Question of the Week: 1/14-1/20/18

January 11 was a historic day in Civil War history and some of the happenings have a twist of irony:

  • 1861 – Alabama seceded
  • 1861 – South Carolina demanded Fort Sumter’s surrender; Major Anderson said no.
  • 1864 – John B. Henderson from Missouri proposed the 13th Amendment to the U.S.
  • 1867 – Kansas ratified the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
  • 1893 – Former Union General Benjamin Butler died

This list of facts got us wondering… In your opinion, what’s the most ironic happening or historic date coincidence related to the Civil War?



9 Responses to Question of the Week: 1/14-1/20/18

  1. While Lee surrendered on April 9,1865, US forces did the same on Bataan 77 years later on that date in 1942. Two American forces surrendered on the same day.

  2. The bloodiest day in American history, September 17, 1862 with 28,000 casualties at Antietam and Munfordville, was the 75th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution.

  3. April 19, 1775 and 1861. First soldiers to die were from Massachusets. The minutemen at Lexington and Concord, and the men from the 6th Mass Volunteer Infantry during the Pratt St. Riot/Baltimore Massacre (choose your term) 3 died in Baltimore that day. Two more men, one from Pa. would die of wounds a few days later.

  4. On April 14,1861 Major Anderson lowers the flag in a surrender ceremony at Fort Sumter. Four years later on April 14,1865 at noon, now Major General Anderson raises the same flag he lowered four years earlier in a ceremony at Fort Sumter that included a band, thousands in attendance, and a inspirational speech by Reverend Beechers. The flag didn’t unfurlled until it reached the ramparts and the breeze hits it. Then the crowd erupts with cheers celebrating that four long years of the Civil War has come to an end! Ten hours later that same day in Washington DC at Fords Theater President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated, dying the next morning. Giving his life that this nation could have a new birth of freedom and a government of the people, by the people, for the people, and shall not perish from this earth.

  5. These are all good choices. I guess I’d add October 19, 1781, when the army commanded by Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown to Washington and Rochambeau. The war didn’t end at that point but the outcome was clear. On October 19, 1864 Sheridan crushed Jubal Early’s Valley Army at Cedar Creek. The war didn’t end at that point but ..

Leave a Reply to Chris KolakowskiCancel reply