1.
First Battle of Bull Run
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It was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The Unions forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail, each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops in their first battle. It was a Confederate victory, followed by a retreat of the Union forces. Yielding to political pressure, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell led his unseasoned Union Army across Bull Run against the equally inexperienced Confederate Army of Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Confederate reinforcements under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad, the Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into a rout. McDowells men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington, both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and many casualties, and realized that the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated. The Battle of First Bull Run highlighted many of the problems, McDowell, with 35,000 men, was only able to commit about 18,000, and the combined Confederate forces, with about 32,000 men, committed only 18,000. Earlier, South Carolina and seven other Southern states had declared their secession from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America. To suppress the rebellion and restore Federal law in the Southern states and he later accepted an additional 40,000 volunteers with three-year enlistments and increased the strength of the U. S. Army to almost 20,000. In Washington, D. C. as thousands of volunteers rushed to defend the capital, General in Chief Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott laid out his strategy to subdue the rebellious states. He proposed that an army of 80,000 men be organized and sail down the Mississippi River, while the Army strangled the Confederacy in the west, the U. S. Navy would blockade Southern ports along the eastern and Gulf coasts. The press ridiculed what they dubbed as Scotts Anaconda Plan, instead, many believed the capture of the Confederate capital at Richmond, only one hundred miles south of Washington, would quickly end the war. By July 1861 thousands of volunteers were camped in and around Washington, since General Scott was seventy-five years old and physically unable to lead this force, the administration searched for a more suitable field commander. Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase championed fellow Ohioan, although McDowell was a West Point graduate, his command experience was limited. In fact, he had spent most of his career engaged in staff duties in the Adjutant Generals Office. While stationed in Washington he had become acquainted with Chase, a former Ohio governor and senator, McDowell immediately began organizing what became known as the Army of Northeastern Virginia,35,000 men arranged in five divisions. Under public and political pressure to begin operations, McDowell was given very little time to train the newly inducted troops. Units were instructed in the maneuvering of regiments, but they received little or no training at the brigade or division level and he was reassured by President Lincoln, You are green, it is true, but they are green also, you are all green alike
2.
Climax (narrative)
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The climax or turning point of a narrative work is its point of highest tension and drama, or it is the time when the action starts during which the solution is given. The climax of a story is a literary element. e. to construct a dramatization, in the play Hippolytus, by the famous Greek playwright, Euripides, the climax arrives when Phaedra hears Hippolytus react badly because of her love for him. That is the moment that Aphrodites curse is fulfilled. An anticlimax is a situation in a plot in which something which would appear to be difficult to solve is solved through something trivial. Another example could involve the protagonist faced with insurmountable odds and ultimately being killed without accomplishing his goal, dramatic structure Literary element Climax as a rhetorical device
3.
Conclusion of the American Civil War
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This is a timeline of the conclusion of the American Civil War which includes important battles, skirmishes, raids and other events of 1865. These led to additional Confederate surrenders, key Confederate captures, reporting of the Eastern Theater skirmishes largely dominated the newspapers as the Appomattox Campaign developed. Lee’s army fought a series of battles in the Appomattox Campaign against Grant that ultimately stretched thin his lines of defense, Lees extended lines were mostly on small sections of thirty miles of strongholds around Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. His troops ultimately became exhausted defending this line because they were too thinned out, Grant then took advantage of the situation and launched attacks on this thirty mile long poorly defended front. This ultimately led to the surrender of Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox, the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered on April 9 around noon followed by General St. John Richardson Liddells troops some six hours later. Mosbys Raiders disbanded on April 21, General Joseph E. Thompsons Brigade surrendered on May 11, Confederate forces of North Georgia surrendered on May 12, the last battle of the American Civil War was the Battle of Palmito Ranch in Texas on May 12 and 13. The last significant Confederate active force to surrender was the Confederate allied Cherokee Brigadier General Stand Watie, the last Confederate surrender occurred on November 6,1865, when the Confederate warship CSS Shenandoah surrendered at Liverpool, England. President Andrew Johnson formally declared the end of the war on August 20,1866, General Robert E. Lee commanded the Army of Northern Virginia, while Major General John Brown Gordon commanded its Second Corps. Early in the morning of April 9, Gordon attacked, aiming to break through Federal lines at the Battle of Appomattox Court House, but failed, and the Confederate Army was then surrounded. At 8,30 A. M. that morning, Lee requested a meeting with Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant to discuss surrendering the Army of Northern Virginia. Shortly after twelve oclock, Grants reply reached Lee, and in it Grant said he would accept the surrender of the Confederate Army under certain conditions. Lee then rode into the hamlet of Appomattox Court House, where the Appomattox county court house stood. The Confederates lost the city of Spanish Fort in Alabama at the Battle of Spanish Fort, after losing Spanish Fort, the Confederates went on to lose Fort Blakely to Union forces at the Battle of Fort Blakely, between April 2 and 9,1865. This was the last battle of the American Civil War involving large numbers of United States Colored Troops, the Battle of Fort Blakely happened six hours after Lees surrender to Grant at Appomattox. In the course of the battle, Brigadier General St. John Richardson Liddell was captured and surrendered his men, out of 4,000 soldiers originally, Liddell lost 3,400 that were captured in this battle. About 250 were killed and only some 200 men escaped, the successful Union assault can be attributed in large part to African-American forces. Unaware of Lees surrender on April 9 and the assassination of President Lincoln on April 14, on April 16, the Battle of Columbus, Georgia was fought. This battle - erroneously - has been argued to be the last battle of the Civil War, Columbus fell to Wilsons Raiders about midnight on April 16, and most of its manufacturing capacity was destroyed on the 17th
4.
Battle of Gettysburg
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The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3,1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the war and is often described as the wars turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Meades Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lees Army of Northern Virginia, ending Lees attempt to invade the North. After his success at Chancellorsville in Virginia in May 1863, Lee led his army through the Shenandoah Valley to begin his second invasion of the North—the Gettysburg Campaign. Prodded by President Abraham Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker moved his army in pursuit, but was relieved of command just three days before the battle and replaced by Meade. Elements of the two armies collided at Gettysburg on July 1,1863, as Lee urgently concentrated his forces there, his objective being to engage the Union army. Low ridges to the northwest of town were defended initially by a Union cavalry division under Brig. Gen. John Buford, on the second day of battle, most of both armies had assembled. The Union line was out in a defensive formation resembling a fishhook. In the late afternoon of July 2, Lee launched an assault on the Union left flank, and fierce fighting raged at Little Round Top, the Wheatfield, Devils Den. On the Union right, Confederate demonstrations escalated into full-scale assaults on Culps Hill, all across the battlefield, despite significant losses, the Union defenders held their lines. The charge was repulsed by Union rifle and artillery fire, at great loss to the Confederate army, Lee led his army on a torturous retreat back to Virginia. Between 46,000 and 51,000 soldiers from both armies were casualties in the battle, the most costly in US history. Shortly after the Army of Northern Virginia won a victory over the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Chancellorsville. Such a move would upset U. S. plans for the campaigning season. The invasion would allow the Confederates to live off the bounty of the rich Northern farms while giving war-ravaged Virginia a much-needed rest, in addition, Lees 72, 000-man army could threaten Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, and possibly strengthen the growing peace movement in the North. Thus, on June 3, Lees army began to shift northward from Fredericksburg, the Cavalry Division remained under the command of Maj. Gen. J. E. B. The Union Army of the Potomac, under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, consisted of seven corps, a cavalry corps. The first major action of the campaign took place on June 9 between cavalry forces at Brandy Station, near Culpeper, Virginia
5.
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
6.
Siege of Vicksburg
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The Siege of Vicksburg was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War. In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi, Pemberton, into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River, therefore, capturing it completed the part of the Northern strategy. When two major assaults against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25. With no reinforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than forty days, the successful ending of the Vicksburg Campaign significantly degraded the ability of the Confederacy to maintain its war effort, as described in the Aftermath section of the campaign article. Ballard, p. 308—suggest that the battle in the campaign was actually the Battle of Champion Hill. This action yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, attempts to stop the Union advance at Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge were unsuccessful. Pemberton knew that the corps under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman was preparing to flank him from the north, he had no choice but to withdraw or be outflanked. Pemberton burned the bridges over the Big Black River and took everything edible in his path, both animal and plant, as he retreated to the city of Vicksburg. Grant could now receive supplies more directly than by the previous route, large masses of Union troops were on the march to invest the city, repairing the burnt bridges over the Big Black River, which Grants forces crossed on May 18. Johnston sent a note to his general, Pemberton, asking him to sacrifice the city and save his troops, Washburn, XVII Corps, under Maj. Gen. James B. Pembertons Confederate Army of Mississippi inside the Vicksburg line consisted of four divisions, carter L. Stevenson, John H. Forney, Martin L. Smith, John S. Bowen. As the Confederate forces approached Vicksburg, Pemberton could put only 18,500 troops in his lines, Grant had over 35,000, with more on the way. However, Pemberton had the advantage of terrain and fortifications that made his defense nearly impregnable, the defensive line around Vicksburg ran approximately 6.5 miles, based on terrain of varying elevations that included hills and knobs with steep angles for an attacker to ascend under fire. The perimeter included many gun pits, forts, trenches, redoubts, Grant wanted to overwhelm the Confederates before they could fully organize their defenses and ordered an immediate assault against Stockade Redan for May 19. This first attempt was easily repulsed, the assault collapsed in a melee of rifle fire and hand grenades lobbing back and forth. The failed Federal assaults of May 19 damaged Union morale, deflating the confidence the soldiers felt after their string of victories across Mississippi. They were also costly, with casualties of 157 killed,777 wounded, the Confederates, assumed to be demoralized, had regained their fighting edge
7.
Fog of war
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The fog of war is the uncertainty in situational awareness experienced by participants in military operations. The term seeks to capture the uncertainty regarding ones own capability, adversary capability, military forces try to reduce the fog of war through military intelligence and friendly force tracking systems. The term is used to define uncertainty mechanics in wargames. A sensitive and discriminating judgment is called for, an intelligence to scent out the truth. It has been pointed out that von Clausewitz does not refer to a fog of war. The fog of war is a reality in all military conflict, precision and certainty are unattainable goals, but modern military doctrine suggests a trade off of precision and certainty for speed and agility. Militaries employ Command and Control systems and doctrine to partially alleviate the fog of war, other games, such as the Kriegspiel chess-variant, playing pieces could be hidden from the players by using a duplicate, hidden game board. Another version of fog of war emulation is used by block wargaming where, much like Stratego, however, this also allows for step damage, where the block is rotated counter-clockwise up to four times to simulate battle damage before the unit is eliminated. Solitaire games also by their attempt to recreate fog of war using random dice rolls or card draws to determine events. A computers ability to hide information from a player is seen as a distinct advantage over board games when simulating war. The earliest use of fog of war was in the 1977 game Empire by Walter Bright, another early use of fog of war was the 1978 game Tanktics designed by Chris Crawford, which was criticized for its unreliable and confusing fog of war system. Two large Blizzard franchises, Warcraft and StarCraft, use a fog of war which only reveals terrain features and enemy units through a players reconnaissance. Without a unit actively observing, previously revealed areas of the map are subject to a shroud through which only terrain is visible, Fog of war gives players an incentive to uncover a games world. A compulsion to reveal obscured parts of a map has been described to give a sense of exploring the unknown. In some strategy games that use of fog of war, enemy AI can get access to complete visibility of the map. A designer may use fog of war to keep a game that has become impossible to win enjoyable, simulating the Fog of War Paper by RAND Corporation John K. Setear, February 1989
8.
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
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.
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
11.
Irvin McDowell
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Irvin McDowell was a career American army officer. He is best known for his defeat in the First Battle of Bull Run, in 1862, he was given command of the I Corps of the Army of the Potomac. McDowell was born in Columbus, Ohio, son of Abram Irvin McDowell and he was a cousin-in-law of John Buford, and his brother, John Adair McDowell, served as the first colonel of the 6th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment during the Civil War. Irvin initially attended the College de Troyes in France before graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1838, beauregard, his future adversary at First Bull Run. He was commissioned a lieutenant and posted to the 1st U. S. Artillery. McDowell served as an instructor at West Point, before becoming aide-de-camp to General John E. Wool during the Mexican-American War. He was brevetted captain at Buena Vista and served in the Adjutant Generals department after the war, while in that department he was promoted to major on May 31,1856. Between 1848 and 1861, McDowell generally served as an officer to higher-ranking military leaders. He developed a friendship with General Winfield Scott while serving on his staff. He also served under future Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston, McDowell was promoted to brigadier general in the regular army on May 14,1861, and given command of the Army of Northeastern Virginia, despite never having commanded troops in combat. The promotion was partly because of the influence of his mentor and his strategy during the First Battle of Bull Run was imaginative but ambitiously complex, and his troops were not experienced enough to carry it out effectively, resulting in an embarrassing rout. After the defeat at Bull Run, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan was placed in command of the new Union Army defending Washington, McDowell commanded a division in the new army, but McClellan soon reorganized his command and McDowell was given I Corps the following spring. Stonewall Jacksons Valley Campaign would eventually include an attack on Washington kept McDowells 40,000 soldiers behind, eventually, the three independent commands of Generals McDowell, John C. Banks were combined into Maj. Gen. John Popes Army of Virginia, because of his actions at Cedar Mountain, McDowell was eventually brevetted major general in the regular army, however, he was blamed for the subsequent disaster at Second Bull Run. He escaped culpability by testifying against Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter, despite his formal escape, McDowell spent the following two years in effective exile from the leadership of the Army. In July 1864, McDowell was given command of the Department of the Pacific, on November 25,1872, he was promoted to major-general. On December 16,1872, McDowell succeeded General George G. Meade as commander of the Military Division of the South, from July 1,1876 to his retirement on October 15,1882, he was commander of the Division of the Pacific. In this capacity he constructed a park in the reservation of the Presidio
12.
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
13.
Confiscation Act of 1861
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The bill passed the House of Representatives 60-48 and in the Senate 24-11. Abraham Lincoln was reluctant to sign the act, he felt that, in light of the Confederacys recent battlefield victories and he was also worried that it could be struck down as unconstitutional, which would set a precedent that might derail future attempts at emancipation. Only personal lobbying by several powerful Senators persuaded Lincoln to sign the legislation, Lincoln gave Attorney General Edward Bates no instructions on enforcing the bill. With respect to slaves, the act authorized court proceedings to strip their owners of any claim to them, as a result of this ambiguity, these slaves came under Union lines as property in the care of the U. S. government. Upon hearing of Hunters action one week later, Lincoln immediately countermanded the order, before the act was passed, Benjamin Franklin Butler had been the first Union general to declare slaves as contraband. Some other Northern commanders followed this precedent, while officers from the states were more likely to return escaped slaves to their masters. The Confiscation Act was an attempt to set a consistent policy throughout the army, an Act to confiscate Property used for Insurrectionary Purposes. APPROVED, August 6,18611862 Act Prohibiting the Return of Slaves Emancipation Proclamation Slave Trade Acts
14.
Slavery in the United States
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Slavery had been practiced in British North America from early colonial days, and was legal in all Thirteen Colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. By the time of the American Revolution, the status of slave had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry, when the United States Constitution was ratified, a relatively small number of free people of color were among the voting citizens. During and immediately following the Revolutionary War, abolitionist laws were passed in most Northern states, most of these states had a higher proportion of free labor than in the South and economies based on different industries. They abolished slavery by the end of the 18th century, some with gradual systems that kept adults as slaves for two decades. But the rapid expansion of the industry in the Deep South after the invention of the cotton gin greatly increased demand for slave labor. Congress during the Jefferson administration prohibited the importation of slaves, effective in 1808, domestic slave trading, however, continued at a rapid pace, driven by labor demands from the development of cotton plantations in the Deep South. More than one million slaves were sold from the Upper South, which had a surplus of labor, New communities of African-American culture were developed in the Deep South, and the total slave population in the South eventually reached 4 million before liberation. As the West was developed for settlement, the Southern state governments wanted to keep a balance between the number of slave and free states to maintain a balance of power in Congress. The new territories acquired from Britain, France, and Mexico were the subject of major political compromises, by 1850, the newly rich cotton-growing South was threatening to secede from the Union, and tensions continued to rise. When Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election on a platform of halting the expansion of slavery, the first six states to secede held the greatest number of slaves in the South. Shortly after, the Civil War began when Confederate forces attacked the US Armys Fort Sumter, four additional slave states then seceded. In the early years of the Chesapeake Bay settlements, colonial officials found it difficult to attract and retain laborers under the frontier conditions. Most laborers came from Britain as indentured servants, having signed contracts of indenture to pay with work for their passage, their upkeep and training and these indentured servants were young people who intended to become permanent residents. In some cases, convicted criminals were transported to the colonies as indentured servants, the indentured servants were not slaves, but were required to work for four to seven years in Virginia to pay the cost of their passage and maintenance. Historians estimate that more than half of all immigrants to the English colonies of North America during the 17th and 18th centuries came as indentured servants. The number of indentured servants among immigrants was particularly high in the South, many Germans, Scots-Irish, and Irish came to the colonies in the 18th century, settling in the backcountry of Pennsylvania and further south. The planters in the South found that the problem with indentured servants was that many left after several years, just when they had become skilled. In addition, an economy in England in the late 17th
15.
Border states (American Civil War)
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In the context of the American Civil War, the border states were slave states that did not declare a secession from the Union and did not join the Confederacy. To their north they bordered free states of the Union and to their south they bordered Confederate slave states, of the 34 U. S. states in 1861, nineteen were free states and fifteen were slave states. Four slave states never declared a secession, Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, also included as a border state during the war is West Virginia, which was formed from 50 counties of Virginia and became a new state in the Union in 1863. In the border states there was concern with military coercion of the Confederacy. Many if not a majority were definitely opposed to it, when Abraham Lincoln called for troops to march south to recapture Fort Sumter and other national possessions, southern Unionists were dismayed. Secessionists in Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia were successful in getting those states to declare their secession from the U. S. in Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri, there were both pro-Confederate and pro-Union governments. West Virginia was formed in 1862–63 after unionists from the counties of Virginia then occupied by the Union Army had set up a loyalist state government of Virginia. Lincoln recognized this government and allowed them to divide the state, though every slave state except South Carolina contributed white battalions to both the Union and Confederate armies, the split was most severe in these border states. Sometimes men from the family fought on opposite sides. About 170,000 border state men fought in the Union Army and 86,000 in the Confederate Army, besides formal combat between regular armies, the border region saw large-scale guerrilla warfare and numerous violent raids, feuds, and assassinations. Violence was especially severe in eastern Kentucky and western Missouri, the single bloodiest episode was the 1863 Lawrence Massacre in Kansas, in which at least 150 civilian men and boys were killed. It was launched in retaliation for an earlier, smaller raid into Missouri by Union men from Kansas, with geographic, social, political, and economic connections to both the North and the South, the border states were critical to the outcome of the war. They are considered still to delineate the border that separates the North from the South. Reconstruction, as directed by Congress, did not apply to the states because they never seceded from the Union. They did undergo their own process of readjustment and political realignment after passage of amendments abolishing slavery and granting citizenship, after 1880 most of these jurisdictions were dominated by white Democrats, who passed laws to impose the Jim Crow system of legal segregation and second-class citizenship for blacks. Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to the border states, of the states that were exempted from the Proclamation, Maryland, Missouri, Tennessee, and West Virginia abolished slavery before the war ended. However, Delaware and Kentucky did not abolish slavery until December 1865, in the border states, slavery was already dying out in urban areas and the regions without cotton, especially in cities that were rapidly industrializing, such as Baltimore, Louisville, and St. Louis. By 1860, more than half of the African Americans in Delaware were free, some slaveholders made a profit by selling surplus slaves to traders for transport to the markets of the Deep South, where the demand was still high for field hands on cotton plantations
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Missouri in the American Civil War
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During the American Civil War, Missouri was a hotly contested border state populated by both Union and Confederate sympathizers. Counting minor actions and skirmishes, Missouri saw more than 1,200 distinct engagements within its boundaries, only Virginia, Missouri was initially settled by Southerners traveling up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The compromise was that Maine would enter the Union as a state to balance Missouri. Of the greatest concern for Missouri slave-holders in the years before the war was a law that decreed that if a slave physically entered a free state. The violence along the Kansas–Missouri border foreshadowed the national violence to come, and indeed continued throughout the Civil War. Against the background of Bleeding Kansas, the case of Dred Scott, citizen and therefore that African-Americans could not initiate legal action in any court, even when they clearly had what would otherwise be a valid claim. The decision calmed the skirmishes between Missouri and Kansas partisans, but its publicity enraged abolitionists nationwide and contributed to the rhetoric that led to the Civil War. In 1860, it took 25 days for a message to reach the Pacific coast from what was then the westernmost railroad terminus at St. Joseph, the firm of Russell, Majors and Waddell proposed to do it in 10 days using a relay system of horses. The resulting Pony Express began operations on April 3,1860, Ulysses S. Grants first commission in the Civil War was to protect the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, which delivered its mail. Scarcely a year after the ride from Missouri to San Francisco. By 1860, Missouris initial southern settlers had been supplanted with a more diversified non-slave-holding population, including former northerners, particularly German, the policy was first put forth in 1860 by outgoing Governor Robert Marcellus Stewart, who had Northern leanings. It was notionally reaffirmed by incoming Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson, who had Southern leanings, Jackson, however, stated in his inaugural address that in case of federal coercion of southern states, Missouri should support and defend her sister southern states. A Constitutional Convention to discuss secession was convened with Sterling Price presiding, the delegates voted to stay in the Union and supported the neutrality position. At the time of the 1860 U. S. Census, Missouris total population was 1,182,012, most of the slaves lived in rural areas rather than cities. Of the 299,701 responses to Occupation,124,989 people listed Farmers and 39,396 listed Farm Laborers, the next highest categories were Laborers, Blacksmiths, and Merchants. Less than half the population was listed as native-born. Those who had migrated from other states were predominantly from Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Indiana,906,540 people were listed as born in the United States. Of the 160,541 foreign-born residents of Missouri, most came from the German states, Ireland, England, France, in the election of 1860, Missouris newly elected governor was Claiborne Fox Jackson, a career politician and an ardent supporter of the South
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Kentucky in the American Civil War
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Kentucky was a border state of key importance in the American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln recognized the importance of the Commonwealth when he declared I hope to have God on my side, in a September 1861 letter to Orville Browning, Lincoln wrote, I think to lose Kentucky is nearly the same as to lose the whole game. Kentucky gone, we cannot hold Missouri, nor Maryland and these all against us, and the job on our hands is too large for us. We would as well consent to separation at once, including the surrender of this capitol, Kentucky, being a border state, was among the chief places where the Brother against brother scenario was prevalent. After early 1862 Kentucky came largely under Union control, Kentucky was the site of several fierce battles, including Mill Springs and Perryville. Forrest proved to be a scourge to the Union Army in western Kentucky, kentuckian John Hunt Morgan further challenged Union control, as he conducted numerous cavalry raids through the state. Kentucky was the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, his wife Mary Todd, Kentuckys citizens were split regarding the issues central to the Civil War. In 1860, slaves composed 19. 5% of the Commonwealths population, the ancestors of many Kentuckians hailed from Southern states like Virginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee, but many Kentucky children were beginning to migrate toward the North. Kentucky, along with North Carolina, also boasted the best educational systems in the South, politically, the Commonwealth had produced some of the countrys best known leaders. Breckinridge and Richard M. Johnson both hailed from the state, as did Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, U. S. President Abraham Lincoln, however, by the time of the Civil War, Kentucky was in a politically confused state. The decline of the Whig Party, which Clay had founded, had left many politicians looking for an identity. Many joined the Democratic Party, a few joined the newly formed Republican Party, the party was composed mainly of former Whigs and Know-Nothings. Kentucky was strategically important to both the North and South, the Commonwealth ranked ninth in population by 1860, and was a major producer of such agricultural commodities as tobacco, corn, wheat, hemp, and flax. Geographically, Kentucky was important to the South because the Ohio River would provide a boundary along the entire length of the state. Kentucky governor Beriah Magoffin believed that the rights of the Southern states had been violated and favored the right of secession, Magoffin proposed a conference of slave states, followed by a conference of all the states to secure these concessions. Due to the pace of events, neither conference was ever held. Magoffin called a session of the Kentucky General Assembly on December 27,1860. The majority of the General Assembly had Unionist sympathies, however, when the General Assembly convened again on March 20, it called for a convention of the border states in the Kentucky capital of Frankfort on May 27,1861
18.
Maryland in the American Civil War
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During the American Civil War, Maryland, a slave state, was one of the border states, straddling the South and North. Lincolns suspension of habeas corpus in Maryland, and dismissal of the Supreme Court Chief Justices ruling that such suspension was unconstitutional, would leave lasting scars. Later, in July 1864, the Battle of Monocacy near Frederick, Maryland in the third, across the state, nearly 85,000 citizens signed up for the military, with most joining the Union Army. Approximately one third as many enlisted to fight for the Confederacy, the end of the war would bring the abolition of slavery in Maryland, with a new constitution voted in 1864 by a small majority. Animosity against Lincoln would remain, and Marylander John Wilkes Booth would assassinate President Lincoln in April 1865, Maryland, as a slave-holding border state, was deeply divided over the antebellum arguments over states rights and the future of slavery in the Union. Culturally, geographically and economically, Maryland found herself neither one thing nor another, in the lead up to the American Civil War, it became clear that the state was bitterly divided in its sympathies. In the presidential election of 1860 Lincoln won just 2,294 votes out of a total of 92,421, only 2. 5% of the votes cast, in seven counties, Lincoln received not a single vote. Not all blacks in Maryland were slaves, the 1860 Federal Census showed there were nearly as many free blacks as slaves in Maryland. However, across the state, sympathies were mixed, many Marylanders were simply pragmatic, recognising that the states long border with pro-Union Pennsylvania would be almost impossible to defend in the event of war. Maryland businessmen feared the loss of trade that would be caused by war. After John Browns raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859, many citizens began forming local militias, the first bloodshed of the Civil War occurred in Maryland. Panicked by the situation, several soldiers fired into the mob, whether accidentally, in a desultory manner, chaos ensued as a giant brawl began between fleeing soldiers, the violent mob, and the Baltimore police who tried to suppress the violence. Four soldiers and twelve civilians were killed in the riot, the disorder inspired James Ryder Randall, a Marylander living in Louisiana, to write a poem which would be put to music and, in 1939, become the state song, Maryland, My Maryland. The songs lyrics urged Marylanders to spurn the Northern scum and burst the tyrants chain - in other words, Confederate States Army bands would later play the song after they crossed into Maryland territory during the Maryland Campaign in 1862. After the April 19 rioting, skirmishes continued in Baltimore for the next month, Mayor George William Brown and Maryland Governor Thomas Hicks implored President Lincoln to reroute troops around Baltimore city and through Annapolis to avoid further confrontations. In a letter to President Lincoln, Mayor Brown wrote, It is my duty to inform you that it is not possible for more soldiers to pass through Baltimore unless they fight their way at every step. I therefore hope and trust and most earnestly request that no more troops be permitted or ordered by the Government to pass through the city, if they should attempt it, the responsibility for the bloodshed will not rest upon me. The destruction was accomplished the next day, one of the men involved in this destruction would be arrested for it in May without recourse to habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman ruling
19.
Delaware in the American Civil War
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The history of Delaware as a political entity dates back to the early colonization of North America by European-American settlers. It is made up of three counties established since 1638, before the time of William Penn, each had its own settlement history. Their early inhabitants tended to more closely with the county than the colony or state. Large parts of southern and western Delaware were thought to have been in Maryland until 1767, all of the state has existed in the wide economic and political circle of Philadelphia. Before Delaware was settled by Europeans, the area was home to the Delaware, Susquehanna, at that time the area was considered to be part of the Virginia colony. Peter Minuit was the Dutch Director-General of New Netherland during this period and probably spent some time at the Burlington Island post, thereby familiarizing himself with the region. They established a Swedish South Company, aimed at settling the territory of New Sweden and they established a trading post at Fort Christina, now in Wilmington. Minuit claimed possession of the side of the Delaware River. Unlike the Dutch West India Company, the Swedes intended to bring settlers to their outpost. Minuit drowned in a hurricane on the way home that same year, by 1644, Swedish and Finnish settlers were living along both sides of the Delaware River from Fort Christina to the Schuylkill River. New Swedens best known governor, Johan Björnsson Printz, moved his residence to what is now Tinicum Township, Pennsylvania, three years later, in 1654, Johan Risingh, the Swedish governor, captured Fort Casimir from the Dutch. It was not long, though, before the Dutch too were removed by the English. But Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland, claimed a grant to lands on the western shore of Delaware Bay. In deference to the royal will of Charles II to please his brother, James, Duke of York, James, the Duke of York, believed he had won the area in war and was justified in ownership. The area was administered from New York as a part of James New York colony, William Penn was granted Pennsylvania, which grant specifically excluded New Castle or any of the lands within 12 miles of it. Nevertheless, Penn wanted an outlet to the sea from his new province and he persuaded James to lease him the western shore of Delaware Bay. So, in 1682, Penn arrived in New Castle with two documents, a charter for the Province of Pennsylvania and a lease for what became known as the Lower Counties on the Delaware. Penn had inherited James claims and thus began nearly 100 years of litigation between Penn and Baltimore, and their heirs, in the High Court of Chancery in London
20.
Legislature
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A legislature is a deliberative assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. Legislatures form important parts of most governments, in the separation of model, they are often contrasted with the executive. Laws enacted by legislatures are known as legislation, legislatures observe and steer governing actions and usually have exclusive authority to amend the budget or budgets involved in the process. The members of a legislature are called legislators, each chamber of legislature consists of a number of legislators who use some form of parliamentary procedure to debate political issues and vote on proposed legislation. There must be a number of legislators present to carry out these activities. Some of the responsibilities of a legislature, such as giving first consideration to newly proposed legislation, are delegated to committees made up of small selections of the legislators. The members of a legislature usually represent different political parties, the members from each party generally meet as a caucus to organize their internal affairs, the internal organization of a legislature is also shaped by the informal norms that are shared by its members. Legislatures vary widely in the amount of power they wield, compared to other political players such as judiciaries, militaries. In 2009, political scientists M. Steven Fish and Matthew Kroenig constructed a Parliamentary Powers Index in an attempt to quantify the different degrees of power among national legislatures, such a system renders the legislature more powerful. Legislatures will sometime delegate their legislative power to administrative or executive agencies, legislatures are made up of individual members, known as legislators, who vote on proposed laws. For example, a legislature that has 100 seats has 100 members, by extension, an electoral district that elects a single legislator can also be described as a seat, as, for, example, in the phrases safe seat and marginal seat. In parliamentary systems of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature which may remove it with a vote of no confidence, names for national legislatures include parliament, congress, diet and assembly. A legislature which operates as a unit is unicameral, one divided into two chambers is bicameral, and one divided into three chambers is tricameral. In bicameral legislatures, one chamber is considered the upper house. In federations, the upper house typically represents the component states. This is a case with the legislature of the European Union. Tricameral legislatures are rare, the Massachusetts Governors Council still exists, tetracameral legislatures no longer exist, but they were previously used in Scandinavia. Legislatures vary widely in their size, among national legislatures, Chinas National Peoples Congress is the largest with 2987 members, while Vatican Citys Pontifical Commission is the smallest with 7
21.
Tennessee River
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The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately 652 miles long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once known as the Cherokee River, among other names, as many of the Cherokee had their territory along its banks, especially in eastern Tennessee. Its current name is derived from the Cherokee village Tanasi, the Tennessee River is formed at the confluence of the Holston and French Broad rivers on the east side of present-day Knoxville, Tennessee. From Knoxville, it flows southwest through East Tennessee toward Chattanooga before crossing into Alabama and it loops through northern Alabama and eventually forms a small part of the states border with Mississippi, before returning to Tennessee. At this point, it defines the boundary between two of Tennessees Grand Divisions, Middle and West Tennessee and this waterway reduces the navigation distance from Tennessee, north Alabama, and northern Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico by hundreds of miles. The final part of the Tennessees run is in Kentucky, where it separates the Jackson Purchase from the rest of the state and it flows into the Ohio River at Paducah, Kentucky. The river has been dammed numerous times, primarily in the 20th century by Tennessee Valley Authority projects since the 1930s, a navigation canal located at Grand Rivers, Kentucky, links Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. The canal allows for a trip for river traffic going from the Tennessee to most of the Ohio River. Maps from the early 18th century call it Cussate, Hogohegee, Callamaco, a 1755 British map showed the Tennessee River as the River of the Cherakees. By the late 18th century, it had come to be called Tennessee, the river was a major highway to transport goods and explorers in the years when Tennessee was not yet settled. Some major towns that still exist today, and major ports at them were established by those who rode down the river, and settled along it. The Tennessee River begins at mile post 652, where the French Broad River meets the Holston River, in the late 18th century, the mouth of the Little Tennessee River was considered to be the beginning of the Tennessee River. Through much of the 19th century, the Tennessee River was considered to start at the mouth of Clinch River, at various points since the early 19th century, Georgia has disputed its northern border with Tennessee. Georgia made several attempts to correct what Georgia felt was an erroneous survey line in the 1890s,1905,1915,1922,1941,1947 and 1971 to resolve the dispute. Crews Townsend, Joseph McCoin, Robert F. Parsley, Alison Martin and Zachary H. Greene, writing for the Tennessee Bar Journal, a publication of the Tennessee Bar Association, appearing on May 12,2008. In 2008, as a result of a drought and resulting water shortage. In a two-page resolution passed overwhelmingly by the senate, Georgia declared that it, not its neighbor to the north
22.
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
23.
Ohio in the American Civil War
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During the American Civil War, the State of Ohio played a key role in providing troops, military officers, and supplies to the Union army. Due to its location in the Northern United States and burgeoning population. Despite the states boasting a number of very powerful Republican politicians, portions of Southern Ohio followed the Peace Democrats and openly opposed President Abraham Lincolns policies. Ohio played an important part in the Underground Railroad prior to the war, several leading generals were from Ohio, including Ulysses S. Grant, William T. Sherman, and Philip H. Sheridan. Five Ohio-born Civil War officers would serve as the President of the United States. The Fighting McCooks gained fame as the largest immediate family ever to become officers in the U. S. Army. The state was spared many of the horrors of war as two minor battles were fought within its borders. Morgans Raid in the summer of 1863 spread terror among the populace, Ohio troops fought in nearly every major campaign during the war. Nearly 7,000 Buckeye soldiers were killed in action and its most significant Civil War site is Johnsons Island, located in Sandusky Bay of Lake Erie. Barracks and outbuildings were constructed for a prisoner of war depot, over three years more than 15,000 Confederate men were held there. The island includes a Confederate cemetery where about 300 men were buried, much of southern Ohios economy depended upon trade with the South across the Ohio River, which had served for years as passage and a link with the slave states of Virginia and Kentucky. Most of the population was solidly against secession and in favor of a strong central government. During the 1860 Presidential Election, Ohio voted in favor of Abraham Lincoln over Stephen Douglas, senator and Governor Salmon P. Chase as Secretary of the Treasury. Prominent Ohio politicians in Congress included Senators John Sherman and Benjamin F. Wade, during the war, three men would serve as Governor of Ohio– William Dennison, David Tod and John Brough. Without being asked by the War Department, Dennison sent Ohio troops into western Virginia, the convention led to the admission of West Virginia as a free state. Tod became known as the friend, for his determined efforts to help equip. He was noted for his response in calling out the state militia to battle Confederate raiders. Through the middle of the war, the Copperhead movement had appeal in Ohio, driven in part by noted states rights advocate, Congressman Clement Vallandigham, after General Ambrose E. Burnside ordered his arrest and took Vallandigham to Cincinnati for trial
24.
Leonidas Polk
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Leonidas Polk was a Confederate general in Western Theater the American Civil War who was once a planter in Maury County, Tennessee, and a second cousin of President James K. Polk. He also served as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana and was for that reason known as Sewanees Fighting Bishop and he is often erroneously named Leonidas K. Polk. He had no name and never signed any documents as such. The errant K was derived from his listing in the post-bellum New Orleans press as Polk, Polk was one of the more notable, yet controversial, political generals of the war. He is remembered for his disagreements with his immediate superior, the likewise-controversial General Braxton Bragg of the Army of Tennessee. While serving under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, Polk was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, to Sarah Polk and Colonel William Polk, a Revolutionary War veteran and prosperous planter. He was of Scottish and Scotch-Irish ancestry, capitalizing on his position as chief surveyor of the central district of Tennessee, William was able to acquire about 100,000 acres of land. Polk attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill briefly before entering the United States Military Academy at West Point. During his senior year, he joined the Episcopal Church, baptized in the Academy Chapel by Chaplain Charles P. McIlvaine, Polk had an impressive academic record, excelling in rhetoric and moral philosophy. He graduated eighth of 38 cadets on July 1,1827, Polk resigned his commission on December 1,1827, so that he could enter the Virginia Theological Seminary. He became an assistant to Bishop Richard Channing Moore at Monumental Church in Richmond, Moore agreed to ordain Polk as a deacon in April 1830 however on a visit to Raleigh in March it was discovered that he had never been confirmed. To remedy the fact before his ordination he was confirmed at St. Johns Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. He was then ordained a deacon as planned and a priest the following year, on May 6,1830, Polk married Frances Ann Devereux, daughter of John Devereux and Frances Pollock, her mother was the granddaughter of Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards. The Polks had eight children who survived to adulthood, in 1832, Polk moved his family to the vast Polk Rattle and Snap tract in Maury County, Tennessee, and constructed a massive Greek Revival home called Ashwood Hall. Polk was the largest slaveholder in the county in 1840, with 111 slaves, with his four brothers in Maury County, he built a family chapel, St. Johns Church, at Ashwood. He also served as priest of St. Peters Church in Columbia and he was appointed Missionary Bishop of the Southwest in September 1838 and was elected Bishop of Louisiana in October 1841. Polk laid and consecrated the cornerstone for the first building on October 9,1860, Polks foundational legacy at Sewanee is remembered always through his portrait Sword Over the Gown, painted by Eliphalet F. Andrews in 1900. After the original was vandalized in 1998, a copy by Connie Erickson was unveiled on June 1,2003, at the outbreak of the Civil War, Polk pulled the Louisiana Convention out of the Episcopal Church of the United States
25.
Tennessee in the American Civil War
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To a large extent, the American Civil War was fought in cities and farms of Tennessee, as only Virginia saw more battles. However, Tennessee is the state to have major battles or skirmishes fought in every single county. Tennessee was also considered the Bread Basket of the Confederacy, for its rich farmland that fed both armies during the war. A large number of important battles occurred in Tennessee, including the fighting at the Battle of Shiloh. Other large battles in Tennessee included Stones River, Chattanooga, Nashville, Tennessee was one of the most divided states in the country at the outset of the war. Before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Tennessee was actually staunchly pro-Union, the situation changed when Fort Sumter was bombarded and Lincoln made the call for 75,000 volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Tennesseans saw this as a threat to their brethren. In fact, Tennessee would furnish more troops for the Union than any other Confederate state, however, over three times that number volunteered for the Confederacy. Interestingly, notable general Nathan Bedford Forrest voted against secession, initially, most Tennesseans showed little enthusiasm for breaking away from a nation whose struggles it had shared for so long. In 1860, they had voted by a margin for the Constitutional Unionist John Bell. A vocal minority of Tennesseans spoke critically of the Northern states, the people of the South are preparing for their next highest duty– resistance to coercion or invasion, wrote the Nashville Daily Gazette on January 5,1861. A pro-secessionist proposal was made in the Memphis Appeal to build a fort at Randolph, Tennessee, Governor Isham G. Harris convened an emergency session of the Tennessee General Assembly in January 1861. Upon the well-defined constitutions rights of the Southern citizen and he identified numerous grievances with the Republican Party, blaming them for inducing slaves to run off by means of the Underground Railroad, John Browns raids, and high taxes on slave labor. Harris agreed with the idea of sovereignty, that only the people within a state can determine whether or not slavery could exist within the boundaries of that state. Furthermore, he regarded laws passed by Congress that made U. S, Governor Harris proposed holding a State Convention. A series of resolutions were presented in the Tennessee House of Representatives by William H. Wisener against the proposal and he declared passing any law reorganizing and arming the state militia to be inexpedient. The centrality of the question of slavery to the movement was not doubted by people at the time of the Civil War. If you desire to wait until you are tied hand and foot then vote for the men who advocate the watch and wait policy
26.
Gideon Johnson Pillow
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Before his military career, Pillow practiced law and was active in Democratic Party politics. He supported the nomination of fellow-Tennessean James K. Polk at the 1844 Democratic National Convention, in 1847, Pillow was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers to serve in the Mexican-American War, and was later promoted to major general. He performed reasonably well, and was wounded that year at Cerro Gordo, Pillow was court-martialed for insubordination, but with President Polks assistance, the court-martial was reduced to a court of inquiry, which in 1848 exonerated Pillow of any wrongdoing. After the war, Pillow served as a delegate from Tennessee to the Nashville Convention of 1850 and he remained active in supporting the Democratic Party. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Pillow supported secession, Pillow received the thanks of the Confederate Congress for driving off the Union force at the Battle of Belmont, Missouri. The next night, before the surrender of the fort, Brigadier General John B, Floyd passed overall command of the fort to Pillow, who in turn passed it to Brigadier General Simon Buckner. Floyd and Pillow managed to escape with a few aides before Buckner surrendered the remaining garrison to the Union Army of Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant. These actions sent his career and reputation into eclipse. Pillow commanded a brigade at the Battle of Stones River in 1863, where he performed poorly, removed from combat duty, he worked mainly in recruiting assignments through the remainder of the war. Bankrupt after the war, Pillow resumed a successful legal career, Pillow was born on June 8,1806 in Williamson County, Tennessee, to Gideon Pillow and Ann Payne Pillow. He came from a connected, property owning family with a reputation for Indian fighting. He graduated from the University of Nashville in 1827 and practiced law in Columbia, Tennessee, regardless of whether Pillow and Polk were partners, they became friends. Pillow married Mary Elizabeth Martin, March 24,1831, in 1831, Tennessee Governor William Carroll appointed Pillow as district attorney general. Pillow served as a general in the Tennessee Militia from 1833 to 1836. In the Mexican-American War, Pillow joined the United States Army with an appointment from President Polk as a general of volunteers July 1,1846. He was promoted to general of volunteers on April 13,1847. He displayed bravery in battle, being wounded in the arm at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. During the war he came into conflict with one of the commanders of the American forces in Mexico
27.
Columbus, Kentucky
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Columbus is a home rule-class city in Hickman County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 170 at the 2010 census, a decline from 229 in 2000, Columbus is the oldest town in Kentuckys Jackson Purchase. It was first settled on the Mississippi floodplain in 1804 and known as Iron Banks after the sites French name les rivages de fer, the long-held local rumor that President Thomas Jefferson planned to remove the American capital to the site has absolutely no basis in fact. The name of the town was changed to Columbus in 1820 and it was the original county seat of Hickman before the transfer of the court to Clinton. It was formally incorporated in 1860, just ahead of its seizure by Confederate forces during the American Civil War the next year, the engagement was Grants first direct combat during the war. In 1878, the American railroad legend Casey Jones got his railroad first job here, working as a telegrapher for the Mobile, in 1927, a flood deluged the city. The town was reëstablished upon higher ground above the flood plain, some of the original houses were saved and moved inland. Columbus is located at 36°45′37″N 89°6′10″W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.4 square miles, all land. As of the census of 2000, there were 229 people,95 households, the population density was 558.6 people per square mile. There were 110 housing units at a density of 268.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 77. 29% White,17. 90% Black or African American,2. 18% from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 4. 80% of the population. 31. 6% of all households were made up of individuals and 12. 6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.11. In the city, the population was out with 23. 1% under the age of 18,13. 5% from 18 to 24,26. 2% from 25 to 44,24. 0% from 45 to 64. The median age was 35 years, for every 100 females there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males, the median income for a household in the city was $25,313, and the median income for a family was $29,844. Males had an income of $21,667 versus $14,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,766. About 5. 1% of families and 9. 1% of the population were below the poverty line, the climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters
28.
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
29.
Cumberland Gap
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The Cumberland Gap is a narrow pass through the long ridge of the Cumberland Mountains, within the Appalachian Mountains, near the junction of the U. S. states of Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee. Long used by Native Americans, the Cumberland Gap was brought to the attention of settlers in 1750 by Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician and explorer. The path was explored by a team of frontiersmen led by Daniel Boone, making it accessible to pioneers who used it to journey into the frontiers of Kentucky. The Cumberland Gap is one of many passes in the Appalachian Mountains and it lies within Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and is located on the border of present-day Kentucky and Virginia, approximately 0.25 miles northeast of the tri-state marker with Tennessee. Scientists have dated this region to the Cambrian or Pennsylvanian period, the unique landscape seen today is a result of the uplift of sedimentary rock in conjunction with several million years of weathering and erosion. These features include narrow ridges, steep cliffs, overlooks, the Cumberland Gap is now known as a wind gap since water no longer flows through it. The V-shaped gap serves as a gateway to the west, the base of the gap is about 300 feet above the valley floor below even though the north side of the pass was lowered 20 feet during the construction of Old U. S. Route 25E. To the south the ridge rises 600 feet above the pass, because it is centrally located in the United States, the region around Cumberland Gap experiences all four seasons. The summers are sunny, warm and humid with average temperatures in the mid to upper 90s F. In the winter months, January through March, temperatures range in the 30s to 40s F and are mild with rain. The nearest cities are Middlesboro, Kentucky, and Harrogate, Tennessee, the gap was formed by the development of three major structural features, the Pine Mountain Thrust Sheet, the Middlesboro Syncline, and the Rocky Face Fault. Lateral compressive forces of sedimentary rocks from deep layers of the Earths crust pushing upward 320 to 200 million years ago created the thrust sheet, resistance on the fault from the opposing Cumberland Mountain to Pine Mountain caused the U-shaped structure of the Middlesboro Syncline. The once flat-lying sedimentary rocks were now deformed roughly 40 degrees northwest, further constriction to the northwest of Cumberland Mountain developed into a fault trending north-to-south called the Rocky Face Fault, which eventually cut through Cumberland Mountain. This combination of geological processes created ideal conditions for weathering. However, the discovery of the Middlesboro impact structure has proposed new details in the formation of Cumberland Gap, less than 300 million years ago a meteorite, approximately the size of a football field, struck the earth, creating the Middlesboro Crater. One of three astroblemes in the state, it is a 3. 7-mile diameter meteorite impact crater with the city of Middlesboro, Kentucky, detailed mapping by geologists in the 1960s led many to interpret the geological features of the area to be a site of an ancient impact. In 1966 Robert Dietz discovered shatter cones in sandstone, proving recent speculation. Shatter cones, a rock-shattering pattern naturally formed only during events, are found in abundance in the area
30.
Western Theater of the American Civil War
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The Western Theater served as an avenue of military operations by Union armies directly into the agricultural heartland of the South via the major rivers of the region. The Confederacy was forced to defend an area with limited resources. Union operations began with securing Kentucky in Union hands in September 1861, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Chattanooga served as the launching point for Maj. Gen. William T. The Western Theater was an area defined by geography and the sequence of campaigning. It originally represented the area east of the Mississippi River and west of the Appalachian Mountains, Operations west of the Mississippi River were in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. The West was by some measures the most important theater of the war, capture of the Mississippi River has been one of the key tenets of Union General-in-Chief Winfield Scotts Anaconda Plan. Union generals consistently outclassed most of their Confederate opponents, with the exception of cavalry commander Nathan Bedford Forrest. Lacking the proximity to the capitals and population centers of the East, the astounding Confederate victories. McClellan, and Stonewall Jackson, the Western theater received considerably less attention than the Eastern, the near-steady progress that Union forces made in defeating Confederate armies in the West and overtaking Confederate territory went nearly unnoticed. 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 117 battles the NPS classifies for this theater are described, boxed text in the right margin show the NPS campaigns associated with each section. The focus early in the war was on two states, Missouri and Kentucky. The loss of either would have been a blow to the Union cause. Primarily because of the successes of Captain Nathaniel Lyon and his victory at Boonville in June, the state of Kentucky, with a pro-Confederate governor and a pro-Union legislature, had declared neutrality between the opposing sides. This neutrality was first violated on September 3, when Confederate Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk occupied Columbus, two days later Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, displaying the personal initiative that would characterize his later career, seized Paducah. On the Confederate side, General Albert Sidney Johnston commanded all forces from Arkansas to the Cumberland Gap, Johnston also gained political support from secessionists in central and western counties of Kentucky via a new Confederate capital at Bowling Green, set up by the Russellville Convention. The alternative government was recognized by the Confederate government, which admitted Kentucky into the Confederacy in December 1861, using the rail system resources of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, Polk was able to quickly fortify and equip the Confederate base at Columbus. By January 1862, this disunity of command was apparent because no strategy for operations in the Western theater could be agreed upon, James A. Garfield and Mill Springs under Brig. Gen. George H. Thomas
31.
Battle of Fort Donelson
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The Battle of Fort Donelson was fought from February 12–16,1862, in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. The Union capture of the Confederate fort near the Tennessee–Kentucky border opened the Cumberland River, an important avenue for the invasion of the South. The Unions success also elevated Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant from an obscure and largely unproven leader to the rank of major general, the battle followed the Union capture of Fort Henry on February 6. Grant moved his army 12 miles overland to Fort Donelson on February 12 and 13, on February 15, with the fort surrounded, the Confederates, commanded by Brig. Gen. John B. Floyd, launched an attack against the right flank of Grants army in an attempt to open an escape route to Nashville. Grant, who was away from the battlefield at the start of the attack, arrived to rally his men, despite achieving partial success and opening the way for a retreat, Floyd lost his nerve and ordered his men back to the fort. The battle of Fort Donelson, which began on February 12, took place shortly after the surrender of Fort Henry, Tennessee, on February 6,1862. Fort Henry had been a key position in the center of a line defending Tennessee, about 2,500 of Fort Henrys Confederate defenders escaped before its surrender by marching the 12 miles east to Fort Donelson. With the surrender of Fort Henry, the Confederates faced some difficult choices, Grants army now divided Confederate Gen. Albert Sidney Johnstons two main forces, P. G. T. Beauregard at Columbus, Kentucky, with 12,000 men, Fort Donelson had only about 5,000 men. Johnston was apprehensive about the ease with which Union gunboats defeated Fort Henry and he was more concerned about the threat from Buell than he was from Grant, and suspected the river operations might simply be a diversion. Johnston decided upon a course of action that forfeited the initiative across most of his defensive line, Johnston wanted to give command of Fort Donelson to Beauregard, who had performed ably at Bull Run, but the latter declined because of a throat ailment. Instead, the responsibility went to Brig. Gen. John B, Floyd, who had just arrived following an unsuccessful assignment under Robert E. Lee in western Virginia. Floyd was a man in the North for alleged graft. Floyds background was political, not military, but he was nevertheless the senior general on the Cumberland River. On the Union side, Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, Halleck had authorized Grant to capture Fort Henry, but now he felt that continuing to Fort Donelson was risky. Despite Grants success to date, Halleck had little confidence in him, Halleck attempted to convince his own rival, Don Carlos Buell, to take command of the campaign to get his additional forces engaged. Despite Johnstons high regard for Buell, the Union general was as passive as Grant was aggressive
32.
Battle of Fort Henry
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The Battle of Fort Henry was fought on February 6,1862, in western Middle Tennessee, during the American Civil War. It was the first important victory for the Union and Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in the Western Theater, on February 4 and 5, Grant landed two divisions just north of Fort Henry on the Tennessee River. Grants plan was to advance upon the fort on February 6 while it was being attacked by Union gunboats commanded by Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote. The surrender of Fort Henry opened the Tennessee River to Union traffic south of the Alabama border, in the days following the forts surrender, from February 6 through February 12, Union raids used timberclad boats to destroy Confederate shipping and railroad bridges along the river. On February 12, Grants army proceeded overland 12 miles to engage with Confederate troops in the Battle of Fort Donelson, in early 1861 the critical border state of Kentucky had declared neutrality in the American Civil War. This neutrality was first violated on September 3, when Confederate Brig. Gen. Gideon J. Pillow, acting on orders from Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, occupied Columbus, Kentucky. Two days later, Union Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Henceforth, neither adversary respected Kentuckys proclaimed neutrality, the buffer zone that Kentucky provided between the North and the South was no longer available to assist in the defense of Tennessee. By early 1862, a general, Albert Sidney Johnston, commanded all the Confederate forces from Arkansas to the Cumberland Gap. Forts Henry and Donelson were the sole positions defending the important Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, if these rivers were opened to Union military traffic, two direct invasion paths would lead into Tennessee and beyond. By January 1862, the disunity was apparent because they could not agree on a strategy for operations in the Western Theater, Buell, under political pressure to invade and hold pro-Union eastern Tennessee, moved slowly in the direction of Nashville. In Hallecks department, Grant moved up the Tennessee River to divert attention from Buells intended advance, Halleck and the other generals in the West were coming under political pressure from President Abraham Lincoln to participate in a general offensive by Washingtons birthday. Despite his tradition of caution, Halleck eventually reacted positively to Grants proposal to move against Fort Henry, Halleck hoped that this would improve his standing in relation to his rival, Buell. Halleck and Grant were also concerned about rumors that Confederate General P. G. T, beauregard would soon arrive with 15 Confederate regiments. On January 30,1862, Halleck authorized Grant to take Fort Henry, Grant wasted no time, leaving Cairo, Illinois, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, on February 2. His invasion force, which arrived on the Tennessee River on February 4 and 5, john A. McClernand and Charles F. Smith, and the Western Gunboat Flotilla, commanded by United States Navy Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote. The flotilla included four ironclad gunboats under Footes direct command, insufficient transport ships this early in the war to deliver all of the army troops in a single operation required two trips upriver to reach the fort. Fort Henry was a five-sided, open-bastioned earthen structure covering 10 acres on the bank of the Tennessee River. The site was one mile above Panther Creek and about six miles below the mouth of the Big Sandy River
33.
Cumberland River
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The Cumberland River is a major waterway of the Southern United States. The 688-mile-long river drains almost 18,000 square miles of southern Kentucky, the river flows generally west from a source in the Appalachian Mountains to its confluence with the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky, and the mouth of the Tennessee River. Major tributaries include the Obey, Caney Fork, Stones, although the Cumberland River basin is predominantly rural, there are also some large cities on the river, including Nashville and Clarksville, both in Tennessee. In addition, the system has been extensively developed for flood control. Its headwaters are three separate forks that begin in Kentucky and converge in its Harlan County, Martins Fork starts in Hensley Settlement on Brush Mountain in Bell County and snakes its way north through the mountains to Baxter. Clover Fork starts on Black Mountain in Holmes Mill, near the Virginia border, poor Fork begins as a small stream on Pine Mountain in Letcher County near Flat Gap, Virginia. It flows southwest in parallel with Pine Mountain until it merges with the two forks in Baxter. From there, the river continues flowing west through the mountains of Kentucky. The 68-foot falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the southeastern United States and is one of the few places in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow can be seen. Beyond Cumberland Falls, the river turns abruptly west once again and continues to grow as it converges with other creeks and it receives the Laurel and Rockcastle Rivers from the northeast and then the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River from the south. From here it flows into the man-made Lake Cumberland, formed by Wolf Creek Dam, the more than 100-mile reservoir is one of the largest artificial lakes in the eastern US. Near Celina, the river crosses south into Tennessee, where it is joined by the Obey River, northeast of Nashville, the river is dammed twice more, forming Cordell Hull Lake and Old Hickory Lake. After flowing through Nashville and picking up the Stones River, the river is dammed to form Cheatham Lake, finally, the river flows north and merges with the Ohio River at Smithland, northeast of Paducah. The explorer Thomas Walker of Virginia in 1758 named the river, the Cumberland River was called Wasioto by the Shawnee Native Americans, who lived in this area. French traders called it the Riviere des Chaouanons, or river of the Shawnee for this association, the river was also known as the Shawnee River for years after Walkers trip. Important first as a passage for hunters and settlers, the Cumberland River also supported later riverboat trade, villages, towns, and cities were located at landing points along its banks. Through the middle of the 19th century, settlers depended on rivers as the transportation routes for trading. In more recent history, a number of floods have struck various regions that the river flows through
34.
Mississippi in the American Civil War
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Mississippi was the second southern state to declare its secession from the United States of America, on January 9,1861. It joined with six other southern slave-holding states to form the Confederacy on February 4,1861, Mississippian troops fought in every major theater of the American Civil War, although most were concentrated in the Western Theater. Confederate president Jefferson Davis was a Mississippi politician and operated a large cotton plantation there. Prominent Mississippian generals during the war included William Barksdale, Carnot Posey, Wirt Adams, Earl Van Dorn, Robert Lowry, for years prior to the American Civil War, slave-holding Mississippi had voted heavily for the Democrats, especially as the Whigs declined in their influence. During the 1860 presidential election, the state supported Southern Democrat candidate John C. John Bell, the candidate of the Constitutional Union Party, came in a distant second with 25,045 votes, with Stephen A. Douglas, abraham Lincoln, who won the national election, was not on the ballot in Mississippi. S. Thousands flocked to join the Confederate military, around 80,000 white men from Mississippi fought in the Confederate army, whereas some 500 white Mississippians remained loyal to the U. S. and fought for the Union. As the war progressed, a number of freed or escaped slaves joined the United States Colored Troops. More than 17,000 black Mississippian slaves and freedmen fought for the Union, there were regional variations, as Logue shows. The likelihood of a man volunteering for service increased with an amount of personal property owned. Poor men were likely to volunteer. Men living near the Mississippi River, regardless of their wealth or other characteristics, were likely to join the army than were those living in the states interior. Many military-age men in western counties had moved elsewhere. Union control of the Mississippi River made its neighbors especially vulnerable, portions of northwestern Mississippi were under Union control on January 1,1863, when the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect. All of Mississippi had been declared in rebellion in the Proclamation and we can only live & exist by that species of labor, and hence I am willing to fight to the last. Corinths location at the junction of two made it strategically important. Beauregard retreated there after the Battle of Shiloh, pursued by Union Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, beauregard abandoned the town when Halleck approached, letting it fall into Union hands. Since Halleck approached so cautiously, digging entrenchments at every stop for over a month, Maj. Gen. William Rosecrans moved to Corinth as well and concentrated his force with Halleck later in the year to again attack the city
35.
Georgia in the American Civil War
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Georgia was one of the original seven slave states that formed the Confederate States in February 1861, triggering the U. S. Civil War. There was not much fighting in Georgia until September 1863, when Confederates under Braxton Bragg defeated William S. Rosecrans at Chickamauga Creek. In May 1864, William T. Sherman started pursuing the Confederates towards Atlanta and this six-week campaign destroyed much of the civilian infrastructure of Georgia, decisively shortening the war. When news of the march reached Robert E. Lees army in Virginia, whole Georgian regiments deserted, the Battle of Columbus, fought on the Georgia-Alabama border on April 16,1865, is reckoned by some criteria to have been the last battle of the war. The ordinance cited the views of U. S. William L, contemporary Georgian religious leaders also supported slavery. Governor Joseph E. Brown was a leading secessionist and led efforts to remove the state from the Union, a firm believer in states rights, he defied the Confederate governments wartime policies. He resisted the Confederate military draft and tried to keep as many soldiers at home as possible to fight invading forces, Brown challenged Confederate impressment of animals, goods, and slaves. Several other governors followed his lead, during the war, Georgia sent nearly 100,000 men to battle for the Confederacy, mostly to the Virginian armies. Despite secession, many southerners in North Georgia remained loyal to the Union, approximately 5,000 Georgians served in the U. S. Army in units such as the 1st Georgia Infantry Battalion, the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment, and a number of East Tennessean regiments. Georgias Rabun County in particular, which did not declare secession from the Union, was highly Unionist, the dividing lines were often not as clear as they are sometimes viewed in Rabun county during this period. In A Separate Civil War, Communities in Conflict in the Mountain South, within these two counties, Unionist and Confederate leaning factions fought brutally directly within the home front between 1861 and 1865. The Madden Branch Massacre in Fannin county was one of several atrocities that occurred as the mountain counties divided into pro and anti-Confederate factions. On November 29,1864, six Georgians trying to enlist in the U. S. Army - Thomas Bell, Harvey Brewster, James T. Hughes, James B. Nelson, Elijah Robinson, Peter Parris, and Wyatt J. Parton - were executed by the notorious Confederate guerilla John P. Gatewood, the long-haired, red-bearded beast from Georgia. While concentrated in the mountains and large cities, Unionism in Georgia was not confined to those areas, by summer 1861, the Union naval blockade virtually shut down the export of cotton and the import of manufactured items. Food that normally came by rail from the Northern states were halted, the governor and legislature pleaded with planters to grow less cotton and more food. The planters refused because at first, they thought the Union would not or could not fight, the planters then saw cotton prices in Europe soared and they expected Europe to soon intervene and break the blockade. The legislature imposed cotton quotas and made it a crime to grow an excess, in more than a dozen instances across the state, poor white women raided stores and captured supply wagons to get such necessities as bacon, corn, flour, and cotton yarn
36.
Battle of Shiloh
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The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, fought April 6–7,1862, in southwestern Tennessee. A Union force known as the Army of the Tennessee under Major General Ulysses S. T. Beauregard, launched an attack on Grants army from its base in Corinth. Johnston was killed in action during the fighting, Beauregard, who succeeded to command of the army. Overnight Grant was reinforced by one of his own divisions stationed further north and was joined by three divisions from another Union army under Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell. This allowed them to launch a counterattack the next morning which completely reversed the Confederate gains of the previous day. On April 6, the first day of the battle, the Confederates struck with the intention of driving the Union defenders away from the river, Johnston hoped to defeat Grants army before the anticipated arrival of General Buells Army of the Ohio. The Confederate battle lines became confused during the fighting, and Grants men instead fell back to the northeast. A Union position on a sunken road, nicknamed the Hornets Nest. Benjamin Prentisss and William H. L. Wallaces divisions, provided critical time for the remainder of the Union line to stabilize under the protection of artillery batteries. Wallace was mortally wounded when the position collapsed, while several regiments from the two divisions were surrounded and surrendered. General Johnston was shot in the leg and bled to death while leading an attack. Beauregard, his second in command, acknowledged how tired the army was from the days exertions, Confederate forces were forced to retreat from the area, ending their hopes of blocking the Union advance into northern Mississippi. Smiths orders were to lead raids intended to capture or damage the railroads in southwestern Tennessee, Brig. Gen. William T. Shermans troops arrived from Paducah, Kentucky, to conduct a similar mission to break the railroads near Eastport, Mississippi. Halleck also ordered Grant to advance his Army of West Tennessee on an invasion up the Tennessee River, Grant left Fort Henry and headed upriver, arriving at Savannah, Tennessee, on March 14, and established his headquarters on the east bank of the river. Grants troops set up camp farther upriver, five divisions at Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, meanwhile, Hallecks command was enlarged through consolidation of Grants and Buells armies and renamed the Department of the Mississippi. With Buells Army of the Ohio under his command, Halleck ordered Buell to concentrate with Grant at Savannah, Buell began a march with much of his army from Nashville, Tennessee, and headed southwest toward Savannah. The railroad was a supply line connecting the Mississippi River at Memphis, Tennessee to Richmond. Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant developed a reputation during the war for being concerned with his own plans than with those of the enemy
37.
Albert Sidney Johnston
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Albert Sidney Johnston served as a general in three different armies, the Texian Army, the United States Army, and the Confederate States Army. He saw extensive combat during his career, fighting actions in the Texas War of Independence, the Mexican–American War, the Utah War. Johnston was the officer, Union or Confederate, killed during the entire war. Davis believed the loss of Johnston was the point of our fate. Johnston was unrelated to Confederate general Joseph E. Johnston, Johnston was born in Washington, Kentucky, the youngest son of Dr. John and Abigail Johnston. His father was a native of Salisbury, Connecticut, although Albert Johnston was born in Kentucky, he lived much of his life in Texas, which he considered his home. He was first educated at Transylvania University in Lexington, where he met fellow student Jefferson Davis, both were appointed to the United States Military Academy, Davis two years behind Johnston. In 1826 Johnston graduated eighth of 41 cadets in his class from West Point with a commission as a second lieutenant in the 2nd U. S. Infantry. Johnston was assigned to posts in New York and Missouri and served in the Black Hawk War in 1832 as chief of staff to Bvt, in 1829 he married Henrietta Preston, sister of Kentucky politician and future Civil War general William Preston. They had one son, William Preston Johnston, who became a colonel in the Confederate Army, the senior Johnston resigned his commission in 1834 in order to care for his dying wife in Kentucky, who succumbed two years later to tuberculosis. After serving as Secretary of War for the Republic of Texas from 1838 to 1840, in 1843, he married Eliza Griffin, his late wifes first cousin. The couple moved to Texas, where they settled on a plantation in Brazoria County. Johnston named the property China Grove, here they raised Johnstons two children from his first marriage and the first three children born to Eliza and him. In 1836 Johnston moved to Texas and he enlisted as a private in the Texas Army during the Texas War of Independence against the Republic of Mexico. He was named Adjutant General as a colonel in the Republic of Texas Army on August 5,1836, on January 31,1837, he became senior brigadier general in command of the Texas Army. On December 22,1838, Mirabeau B, lamar, the second president of the Republic of Texas, appointed Johnston as Secretary of War. He provided for the defense of the Texas border against Mexican invasion, in February 1840, he resigned and returned to Kentucky. Johnston returned to Texas during the Mexican–American War under General Zachary Taylor as a colonel of the 1st Texas Rifle Volunteers, the enlistments of his volunteers ran out just before the Battle of Monterrey
38.
Arkansas in the American Civil War
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Arkansas had initially voted to remain in the Union. Arkansas raised 48 infantry regiments for the Confederacy, mostly serving in the Western theatre, Major General Patrick Cleburne was the states most notable military leader. The state also raised some Union regiments, though these were used for local anti-guerrilla patrols. The Battle of Pea Ridge in March 1862 ensured Union control of Northern Arkansas, programs such as the draft, high taxes, and martial law led to a decline in enthusiasm for the Confederate cause. The state was readmitted to the Union in 1868, the slave state of Arkansas was a part of the Confederate States during the American Civil War, and provided a source of troops, supplies, and military and political leaders. Arkansas had become the 25th state of the United States, on June 15,1836, antebellum Arkansas was still a wilderness in most areas, rural and sparsely populated. As a result, it did not have military significance when states began declaring secession from the Union. State Militia forces seized the Federal Arsenal in Little Rock before Arkansas actually voted to secede, the small Federal garrison was forced to evacuate after a demand by Arkansas Governor Rector that the arsenal be turned over to state authority. At the beginning of 1861, the population of Arkansas, like states of the Upper South, was not keen to secede on average. This was shown by the results of state referendum in February 1861. The referendum passed, but the majority of the elected were conditional unionist in sympathy. This changed after the Confederacy attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, the move toward open war shifted public opinion into the secessionist camp. Arkansas declared its secession from the Union on May 6,1861, at the Arkansas secession convention in March 1861, Henry M. They stated that hostility to the institution of African slavery from the states was the primary reason why the state was declaring that it had seceded from the United States. It also stated that the states support for equality with negroes. Arkansas formed some 48 infantry regiments for the Confederate Army in addition to numerous cavalry and artillery units to serve as part of the Confederate Army. The 1st Arkansas Mounted Rifles, and the 1st, 4th, one infantry regiment, the 3rd Arkansas, served in the East for the duration of the war, thus making it the states most celebrated Confederate military unit. Though it was with the Confederacy that Arkansas sided as a state, none of those saw any heavy combat actions, and few took part in any major battles
39.
P. G. T. Beauregard
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Beauregard was a Southern military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Today he is referred to as P. G. T. Beauregard. He signed correspondence as G. T. Beauregard, trained as a civil engineer at the United States Military Academy, Beauregard served with distinction as an engineer in the Mexican–American War. He commanded the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, at the start of the Civil War at Fort Sumter on April 12,1861, three months later he won the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia. Beauregard commanded armies in the Western Theater, including at the Battle of Shiloh in Tennessee, and he returned to Charleston and defended it in 1863 from repeated naval and land attacks by Union forces. His influence over Confederate strategy was lessened by his professional relationships with President Jefferson Davis. In April 1865, Beauregard and his commander, General Joseph E. Johnston, convinced Davis, Johnston surrendered most of the remaining armies of the Confederacy, including Beauregard and his men, to Major General William T. Sherman. Following his military career, Beauregard returned to Louisiana, where he served as a railroad executive, Beauregard was born at the Contreras sugar-cane plantation in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, about 20 miles outside New Orleans, to a French Creole family. He had three brothers and three sisters, Beauregard attended New Orleans private schools and then went to a French school in New York City. During his four years in New York, beginning at age 12, he learned to speak English and he then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. One of his instructors was Robert Anderson, who became the commander of Fort Sumter. Upon enrolling at West Point, Beauregard dropped the hyphen from his surname and treated Toutant as a middle name, from that point on, he rarely used his first name, preferring G. T. Beauregard. He graduated second in his class in 1838 and excelled both as an artilleryman and military engineer and his Army friends gave him many nicknames, Little Creole, Bory, Little Frenchman, Felix, and Little Napoleon. During the Mexican–American War, Beauregard served as an engineer under General Winfield Scott and he was appointed brevet captain for the battles of Contreras and Churubusco and major for Chapultepec, where he was wounded in the shoulder and thigh. He was noted for his eloquent performance in a meeting with Scott in which he convinced the general officers to change their plan for attacking the fortress of Chapultepec. He was one of the first officers to enter Mexico City, Beauregard returned from Mexico in 1848. For the next 12 years, he was in charge of what the Engineer Department called the Mississippi, much of his engineering work was done elsewhere, repairing old forts and building new ones on the Florida coast and in Mobile, Alabama. He also improved the defenses of Forts St. Philip and Jackson on the Mississippi River below New Orleans and he worked on a board of Army and Navy engineers to improve the navigation of the shipping channels at the mouth of the Mississippi
40.
Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip
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The Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip was the decisive battle for possession of New Orleans in the American Civil War. The two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River south of the city were attacked by a Union Navy fleet. As long as the forts could keep the Federal forces from moving on the city, it was safe, New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, was already under threat of attack from the north when David Farragut moved his fleet into the river from the south. The Confederate Navy had already driven off the Union blockade fleet in the Battle of the Head of Passes the previous October. Men and equipment had been withdrawn from the defenses, so that by mid-April almost nothing remained to the south except the two forts and an assortment of gunboats of questionable worth. Without reducing the pressure from the north, President Abraham Lincoln set in motion a combined Army-Navy operation to attack from the south, the Union Army offered 18,000 soldiers, led by the political general Benjamin F. Butler. The Navy contributed a large fraction of its West Gulf Blockading Squadron, the squadron was augmented by a semi-autonomous flotilla of mortar schooners and their support vessels under Commander David Dixon Porter. The expedition assembled at Ship Island in the Gulf, once they were ready, the naval contingent moved its ships into the river, an operation that was completed on April 14. They were then moved into position near the forts, and on April 18 the mortars opened the battle, during the passage, one Federal warship was lost and three others turned back, while the Confederate gunboats were virtually obliterated. The subsequent capture of the city, achieved no further significant opposition, was a serious, even fatal. The forts remained after the fleet had passed, but the enlisted men in Fort Jackson mutinied and forced their surrender. Fort Jackson and Fort St. Philip were a pair of closely associated forts on the Mississippi River and they were sited some 40 kilometers above Head of Passes, where the river divides before it finally enters the Gulf of Mexico, or about 120 kilometers downstream from New Orleans. Fort Jackson was on the bank, while Fort St. Philip was on the left bank of the river. Because of the path of the river, Fort Jackson was actually somewhat east of Fort St. Philip. Although land-based forts had long considered to be invulnerable to attack by naval guns, some weaknesses had been exposed in the Battle of Port Royal, South Carolina. Following that battle, Assistant Secretary of the Navy Gustavus V, Fox began to press for expanded use of the United States Navy in attacking coastal Confederate positions. He particularly emphasized the desirability of assaulting New Orleans, the largest city in the Confederacy, Fox proposed that the two forts could be weakened if not completely destroyed by a mortar barrage, and a relatively small Army force then could assault the weakened forts. Following the reduction of the forts, or even during the army assault, at first, the Army, in the person of General-in-Chief George B
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Capture of New Orleans
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The capture of New Orleans during the American Civil War was an important event for the Union. Having fought past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the Union was unopposed in its capture of the city itself, however, the controversial and confrontational administration of the city by its U. S Army military governor caused lasting resentment. This capture of the largest Confederate city was a turning point. The history of New Orleans contrasts significantly with the histories of other cities became part of the Confederate States of America. Because it was founded by the French and owned by Spain for a time, New Orleans had a cosmopolitan culture. Only 13 percent of the 1810 population was Anglo-American, New Orleans also benefited more by the Industrial Revolution, international trade, and geographical position. Of particular significance were the inventions of the steamboat and the cotton gin, before the steamboat, keelboat men bringing cargo downriver would break up their boats for lumber in New Orleans and travel overland back to Ohio or Illinois to repeat the process. Steamboats had enough power to move upstream against the current of the Mississippi, a formative event in the early history of New Orleans was the Battle of New Orleans. This battle, though fought after the end of the War of 1812, enhanced the political career of Andrew Jackson, Jackson became the first of America’s “Imperial Presidents”, and began a new political movement now known as the Jacksonian Democracy. This new direction in American politics had a influence on the development of New Orleans. One of these developments was the construction of Fort Jackson, Louisiana and this fortress was intended to support Fort St. Philip and bar the Mississippi Delta from invasion. The victory of Abraham Lincoln, the Republican presidential candidate, in the election of 1860, resulted in the secession crisis, by the year 1860, the City of New Orleans was in a position of unprecedented economic, military, and political power. The Mexican–American War, along with the annexation of Texas, had made New Orleans even more of a springboard for expansion, the California Gold Rush contributed another share to local wealth. The combination of all these factors resulted in an increase in the price of prime field hands of 21 per cent in 1848, and further increases as the value of trade grew through the 1850s. By 1860 New Orleans was one of the greatest ports in the world, with 33 different steamship lines and trade worth 500 million dollars passing through the city. As far as population, the city not only outnumbered any other city in the South, it was larger than the four next-largest Southern cities combined, with an estimated population of 168,675. The election of Lincoln in 1860 inspired one of the most ardent secessionists in Louisiana, its governor, Thomas Overton Moore, governor Moore interdicted an effort to make New Orleans a “free city”, or neutral area in the conflict. A solid Democrat, Moore organized an effective and discreet movement that voted Louisiana out of the Union in a convention that represented only 5 per cent of the citizens of Louisiana
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New Orleans in the American Civil War
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New Orleans, in Louisiana, was the largest city in the Southern states during the American Civil War. It provided thousands of troops for the Confederate States Army, as well as several leading officers, the history of New Orleans is one of uninterrupted growth. In the 1850 census, New Orleans ranked as the 6th largest city in the United States and it was the only city in the South with over 100,000 people. By 1840 New Orleans had the largest slave market in the nation, during the antebellum years, two-thirds of the more than one million slaves who moved from the Upper South in forced migration to the Deep South were taken in the slave trade. Estimates are that the slaves generated an ancillary economy valued at 13.5 percent of the price per person, generating tens of billions of dollars through the years. Antebellum New Orleans was the heart of the Deep South, with cotton comprising fully half of the estimated $156,000,000 exports, followed by tobacco. Over half of all the cotton grown in the U. S. passed through the port of New Orleans, the city also boasted a number of Federal buildings, including the New Orleans Mint, a branch of the United States Mint, and the U. S. Louisiana voted to secede from the Union on January 22,1861, on January 29, the Secession Convention reconvened in New Orleans and passed an ordinance that allowed Federal employees to remain in their posts, but as employees of the state of Louisiana. In March, Louisiana accepted the Confederate States Constitution, the New Orleans Mint was seized, it was used during 1861 to produce Confederate coinage, particularly half-dollars. Since the dies were not changed, these are indistinguishable from 1861-O halves minted by the U. S. government, New Orleans soon became a major source of troops, armament, and supplies to the Confederate States Army. Among the early responders to the call for troops was the Washington Artillery, in January 1862, men from the free black community of New Orleans formed a regiment of Confederate soldiers called the Louisiana Native Guard. Although they were denied battle participation, the Confederate Army used the Guard to defend various entrenchments around New Orleans, several area residents soon rose to prominence in this Army, including P. G. T. Beauregard, Braxton Bragg, Albert G. Blanchard, and Harry T. Hays, the city was initially the site of a Confederate States Navy ordnance depot. New Orleans shipfitters produced some innovative warships, including the CSS Manassas, as well as two submarines which did not see action before the fall of the city, the Confederate Navy actively defended the lower reaches of the Mississippi River, during the Battle of the Head of Passes. Early in the Civil War, New Orleans became a target for the Union Army. War Department planned an attack to seize control of the city and its vital port, to choke off a major source of income. The political and commercial importance of New Orleans, as well as its strategic position, captain David Farragut was selected by the Union government for the command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron in January 1862. The four heavy ships of his squadron were, with difficulties, brought to the Gulf Coast
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Mississippi River
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The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
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Flag officer
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A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nations armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. In some countries, such as Bangladesh, the United States, Pakistan and India, it may apply to all armed forces and this means generals can also be considered flag officers. In most Arab armies, liwa, which can be translated as flag officer, is a specific rank, however, ensign is debatably a more exact translation of the word. In principle, a flag officer commands several units called flags, Flag officer corresponds to the generic terms general officer and air officer. A flag officer sometimes is an officer, called a flag lieutenant or flag adjutant. In the Canadian Forces, an officer is an admiral, vice-admiral, rear-admiral, or commodore. Base commanders, usually full colonels, also have a pennant that flies from the mast or flagpole on the base, since the unification of the Canadian Forces in 1968, a flag officers dress tunic had a single broad stripe on the sleeve and epaulettes. There are no epaulettes on the exterior of the tunic, in India, it is applied to brigadiers, major generals, lieutenant generals and generals in the Army. The equivalents are commodore, rear admiral, vice admiral and admiral in the Navy and air commodore, air marshal, air marshal. Each of these category of officers is designated with a specific flag. Indias honorary ranks are field marshal in the Army, marshal of the Indian Air Force in the Air Force, in the Royal Navy, there is a distinction between flag officer and officer of flag rank. Formerly all officers promoted to flag rank were considered to be flag officers, of the 39 officers of flag rank in the Royal Navy in 2006, very few were flag officers with entitlement to fly a flag. List of fleets and major commands of the Royal Navy lists most admirals who were flag officers, a flag officers junior officer is often known as Flags. The rank of flag officer was bestowed on senior Navy captains who were assigned to lead a squadron of vessels in addition to command of their own ship, during the American Civil War, the Confederate States Navy also used the term. S. Navy or Coast Guard serving in or having the grade of admiral, vice admiral, rear admiral, or rear admiral, in 1862 Congress authorized American use of the title admiral. In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, brigadier general, or pay grade O-7, and above. However, as a matter of law, Title 10 of the United States Code makes a distinction between officers and flag officers. Non-naval officers usually fly their flags from their headquarters, vessels, or vehicles, in the United States all flag and general officers must be nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate, each subsequent promotion requires renomination and re-approval
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David Farragut
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David Glasgow Farragut /ˈfærəɡət/ was a flag officer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. He was the first rear admiral, vice admiral, and admiral in the United States Navy and he is remembered for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay usually paraphrased as Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead in U. S. Navy tradition. Farragut was born in 1801 to Jordi Farragut, a native of Minorca, Spain and it was a few miles southeast of Campbells Station, near Knoxville. His father operated the ferry and also served as a officer in the Tennessee militia. Jordi Farragut, son of Antoni Farragut and Joana Mesquida, became a Spanish merchant captain from Minorca and he joined the American Revolutionary cause after arriving in America in 1766, when he changed his first name to George. George was a lieutenant during the Revolutionary War, serving first with the South Carolina Navy then the Continental Naval forces. George and Elizabeth had moved west to Tennessee after his service in the American Revolution, in 1805, George Farragut accepted a position at the U. S. port of New Orleans. He traveled there first and his family followed, in a 1, 700-mile flatboat adventure aided by hired rivermen, the family was still living in New Orleans when Elizabeth died of yellow fever. His father made plans to place the children with friends. In 1808, after his mothers death, he agreed to live with David Porter, in 1812, James adopted the name David in honor of his foster father, with whom he went to sea late in 1810. David Farragut grew up in a family, as the foster brother of future Civil War admiral, David Dixon Porter. David Farraguts naval career began as a midshipman when he was nine years old and this included service in several wars, most notably during the American Civil War, where he gained fame for winning several decisive naval battles. Through the influence of his father, Farragut was commissioned a midshipman in the United States Navy on December 17,1810. A prize master by the age of 12, Farragut fought in the War of 1812, at the same time, the Americans battled the hostile tribes on the islands with the help of their Te Ii allies. Farragut was 12 years old when, during the War of 1812 and he was wounded and captured while serving on the Essex during the engagement at Valparaíso Bay, Chile, against the British on March 28,1814. Farragut was promoted to lieutenant in 1822, during the operations against West Indian pirates, in 1824, he was placed in command of USS Ferret, which was his first command of a U. S. naval vessel. He served in the Mosquito Fleet, a fleet of ships fitted out to fight pirates in the Caribbean Sea. On February 14,1823, the fleet set sail for the West Indies where, for the six months, they would drive the pirates off the sea
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Union Navy
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The Union Navy was the United States Navy during the American Civil War, when it fought the Confederate States Navy. The term is sometimes used carelessly to include vessels of war used on the rivers of the interior while they were under the control of the United States Army, the Confederates saw the U. S. as being opposed to slavery and thus, referred to them as abolitionists. Accordingly, the U. S. Navy was termed by them as being the Abolition fleet, the primary missions of the Union Navy were,1. Maintain the blockade of Confederate ports by restraining all blockade runners, declared by the President on April 19,1861, meet in combat the war vessels of the CSN. Carry the war to places in the states that were inaccessible to the Union Army. Support the Army by providing gunfire support and rapid transport and communications on the rivers of the interior. To accomplish these, the Union Navy had to undergo a profound transformation, during the war, sailing vessels were completely supplanted by ships propelled by steam for purposes of combat. Vessels of widely differing character were built from the keel up in response to problems they would encounter. Wooden hulls were at first protected by armor plating, and soon were replaced by iron or steel throughout, the institutional changes that were introduced during the war were equally significant. The Bureau of Steam Engineering was added to the bureau system, testimony to the U. S. Navys conversion from sail to steam. Most important from the standpoint of Army-Navy cooperation in joint operations, the establishment of the ranks of admirals implied also a change of naval doctrine, from one favoring single-ship operations to that of employing whole fleets. At the start of the war, the Union Navy had 42 ships in commission, another 48 were laid up and listed as available for service as soon as crews could be assembled and trained, but few were appropriate for the task at hand. Most were sailing vessels, some were hopelessly outdated, and one served on Lake Erie, during the course of the war, the number in commission was increased by more than a factor 15, so that at the end the U. S. Navy had 671 vessels. Even more significant than the increase in raw numbers was the variety of types that were represented. To confront the forms of combat that came about, the government developed a new type of warship. The U. S. Navy took over a class of armored river gunboats created for the U. S. Army, but designed by naval personnel, so-called double-enders were produced to maneuver in the confined waters of the rivers and harbors. The Union Navy experimented with submarines before the Confederacy produced its famed CSS Hunley, accordingly, at the end of the war, most of them were soon stricken from the service rather than being mothballed. The number of ships at sea fell back to its prewar level, the highest rank available to an American naval officer when the war began was that of captain
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Union blockade
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The Union blockade in the American Civil War was a naval strategy by the United States to prevent the Confederacy from trading. Those blockade runners fast enough to evade the Union Navy could only carry a fraction of the supplies needed. They were operated largely by British citizens, making use of ports such as Havana, Nassau. The Union commissioned around 500 ships, which destroyed or captured about 1,500 blockade runners over the course of the war, for this purpose a competent force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of vessels from the ports aforesaid. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, done at the City of Washington, this nineteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-fifth. The British proclamation also formally gave Britain the diplomatic right to discuss openly which side, if any, to support. A joint Union military-navy commission, known as the Blockade Strategy Board, was formed to make plans for seizing major Southern ports to utilize as Union bases of operations to expand the blockade. It first met in June 1861 in Washington, D. C. under the leadership of Captain Samuel F, in the initial phase of the blockade, Union forces concentrated on the Atlantic Coast. The November 1861 capture of Port Royal in South Carolina provided the Federals with an ocean port and repair. It became a base of operations for further expansion of the blockade along the Atlantic coastline. Apalachicola, Florida, received Confederate goods traveling down the Chattahoochee River from Columbus, Georgia, another early prize was Ship Island, which gave the Navy a base from which to patrol the entrances to both the Mississippi River and Mobile Bay. The Navy gradually extended its reach throughout the Gulf of Mexico to the Texas coastline, including Galveston, with 3,500 miles of Confederate coastline and 180 possible ports of entry to patrol, the blockade would be the largest such effort ever attempted. The United States Navy had 42 ships in service, and another 48 laid up. At the time of the declaration of the blockade, the Union only had three ships suitable for blockade duty, the Navy Department, under the leadership of Navy Secretary Gideon Welles, quickly moved to expand the fleet. In 1861, nearly 80 steamers and 60 sailing ships were added to the fleet, some 52 more warships were under construction by the end of the year. By November 1862, there were 282 steamers and 102 sailing ships, by the end of the war, the Union Navy had grown to a size of 671 ships, making it the largest navy in the world. By the end of 1861, the Navy had grown to 24,000 officers and enlisted men, four squadrons of ships were deployed, two in the Atlantic and two in the Gulf of Mexico. Blockade service was attractive to Federal seamen and landsmen alike, Blockade station service was considered the most boring job in the war but also the most attractive in terms of potential financial gain
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