Jefferson Davis was an American soldier, slave-owner and politician, and was the President of the Confederate States of America during the entire Civil War, 1861 to 1865. He took personal charge of the Confederate war plans but was unable to find a strategy to defeat the more populous and industrialized Union. His diplomatic efforts failed […]
Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, commander of the all-black 54th Regiment during the American Civil War, died at Fort Wagner, he was stripped and buried with his men as an insult. His father, however, proclaimed that he was proud to know that his son rests with his brave and devoted soldiers. The 54th Regiment was sent […]
During the American Civil War Gideon and Mary Cox Cates leased the property and operated the inn under the name Cates’ Hotel. Several surrounding buildings, including the Sullivan County courthouse, were destroyed by fire during the Battle of Blountville, but the inn survived because Cates had used bribery to get the Union and Confederate commanders to […]
Frederick Douglass and the abolitionists argued that because the aim of the Civil War was to end slavery, African Americans should be allowed to engage in the fight for their freedom. Douglass publicized this view in his newspapers and several speeches. Douglass conferred with President Abraham Lincoln in 1863 on the treatment of black soldiers, and […]
The Hundred Years War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 between the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France for control of the French throne. Many allies of both sides were also drawn into the conflict. The war had its roots in a dynastic disagreement dating back to the time […]
In the American Civil War, soldiers were required to have at least two opposing front teeth so they could open a gunpowder pouch. Some draftees had their front teeth removed to avoid service. Many civilians as well as military personnel are familiar with the term 4-F (also called 4F). 4-F is a classification given to a new U.S. […]
Just 3 years after the Civil War a man walked 1400 miles through the former Confederate states with a Union flag to disprove claims of lingering hatred. Gilbert Henderson Bates (February 13, 1836–February 17, 1917) was an American soldier best known for his peaceful postwar marches, first throughout the American South and through England. For […]
In the Spanish Civil War, pilots attached live turkeys to supply drops so it would slow the fall when they flapped their wings “Behind enemy lines, trapped on all sides, food rations depleting and water accessible only by crawling under enemy fire to a nearby stream, the nine companies of the United States 77th Division […]