John Surratt: The Lincoln Conspirator Who Got Away

John Surratt was the son of convicted Lincoln conspirator, Mary Surratt. Unlike his mother and the eight other conspirators hanged for Abraham Lincoln's assassination, John escaped punishment for his role in the murder after his trial resulted in a mistrial...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/john-surratt-the-lincoln-conspirator-who-got-away/

Child Soldiers in the Civil War

Although most Civil War soldiers were between 18 and 39 years old, many young children also served. It is estimated that at least 100,000 Union soldiers were boys under 15 years old. Many of these boys lied about their age in order to join the army. Other times, especially as the casualties climbed and more soldiers were needed, recruiters looked the other way when under age boys signed up for the army...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/child-soldiers-in-the-civil-war/

Albert Woolson: The Last Civil War Veteran

Albert Woolson was a former Union drummer boy and the last surviving Civil War soldier. Born in Antwerp, Minnesota on February 11 in 1847, he died at the age of 109 on August 2 in 1956 in Duluth, Minnesota...Click here to read more:  http://civilwarsaga.com/albert-woolson-the-last-civil-war-veteran/

Jefferson Davis: President of the Confederacy

Jefferson Davis was a statesman and President of the Confederacy during the Civil War. Born in Kentucky on June 3, 1808 to Revolutionary War veteran Samuel Davis and Jane Cook, Jefferson Davis was educated at Transylvania University and graduated from West Point academy with fellow cadet Robert E. Lee...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/jefferson-davis-president-of-the-confederacy/

The Washington Monument

The Washington Monument in Washington D.C. was built between 1848 and 1884 as a tribute to George Washington. Although plans for a memorial had been in place before Washington even died in 1799, the plans never came into fruition until the 1830s...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-washington-monument/

Battle of Antietam

The Battle of Antietam was one of the bloodiest single day battles of the Civil War. Taking place near Sharpsburg, Maryland on Sept 17, 1862, it was also the first battle to occur on northern soil. During the battle, 38,000 Confederate troops, led by General Robert E. Lee, clashed with 75,000 Union troops, led by General George B. McClellan.

The battle occurred after General McClellan followed General Lee into Maryland during Lee's ambitious plan to invade the north and launched attacks against his troop's left flank near Antietam creek on the morning of September 17. The Confederates counterattacked and the battle spilled onto Miller's cornfield near Dunker Church and into the East Woods, West Woods and the Sunken road...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/battle-of-antietam/

Christmas During the Civil War

Many of the current Christmas traditions celebrated today actually started during the Civil War era. Although Christmas wasn't an official holiday until President Ulysses S. Grant made it one in 1870, many Americans observed the holiday throughout the war as a way to find comfort and bond with family members through long-lost traditions...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/christmas-during-the-civil-war/

The Diary of John Wilkes Booth

When John Wilkes Booth fled Ford's Theater after shooting Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, he was chased down and killed in a barn on a farm in Virginia two weeks later. Officers found a red leather diary on his body that contained only two entries along with photos of five women. In the entries, which were later published in the New York Times, John Wilkes Booth defended his actions and denied that killing the president was wrong or immoral. He also expressed his anger at being hunted by the police and stated he couldn't understand why he was being persecuted instead of thanked...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-diary-of-john-wilkes-booth/

Timeline of the Civil War

October 1859:

John Brown's raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia.

December 1859:

Brown is hanged for murder and treason at Charles Town, Virginia. John Wilkes Booth watches the execution from the crowd.

November 1860:

Abraham Lincoln is elected President.

December 1860:

Lincoln’s election triggers South Carolina to secede from the Union.

January 1860 – February 1861:

Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas secede from the Union.

January 1861:

Kansas is admitted as a free state...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/timeline-of-the-civil-war/

Battle of Gettysburg

The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day battle considered by many as a major turning point in the Civil War. The battle was fought on July 1, 2 and 3 of 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania between troops led by General Robert E. Lee and General George G. Meade. With 51,000 casualties by the battle's end, more soldiers died on the Gettysburg battlefield than on any other battlefield in North America. The battle was a part of General Lee's ambitious plan to invade the north after his troops successfully defeated Union troops at the battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia in the spring of 1863...Click here to read more:

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Robert E. Lee

Robert E. Lee was a distinguished Confederate general who bravely led his troops against Ulysses S.Grant and the Union army until his defeat at the Appomattox courthouse in April of 1865...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/robert-e-lee/

Robert Ford – The Man Who Shot Jesse James

Robert Ford was an outlaw from Missouri born on January 31, 1862. Like many young Missouri men of his time, he grew up admiring the war record and exploits of the famous bandit, Jesse James, a fellow Missouri native...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/robert-ford-the-man-who-shot-jesse-james/

Jesse James: The Confederate Guerilla

Jesse James, one of the most violent outlaws of the wild west, got his first taste for violence as a Confederate guerrilla during the Civil War...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/jesse-james-the-confederate-guerilla/

Mark Twain's Civil War Experience

Mark Twain is an iconic American writer best known for his classic novels such as The Adventures of Huckleberry Fin and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Although a writer by trade, Twain also served a brief stint as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/mark-twains-civil-war-experience/

Ulysses S. Grant

Ulysses S. Grant is a Civil War icon who gained fame and popularity after he led the Union army to victory and served as the 18th President of the United States...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/ulysses-s-grant/

Emancipation Proclamation

The Emancipation Proclamation was an executive order passed on January 1, 1863, freeing all slaves in Confederate states that had seceded from the Union and allowing them to join the Union army...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/emancipation-proclamation/

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass is one of the most well-known abolitionists and orators of the Civil War era. Born a slave, under the name Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, in February 1818 on a plantation in Maryland, Douglass was the son of a slave woman and an unknown white man. Separated from his mother when he was only a few weeks old, Douglass never met his father and instead lived with his grandparents on the plantation. When he was 8 years old, his owner sent him to work as a house servant in Baltimore...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/frederick-douglass/

Did Harriet Tubman Dream of John Brown's Death Before She Met Him?

During a trip to Canada in 1858 Harriet Tubman, one of the most famous conductors on the underground railroad, met fellow abolitionist John Brown. Brown was in the middle of planning his famous raid on a federal arsenal in Harper's Ferry and was in Canada trying to raise funds for the project...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/did-harriet-tubman-dream-of-john-browns-death-before-she-met-him/

John Brown

John Brown was an abolitionist most known for his failed raid on Harper's Ferry in Virginia. Born in May of 1800 into a family with strong abolitionist beliefs, Brown learned to hate slavery from a young age...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/john-brown/

Did a Gypsy Predict John Wilkes Booth's Fate?

John Wilkes Booth was a handsome, successful stage actor in 1865 when he assassinated Abraham Lincoln. A staunch confederate and supporter of slavery, Booth felt Lincoln's actions during the Civil War had gone too far. After Booth's original plan to kidnap Lincoln failed, Booth hatched a new plan to assassinate Lincoln instead. He succeeded on the night of April 14 in 1865, when he entered the presidential box at Ford's Theater and shot Lincoln in the back of the head with a derringer pistol. He then fled the theater and spent 11 days on the run before officers cornered him on a farm in Virginia and killed him during a stand off...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/did-a-gypsy-predict-john-wilkes-booths-fate/

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was born May 10, 1838 near Bel Air, Maryland. Booth was born into a distinguished family of actors as the 9^th child of actor Junius Brutus Booth and his wife Mary Ann...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/john-wilkes-booth/

The Gettysburg Address

The Gettysburg address is considered one of Abraham Lincoln's greatest speeches. The speech was given at a dedication ceremony for a cemetery of Union soldiers, known as the Soldier's National Cemetery, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-gettysburg-address/

Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman is one of the most famous conductors on the underground railroad. She made a total of 19 trips between the north and the south over 10 years and brought 300 slaves to freedom, including her own family. Known as a fearless and determined conductor, Harriet risked her own life and freedom many times to give others the freedom they sought...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/harriet-tubman/

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln was the 16^th president of the United states and the first president to be assassinated. Although he was born a poor farmer in Kentucky, Lincoln put himself through law school and served many years in Congress before winning the presidential office in 1860. Lincoln is an American icon and one of the country's most beloved presidents...Click here to read more:  http://civilwarsaga.com/abraham-lincoln/

Civil War Photography

The civil war was one of the first wars to be documented by photography. The invention of photography in the 1820s allowed the horrors and glory of war to be seen by the public for the first time. Dozens of photographers, some private and some employees of the army, snapped photos of the soldiers, locations and battles. The images became iconic and inspired many other photographers to take their cameras onto the battlefields of future wars like WWII and Vietnam...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/civil-war-photography/

The Underground Railroad

The underground railroad was a system of safe houses that stretched from the south all the way to Canada. The purpose of the safe houses was to hide and protect runaway slaves trying to reach freedom in the north. It is estimated that over 100,000 slaves escaped through the underground railroad, though many more tried...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-underground-railroad/

Who Were the Buffalo Soldiers?

Buffalo soldiers are often confused with the African-American soldiers who fought during the Civil War. Although over 180,000 black soldiers fought in black regiments during the war, the term “Buffalo soldiers” only refers to the black regiments established after the war had ended...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/who-were-the-buffalo-soldiers/

The Causes of the Civil War

Although many people believe slavery was the one and only cause of the Civil War, it was actually more complicated than that. The causes of the Civil War started many years before and were often connected to each other. Here is a look at the main causes of the Civil War...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-causes-of-the-civil-war/

Civil War Facts

The chance of surviving a wound in the Civil War was 7 to 1. In comparison, the chance of surviving a wound in the Korean war was 50 to 1.

Of the 364,000 Union soldiers who died during the war, a third of them died from wounds sustained during the war while two-thirds died of disease...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/civil-war-facts/

The Roles of Women in the Civil War

Women did more during the Civil War than just sit at home waiting for their husbands, brothers and sons to come home. Some helped out behind the scenes and sometimes on the battlefields. Some of these women became famous for their efforts, while others intentionally tried to keep their work secret. Women's wartime efforts often broke from the traditional role of housewives and mothers...Click here to read more: http://civilwarsaga.com/the-roles-of-women-in-the-civil-war/