Oddities of the War

[thea_447]

Maj. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner, the oldest corps commander in the Army of the Potomac, was nicknamed "Bull Head" because a musket ball supposedly bounced off his head.

Among the many activities in which they indulged when they had nothing better to do while in camp, the troops of both armies were wont to pass the time by staging lice races.

[thea_447]

When Union troops captured Fort Pulaski, Georgia, on April 11, 1862, the newly appointed commander Col. Alfred H. Terry of the 7th Connecticut summoned his Confederate predecessor, a Colonel Olmstead, and lent him $50 to tide him over any inconvenience which might occur while he was a prison-of-war.

In order to provide a landing force to support the Union river flotilla on the Mississippi, the Mississippi Marine Brigade was formed from some volunteers in mid-1862, comprising the 1st Battallion Mississippi MarineBrigade Infantry, the Mississippi Marine Brigade Infantry, the Mississippi Marine Brigade Light Artillery Battery and, inevitably, the 1st Battallion Mississippi Marine Brigade Cavalry; apparently enough, the "horse marines' were raised in Missouri.

[thea_447]

Coming upon an abandoned gun during the battle of Antietam, Confederate Maj. Gen. James Longstreet and his staff proceeded to put it into action,m serving the piece until a less exalted crew could be gotten together.

In July of 1862 the War Departmet discovered that the Union armies had 1 musician for every 41 soldiers, a ratio which was soon sharply reduced when regimental bands were abolished.

[samgrant]

"During the Second Battle of Bull Run General Pope's ordinance officer asked on one requisition for eleven different kinds of ammunition for carbines, rifles, and muskets."

- from Lincoln Finds a General Vol. 1 by Kenneth P. Williams

[ole]

Sam:
And isn't that at least one of the lessons of history we've learned? Have to give them a break, tho, the chaos must have been pervasive.
Ole

[rebalgray]

Brazil has its first female Chief Justice Translation: Allen Bennett Agencia Brasil - internacional.radiobras.gov Brasília, Brazil March 16, 2006
Justices on the Brazilian Supreme Court get to the court in much the same way as they do in the US: after being nominated by the president, they have to obtain congressional approval. But whereas the US president also appoints one of the justices as the Chief Justice, and he remains Chief Justice for life, in Brazil the justices vote to appoint one of their peers to be Chief Justice (presidente) for a two-year term. Yesterday, by a vote of eight to one, associate justice (ministra) Ellen Gracie Northfleet was elected to preside over the Brazilian Supreme Court
(Supremo Tribunal Federal). Northfleet, who is descended from Americans who settled in Brazil (her grandfather was a Confederate officer who moved to Brazil after the Civil War), is the first woman to sit on the Brazilian Supreme Court and its first female Chief Justice. The Brazilian Supreme Court was established in 1891.

[hoosier]

Rebalgray, at first I thought you had put this post in the wrong forum, but now that I've read it through, I see that, indeed, this is exactly where it belongs.

Very interesting. Good post.

[samgrant]

He voted for Jefferson Davis on the first 57 ballots of the 1860 Democratic Convention.


On December 23, 1862, President Jefferson Davis proclaimed him "a felon, an outlaw, and an enemy of mankind"; and ordered that in the event of his capture "the officer in command of the capturing force do cause him to be immediately executed by hanging."



Who was he?

Benjamin "Beast" Butler

[samgrant]

"President Lincoln, the Commander-in-Chief of the Union Army, had four brothers-in-law in the Confederate Army, and three of his sisters-in-law were married to Confederate officiers."

This fact actually made him suspect among some "Black Republicans", especially when his sisters-in-law were allowed to visit the White House!

[Miss Markie]

(note: if this has already been covered, I apologize, but I have not read through all 23 pages here)

Of the recognized 425 Generals of the CSA, 356 or 85% are buried in the eleven states of the confederacy. 46 are buried in border states, (KY, WV, OK, MD, MO). Of the remaining 23, 12 are in northern states, 4 are in CA, 4 are buried in Washington DC, and 3 are buried in foreign countries (one in Germany, two in Mexico).

Some of these men 'got around' after death. General Alexander Reynolds died, and was buried, in Alexandria, Egypt. A crypt still has a marker for him there, however no one knows if HE is there. A marker exists for him in TWO spots in the US, one in the churchyard of St. James the Less in Philadelphia, PA, and one in Old Stone Church graveyard in Lewisburg, WV.

General Hugh Mercer died in Baden-Baden, and the records for the cemetery there show he is 'still' there (no disinterrment records exist) but yet there is a stone marker for him in Bonaventure Cemetery in Savannah also.