The Civil War

Interesting facts
Viktoriia Rybiak
 Who took part in it:
The American Civil War was fought between the United States of

America and the Confederate States of America, a collection of

eleven southern states that left the Union in 1860 and 1861.

Time Period: April 12, 1861 – April 9, 1865

The main reason:

The Civil War started because of uncompromising differences

between the free and slave states over the power of the national

government to prohibit slavery in the territories that had not

yet become states

Interesting facts
1. One-third of the soldiers who

fought for the Union Army were

immigrants, and nearly one in

10 was African American

The Union Army was a multicultural force—
even a multinational one. We often hear about
Irish soldiers, but the Union’s ranks included
even more Germans. Other immigrant soldiers
were French, Italian, Polish, English and
Scottish.
Blacks were permitted to join the Union Army
in 1863, and some scholars believe this
infusion of soldiers may have turned the tide
of the war.
2. Black Union soldiers refused their salaries for 18

months to protest being paid lower wages than

white soldiers.

When black soldiers began signing up with the Union Army in

early 1863, they were paid $10 a month. White soldiers were paid

at least $13, with officers earning more. Blacks were further

insulted when only they were charged a $3 monthly fee for

clothing.As a result, the highest-paid black soldier earned about

half the lowest-paid white soldier’s salary.

To protest these conditions, black regiments refused to accept their

inferior wages.In September 1864, black soldiers finally received

equal pay. For many, this meant they finally had enough money to

send some home to their families.

3. Harriet Tubman led a raid to free slaves during the Civil War.

Harriet Tubman, the escaped slave arrived at the Union

camp at Port Royal, South Carolina, in the spring of 1862 to

support the Union cause. She began teaching freed slave

women skills. But soon she was gathering intelligence about

the countryside from the freed slaves and taking river

reconnaissance trips.
On June 1, 1863, Tubman
and Union Colonel James

Montgomery steamed into the interior with 300 black Union

soldiers. The troops swept through nearby plantations, burning

homes. Slave men, women and children came streaming from

the countryside, reminding Tubman of “the children of Israel,

coming out of Egypt.” More than 720 slaves were shuttled to

freedom during the mission.

 4. Lincoln was shot at—and almost killed— nearly two years

before he was assassinated.

Late one August evening in 1863, after an exhausting day at

the White House, Lincoln rode alone by horse to the Soldiers’

Home, his family’s summer residence. A private at the gate

heard a shot ring out and, moments later, the horse galloped

into the compound, with a bareheaded Lincoln clinging to his

steed. Lincoln explained that a gunshot had gone off at the

foot of the hill, sending the horse galloping so fast it knocked

his hat off. Two soldiers retrieved Lincoln’s hat, which had a

bullet hole right through it. The president asked the guards to

keep the incident under wraps: He didn’t want to worry his

wife Mary.
5. Before William Tecumseh Sherman became a great

Union general, he was demoted for apparent insanity.

In October 1861, William Tecumseh Sherman, commander

of Union forces in Kentucky, told U.S. Secretary of War Simon

Cameron he needed 60,000 men to defend his territory and

200,000 to go on the offensive. Cameron called Sherman’s

request “insane” and removed the general from command. In a

letter to his brother, a devastated Sherman wrote, “I do not think

that I can again be trusted with command.” But in February 1862,

Sherman was reassigned under Ulysses S. Grant, who saw not

insanity but competence in the disgraced general.

Later in the war, when a civilian badmouthed Grant, Sherman defended his friend, saying,

“General Grant is a great general. He stood by me when I was crazy, and I stood by him

when he was drunk; and now, sir, we stand by each other always.”
6. General Ulysses S. Grant wasn’t the bloodiest

general of the war—Robert E. Lee was.

Mary Lincoln called Grant a “butcher” for the horrific

losses sustained by his troops during the Overland

Campaign in the spring of 1864—twice the number of

casualties as Lee’s army. But if casualties are counted

proportionally, Lee’s army suffered the most

throughout the war. This is because Lee relished the

attack, a trait that won him key battles such as

Chancellorsville and Fredericksburg but cost him

heavy casualties—Pickett’s Charge at Gettysburg is

an example—and eventually decimated the Army of

Northern Virginia.

7. Privates weren’t cannon fodder during the Civil War—generals were.

Robert E. Lee’s impulse to

At the Battle of the

personally lead a

Wilderness, Confederate
counterattack during the

General James Longstreet

Battle of the Wilderness in

took a bullet to his

May 1864 would not have

shoulder and throat,

surprised his men if he were a

though he would be one of

bit lower in rank. That’s

the lucky few: He returned

because many top officers,

to command and outlived

including generals, literally

many generals and

led their troops into battle.

privates, dying in 1904,

For this reason, generals were

just short of his 83rd

50 percent more likely to die

birthday.
in combat than privates.
Thank You for
listening!