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.
Conscription
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Conscription, or drafting, is the compulsory enlistment of people in a national service, most often a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in countries to the present day under various names. The modern system of national conscription for young men dates to the French Revolution in the 1790s. Most European nations later copied the system in peacetime, so that men at a certain age would serve 1–8 years on active duty and those conscripted may evade service, sometimes by leaving the country. As of the early 21st century, many no longer conscript soldiers. The ability to rely on such an arrangement, however, presupposes some degree of predictability with regard to both war-fighting requirements and the scope of hostilities, many states that have abolished conscription therefore still reserve the power to resume it during wartime or times of crisis. Around the reign of Hammurabi, the Babylonian Empire used a system of conscription called Ilkum, under that system those eligible were required to serve in the royal army in time of war. During times of peace they were required to provide labour for other activities of the state. In return for service, people subject to it gained the right to hold land. It is possible that this right was not to hold land per se, various forms of avoiding military service are recorded. While it was outlawed by the Code of Hammurabi, the hiring of substitutes appears to have practiced both before and after the creation of the code. Later records show that Ilkum commitments could become regularly traded, in other places, people simply left their towns to avoid their Ilkum service. Another option was to sell Ilkum lands and the commitments along with them, with the exception of a few exempted classes, this was forbidden by the Code of Hammurabi. The levies raised in this way fought as infantry under local superiors, although the exact laws varied greatly depending on the country and the period, generally these levies were only obliged to fight for one to three months. Most were subsistence farmers, and it was in everyones interest to send the men home for harvest-time, the bulk of the Anglo-Saxon English army, called the fyrd, was composed of part-time English soldiers drawn from the landowning minor nobility. These thegns were the aristocracy of the time and were required to serve with their own armour. Medieval levy in Poland was known as the pospolite ruszenie, the system of military slaves was widely used in the Middle East, beginning with the creation of the corps of Turkish slave-soldiers by the Abbasid caliph al-Mutasim in the 820s and 830s. In the middle of the 14th century, Ottoman Sultan Murad I developed personal troops to be loyal to him, the new force was built by taking Christian children from newly conquered lands, especially from the far areas of his empire, in a system known as the devşirme
3.
African Americans
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African Americans are an ethnic group of Americans with total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. The term may also be used to only those individuals who are descended from enslaved Africans. As a compound adjective the term is usually hyphenated as African-American, Black and African Americans constitute the third largest racial and ethnic group in the United States. Most African Americans are of West and Central African descent and are descendants of enslaved peoples within the boundaries of the present United States. On average, African Americans are of 73. 2–80. 9% West African, 18–24% European, according to US Census Bureau data, African immigrants generally do not self-identify as African American. The overwhelming majority of African immigrants identify instead with their own respective ethnicities, immigrants from some Caribbean, Central American and South American nations and their descendants may or may not also self-identify with the term. After the founding of the United States, black people continued to be enslaved, believed to be inferior to white people, they were treated as second-class citizens. The Naturalization Act of 1790 limited U. S. citizenship to whites only, in 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American to be elected President of the United States. The first African slaves arrived via Santo Domingo to the San Miguel de Gualdape colony, the ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, the settlers and the slaves who had not escaped returned to Haiti, whence they had come. The first recorded Africans in British North America were 20 and odd negroes who came to Jamestown, as English settlers died from harsh conditions, more and more Africans were brought to work as laborers. Typically, young men or women would sign a contract of indenture in exchange for transportation to the New World, the landowner received 50 acres of land from the state for each servant purchased from a ships captain. An indentured servant would work for years without wages. The status of indentured servants in early Virginia and Maryland was similar to slavery, servants could be bought, sold, or leased and they could be physically beaten for disobedience or running away. Africans could legally raise crops and cattle to purchase their freedom and they raised families, married other Africans and sometimes intermarried with Native Americans or English settlers. By the 1640s and 1650s, several African families owned farms around Jamestown and some became wealthy by colonial standards and purchased indentured servants of their own. In 1640, the Virginia General Court recorded the earliest documentation of slavery when they sentenced John Punch. One of Dutch African arrivals, Anthony Johnson, would own one of the first black slaves, John Casor
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Fortification
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Fortifications are military constructions or buildings designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and also used to solidify rule in a region during peace time. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs, the term is derived from the Latin fortis and facere. From very early history to modern times, walls have been a necessity for cities to survive in a changing world of invasion. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified, in ancient Greece, large stone walls had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek Phrourion was a collection of buildings used as a military garrison. These construction mainly served the purpose of a tower, to guard certain roads, passes. Though smaller than a fortress, they acted as a border guard rather than a real strongpoint to watch. The art of setting out a camp or constructing a fortification traditionally has been called castramentation since the time of the Roman legions. Fortification is usually divided into two branches, permanent fortification and field fortification, there is also an intermediate branch known as semi-permanent fortification. Castles are fortifications which are regarded as being distinct from the fort or fortress in that they are a residence of a monarch or noble. Roman forts and hill forts were the antecedents of castles in Europe. The Early Middle Ages saw the creation of towns built around castles. Medieval-style fortifications were made obsolete by the arrival of cannons in the 14th century. Fortifications in the age of black powder evolved into much lower structures with greater use of ditches and earth ramparts that would absorb, Walls exposed to direct cannon fire were very vulnerable, so were sunk into ditches fronted by earth slopes. The arrival of explosive shells in the 19th century led to yet another stage in the evolution of fortification, steel-and-concrete fortifications were common during the 19th and early 20th centuries. However the advances in warfare since World War I have made large-scale fortifications obsolete in most situations. Demilitarized zones along borders are arguably another type of fortification, although a passive kind, many military installations are known as forts, although they are not always fortified. Larger forts may be called fortresses, smaller ones were known as fortalices
8.
Cincinnati
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Cincinnati is a city in the U. S. state of Ohio that serves as county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the side of the confluence of the Licking with the Ohio River. With a population of 298,550, Cincinnati is the third-largest city in Ohio and its metropolitan statistical area is the 28th-largest in the United States and the largest centered in Ohio. The city is part of the larger Cincinnati–Middletown–Wilmington combined statistical area. In the 19th century, Cincinnati was an American boomtown in the heart of the country, it rivaled the larger cities in size. Throughout much of the 19th century, it was listed among the top 10 U. S and it was by far the largest city in the west. By the end of the 19th century, with the shift from steamboats to railroads drawing off freight shipping, trade patterns had altered and Cincinnatis growth slowed considerably. Cincinnati is home to two sports teams, the Cincinnati Reds, the oldest franchise in Major League Baseball. The University of Cincinnati, founded in 1819, is one of the 50 largest in the United States, Cincinnati is known for its historic architecture. In the late 1800s, Cincinnati was commonly referred to as Paris of America, due mainly to such ambitious projects as the Music Hall, Cincinnatian Hotel. The original surveyor, John Filson, named it Losantiville, in 1790, Arthur St. Ethnic Germans were among the early settlers, migrating from Pennsylvania and the backcountry of Virginia and Tennessee. General David Ziegler succeeded General St. Clair in command at Fort Washington, after the conclusion of the Northwest Indian Wars and removal of Native Americans to the west, he was elected as the mayor of Cincinnati in 1802. Cincinnati was incorporated as a city in 1819, exporting pork products and hay, it became a center of pork processing in the region. From 1810 to 1830 its population tripled, from 9,642 to 24,831. Completion of the Miami and Erie Canal in 1827 to Middletown, Ohio further stimulated businesses, the city had a labor shortage until large waves of immigration by Irish and Germans in the late 1840s. The city grew rapidly over the two decades, reaching 115,000 persons by 1850. Construction on the Miami and Erie Canal began on July 21,1825, the first section of the canal was opened for business in 1827. In 1827, the canal connected Cincinnati to nearby Middletown, by 1840, during this period of rapid expansion and prominence, residents of Cincinnati began referring to the city as the Queen City
9.
Ohio River
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The Ohio River, which streams westward from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River in the United States. The 981-mile river flows through or along the border of six states, through its largest tributary, the Tennessee River, the basin includes many of the states of the southeastern U. S. It is the source of drinking water for three million people and it is named in Iroquoian or Seneca, Ohi, yó, lit. Good River or Shawnee, Pelewathiipi and Spelewathiipi, the river had great significance in the history of the Native Americans, as numerous civilizations formed along its valley. For thousands of years, Native Americans used the river as a major transportation, in 1669, René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle led a French expedition to the Ohio River, becoming the first Europeans to see it. After European-American settlement, the served as a border between present-day Kentucky and Indian Territories. It was a transportation route for pioneers during the westward expansion of the early U. S. In his Notes on the State of Virginia published in 1781–82, Thomas Jefferson stated and its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and unbroken by rocks and rapids, a single instance only excepted. During the 19th century, the river was the boundary of the Northwest Territory. Where the river was narrow, it was the way to freedom for thousands of slaves escaping to the North, many helped by free blacks and whites of the Underground Railroad resistance movement. The Ohio River is a transition area, as its water runs along the periphery of the humid subtropical. It is inhabited by fauna and flora of both climates, in winter, it regularly freezes over at Pittsburgh but rarely further south toward Cincinnati and Louisville. At Paducah, Kentucky, in the south, near the Ohios confluence with the Mississippi, Paducah was founded there because it is the northernmost ice-free reach of the Ohio. The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers at Point State Park in Pittsburgh, from there, it flows northwest through Allegheny and Beaver counties, before making an abrupt turn to the south-southwest at the West Virginia–Ohio–Pennsylvania triple-state line. From there, it forms the border between West Virginia and Ohio, upstream of Wheeling, West Virginia, the river then follows a roughly southwest and then west-northwest course until Cincinnati, before bending to a west-southwest course for most of its length. The course forms the borders of West Virginia and Kentucky. The Ohio drains parts of 15 states in four regions, northeast New York, a small area of the southern border along the headwaters of the Allegheny. Pennsylvania, a corridor from the corner to north central border
10.
Kentucky
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Kentucky, officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state located in the east south-central region of the United States. Kentucky is one of four U. S. states constituted as a commonwealth, originally a part of Virginia, in 1792 Kentucky became the 15th state to join the Union. Kentucky is the 37th most extensive and the 26th most populous of the 50 United States, Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass State, a nickname based on the bluegrass found in many of its pastures due to the fertile soil. One of the regions in Kentucky is the Bluegrass Region in central Kentucky. In 1776, the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known as Kentucky County, the precise etymology of the name is uncertain, but likely based on an Iroquoian name meaning the meadow or the prairie. Kentucky is situated in the Upland South, a significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia. Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast, West Virginia lies to the east, Virginia to the southeast, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois and Indiana to the northwest, and Ohio to the north and northeast. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more, Kentuckys northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River. The official state borders are based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792, for instance, northbound travelers on U. S.41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles. Ellis Park, a racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the land border between Indiana and Kentucky. Kentucky has a part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River requires a trip through Tennessee. The epicenter of the powerful 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills. The Jackson Purchase and western Pennyrile are home to several bald cypress/tupelo swamps, located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that can best be described as a humid subtropical climate. Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F to the low of 23 °F. The average precipitation is 46 inches a year, Kentucky experiences four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter. The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F at Greensburg on July 28,1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F at Shelbyville on January 19,1994, due to its location, Kentucky has a moderate humid subtropical climate, with abundant rainfall
11.
5th United States Colored Cavalry
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The 5th United States Colored Cavalry was a regiment of the United States Army organized as one of many Colored units during the American Civil War. The 5th USCC was one of the more notable black fighting units and it was officially organized and it was commanded by Colonel James Brisbin until February 1865, when he took over the 6th US Colored Cavalry. His executive officer, Louis Henry Carpenter then commanded the regiment until 20 March 1866, the regiment was composed of ex-slaves, freedmen, and slaves. Many white officers from the unit were assigned to the famed Buffalo Soldiers cavalry units. Many former USCC soldiers volunteered for service after their Civil War units were retired. 24 which authorized the formation of colored units composed of ex-slaves, freedmen, although the unit was not officially formed until 24 October 1864, it saw combat on two different occasions. Its first major encounter was on 2 October 1864, in and around the works of Saltville. When word of Burbridges raid reached the 5th USCC, the regiment had yet to be organized until after they returned from the raid. At the time of the battle, over 600 colored soldiers joined General Burbridge in the, as yet unorganized, although the regiment consisted of black cavalrymen, the officers of the regiment were required to be white. The white officers would then organize noncommissioned field officers among the ranks of the soldiers to fill the positions of sergeants. However, Lieutenant Colonel L. Henry Carpenter soon realized that his newly formed black troops were illiterate, therefore, Carpenter petitioned command to place white noncommissioned officers in charge of the black units. His request was granted, and hastily the 5th USCC was formed, some soldiers had not even officially enlisted, few officers had been appointed, and even fewer noncommissioned officers were assigned. Yet Colonel James F. Wade was temporarily placed in charge of the group with orders to join Burbridge in Kentucky. In his haste to create the unit, Wade mounted his 600 men on untrained horses with Enfield infantry rifles, in comparison, the troops of the 11th Michigan and 12th Ohio Cavalries were armed with Spencer repeating carbines, which were wholly effective from horseback. General Burbridge had been ordered by General Grant to proceed into southwest Virginia, the 5th USCC, therefore, was attached to Colonel Brisbins forces and joined Burbridge in Prestonburg, Kentucky. Burbridge left Prestonburg on 27 September to march towards Saltville, the black troops were an object of much ridicule. The soldiers were also directing their malice at the soldiers in the form of petty theft, such as having their hat pulled off. Yet the black soldiers never complained or retaliated against the white racism, Ferguson was convicted in the subsequent trial which took place in Nashville and sentenced to death
12.
Medal of Honor
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The medal is normally awarded by the President of the United States in the name of the U. S. Congress. There are three versions of the medal, one for the Army, one for the Navy, personnel of the Marine Corps and Coast Guard receive the Navy version. U. S. awards including the Medal of Honor do not have titles and while there is no official abbreviation. The Medal of Honor is the oldest continuously issued combat decoration of the United States armed forces, because the medal is presented in the name of Congress, it is often referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor. However, the name is Medal of Honor, which began with the U. S. Armys version. Within United States Code the medal is referred to as the Medal of Honor, in 1990, Congress designated March 25 annually as National Medal of Honor Day. The capture saved the fort of West Point from the British Army, although the Badge of Military Merit fell into disuse after the American Revolutionary War, the concept of a military award for individual gallantry by members of the U. S. 539 Certificates were approved for this period and this medal was later replaced by the Army Distinguished Service Medal which was established on January 2,1918. Those Army members who held the Distinguished Service Medal in place of the Certificate of Merit could apply for the Army Distinguished Service Cross effective March 5,1934. There were no awards or medals at the beginning of the Civil War except for the Certificate of Merit which was awarded for the Mexican-American War. Scott however, was strictly against medals being awarded which was the European tradition, after Scott retired in October 1861, the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, adopted the idea of a decoration to recognize and honor distinguished naval service. Senator James W. Secretary Wells directed the Philadelphia Mint to design the new military decoration, on May 15,1862, the United States Navy Department ordered 175 medals with the words Personal Valor on the back from the U. S. Mint in Philadelphia. Senator Henry Wilson, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, the resolution was approved by Congress and signed into law on July 12,1862. During the war, Townsend would have some medals delivered to recipients with a letter requesting acknowledgement of the Medal of Honor. By mid-November the War Department contracted with Philadelphia silversmith William Wilson and Son, the Army version had The Congress to written on the back of the medal. Both versions were made of copper and coated with bronze, which gave them a reddish tint,1863, Congress made the Medal of Honor a permanent decoration. On March 3, Medals of Honor were authorized for officers of the Army, the Secretary of War first presented the Medal of Honor to six Union Army volunteers on March 25,1863 in his office. 1890, On April 23, the Medal of Honor Legion is established in Washington,1896, The ribbon of the Army version Medal of Honor was redesigned with all stripes being vertical
