Chronological History of the American Civil War

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complications on May 10, 1863, at the age of 39, after uttering the last words, “Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of trees.” His final resting place is the Stonewall Jackson Memorial Cemetery in Lexington, VA. You can visit Stonewall Jackson’s left arm 125 miles from the rest of his body at Ellwood Manor, aka Ellwood Plantation. Dixie A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. Daniel Decatur “Dan” Emmett (October 29, 1815 – June 28, 1904) was an American songwriter, entertainer, and founder of the first troupe of the blackface minstrel tradition. Although blackface performance, in which white men painted their hands and faces black and impersonated caricatures of black men and women, was already an established performance mode at that time; Emmett's group are said to be the first to “black up” an entire band rather than one or two performers. Emmett is credited with writing the famous song “Dixie.” The song was first performed by Emmett in New York City on April 4, 1859. Before and during the war, the song was a huge hit in New York and across the country, and quickly became one of Abraham Lincoln’s favorite tunes. The day after the Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia, Lincoln told a crowd of Northern revelers, “I have always thought ‘Dixie’ was one of the best tunes I have ever heard. Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted yesterday that we fairly captured it.” He then asked a nearby band to play it in celebration. Gettysburg Address A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln delivered what will become one of the most famous speeches in American history, at the dedication of the military cemetery at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Using just 272 words, Lincoln expressed the meaning of the Civil War for a public that had grown weary of the conflict. Today, the words of the Gettysburg Address are carved into a wall of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. This is his speech! “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Soldier served on both sides - two armies and one navy A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. In 1859, a young 18-year-old Welshman made his passage to the United States in search of a new life. He would later claim his famed as the Welsh explorer, and journalist Henry M. Stanley - the guy who coined the phrase, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” - served in the American Civil War. That is not all, he served in three different services. First, he served as a private in the Confederate Army, and was taken prisoner at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. As a prisoner, he was recruited and joined the Union Army, but was discharged less than three weeks later due to illness. Finally, in 1864, he joined the Union Navy and served aboard the USS Minnesota, but he jumped ship in February 1865. I guess he had more important things to do! Therefore,