Oddities of the War

[thea_447]

The Chimborazo Military Hospital in Richmond was the largest medical facility in the world, capable of handling 4,800 cases simultaneously with 150 war buildings, kitchens, a bakery, dairy herd, an ice house, and various other facilities spread over 125 acres.

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On May 7, 1864 the men of the veteran 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry arranged to exchange their worn-out mounts for fresher ones, a matter which held up the advance of the Army of the Potomac for about two hours, since the green regiment which possessed the animals proved loathe to part with them.

[thea_447]

By 1864 a recruit could receive $677 if he enlisted in New York City---$302 from the Federal government, $75 from the state, and $300 from the city---and if he was a veteran, another $100 on top of that, for a total of $777, and some manpower-poor communities paid as much as double that sum.

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According to one musically inclined Union infantryman serving with the Army of the Potomac, as a minie ball passed overhead one heard "a swell from E flat to F, and as it passed into the distance and lost its velocity, receded to D---a pretty change."

[thea_447]

The most successful Confederate blockade runner was a ship named Hattie, which made more than 60 trips through the Union fleet, over 50 percent more than any other vessel.

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A Federal remount station at Glesboro, on the Potomac near Washington, covered 625 acres, with complete facilities to accomodate 30,000 horses, including 2,500 in hospital.

[thea_447]

During the war many soldiers had a "housewife"---a small sewing and grooming kit provided in hundreds of thousands by mothers, wives, sweethearts, sisters, daughters, or the Soldier's Aid Society.

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I know I have shared this tidbit before but it's so funny I can't resist telling it again, for the newcomers.

Trying to stem the rout after the collapse of Confederate Gen. John B. Hood's attack at Ezra Church, near Atlanta, on July 28, 1864, an officer shouted, "What are you running for?" to which one soldier replied, "Bekase I kain't fly!"

[thea_447]

Statistically, for every 1000 volunteers on the rolls of the Union Army at the beginning of each year, 75.4 died--45.3 by disease, 18.9 killed in action, and 11.2 of wounds--and 1.4 were missing in action, while 6.57 deserted, 90.7 received a medical discharge, and 66.2 were otherwise discharged, retired, or separated from the service each year, leaving only 761.13 men at the end of that year.

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As a result of an administrative foul-up late in the war, the Confederate Conscription Bureau once drafted a bed-ridden, dying 65-year-old man.

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In February of 1865 Mr. Kirk B. Wells of Philadelphia, who chanced to be visiting the Army of the James when an execution for desertion was being held, found his interest in observing the activity wane upon his discovery that the man to be shot was the one whom he had hired as a substitute.

[thea_447]

Although many more are known to have worn them at least some of the time, of 583 Union and 425 Confederate generals, only five--Yankees all and none of them notable--ever permitted themselves to be photographed wearing "spectacles."

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George B. Mattoon enlisted in the 1st New Hampshire Cavalry in 1862 at the age of 15 and, when mustered out at the end of the war, was a veteran of some 70 battles and skirmishes, during which he was never once wounded, despite having two horses shot out from under him.

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On February 21, 1865 Union Gen. George Crook was captured by a band of Confederate partisan rangers while visiting his fiance, Mary Dailey, in Cumberland, Maryland, the raiders having been guided to the Dailey home by Miss Dailey's brother, one of their number.

[samgrant]

Originally Posted by thea_447

Although many more are known to have worn them at least some of the time, of 583 Union and 425 Confederate generals, only five--Yankees all and none of them notable--ever permitted themselves to be photographed wearing "spectacles."

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And who were they? I think Meade was one(?).

[FSPowers]

I read somewhere that a Union gunboat had engaged a moving train in either Florida or South Carolina.

[thea_447]

Richard A. Pryor, a Virginian on the staff of Pierre G.T. Beauregard, was very nearly the first man to die in the WBTS when, paying a call on Fort Sumter to help arrange its surrender, he took a draught of what he thought was brandy, only to discover that it was iodine, but was saved from this dubious honor by Union Surgeon Samuel W. Crawford---later a major general--who administered a stomach pumping.

[thea_447]

At least one woman served as a "drummer boy" during the war, a resident of Brooklyn named Emily, who disguised herself as a boy and enlisted in Michigan, serving in the Army of the Cumberland until mortally wounded at Lookout Mountain.


Early in the war the Union armies were using 600 different types of artillery ammunition.


During the hottest part of the battle of Fair Oaks (May 31 to June 1, 1862), two men of the 2nd Connecticut "got at loggerheads with each other, threw down their muskets and fell to at fisticuffs---had it out, picked up their arms and pitched into the Rebels again.