, Scots-Irish built the Opequon Presbyterian Church in Kernstown, a legal fight erupted in 1735 when Thomas Fairfax, Sixth Lord Fairfax came to Virginia to claim his land grant
24.
Washington, D.C.
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Washington, D. C. formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D. C. is the capital of the United States. The signing of the Residence Act on July 16,1790, Constitution provided for a federal district under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress and the District is therefore not a part of any state. The states of Maryland and Virginia each donated land to form the federal district, named in honor of President George Washington, the City of Washington was founded in 1791 to serve as the new national capital. In 1846, Congress returned the land ceded by Virginia, in 1871. Washington had an population of 681,170 as of July 2016. Commuters from the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs raise the population to more than one million during the workweek. The Washington metropolitan area, of which the District is a part, has a population of over 6 million, the centers of all three branches of the federal government of the United States are in the District, including the Congress, President, and Supreme Court. Washington is home to national monuments and museums, which are primarily situated on or around the National Mall. The city hosts 176 foreign embassies as well as the headquarters of international organizations, trade unions, non-profit organizations, lobbying groups. A locally elected mayor and a 13‑member council have governed the District since 1973, However, the Congress maintains supreme authority over the city and may overturn local laws. D. C. residents elect a non-voting, at-large congressional delegate to the House of Representatives, the District receives three electoral votes in presidential elections as permitted by the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1961. Various tribes of the Algonquian-speaking Piscataway people inhabited the lands around the Potomac River when Europeans first visited the area in the early 17th century, One group known as the Nacotchtank maintained settlements around the Anacostia River within the present-day District of Columbia. Conflicts with European colonists and neighboring tribes forced the relocation of the Piscataway people, some of whom established a new settlement in 1699 near Point of Rocks, Maryland. 43, published January 23,1788, James Madison argued that the new government would need authority over a national capital to provide for its own maintenance. Five years earlier, a band of unpaid soldiers besieged Congress while its members were meeting in Philadelphia, known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783, the event emphasized the need for the national government not to rely on any state for its own security. However, the Constitution does not specify a location for the capital, on July 9,1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which approved the creation of a national capital on the Potomac River. The exact location was to be selected by President George Washington, formed from land donated by the states of Maryland and Virginia, the initial shape of the federal district was a square measuring 10 miles on each side, totaling 100 square miles. Two pre-existing settlements were included in the territory, the port of Georgetown, Maryland, founded in 1751, many of the stones are still standing
25.
Shenandoah Valley
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The Shenandoah Valley /ˌʃɛnənˈdoʊə/ is a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia in the United States. The cultural region covers a area that includes all of the valley plus the Virginia highlands to the west. It is physiographically located within the Ridge and Valley province and is a portion of the Great Appalachian Valley, named for the river that stretches much of its length, the Shenandoah Valley encompasses eight counties in Virginia and two counties in West Virginia. It has been described as being derived from the Anglicization of Native American terms, resulting in such as Gerando, Gerundo, Genantua. The meaning of words is of some question. Schin-han-dowi, the River Through the Spruces, On-an-da-goa, the River of High Mountains or Silver-Water, the most popular, romanticized belief is that the name comes from a Native American expression for Beautiful Daughter of the Stars. Another legend relates that the name is derived from the name of the Iroquoian chief Sherando, Opechancanough liked the interior country so much that he sent his son Sheewa-a-nee from the Tidewater with a large party to colonize the valley. Sheewa-a-nee drove Sherando back to his former territory near the Great Lakes, according to this account, descendants of Sheewanees party became the Shawnee. According to tradition, another branch of Iroquoians, the Senedo and they were exterminated by Southern Indians before the arrival of white settlers. Another story dates to the American Revolutionary War, throughout the war, Chief Skenandoa of the Oneida, an Iroquois nation based in New York, persuaded many of the tribe to side with the colonials against the British. Four Iroquois nations became British allies, and caused many fatalities, Skenandoa led 250 warriors against the British and Iroquois allies. According to Oneida oral tradition, during the winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge. The Oneida delivered bushels of dry corn to the troops to them survive. Polly Cooper, an Oneida woman, stayed some time with the troops to them how to cook the corn properly. General Washington gave her a shawl in thanks, which is displayed at Shako, wi, many Oneida believe that after the war, George Washington named the Shenandoah River and valley after his ally. Despite the valleys potential for productive farmland, colonial settlement from the east was delayed by the barrier of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These were crossed by explorers John Lederer at Manassas Gap in 1671, Batts and Fallam the same year, the Swiss Franz Ludwig Michel and Christoph von Graffenried explored and mapped the Valley in 1706 and 1712, respectively. Von Graffenried reported that the Indians of Senantona had been alarmed by news of the recent Tuscarora War in North Carolina, governor Alexander Spotswoods legendary Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition of 1716 crossed the Blue Ridge at Swift Run Gap and reached the river at Elkton, Virginia
26.
United States presidential election, 1864
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The United States presidential election of 1864 was the 20th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 8,1864. In this match, incumbent president Republican Abraham Lincoln ran for re-election against Democratic candidate George B, McClellan, who tried to portray himself to the voters as the peace candidate who wanted to bring the American Civil War to a speedy end. Lincoln was re-elected president by a landslide in the Electoral College, since the election of 1860, the Electoral College had expanded with the admission of Kansas, West Virginia, and Nevada as free-soil states. As the Civil War was still raging, no electoral votes were counted from any of the southern states that had joined the Confederate States of America. The second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln took place on March 4,1865, Lincolns second term is the second shortest term served by any U. S. president, next to the 31-day presidency of William Henry Harrison. The Presidential election of 1864 took place during the American Civil War, according to the Miller Center for the study of the presidency, the election was noteworthy for occurring at all, an unprecedented democratic exercise in the midst of a civil war. A group of Republican dissidents who called themselves Radical Republicans formed a party named the Radical Democracy Party, Frémont as their candidate for president. Frémont later withdrew and endorsed Lincoln, in the Border States, War Democrats joined with Republicans as the National Union Party, with Lincoln at the head of the ticket. The National Union Party was a name used to attract War Democrats. It faced off against the regular Democratic Party, including Peace Democrats, the 1864 presidential election conventions of the parties are considered below in order of the partys popular vote. Senators Charles Sumner and Henry Wilson from Massachusetts wanted the Republican Party to advocate constitutional amendments to prohibit slavery, initially, not all northern Republicans supported such measures. Democratic leaders hoped that the radical Republicans would put forth their own ticket in the election, Frémont supporters in New York City established a newspaper called the New Nation, which declared in one of its initial issues that the National Union Convention would be a nonentity. Before the election, some War Democrats joined the Republicans to form the National Union Party, the party platform included these goals. It also praised the use of troops and Lincolns management of the war. Andrew Johnson, the senator from and current military governor of Tennessee, was named as Lincolns vice presidential running-mate. Moderate Peace Democrats who supported the war against the Confederacy, such as Horatio Seymour, were preaching the wisdom of a negotiated peace, after the Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, moderate Peace Democrats proposed a negotiated peace that would secure Union victory. They believed this was the best course of action, because an armistice could finish the war without devastating the South. Radical Peace Democrats known as Copperheads, such as Thomas H. Seymour, declared the war to be a failure, George B. McClellan vied for the presidential nomination
27.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
28.
Overland Campaign
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The Overland Campaign, also known as Grants Overland Campaign and the Wilderness Campaign, was a series of battles fought in Virginia during May and June 1864, in the American Civil War. Although Grant suffered severe losses during the campaign, it was a strategic Union victory and it inflicted proportionately higher losses on Lees army and maneuvered it into a siege at Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia, in just over eight weeks. Crossing the Rapidan River on May 4,1864, Grant sought to defeat Lees army by quickly placing his forces between Lee and Richmond and inviting an open battle. Lee surprised Grant by attacking the larger Union army aggressively in the Battle of the Wilderness, Lees army was able to get into position to block this movement. Grant maneuvered again, meeting Lee at the North Anna River, here, Lee held clever defensive positions that provided an opportunity to defeat portions of Grants army, but illness prevented Lee from attacking in time to trap Grant. Resorting to maneuver a final time, Grant surprised Lee by stealthily crossing the James River, threatening to capture the city of Petersburg, the resulting Siege of Petersburg led to the eventual surrender of Lees army in April 1865 and the effective end of the Civil War. The campaign included two long-range raids by Union cavalry under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan, in a raid toward Richmond, legendary Confederate cavalry commander Maj. Gen. J. E. B. Stuart was mortally wounded at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, in March 1864, Grant was summoned from the Western Theater, promoted to lieutenant general, and given command of all Union armies. He chose to make his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac, Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman succeeded Grant in command of most of the western armies. Johnston, and capture Atlanta, George Crook and William W. Averell to operate against railroad supply lines in West Virginia and this was the first time the Union armies would have a coordinated offensive strategy across a number of theaters. Lincoln had long advocated this strategy for his generals, recognizing that the city would fall after the loss of its principal defensive army. Grant ordered Meade, Wherever Lee goes, there you will go also, although he hoped for a quick, decisive battle, Grant was prepared to fight a war of attrition. Both Union and Confederate casualties could be high, but the Union had greater resources to replace lost soldiers, despite Grants superior numbers, he had manpower challenges. Furthermore, since many of his soldiers three-year enlistments were about to expire, to deal with these challenges, Grant supplemented his forces by reassigning soldiers manning the heavy artillery batteries around Washington, D. C. to infantry regiments. The Overland Campaign began as Grants forces crossed the Rapidan River on May 4,1864, Grants objective was to force an engagement with Lee, outside of his Mine Run fortifications, by either drawing his forces out or turning them. By forcing a fight here, Lee effectively neutralized the Unions advantage in artillery and he ordered Ewells Corps to advance on the Orange Turnpike, A. P. Hills in parallel on the Orange Plank Road, and Longstreets from the distant Gordonsville. Early on May 5, Warrens V Corps was advancing south toward the Plank Road when Ewells Corps appeared in the west on the Turnpike, Meade halted his army and directed Warren to attack if the Confederates were a small, isolated group. Ewells men erected earthworks on the end of the clearing known as Saunders Field
29.
Eastern Theater of the American Civil War
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President Abraham Lincoln sought a general to match Lees boldness, appointing in turn Maj. Gens. McClellan, John Pope, Ambrose Burnside, Joseph Hooker, while Meade gained a decisive victory over Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, it was not until newly appointed general-in-chief Ulysses S. The surrender of Lees army at Appomattox Court House in April 1865 brought major operations in the area to a close. While many of the campaigns and battles were fought in the region of Virginia between Washington, D. C. and Richmond, there were major campaigns fought nearby. The Western Virginia Campaign of 1861 secured Union control over the counties of Virginia. Confederate coastal areas and ports were seized in southeastern Virginia and North Carolina, the Shenandoah Valley was marked by frequent clashes in 1862,1863, and 1864. Lee launched two invasions of Union territory in hopes of influencing Northern opinion to end the war. In the fall of 1862, Lee followed his successful Northern Virginia Campaign with his first invasion, the Maryland Campaign, in the summer of 1863, Lees second invasion, the Gettysburg Campaign, reached into Pennsylvania, farther north than any other major Confederate army. The bloodiest battle of the war and the bloodiest single day of the war were fought in this theater. The capitals of Washington, D. C. and Richmond were both attacked or besieged, the theater was bounded by the Appalachian Mountains to the west and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. By far, the majority of battles occurred in the 100 miles between the cities of Washington and Richmond, the Union advantage was control of the sea and major rivers, which would allow an army that stayed close to the ocean to be reinforced and supplied. The campaign classification established by the United States National Park Service is more fine-grained than the one used in this article, some minor NPS campaigns have been omitted and some have been combined into larger categories. Only a few of the 160 battles the NPS classifies for this theater are described, boxed text in the right margin show the NPS campaigns associated with each section. After the fall of Fort Sumter in April 1861, both sides scrambled to create armies, President Abraham Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion, which immediately caused the secession of four additional states, including Virginia. The United States Army had only around 16,000 men, the army was commanded by the elderly Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott, veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican-American War. Some of the first hostilities occurred in western Virginia, McClellan, commanding the Department of the Ohio, ordered troops to march from Grafton and attack the Confederates under Col. George A. Porterfield. The skirmish on June 3,1861, known as the Battle of Philippi and his victory at the Battle of Rich Mountain in July was instrumental in his promotion that fall to command the Army of the Potomac. He was soon transferred to the Carolinas to construct fortifications, the Union victory in this campaign enabled the creation of the state of West Virginia in 1863
30.
Ulysses S. Grant
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Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
31.
Lieutenant general (United States)
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In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general, Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of generals that may be concurrently active to 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps. For the Army and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the active duty general officers may have more than two stars. Some of these slots can be reserved by statute, officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add three-star slots to one if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy is almost always a U. S. Army lieutenant general, either upon appointment or shortly thereafter. The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office to which it is linked, officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, the nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank. The standard tour length for most lieutenant general positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute, some statutory limits under the U. S. Code can be waived in times of national emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Lieutenant generals must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer, otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a three-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, General officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since there is a number of three-star slots available to each service. Additionally, lieutenant generals of all services serve as staff officers at various major command headquarters and The Pentagon. Currently, five women serve as lieutenant generals in the US Army, in theory, a general vacates their three or four-star rank at termination of their assignment unless placed in an equal ranking billet. Douglas MacArthur, who served as general and Army Chief of Staff. Even with the status, such officers are also almost always granted permanent retirement in the last grade they held with the satisfactory completion of at least two or three years in grade
32.
Army of the Potomac
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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
33.
George Meade
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George Gordon Meade was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer involved in the coastal construction of several lighthouses. He fought with distinction in the Second Seminole War and the Mexican–American War, during the American Civil War he served as a Union general, rising from command of a brigade to command of the Army of the Potomac. He is best known for defeating Confederate General Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, Meades Civil War combat experience started as a brigade commander in the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles, including the Battle of Glendale, where he was wounded severely. As a division commander, he had success at the Battle of South Mountain. His division was arguably the most successful during the assaults at the Battle of Fredericksburg, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who accompanied him throughout these campaigns. He also suffered from a reputation as a man of short, violent temper who was hostile toward the press, after the war, he commanded several important departments during Reconstruction. George Gordon Meade was born in 1815 in Cádiz, Spain and his father, a wealthy Philadelphian merchant, was serving in Spain as a naval agent for the U. S. government. He was ruined financially because of his support of Spain in the Napoleonic Wars and his family returned to the United States in 1817, in precarious financial straits. Young George attended the Mount Hope Institution in Baltimore and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1831 and he graduated 19th in his class of 56 cadets in 1835. His brother, Richard Worsam Meade II, became a naval officer, for a year, he served with the 3rd U. S. Artillery in Florida, fighting against the Seminole Indians, before resigning from the Army and he worked as a civil engineer for the Alabama, Georgia, and Florida Railroad and for the War Department. On December 31,1840, he married Margaretta Sergeant, daughter of John Sergeant, finding steady civilian employment was difficult for the newly married man, so he reentered the army in 1842 as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Topographical Engineers. After that war he was involved in lighthouse and breakwater construction and coastal surveying in Florida. He designed Barnegat Light on Long Beach Island, Absecon Light in Atlantic City, Cape May Light in Cape May, Jupiter Inlet Light in Jupiter, Florida and he also designed a hydraulic lamp that was adopted by the Lighthouse Board for use in American lighthouses. He was promoted to captain in 1856, in 1857, Meade relieved Lt. Col. James Kearney on the Lakes Survey mission of the Great Lakes. Completion of the survey of Lake Huron and extension of the surveys of Lake Michigan down to Grand, prior to Captain Meades command, Great Lakes water level readings were taken locally with temporary gauges, a uniform plane of reference had not been established. In 1858, based on his recommendation, instrumentation was set in place for the tabulation of records across the basin, in 1860, the first detailed report of Great Lakes was published. Meade stayed with the Lakes Survey until the 1861 outbreak of the Civil War and he was assigned command of the 2nd Brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves, recruited early in the war, which he led competently, initially in the construction of defenses around Washington, D. C
34.
William Tecumseh Sherman
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William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. Sherman began his Civil War career serving in the First Battle of Bull Run and he served under General Ulysses S. In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as the Union commander in the Western Theater of the war and he proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, a military success that contributed to the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Shermans subsequent march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the Confederacys ability to continue fighting and he accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April 1865, after having been present at most major military engagements in the Western Theater. When Grant assumed the U. S. presidency in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as Commanding General of the Army, as such, he was responsible for the U. S. Armys engagement in the Indian Wars over the next 15 years. Sherman advocated total war against hostile Indians to force them back onto their reservations and he steadfastly refused to be drawn into politics and in 1875 published his Memoirs, one of the best-known first-hand accounts of the Civil War. British military historian B. H. Liddell Hart famously declared that Sherman was the first modern general, Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, near the banks of the Hocking River. His father Charles Robert Sherman, a lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court. He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children, Sherman was distantly related to American founding father Roger Sherman and grew to admire him. Shermans older brother Charles Taylor Sherman became a federal judge, one of his younger brothers, John Sherman, served as a U. S. senator and Cabinet secretary. Another younger brother, Hoyt Sherman, was a successful banker, Sherman would marry his foster sister, Ellen Boyle Ewing, at age 30 and have eight children with her. Shermans unusual given name has attracted considerable attention. Sherman reported that his name came from his father having caught a fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees. Since an account in a 1932 biography about Sherman, it has often reported that, as an infant. According to these accounts, Sherman only acquired the name William at age nine or ten and his foster mother, Maria Willis Boyle, was of Irish ancestry and a devout Roman Catholic. Sherman was raised in a Roman Catholic household, though he left the church. Sherman wrote in his Memoirs that his father named him William Tecumseh, Sherman was baptized by a Presbyterian minister as an infant, as an adult, Sherman signed all his correspondence – including to his wife – W. T. Sherman. His friends and family called him Cump
35.
Total war
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In the mid-19th century, scholars identified total war as a separate class of warfare. One can trace back the phrase to the publication in 1935 of the World War I memoir of German General Erich Ludendorff, Der totale Krieg. Some authors extend the back as far as classic work of Carl von Clausewitz, On War, as absoluter Krieg, however. Total war also describes the French guerre à outrance during the Franco-Prussian War, United States Air Force General Curtis LeMay updated the concept for the nuclear age. In 1949, he first proposed that a war in the nuclear age would consist of delivering the entire nuclear arsenal in a single overwhelming blow. Utilizing every means available to ones enemy and any of their interests is an obvious strategy. Although cities had been sacked before, the nature and scale of these campaigns stand out. During the Middle Ages, destruction under the Mongol Empire in the 13th century effectively exemplified total war, both sides directed their actions not solely against warrior-combatants but against the people as a whole. Indeed, the taking of a scalp of a woman or child was considered honorable because it signified that the taker had dared to enter the very heart of the enemys territory. The French Revolutionary Wars introduced some of the first concepts of total war, the fledgling republic found itself threatened by a powerful coalition of European nations. The only solution, in the eyes of the Jacobin government, was to pour the entire nations resources into an unprecedented war effort—this was the advent of the en masse. The following decree of the National Convention on August 23,1793 demonstrates the immensity of the French war effort, the wars merged into the Napoleonic Wars of the First French Empire from ca. In the Russian campaign of 1812 the Russians resorted to destroying infrastructure and agriculture in their retreat in order to hamper the French, the Taiping Rebellion was one of the deadliest wars in history. About 20 million people died, many due to disease and famine and it followed the secession of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom from the Qing Empire. Almost every citizen of the Heavenly Kingdom was given military training, during the American Civil War, Union Army General Philip Sheridans stripping of the Shenandoah Valley, beginning on September 21,1864 and continuing for two weeks, was considered total war. Its purpose was to eliminate food and supplies vital to the Souths military operations, sheridan took the opportunity when he realized opposing forces had become too weak to resist his army. Union Army General William Tecumseh Shermans March to the Sea in November and December 1864 destroyed the resources required for the South to make war, General Ulysses S. Grant and President Abraham Lincoln initially opposed the plan until Sherman convinced them of its necessity. Scholars taking issue with the notion that Sherman was employing total war include Noah Andre Trudeau, Trudeau believes that Shermans goals and methods do not meet the definition of total war and to suggest as much is to misread Shermans intentions and to misunderstand the results of what happened
36.
Scorched earth
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A scorched earth policy is a military strategy that targets anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area. Specifically, all of the assets that are used or can be used by the enemy are targeted, such as sources, transportation, communications, industrial resources. The practice can be carried out by the military in enemy territory and it may overlap with, but is not the same as, punitive destruction of the enemys resources, which is done for purely strategic/political reasons rather than strategic/operational reasons. The strategy of destroying the food and water supply of the population in an area of conflict has been banned under Article 54 of Protocol I of the 1977 Geneva Conventions. The Scythians used scorched earth methods against King Darius the Great of Persia, the Scythians, who were nomadic herders, retreated into the depths of the Steppes, destroying food supplies and poisoning wells. Many of Darius troops died from starvation and dehydration, the Greek general Xenophon records in his Anabasis that the Armenians burned their crops and food supplies as they withdrew before the advance of the Ten Thousand. The Greek mercenary general Memnon suggested to the Persian Satraps the use of the scorched earth policy against Alexander as he moved into Asia Minor, the system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people when accompanying a military campaign was known as vastatio. Two of the first uses of scorched earth recorded both happened in the Gallic Wars, after the Helvetii were defeated by a combined Roman-Gallic force, the Helvetii were forced to rebuild themselves on the shattered German and Swiss plains they themselves had destroyed. The second case shows actual military value, during the Great Gallic War the Gauls under Vercingetorix planned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then trap, to this end, they ravaged the countryside of what are now the Benelux countries and France. This did cause problems for the Romans, but Roman military triumphs over the Gallic alliance showed that this alone was not enough to save Gaul from subjugation by Rome. During the Second Punic War in 218–202 BC, the Carthaginians used this method selectively while storming through Italy, after the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BC, the Roman Senate also elected to use this method to permanently destroy the Carthaginian capital city, Carthage. The buildings were torn down, their stones scattered so not even rubble remained, however, the story that they salted the earth is apocryphal. Julian might expect, that a conqueror, who possessed the two instruments of persuasion, steel and gold, would easily procure a plentiful subsistence from the fears or avarice of the natives. But, on the approach of the Romans, the rich, the Danes left Chester next year and marched into Wales. In the Harrying of the North, William the Conquerors solution to stop a rebellion in 1069 was the brutal conquest, williams men burnt whole villages from the Humber to Tees, and slaughtered the inhabitants. Food stores and livestock were destroyed so that surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over the winter. The destruction is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry, the survivors were reduced to cannibalism, with one report stating that the skulls of the dead were cracked open so that the brains could be eaten. Between 100,000 and 150,000 perished and the area took centuries to recover from the damage, during the Hundred Years War, both the English and the French conducted chevauchée raids over the enemy territory to damage its infrastructure
37.
Benjamin Butler
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Benjamin Franklin Butler was an American lawyer, politician, soldier and businessman from Massachusetts. He was a colorful and often controversial figure on the stage and in the Massachusetts political scene. Butler, a trial lawyer, served in the Massachusetts legislature as an antiwar Democrat. His commands were marred by financial and logistical dealings across enemy lines, some of which took place with his knowledge. Butler was dismissed from the Union Army after his failures in the First Battle of Fort Fisher, as a Radical Republican he opposed President Johnsons Reconstruction agenda, and was the Houses lead manager in the Johnson impeachment proceedings. As Chairman of the House Committee on Reconstruction, Butler authored the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, in Massachusetts, Butler was often at odds with more conservative members of the political establishment over matters of both style and substance. Feuds with Republican politicians led to his being denied several nominations for the governorship between 1858 and 1880, returning to the Democratic fold, he won the governship in the 1882 election with Democratic and Greenback Party support. He ran for President on the Greenback ticket in 1884, Benjamin Franklin Butler was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, the sixth and youngest child of John Butler and Charlotte Ellison Butler. He was named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin and his elder brother, Andrew Jackson Butler, would serve as a colonel in the Union Army during the Civil War and joined him in New Orleans. Butlers mother was a devout Baptist who encouraged him to read the Bible, in 1827, at the age of nine, Butler was awarded a scholarship to Phillips Exeter Academy, where he spent one term. He was described by a schoolmate as a reckless, impetuous, headstrong, boy, Butlers mother moved the family in 1828 to Lowell, Massachusetts, where she operated a boarding house for workers at the textile mills. He attended the schools there, from which he was almost expelled for fighting, the principal describing him as a boy who might be led. He attended Waterville College in pursuit of his mothers wish that he prepare for the ministry, in 1836, Butler sought permission to go instead to West Point for a military education, but did not receive one of the few places available. He continued his studies at Waterville, where he sharpened his skills in theological discussions. Butler returned to Lowell, where he clerked and read law as an apprentice with a local lawyer and he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840, and opened a practice in Lowell. After an extended courtship, Butler married Sarah Hildreth, an actress and daughter of Dr. Israel Hildreth of Lowell. They had four children, Paul, Blanche, Paul and Ben-Israel, Butlers business partners included Sarahs brother Fisher, and her brother-in-law, W. P. Webster. Butler quickly gained a reputation as a criminal defense lawyer who seized on every misstep of his opposition to gain victories for his clients
38.
Robert E. Lee
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Robert Edward Lee was an American general known for commanding the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. During this time, he served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, during the first year of the Civil War, Lee served as a senior military adviser to President Jefferson Davis. Once he took command of the field army in 1862 he soon emerged as a shrewd tactician and battlefield commander, winning most of his battles. Lees strategic foresight was more questionable, and both of his major offensives into Union territory ended in defeat, Lees aggressive tactics, which resulted in high casualties at a time when the Confederacy had a shortage of manpower, have come under criticism in recent years. Lee surrendered his army to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House on April 9,1865. By this time, Lee had assumed command of the remaining Southern armies. Lee rejected the proposal of an insurgency against the Union. He urged them to rethink their position between the North and the South, and the reintegration of former Confederates into the political life. Lee became the great Southern hero of the War, an icon of the Lost Cause of the Confederacy to some. But his popularity even in the North, especially after his death in 1870. Barracks at West Point built in 1962 are named after him, Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford Hall Plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia, to Major General Henry Lee III, Governor of Virginia, and his second wife, Anne Hill Carter. His birth date has traditionally been recorded as January 19,1807, one of Lees great grandparents, Henry Lee I, was a prominent Virginian colonist of English descent. Lees family is one of Virginias first families, descended from Richard Lee I, Esq. the Immigrant, Lees mother grew up at Shirley Plantation, one of the most elegant homes in Virginia. Lees father, a planter, suffered severe financial reverses from failed investments. Little is known of Lee as a child, he spoke of his boyhood as an adult. Nothing is known of his relationship with his father who, after leaving his family, mentioned Robert only once in a letter. In 1811, the family, including the newly born child, Mildred, moved to a house on Oronoco Street, still close to the center of town. In 1812, Harry Lee was badly injured in a riot in Baltimore
39.
Army of Northern Virginia
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It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac. The name Army of Northern Virginia referred to its area of operation. The Army originated as the Army of the Potomac, which was organized on June 20,1861, on July 20 and July 21, the Army of the Shenandoah and forces from the District of Harpers Ferry were added. Units from the Army of the Northwest were merged into the Army of the Potomac between March 14 and May 17,1862, the Army of the Potomac was renamed Army of Northern Virginia on March 14. The Army of the Peninsula was merged into it on April 12,1862, Robert E. Lees biographer, Douglas S. Freeman, asserts that the army received its final name from Lee when he issued orders assuming command on June 1,1862. However, Freeman does admit that Lee corresponded with Joseph E. Johnston, his predecessor in command, prior to that date. In addition to Virginians, it included regiments from all over the Confederacy, some from as far away as Georgia, the first commander of the Army of Northern Virginia was General P. G. T. Beauregard from June 20 to July 20,1861 and his forces consisted of six brigades, with various militia and artillery from the former Department of Alexandria. During his command, Gen. Beauregard is noted for creating the flag of the army. The flag was designed due to confusion during battle between the Confederate Stars and Bars flag and the flag of the United States, the following day this army fought its first major engagement in the First Battle of Manassas. With the merging of the Army of the Shenandoah, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston took command from July 20,1861, First Corps – commanded by General P. G. T. Magruder Reserve – commanded by Maj. Gen. G. W. Smith Under the command of Johnston, on October 22,1861, the Department of Northern Virginia was officially created, officially ending the Army of the Potomac. The Department comprised three districts, Aquia District, Potomac District, and the Valley District, in April 1862 the Department was expanded to include the Departments of Norfolk and the Peninsula. Gen. Maj. Gen. Gustavus Woodson Smith commanded the ANV on May 31,1862, with Smith seemingly having a nervous breakdown, President Jefferson Davis drafted orders to place Gen. Robert E. Lee in command the following day. In the first year of his command, Lee had two principal subordinate commanders, the right wing of the army was under the command of Lt. Gen. James Longstreet and the left wing under Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jackson. These wings were redesignated as the First Corps and Second Corps on November 6,1862. Following Jacksons death after the Battle of Chancellorsville, Lee reorganized the army into three corps on May 30,1863, under Longstreet, Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell, and Lt. Gen. A. P. Hill. A Fourth Corps, under Lt. Gen. Richard H. Anderson, was organized on October 19,1864, on April 8,1865, the commanders of the first three corps changed frequently in 1864 and 1865
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Richmond, Virginia
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Richmond is the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. It is the center of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Greater Richmond Region and it was incorporated in 1742, and has been an independent city since 1871. As of the 2010 census, the population was 204,214, in 2015, the population was estimated to be 220,289, the Richmond Metropolitan Area has a population of 1,260,029, the third-most populous metro in the state. Richmond is located at the line of the James River,44 miles west of Williamsburg,66 miles east of Charlottesville. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, the city is located at the intersections of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64, Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west and Mechanicsville to the northeast. The site of Richmond had been an important village of the Powhatan Confederacy, and was settled by English colonists from Jamestown in 1609. The present city of Richmond was founded in 1737 and it became the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the American Civil War, Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America, the city entered the 20th century with one of the worlds first successful electric streetcar systems. The Jackson Ward neighborhood is a hub of African-American commerce. Richmonds economy is driven by law, finance, and government, with federal, state. Dominion Resources and MeadWestvaco, Fortune 500 companies, are headquartered in the city, in 1737, planter William Byrd II commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid. The settlement was laid out in April 1737, and was incorporated as a town in 1742, Richmond recovered quickly from the war, and by 1782 was once again a thriving city. A permanent home for the new government, the Virginia State Capitol building, was designed by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of Charles-Louis Clérisseau, after the American Revolutionary War, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center. The legacy of the canal boatmen is represented by the figure in the center of the city flag, on April 17,1861, five days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the legislature voted to secede from the United States and joined the Confederacy. Official action came in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its capital to Richmond. It became the target of Union armies, especially in the campaigns of 1862. The Seven Days Battles followed in late June and early July 1862, during which Union General McClellan threatened to take Richmond, three years later, as March 1865 ended, the Confederate capitol became indefensible. On March 25, Confederate General John B, gordons desperate attack on Fort Stedman east of Petersburg failed
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Georgia (U.S. state)
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Georgia is a state in the southeastern United States. It was established in 1733, the last of the original Thirteen Colonies, named after King George II of Great Britain, Georgia was the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on January 2,1788. It declared its secession from the Union on January 19,1861 and it was the last state to be restored to the Union, on July 15,1870. Georgia is the 24th largest and the 8th most populous of the 50 United States, from 2007 to 2008,14 of Georgias counties ranked among the nations 100 fastest-growing, second only to Texas. Georgia is known as the Peach State and the Empire State of the South, Atlanta is the states capital, its most populous city and has been named a global city. Georgia is bordered to the south by Florida, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean and South Carolina, to the west by Alabama, the states northern part is in the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains system. Georgias highest point is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet above sea level, Georgia is the largest state entirely east of the Mississippi River in land area. Before settlement by Europeans, Georgia was inhabited by the mound building cultures, the British colony of Georgia was founded by James Oglethorpe on February 12,1733. The colony was administered by the Trustees for the Establishment of the Colony of Georgia in America under a charter issued by King George II. The Trustees implemented a plan for the colonys settlement, known as the Oglethorpe Plan. In 1742 the colony was invaded by the Spanish during the War of Jenkins Ear, in 1752, after the government failed to renew subsidies that had helped support the colony, the Trustees turned over control to the crown. Georgia became a colony, with a governor appointed by the king. The Province of Georgia was one of the Thirteen Colonies that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution by signing the 1776 Declaration of Independence, the State of Georgias first constitution was ratified in February 1777. Georgia was the 10th state to ratify the Articles of Confederation on July 24,1778, in 1829, gold was discovered in the North Georgia mountains, which led to the Georgia Gold Rush and an established federal mint in Dahlonega, which continued its operation until 1861. The subsequent influx of white settlers put pressure on the government to land from the Cherokee Nation. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act into law, sending many eastern Native American nations to reservations in present-day Oklahoma, including all of Georgias tribes. Despite the Supreme Courts ruling in Worcester v. Georgia that ruled U. S. states were not permitted to redraw the Indian boundaries, President Jackson and the state of Georgia ignored the ruling. In 1838, his successor, Martin Van Buren, dispatched troops to gather the Cherokee
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Atlanta
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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U. S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,710,795 people, Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. In 1837, Atlanta was founded at the intersection of two lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. Atlantas economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include logistics, professional and business services, media operations, Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlantas neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the demographics, politics. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, Creek Indians inhabited the area, standing Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta. As part of the removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western, the initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would then be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the zero milepost was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later as Thrasherville after a merchant who built homes. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor the Governors daughter, later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29,1847, by 1860, Atlantas population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a hub for the distribution of military supplies, in 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, on November 11,1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Armys March to the Sea by ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the citys churches and hospitals. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt, due to the citys superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta surpassed Savannah as Georgias largest city, by 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology and the citys black colleges had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, during the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta experienced a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades time, Atlantas population tripled as the city expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs
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Nathaniel P. Banks
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Nathaniel Prentice Banks was an American politician from Massachusetts and a Union general during the Civil War. A millworker by background, Banks was prominent in local debating societies, always a political chameleon, Banks was the first professional politician to serve as Massachusetts Governor. But he failed to reinforce Grant at Vicksburg, and badly handled the Siege of Port Hudson and he then launched the Red River Campaign, a failed attempt to occupy eastern Texas that prompted his recall. Banks was regularly criticized for the failures of his campaigns, notably in tactically important tasks including reconnaissance, Banks was also instrumental in early reconstruction efforts in Louisiana, intended by Lincoln as a model for later such activities. In his later years he adopted more liberal progressive causes, Nathaniel Startle Prentice Banks was born at Waltham, Massachusetts, the first child of Nathaniel P. Banks, Sr. and Rebecca Greenwood Banks, on January 30,1816. His father worked in the mill of the Boston Manufacturing Company. Banks went to local schools until the age of fourteen, at point the familys financial demands compelled him to take a mill job. He started as a boy, responsible for replacing bobbins full of thread with empty ones, working in the mills of Waltham. Because of this role he became known as Bobbin Boy Banks and he was at one time apprenticed as a mechanic alongside Elias Howe, a cousin. Recognizing the value of education, Banks continued to read, sometimes walking to Boston on his days off to visit the Atheneum Library and he attended company-sponsored lectures by luminaries of the day including Daniel Webster and other orators. He formed a club with other mill workers to improve their oratorical skills. He honed his oratorical and political skills by emulating Robert Rantoul, Bankss success as a speaker convinced him to quit the mill. He first worked as an editor for two short-lived political newspapers, after they failed he ran for a seat in the legislature in 1844. He then applied to Rantoul, who had been appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, Banks again ran unsuccessfully for the state legislature in 1847. Company leaders could effectively compel their workers to vote for Whig candidates because there was no secret ballot. This brought Banks, along with fellow Democrats Rantoul and George S. Boutwell to form a coalition with the Free Soil Party that successfully gained control of the legislature and governors chair. The deals negotiated after the win in the 1850 election put Boutwell in the governors chair. His role as speaker and his effectiveness in conducting business raised his status significantly
United States (Union)
CSA (Confederacy)
