Oddities of the War

[thea_447]

Fully 1,149 vessels were captured and sent to Admiralty courts during the war, for a total prize value of nearly $25,000,000 all divided up among the officers and men of the capturing vessels: an additional 355 vessels worth about $7,000,000 were burned or otherwise destroyed.



The number of civilian employees of the Federal government rose during the war from about 40,000 to about 105,000, or over 260 percent.

[thea_447]

Union Maj. Gen. Godfrey Weitzel, initially one of the most outspoken opponents of the use of black troops, ended the war in command of the XXV Corps, a black outfit.

When the 20th Massachusetts (The Harvard Regiment) mustered out after four years and 10 days of military service, only 2 of the original 34 officers were present for duty.

[ole]

Thank you, Thea, for the thoroughly intresting contributions to this thread.

Re: Jackson. It sometimes feels good to raise an arm in the air. I do it frequently, although it is not to balance the blood flow.

Jackson, for all his skill, was just a touch weird, wasn't he? It takes all kinds. Einstein was a failure in school. Hitler couldn't make a living in his chosen field. Grant was reduced to clerking in a relative's tannery. Lee was struggling with his station. Abe, came up from a common laborer.

[thea_447]

I'm glad you're enjoying them. Jackson was a rather odd lot. Between not eating anything that tasted good because he thought it couldn't possibly be good for him and sucking on those lemons all the time, it's surprising he had the time to direct troops and keep that arm up!

Changing subjects, here's another:


As Lt. Gen. U.S. Grant rode up to the McLean house in Appomattox on 9 April 1865 for his fateful meeting with Gen. Robert E. Lee, a Union Army band played "Auld Lang Syne."

[thea_447]

In the years after the war the removal of the dangerous obstacles blocking the Hell Gate entry into New York Harbor--a task which required 125 tons of explosives--was supervised by John Newton, then chief of engineers, who was ably assisted by Mansfield Lovell, both men having previously served as major generals during the war, one on each side.

From time to time after the war Union Maj. Gen. Daniel Sickles, was wont to visit his leg, which, after having been amputated at Gettysburg, had been put on exhibit in the Army Medical Museum, where it may still be seen.

[thea_447]

Henry H. Lockwood has a unusual burial place for a West Point graduate and brigadier general, for he lies at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he taught mathematics for many years both before and after the Civil War.



Brig. Gen. Joseph K. Barnes, the surgeon general who pronounced President Abraham Lincoln dead in 1865 did the same for President James A. Garfield in 1881, thus becoming the only person ever to have attended the deathbed of two presidents.

[thea_447]

The Civil War provided the first two presidents from West Point, Jefferson Davis of the Confederate States and Ulysses S. Grant of the United States, who have been followed by Dwight D. Eisenhower of the United States and Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua, in Central America.

The statue of Secretary of State William H. Seward which stands in Madison Square in New York City, has a head which is too small for its body, because when the memorial committee found itself short of funds, the sculptor gave them a bargain, placing Seward's head on a Lincoln torso which he had failed to sell: as a result, Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation is now Seward holding the Alaska Purchase Treaty.

[thea_447]

Among the guests present when the restored McLean House at Appomattox was dedicated as a museum in 1950 were Ulysses S. Grant III and Robert E. Lee IV, the namesakes of two gentlemen who had once had occasion to meet in the McLean parlor.


The last Civil War veteran on active duty was John Lincoln Clem, who had signed up as a drummer boy in 1861, and retired as a major general in 1916.

[thea_447]

On Jan. 1, 1863, the eve of the final day at Murfreesboro, Union and Confederate bands alternated with each other for several hours playing war songs until someone struck up "Home, Sweet Home," which was immediately taken up by bands in both armies and by most of the men as well.


By mid-1863, it was estimated that the war was costing the Federal government $2,500,000 a day.

[thea_447]

During the three days of the battle of Gettysburg an estimated 566 tons of ammunition were expended, amounting to about 24 pounds for every casualty on both sides.



It was said that on Stonewall Jackson's death some angels came down to escort him into heaven, only to find that he had beaten them to it by making a rapid flank march.