Chronological History of the American Civil War

P a g e | 319

Territories. Butler initially supported John C. Breckinridge, but then shifted his support to Jefferson Davis, believing that only a moderate Southerner could keep the Democratic party from dividing. The then, Senator Jefferson Davis of Mississippi (the future Confederate President), received one vote on over 50 ballots, all from Benjamin Butler of Massachusetts. Although Butler sympathized with the South, he stated that “I was always a friend of southern rights but an enemy of southern wrongs,” and sought to serve in the Union army. Ironically, a couple of years later during the Civil War, after Butler becomes a Union general, and Davis now President of the Confederacy, will order him to be hanged as a criminal if ever captured. Last Civil War Metal of Honor Awarded September 15, 2014! A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. Alonzo Hereford Cushing was born on January 19, 1841 to his father, Milton Buckingham Cushing, and mother, Mary B. Cushing. Upon the death of the father in 1847, Mary moved the family from Delafield, Wisconsin to Fredonia, New York, where Alonzo and his three surviving brothers would grow into young adulthood. Alonzo was appointed to the United States Military Academy in 1857 and seemed to be an above

average student, graduating twelfth in his class of 34 cadets in 1861. Three of his brothers also served in the U.S. Army or Navy during the war. One would die fighting Apaches in 1871 and a second, William, would die after the war from complications of injuries received on a daring raid on the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle. On July 3rd, 1863, at approximately 2:30 pm., at the height of Pickett’s Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg, a hole opened in the Union line. Rebel troops poured through the gap at “the Angle.” However, the young and determined Union First Lieutenant named Alonzo H. Cushing stood directly in their way. He commanded Battery A of the 4th United States Artillery.

Cushing was wounded three times during the assault. The second wound, a shell fragment which tore open his stomach and groin, was probably fatal. He was told to go to the rear but refused saying he would “fight it out or die in the attempt.” First Sergeant Frederick Fuger held him up and passed on his commands, which he could barely voice. His third wound was a bullet into his mouth and out the back of his head, which killed him instantly. After 151 years Cushing has finally been awarded the Medal of Honor. On September 15th, 2014, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Lt. Cushing the highest military honor that can be bestowed upon a serviceman for gallantry – the Medal of Honor. The award ceremony came after a nearly three-decade long campaign to have the award bestowed upon him. Confederate Hospital Largest in the West Hemisphere A few facts you might not know about the Great American Civil War. Chimborazo Hospital in Richmond, Virginia was the largest military hospital ever built in the Western Hemisphere. Its peculiar name came from the hill on which it sat—Chimborazo Hill, and that hill, in turn, was named for Mount Chimborazo, an inactive volcano in Ecuador. At the start of the war, soldiers from around the Confederacy converged on Richmond. They built extensive wooden barracks for shelter around Chimborazo Hill. When those soldiers abandoned their quarters and marched to the front lines, they left behind as many as 100 nearly-new wooden buildings on the hill. The Surgeon General of the Confederate States of America, Dr. Samuel P. Moore, commandeered the buildings for his department and in October 1861 established Chimborazo Hospital. Dr. James B. McCaw, one of the South’s leading young physicians (and a resident of Richmond) assumed control of the new hospital. He served as its chief for its entire existence. Approximately 75,000 patients passed through its doors over the course of three and a half years. It achieved a 10 percent mortality rate, which was good for the time. Today, the site is owned by the National Park Service and is used as the visitor center for the Richmond National Battlefield Park. The “Chimborazo Medical Museum” is housed in a 20th-century building atop the site