The NYHS Lincoln Exhibit

This past spring I was able to attend the Abraham Lincoln Exhibit hosted by the New York Historical Society entitled “Lincoln and New York“. It was expertly done and had some superb artifacts. It was everything one would expect in presentation, quality and exhibition by a world-class museum.  Here are some pictures of the exhibit that ran from October 9th, 2009 through March 25th, 2010.  I went the last day it was open.

April 15th in the American Civil War?

What happened on this day during the Civil War - April 15th?

1. April 15, 1861 - President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers to serve a 90-day term in the U.S. Army to quell the rebellion.
2. April 15, 1865 – Vice President Andrew Johnson takes the oath of office following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.

For a complete timeline of the American Civil War, click here.

April 14th in the American Civil War?

What happened on this day during the Civil War - April 14th?

April 14, 1862 – Gen. Johnston pleads with Davis to be allowed to withdraw his troops from Yorktown. Davis objects.

April 14, 1862 – Federals engage with Quantrill’s raiders in Missouri.

April 14, 1863 – CSA Gen Richard Taylor’s troops abandon Fort Bisland, LA.

April 14, 1865 - Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

April 14, 1865 - Secretary Seward is stabbed by Booth co-conspirator in assassination attempt.

For a complete timeline of the American Civil War, click here.

April 13th in the American Civil War?

What happened on this day during the Civil War – April 13th?

1. Saturday, April 13, 1861 – Maj Robert Anderson surrenders Fort Sumter to the Confederates in the opening salvo of the American Civil War.
2. Sunday, April 13, 1862 - Gen David Hunter declares his region (vicinity of Ft. Pulaski, GA) free of slavery. Issues his own unapproved emancipation of slaves.
3. Monday, April 13, 1863 – Federals assault Fort Bisland, LA; on Bayou Teche.
4. Wednesday, April 13, 1864 - CSA Nathan Bedford Forrest’s cavalry skirmish in Columbus, KY.
5. Thursday, April 13, 1865 – Raleigh falls to Sherman.

For a complete timeline of the American Civil War, click here.

April 12th in the American Civil War?

What happened on this day during the Civil War – April 12th?

1. April 12th/13th, 1861 – The American Civil War officially begins when rebels in Charleston fire on the U.S. Fort Sumter in the harbor. Fire is returned from the Federals. There are no war-casualties. The fort is surrendered on the 13th.
2. April 12th, 1862 – Union raiders, led by James Andrews, steal a locomotive in Big Shanty, Georgia, and attempt to take it to Chattanooga. The great Civil War locomotive chase ensues.
3. April 12th, 1863 – Gen Hooker informs Lincoln he wishes to flank Robert E. Lee and capture Richmond, Virginia.
4. April 12th, 1864 – Confederate cavalryman, General Nathan Bedford Forrest captures Fort Pillow (TN) on the Mississippi River. Surrendered U.S. Colored Troops are massacred, sending shock waves throughout the country.
5. April 12th, 1865 – April 12 – Confederate forces make official surrender of arms at Appomattox.

For a complete timeline of the American Civil War, click here.

April 11th in the Civil War?

What happened on this day during the Civil War – April 11th?

1. April 11th, 1861 – Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregaard demands the surrender of Ft. Sumter in Charleston Harbor from Major Robert Anderson. The reply was: “I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, demanding the evacuation of this fort, and to say, in reply thereto, that it is a demand with which I regret that my sense of honor and my obligations to my Government prevent my compliance.”
2. April 11th, 1861 – Federal troops are summoned to the nation’s Capital as tensions between the North and South heighten.
3. April 11th, 1862 – Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck takes over field command from Gen. Grant at Pittsburg Landing.
4. April 11th, 1862 – Union forced under Gen Mitchel occupy Huntsville, Alabama; severing the Memphis and Charleston Railroad.
5. April 11th, 1863 – The Army of Northern Virginia, under Gen. Longstreet, advance upon Suffolk to begin month-long siege.
6. April 11th, 1863 – 1,700 Union cavalry led by Col Streight lead a raid from Nashville to Georgia.
7. April 11th, 1864 – Forrest’s CSA cavalry skirmish in Columbus, KY along the Mississippi.
8. April 11th, 1865 – President Lincoln calls for conciliation in reconstruction in last public Whitehouse appearance.
9. April 11th, 1865 – Union Gen Sherman’s army advances upon Raleigh, North Carolina.

For a complete timeline of the American Civil War, click here.

Key events in mid-late April 1865 during the Civil War?

April 12 - Confederate forces make official surrender of arms at Appomattox.

April 13 – Raleigh falls to Sherman.

April 14 – Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.

April 18 – Johnston and Sherman negotiate similar terms to Lee-Grant.

April 26 – Johnston accepts same term Grant gave Lee.

See the complete Civil War Timeline here.

Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia

For more information:

• Read the new book, “They Have Killed Papa Dead!”: The Road to Ford’s Theatre, Abraham Lincoln’s Murder, and the Rage for Vengeance by Anthony Pitch
• Read: Chasing Lincoln’s Killer by James L. Swanson
• See the complete Civil War Timeline here.

Mary Edwards Walker: only woman to ever win the Medal of Honor

Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

Mary Edwards Walker was born in 1832 to Oswego, NY. She was an ardent abolitionist, a surgeon, spy, prisoner of war, and the ONLY woman to receive the Medal of Honor. In 1855 she graduated from medical school as a doctor.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861 Walker volunteered for Union Army as a civilian, first practicing as a nurse.  She served at First Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chattanooga and Chickamauga.

In September 1863 she was awarded a “Contract Acting Assistant Surgeon (civilian)” by the Army of the Cumberland. A first-ever female U.S. Army Surgeon.

Captured on April 10, 1864 as a spy, she was sent to Richmond and was exchanged four months later.

She also served in the Battle for Atlanta (1864). Walker served as a supervisor of female prison in Louisville, KY; and headed an orphanage in Tennessee.

On November 11, 1865 she was awarded the Medal of Honor – the only woman ever to have received the award.

For more information on Mary Edwards Walker:

• Civil War Doctor: The Story of Mary Walker (2007) by Carla Johnson.
• A Woman of Honor: Dr. Walker and the Civil War (2001) by Mercedes Graf.
• National Library of Medicine biography of Dr. Walker.

Key events in early April 1865 during the Civil War?

April 1 – Federals begin Mobile campaign to lay siege to Ft. Blakely. Capture it on the 9th.

April 2 - Confederate Government evacuates Richmond; Davis flees in a woman’s dress.

April 3 – Richmond, capital of the Confederacy falls.

April 4 – President Lincoln tours Richmond in person, now in Union control.

April 8 – Sherman resumes march on Johnston.

April 9 – Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.
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April  9 – Pvt. Cyrus B. Harrington, 8th CT, dies on the last day of the Civil War.

April 10 – Robert E. Lee gives his formal farewell address to his Army of Northern Virginia.

See the complete Civil War Timeline here.

Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia

For more information:

• Read about the capture of Jefferson Davis in the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
• Read the new book, Pursuit: The Chase, Capture, Persecution, and Surprising Release of Confederate President Jefferson Davis by Clint Johnson.
• Read the new book, The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox by Stephen Budiansky.
• Read the new book, General Lee’s Army: From Victory to Collapse by Joseph Glatthaar
• See the complete Civil War Timeline here.

Battle of Petersburg (III), March 25th – April 2nd, 1865

Harper's Weekly, April 22nd, 1865

With Confederate defeat at Five Forks on April 1, Grant and Meade ordered a general assault against the Petersburg lines by II, IX, VI and XXIV Corps on April 2. A heroic defense of Fort Gregg by a handful of Confederates prevented the Federals from entering the city that night. Lt. Gen. A.P. Hill was killed trying to reach his troops in the confusion. After dark, Lee ordered the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. Grant had achieved one of the major military objectives of the war: the capture of Petersburg, which led to the fall of Richmond, the Capitol of the Confederacy.

Source: NPS