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At 4:30 a.m. on the 12 of April, 1861, General Pierre G. T. Beauregard Directed His Confederate Gunners to Open Fire on Fort Sumter.

Thirty-four hours later a white flag flying over the fort ended the bombardment.The only casualty was a horse. It was a bloodless opening to the bloodiest war in American history. American homes became armies headquarters. American churches and school houses sheltered the dying, and huge foraging armies swept across American farms and burned American towns. Americans slaughtered one another wholesale, in their own cornfields and peach orchards, along familiar roads and beside rivers with old American names. More than 3 million Americans fought in this war, and over 600,000 men, 2 percent of the total population died as a result of it. Tens of thousands more were wounded and maimed beyond recognition. In two days at Shiloh, on the banks of the Tennessee River, more American men fell than in all previous wars combined. At Cold Harbor, some 7000 Americans fell in twenty minutes. Men who had never strayed more than twenty miles from their front doors now found themselves fighting epic battles hundreds of miles from home. Between 1861 and 1865, there were over 10,000 battles and skirmishes fought on American soil, and we killed each other in great numbers - if only to become the kind of country that supposedly could no longer envision how that was possible

http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/

“We could have pursued no other course without dishonor.  And sad as the results have been, if it had all to be done over again, we should be compelled to act in precisely the same manner.”  —General Robert E. Lee, C.S.A. [cited in The Memorial Volume of Jefferson Davis by J. William Jones, 1889, Sprinkle Publications, p. 309]

Photo NPR

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As the populations of the United States pushed West in the early 1800′s, a lucrative trade for the fur, skin, and meat of the American Bison began in the great plains. Bison slaughter was further encouraged by the US government as a means of starving out or removing Native American populations that relied on the bison for food. Hunting of bison became so prevalent that travelers on trains in the Midwest would shoot bison during long-haul train trips.

Once numbering in the hundreds of millions in North America, the population of the American Bison decreased to less than 1000 by 1890. Thanks in large part to conservation efforts undertaken by Theodore Roosevelt and by the US government, there are now over 500,000 bison in America.

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Photograph Found on a Civil War blog from France with no information.

Possible Confederates? If anyone has information on this photo please contact me.

UPDATE: Photo can be found here http://civilwar150.kansascity.com/photos/local-confederate-guerrillas/  Local Confederate guerrillas

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Civil War GAR Veterans, C 1915

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“Buffalo Soldiers”

The Term goes back to 1866 & refers to the all-black regiments of the U.S. Army. The name was name given to these soldiers by the Native American Kiowa tribe & was considered a term of respect. Even though the Buffalo Soldiers were treated poorly & often received the worst military assignments, they had the lowest desertion rate compared to other soldiers. In recognition of their contributions, more than 20 Buffalo Soldiers received the highest Medal of Honor—which was the highest recorded number of any military unit.

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Confederate Treasury Notes

Millions of replica Confederate bills have been given away as promotions and sold in gift shops. Problem is, up till the 1970s it wasn’t required that replicas have the word COPY prominently displayed anywhere. A lot of the replicas are made on artificially aged paper and use good-quality photocopy techniques, so they’re difficult to tell from the originals unless you know what to look for (e.g. serial # 834)

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1861 Confederate States of American half dollar coin, front and back

Copyright (c) 2005 Peter Clericuzio. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

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Fugitive African Americans fording the Rappahannock; Rappahannock River, Virginia

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Attendants at Old Slave Day, Southern Pines

Date Created/Published: 1937 Apr. 8. 
Part of: Portraits of African American ex-slaves from the U.S. Works Progress Administration, Federal Writers; Project slave narratives collections 

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Battle of Antietam: 150 years later, America remembers its bloodiest day in history September 17, 2012

Union infantry re-enactors rest at their camp during an event to mark the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Antietam September 15, 2012 in Sharpsburg, Maryland. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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Battle of Antietam: 150 years later, America remembers its bloodiest day in history

Published: Monday, September 17, 2012 A time-lapse photograph shows the lingering image of a re-enactor that portrays a Union soldier. (EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS)

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Boot Worn by John Wilkes Booth.

It was cut by the doctor that tended to Booth’s wound. Artifact in the museum collection, National Park Service, Ford’s Theatre National Historic Site, Washington, D.C. Date Created/Published: 2007 May 29. 
Part of: Highsmith, Carol M., 1946- Carol M. Highsmith Archive. 

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Atlanta, Georgia. Railroad Depot; a nearer view]

Photograph of the War in the West. Photograph of Sherman in Atlanta, September-November, 1864. After three and a half months of incessant maneuvering and much hard fighting, Sherman forced Hood to abandon the munitions center of the Confederacy. Sherman remained there, resting his war-worn men and accumulating supplies, for nearly two and a half months. During the occupation, George N. Barnard, official photographer of the Chief Engineer’s Office, made the best documentary record of the war in the West; but much of what he photographed was destroyed in the fire that spread from the military facilities blown up at Sherman’s departure on November 15. Date Created/Published: [1864] 

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Civil War Fact: At Cold Harbor, Va., 7,000 Americans fell in 20 minutes.