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.
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
3.
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
4.
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
5.
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
6.
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
7.
Nathan Kimball
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Nathan Kimball was a physician, politician, postmaster, and military officer, serving as a general in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was the first statewide commander of the Grand Army of the Republic veterans organization in Indiana, Kimball was born in Fredericksburg, Indiana, a small rural hamlet where he attended the local school. He attended the Washington County Seminary and then Indiana Asbury College from 1839 until 1841 before leaving to teach school and farm in Independence and he studied medicine under his brother-in-law at the University of Louisville Medical School in 1844 and established a private practice in Salem and Livonia. He married Martha A. McPheeters in Washington County, Indiana, the couple had one child, a son named James. When the Mexican-American War erupted, Dr. Kimball volunteered his services to state, raising a company from Livonia in the 2nd Indiana Infantry and being elected as a captain. Kimball was distinguished at the Battle of Buena Vista, where he rallied his company and he mustered out in June 1847 and returned to Indiana, where he resumed his medical practice, expanding it to Loogootee. He was defeated for election as a Whig to the Indiana State Senate in 1847 and his wife died in early 1850, and he married Emily McPheeters in August. In 1852, he again lost an election, this time for Presidential Elector, Kimball joined the newly formed Republican Party in 1854. His medical practice flourished, and he well known in the region. With the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, Kimball again volunteered his services to Indiana, Governor Oliver Morton named him the colonel of the 1, 143-man 14th Indiana Infantry on June 7,1861. He led his regiment in the campaigns in western Virginia, seeing his first combat at the Battle of Cheat Mountain in the autumn, in March 1862, he fought in the Shenandoah Valley, commanding a brigade at the Battle of Kernstown. It was one of the first repulses that Jackson had suffered, in recognition of Kimballs performance, he was promoted to brigadier general on April 16,1862. With the victory at Kernstown, Kimball had now participated in early Civil War defeats of both Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. Jackson. In July 1862, Kimball led his regiment, the 8th Ohio Infantry, after adding the 4th Ohio Infantry to his brigade, Kimball was briefly stationed in Fort Monroe before covering John Popes retreat from the Second Battle of Bull Run on September 1. During the subsequent Maryland Campaign, Kimball commanded the First Brigade of William H. Frenchs third division in the II Corps. His men formed the right of the division during its series of assaults on the Sunken Road at the Battle of Antietam, despite the severe losses, the men held their ground and eventually pushed aside the Confederates in their front, capturing 300 men and several colors. Kimballs brigade became known as the Gibraltar Brigade for their steadfast ability to withstand enemy fire, in December, his men were part of the desperate assaults ordered by Ambrose Burnside against Maryes Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg. There, Kimball suffered a thigh wound that put him out of action for the winter
8.
Stonewall Jackson
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Thomas Jonathan Stonewall Jackson was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, and the best-known Confederate commander after General Robert E. Lee. His military career includes the Valley Campaign of 1862 and his service as a commander in the Army of Northern Virginia. Confederate pickets accidentally shot him at the Battle of Chancellorsville on May 2,1863, the general survived but lost an arm to amputation, he died of complications from pneumonia eight days later. His death was a setback for the Confederacy, affecting not only its military prospects. Jackson in death became an icon of Southern heroism and commitment, Military historians consider Jackson to be one of the most gifted tactical commanders in U. S. history. His Valley Campaign and his envelopment of the Union Armys right wing at Chancellorsville are studied worldwide, even today, as examples of innovative and bold leadership. He excelled as well in battles, the First Battle of Bull Run, where he received his famous nickname Stonewall, the Second Battle of Bull Run. Jackson was not, however, universally successful as a commander as displayed by his arrival and confused efforts during the Seven Days Battles around Richmond. Thomas Jonathan Jackson was the great-grandson of John Jackson and Elizabeth Cummins, John Jackson was an Ulster Scots Protestant from Coleraine, County Londonderry, Ireland. While living in London, England, he was convicted of the crime of larceny for stealing £170. They both were transported on the merchant ship Litchfield, which departed London in May 1749 with 150 convicts, John and Elizabeth met on board and were in love by the time the ship arrived at Annapolis, Maryland. Although they were sent to different locations in Maryland for their bond service, the family migrated west across the Blue Ridge Mountains to settle near Moorefield, Virginia in 1758. In 1770, they moved farther west to the Tygart Valley and they began to acquire large parcels of virgin farming land near the present-day town of Buckhannon, including 3,000 acres in Elizabeths name. While the men were in the Army, Elizabeth converted their home to a haven, Jacksons Fort, John and Elizabeth had eight children. Their second son was Edward Jackson, and Edwards third son was Jonathan Jackson, jonathans mother died in 1798 and his father remarried three years later. His father and stepmother had nine more children, Thomas Jackson was the third child of Julia Beckwith Jackson and Jonathan Jackson, an attorney. Both of Jacksons parents were natives of Virginia, the family already had two young children and were living in Clarksburg, in what is now West Virginia, when Thomas was born. He was named for his maternal grandfather, There is some dispute about the actual location of Jacksons birth
9.
Jackson's Valley Campaign
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Jacksons Valley Campaign was Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Stonewall Jacksons famous spring 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia during the American Civil War. Jackson suffered a defeat at the First Battle of Kernstown against Col. On May 8, after more than a month of skirmishing with Banks, Jackson moved deceptively to the west of the Valley, Frémonts army in the Battle of McDowell, preventing a potential combination of the two Union armies against him. Jackson then headed down the Valley once again to confront Banks, concealing his movement in the Luray Valley, Jackson joined forces with Maj. Gen. Richard S. Ewell and captured the Federal garrison at Front Royal on May 23, causing Banks to retreat to the north. On May 25, in the First Battle of Winchester, Jackson defeated Banks, bringing in Union reinforcements from eastern Virginia, Brig. Gen. James Shields recaptured Front Royal and planned to link up with Frémont in Strasburg. Jackson was now threatened by three small Union armies, withdrawing up the Valley from Winchester, Jackson was pursued by Frémont and Shields. Jackson followed up his campaign by forced marches to join Gen. Robert E. Lee for the Seven Days Battles outside Richmond. His audacious campaign elevated him to the position of the most famous general in the Confederacy and has been studied ever since by military organizations around the world, in the spring of 1862 Southern morale. Was at its nadir and prospects for the Confederacys survival seemed bleak, following the successful summer of 1861, particularly the First Battle of Bull Run, its prospects declined quickly. Union armies in the Western Theater, under Ulysses S. Grant and others, captured Southern territory and won significant battles at Fort Donelson, and in the East, Maj. Gen. George B. During the Civil War, the Shenandoah Valley was one of the most strategic geographic features of Virginia, by the conventions of local residents, the upper Valley referred to the southwestern end, which had a generally higher elevation than the lower Valley to the northeast. Moving up the Valley meant traveling southwest, for instance, between the North and South Forks of the Shenandoah River, Massanutten Mountain soared 2,900 feet and separated the Valley into two halves for about 50 miles, from Strasburg to Harrisonburg. During the 19th century, there was but a road that crossed over the mountain. The Valley offered two advantages to the Confederates. First, a Northern army invading Virginia could be subjected to Confederate flanking attacks pouring through the many wind gaps across the Blue Ridge, early in the Valley Campaigns of 1864. In contrast, the orientation of the Valley offered little advantage to a Northern army headed toward Richmond, but denying the Valley to the Confederacy would be a significant blow. It was an agriculturally rich area—the 2, If the Federals could reach Staunton in the upper Valley, they would threaten the vital Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, which ran from Richmond to the Mississippi River. Stonewall Jackson wrote to a member, If this Valley is lost
10.
Battle of McDowell
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It followed Jacksons tactical defeat, but strategic victory, at the First Battle of Kernstown. Jacksons columns departed West View and Staunton, Virginia, on the morning of May 7, elements of Brig. Gen. Edward Allegheny Johnsons brigade composed the vanguard. At mid-afternoon, Union pickets were encountered at Rodgers tollgate, where the pike crosses Ramseys Draft, the Confederate force split into two columns to envelope the Union holding position on Shenandoah Mountain. Milroy ordered his force to withdraw and concentrate at McDowell, where he hoped to receive reinforcements, Milroy also positioned a section of artillery on Shaws Ridge to impede Johnsons descent from the crest of Shenandoah Mountain. These guns were withdrawn with their supports to McDowell. By dusk, Johnsons advance regiments reached Shaws Fork, where they encamped, because of the narrow roads and few camp sites, Jacksons army was stretched 8–10 miles back along the pike with its rear guard at Dry Branch Gap. Jackson established his headquarters at Rodgerss tollgate, during the night, Milroy withdrew behind the Bullpasture River to McDowell, establishing headquarters in the Hull House. Starting at dawn on May 8, the Confederate advance crossed Shaws Ridge, descended to the Cowpasture River at Wilsons House, and ascended Bullpasture Mountain. Reaching the crest of the ridge, Jackson and his mapmaker, Jedediah Hotchkiss, Johnson continued with the advance to the base of Sitlingtons Hill. Expecting a roadblock ahead, he diverged from the road into a narrow ravine that led to the top of the hill. After driving away Union skirmishers, Johnson deployed his infantry along the long, Jackson asked his staff to find a way to place artillery on the hill and to search for a way to flank the Union position to the north. Schenck arrived after a march from Franklin, West Virginia. Being senior to Milroy, Schenck assumed overall command of the Union force at McDowell with headquarters at the Hull House and he deployed his artillery, consisting of 18 guns, on Cemetery Hill and near the McDowell Presbyterian Church to defend the bridge over the Bullpasture River. He deployed his infantry in line from McDowell south along the river for about 800 yards and he placed one regiment on Hulls Hill, east of the river and overlooking the pike. Three companies of cavalry covered the flank on the road to the north of the village. Schenck and Milroy sent out skirmishers to contest the base of Sitlingtons Hill along the river, as Confederate forces on the crest of the hill increased in numbers, Schenck and Milroy conferred. Union scouts reported that the Confederates were attempting to bring artillery to the crest of the hill, in absence of an aggressive Confederate advance, Schenck and Milroy attempted a spoiling attack. Milroy advanced his brigade and the 82nd Ohio of Schencks brigade, about 3 p. m. Milroy personally led the attacking force, which crossed the bridge and proceeded up the ravines that cut the western slope of the hill
