Chronological History of the American Civil War

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Origin of Slavery in America A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. The image of “Tara” — the fictional O'Hara plantation in Gone with the Wind — is one of wealth in the antebellum period, and while some Southerners were rich, most genealogists discover the so-called "plantations" of their families were nothing more than farms with modest homes. More than 200,000 of the 385,000 slave owners owned five slaves or less. Most of African Americans in the United States are descendants of the original 400,000 black Africans who were transported to North America against their will. Most family historians are likely to discover their immigrant African ancestor arrived in America between 1741 and 1810. Most of these enslaved people that were brought to British North America came from a narrow strip of the West African coast — known today as Angola, southern Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Sierra Leone and Benin. Others were from what is now Mozambique on the east coast of Africa. Slaves - Age 100 & Up A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. Slaves age 100 and up were supposed to be named in the 1860 census, but only some of these slaves in fact had their names recorded on the census. There are reportedly 1,570 slaves in that age group living in 14 slave holding states. Two thirds, 901, of these senior slaves were female, with 654 being male. Black was the reported color for 1,475, with 80 being reported as mulatto. Some obviously incredible ages were reported, the oldest being 150 years for an unnamed slave in Monroe County, MS. The oldest named slave was 135-year-old Phyllis, held in Wilkinson County, MS. Of five 130-year-old slaves reported, 3 were named, as were 4 of the 13 reported 125-year-olds and 17 of the 26 reported 120-year-olds. About one out of fourteen of these senior slaves (113 of the 1,555) were the only slave reported by the slaveholder, possibly indicating some longevity in the household and associated feeling of responsibility on the part of the slaveholder, rather than just lack of marketability of the slave. The 1860 census for Hardeman County listed a female age 100 living in District 14 owned by T.J. Patrick and in Whiteville, TN, a black male age 101 named Arthur, owned by John Allen. 1860 - Last U.S. Slave Census A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. The last U.S. census slave schedules were enumerated by County in 1860 and included 393,975 named persons holding 3,950,546 unnamed slaves, or an average of about ten slaves per holder. The actual number of slaveholders may be slightly lower because some large holders held slaves in more than one County and would have been counted in each County. Excluding slaves, the 1860 U.S. population was 27,167,529, with about 1 in 70 being a slaveholder. It is estimated that in 1860, slaveholders of 200 or more slaves, while constituting less than 1 % of the total number of U.S. slaveholders, or 1 out of 7,000 free persons, held 20-30% of the total number of slaves in the U.S. Joshua J. Ward at Georgetown, South Carolina listed the largest slave holdings in the 1860 census with holdings of 1,130 slaves. Earliest Tennessee Confederate Regiment formed before the War Began A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. A full-strength regiment was typically supposed to be a thousand men and was commanded by a colonel. As talk of war started many of our Tennessee Volunteers didn’t wait to enlist. This included our brave Hardeman Countians. The earliest Tennessee Regiment: The One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee (Confederate) Regiment was organized at Memphis in 1860, before the war broke out, and was reorganized soon after the fall of Sumter with Preston Smith, colonel. Seven companies were raised in Memphis, one in Henry County, one in McNairy County, and one in Hardeman County. It first marched to Randolph in May 1861, and after various movements marched north and participated in the battle of Belmont, and afterward moved south into Kentucky, and after the surrender of Fort Donelson to northern Mississippi, and in April fought at bloody Shiloh with severe loss. It was then at Corinth until the evacuation, then marched north with Bragg on the Kentucky campaign, fighting at Richmond, Ky., with great loss, and at