Quotations - North and South 2 Quiz

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln was addressing General Irwin McDowell, an Ohioan, prior to the Battle of First Bull Run (First Manassas). Prior to the Civil War McDowell had had little command experience before being given command of the Federal Army of Northeastern Virginia (what would later in the year become the nucleus of the Army of the Potomac). In fact it was Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase who secured the position for McDowell. Chase had served in Congress as a senator from Ohio from 1849 to 1855 before becoming the 23rd Governor of Ohio in 1856. He held this post until 1860 when he was re-elected to the U.S. Senate. Chase did not hold this position for long, resigning his seat so as to become the 25th Secretary of the Treasury.

As both a former Ohioan senator and governor, Chase took an interest in in McDowell and championed him for position as commander of the Army of Northeastern Virginia. McDowell took the position May 27, 1861, but was given less than two months to train the newly formed army. Public and political pressure forced him to begin offensive campaigning before the army was ready.

Answer: Mary Custis Lee

It is interesting to note that Robert Edward Lee was against secession; his private letters early in 1861 denounced the Confederacy as a betrayal of the Founding Fathers. However, Lee had explained to a lieutenant earlier as he was leaving Texas following the states secession that while he could not take up arms against the Union, he'd always be willing to carry a musket in defense of his home state. And early in 1861, Virginia had voted not to secede. This was before Fort Sumter and Lincoln's call for volunteers. The call for troops to put down the Confederacy resulted in a second vote on secession, resulting in Virginia voting to secede April 17, 1861, on the provision that the vote be ratified, which took place on May 23, 1861.

During this time Lee was offered command of what would become the Army of Northeastern Virginia, and ultimately the Army of the Potomac. Learning how the vote to ratify the April 17th vote turned out, Lee would tell presidential advisor Francis P. Blair that he could not raise his sword against Virginia.

Answer: Clara Barton

At the time Clara Barton said this, April 25, 1861, she was working as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office in Washington D.C. just days before the Baltimore riot of 1861 had occurred. Called the "First Bloodshed of the Civil War", the riot saw soldiers of the 6th Massachusetts Militia clash with anti-war supporters and Southern sympathizers while traveling through the city from one train station to another in order to continue on the nation's capital. On learning of the incident, Barton traveled to the train station where the 6th arrived in Washington to lend aid and comfort to the wounded soldiers.

Answer: John F. Reynolds

All these men died during the war, but only one of them died at the Battle of Gettysburg.

Major General John Fulton Reynolds was the most senior federal officer to die at the Battle of Gettysburg. Just prior to the start of the Gettysburg Campaign, Lincoln privately met with Reynolds. It is held that at this time Lincoln offered Reynolds command of the Army of the Potomac and Reynolds refused as he did not want to deal with the politics that had affected previous commanders. In fact Reynolds had previously written his sister, "If we do not get someone soon who can command an army without consulting 'Stanton and Halleck' at Washington, I do not know what will become of this Army." Because Reynolds had declined command of the army, command then fell on Major General George G. Meade. Meade in turn assigned Reynolds one third of the army; along with his I Corps Reynolds now commanded the III Corps (commanded by Major General Daniel E. Sickles), the XI Corps (commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard), and the First Division (commanded by Brigadier General John Buford) of the Cavalry Corps.

Buford arrived in Gettysburg June 30th and sent word to Reynolds of the presence of Confederate troops at Gettysburg. Reynolds arrived on the morning of July 1st with the Left Wing of the Army of the Potomac and assessed the situation, determining that the fight would be at Gettysburg. Reynolds himself sent a messenger to Meade, urging him to bring up the rest of the army. In the message Reynolds stated, "The enemy is advancing in strong force. I will fight him inch by inch, and if driven into the town I will barricade the streets and hold him as long as possible." Reynolds also ordered Howard to bring his corps up quickly. Reynolds then rode forward to supervise the placement of troops along the line. This would prove Reynolds undoing. It is believed that Reynolds was overseeing the placement of the 2nd Wisconsin when he said either "Forward! For God's sake, forward!" or "Forward men forward for God's sake and drive those fellows out of those woods." At that moment Reynolds was struck by a bullet in the head, killing him instantly. There is disagreement over who fired the shot that killed John Reynolds with some historians suggesting it may have been a sniper (his own sister observed the body and stated the wound looked to have come from above) while others suggest a shot from a soldier in the 7th Tennessee. Others still suggest it may have been a case of friendly fire as the shot seemed to come from behind Reynolds.

Answer: John Sedgwick

These are considered among the last words of Major General John Sedgwick at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, if not his last words. On May 9, 1864, Sedgwick was placing his corps artillery when his position came under fire from Confederate snipers. What Sedgwick actually said and if he actually finished it are in question, though it is generally accepted that Sedgwick said that they couldn't hit an elephant at that distance (1,000 yards). About that time a sniper shot him through the head.

According to eyewitness Major General Martin McMahon, recorded by Michael Sanders in Strange Tales of the Civil War", Sedgwick's last minutes went something as follows: "As the bullets whistled by, some of the men dodged. The general said laughingly, "What! What! Men dodging this way for single bullets! What will you do when they open fire along the whole line? I am ashamed of you. They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." A few seconds after, a man who had been passed directly in front of the general, and at the same moment a sharp-shooter's bullet passed with a long shrill whistle very close, and the soldier, who was then just in front of the general, dodged to the ground. The general touched him gently with his foot, and said, "Why, my man, I am ashamed of you, dodging that way," and repeated the remark, "They couldn't hit an elephant at this distance." The man rose, snapped a salute, and said good-naturedly, "General, I dodged a shell once, and if I hadn't, it would have taken my head off. I believe in dodging." The general laughed and replied, "All right, my man; go to your place."

For a third time the same shrill whistle, closing with a dull, heavy stroke, interrupted our talk, when, as I was about to resume, the general's face turned slowly to me, the blood spurting from his left cheek under the eye in a steady stream. He fell in my direction..."

Answer: Mary Boykin Chesnut

By February 22, 1865, the end of the war was in sight when the one Civil War's best known diarist wrote this. In the same paragraph Mrs. Chestnut discusses the surrender of both Charleston, SC, and Wilmington, NC, before lamenting that Wade Hampton had only recently been made a lieutenant general. Charleston had fallen just four days before and Wilmington had been surrendered that very day. Hampton's promotion to lieutenant general came February 14, 1865. Mrs. Chesnut believed that had Hampton been promoted to lieutenant general and given command of defending South Carolina six months sooner, then neither city would have fallen, though this seems unlikely.

Born Mary Boykin Miller on March 31, 1823, in Stateburg, SC, Mrs. Chesnut would meet her husband James Chesnut, Jr. in 1836 when she was just thirteen and he twenty-one. The two would marry four years later at seventeen and twenty-five respectively. Mr. Chesnut would go on to represent South Carolina in the U.S. Senate prior to the state seceding from the Union. This would give Mrs. Chesnut some of her first views of people she would come to know a few years later, including Varina Davis, the wife of the then Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis. In the spring and summer of 1861, Mr. Chesnut, who had already been elected as the Deputy from SC to the Provisional Congress of the Confederacy in February, served as the aide-de-camp of P.G.T. Beauregard during both the attack on Fort Sumter and the Battle of First Bull Run (First Manassas). Though still in the Confederate, being promoted to colonel in 1862, Chesnut served as an aide to President Davis before being promoted to brigadier general in 1864 and given command of the SC reserve forces.

Because of her husband's position during the war years, Mrs. Chesnut was well placed to present life across the Confederacy rather than in just one small corner. Her diaries, first published posthumously in 1905 as "A Diary from Dixie", present a view of what life was like during the war years in the Confederacy. From being present in Charleston April 12, 1861, to socializing with some of the leading figures of the Confederacy, Mrs. Chesnut's diary presents a side of the war not usually focused on.

Answer: Robert E. Lee

Although this is credited to Lee as a quote from the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg in Randall Bedwell's "War is All Hell: A Collection of Civil War Quotations", it is possible Lee never said this exact quote on July 3rd. An article by Jeffry Wert on HistoryNet titled "America's Civil War: Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet at Odds at Gettysburg", originally published in the August 1994 issue of "Military History" magazine, details a conversation between Lee and Longstreet late on July 2nd. Detailing Longstreet's desire to threaten Washington by abandoning the fighting at Gettysburg, Lee supposedly pointed to Cemetery Ridge stating "If the enemy is there tomorrow, we must attack him." To which Longstreet supposedly responded "If he is there it will be because he is anxious that we should attack him - a good reason, in my judgment, for not doing so." This may come from a letter Longstreet wrote to his former division commander Lafayette McLaws in 1873 detailing the planning of the Gettysburg Campaign through the battle.

An article in "Smithsonian Magazine" titled "Making Sense of Robert E. Lee" by Roy Blount, Jr. gives yet another version of the quote. Again Longstreet is trying to convince Lee to swing around Meade late on July 2nd. But this time Lee is said to have told Longstreet "No, the enemy is there, and I am going to attack him there." Whatever the exact quote and date, it is clear Lee was referring to Meade's position on Cemetery Ridge. History well records what happened July 3rd, 1863.

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

"Executive Mansion,
Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln.

Mrs. Bixby."

This is the famous Bixby letter, a condolence letter that is often cited as one of the reasons, along with the deaths of the Sullivan Brothers and the Niland Brothers, for the U.S. Department of Defense's Directive 1315.15 "Special Separation Policies for Survivorship". Or, as it is better known, the Sole Survivor Policy.

However, despite the wording of the letter, only two of the five Bixby died in battle during the war. Sergeant Charles N. Bixby died at an engagement at Marie's Heights on May 3, 1863, during the Second Battle of Fredericksburg (itself a part of the Chancellorsville Campaign). Private Oliver Cromwell Bixby, Jr. died July 30, 1864, near Petersburg during the Siege of Petersburg. One of the three brothers, Private George Way Bixby, we have conflicting accounts on what happened to him. Either he died sometime after October 9, 1864, at Salisbury Prison in NC (he arrived at the prison October 9th after being captured near Petersburg the same day his brother Oliver died and then held in Richmond) or he deserted the Federal army and joined the Confederates. It is worth noting that a family genealogy on the Bixby family suggests he died at the same time as his brother Oliver. As for the two remaining sons, both survived the war. Private Arthur Edward Bixby (known by his middle name) enlisted under aged without his mother's consent. He is listed as returning Boston in 1876 as a mariner. According to the family genealogy he may have died January 4, 1909, in Chicago. And Corporal Henry Cromwell Bixby appears to have died November 8, 1871, in Milford, Massachusetts from tuberculosis contracted while a soldier.

Answer: Clara Barton

By the Battle of the Wilderness, Clara Barton had come a long way from the patent office clerk who had lent aid and comfort to the wounded of the 6th Massachusetts Militia back in April 1861 following the Baltimore Riot. Following the Battle of First Bull Run (First Manassas) she quit her job in order to work as a volunteer. She advertised for donations of medical supplies in the "Worcester Spy", a local newspaper in Worcester, Massachusetts. These, along with food and clothing she stored in her own living quarters before bring them to the wounded with the aid of some friends.

At first the War Department and a number of field surgeons opposed Barton's efforts. But Barton persisted, aiding troops at battles such as Cedar Mountain and Second Bull Run (Second Manassas). By October 1862, with the help of Colonel Daniel Rucker of the Quartermasters Corps Barton, had been granted a general pass by Surgeon General Brigadier General William. A. Hammond to travel with Army ambulances. In this capacity she would be present for various battles, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, the Wilderness, and Cold Harbor.

In late June 1864, General Benjamin Butler would assign her superintendent of nursing for the Army of the James. This may have been an exaggeration on Barton's part as Jane E. Schulz of Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, Indiana tells us she had actually been assigned to a mobile field hospital staffed with nurses of equal status. Even so, Barton had enough pull with Butler, who appears to have called her the "woman in charge" that Army Surgeons were afraid of her and when she got into a fight with one Adelaide Smith of New York it was Smith the surgeon sent packing rather than incur the wrath of Barton.

Answer: William Tecumseh Sherman

Prior to beginning his famous March to the Sea, Major General Sherman had communicated his plans to Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant. In doing so he told Grant "If you can whip Lee, and I can march to the Atlantic, I think Uncle Abe will give us twenty days to see the young folks." Although both Grant and Lincoln had reservations concerning Sherman's plans, Grant trusted Sherman's judgement enough to green light the plan. Thus it was that on November 15, 1864, the March to the Sea began.

Sherman left Major General George Thomas and his Army of the Cumberland to deal with Lt. General John Bell Hood and his Army of Tennessee, taking with him the Army of the Tennessee (commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard) as his right wing and the Army of Georgia (commanded by Major General Henry W. Slocum) as his left wing. It is interesting to note that it was actually Thomas who proposed the March to the Sea. At the same time Hood had left Lt. General William J. Hardee (commander of the Department of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida) and cavalry commander Major General Joe Wheeler to oppose Sherman.

Sherman would reach the outskirts of Savannah on December 10th. Hardee had entrenched 10,000 soldiers in favorable positions around the city, including Fort McAllister, preventing Sherman from being able to link up with the Navy and receive supplies (the army had been living off the land during the March, Sherman deliberately severing himself from his lines of supply and communications when the march began). On December 13th, after a brief fifteen minute fight, Major General William B. Hazen, a divisional commander in the Army of the Tennessee, took Fort McAllister which allowed Sherman to link up with Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren and received fresh supplies and siege artillery with which to lay siege to Savannah.

On December 17th Sherman sent a message to Hardee demanding he surrender or else he would either assault the city or starve it into submission. Rather than surrender, Hardee led his men out of the city on December 20th, managing to escape north. Both Hardee and Wheeler would take part in Sherman's Carolina Campaign. December 21st Mayor Richard Dennis Arnold would surrender Savannah to Brigadier General John W. Geary, a divisional commander in the Army of Georgia. Sherman then presented Lincoln with Savannah as a Christmas present.

Answer: Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

On July 2, 1863, Major General Daniel Sickles was order to have his III Corps take up a position on Cemetery Ridge with his right flanked linked up with Maj General Winfield Scott Hancock's II Corps and his left flank anchored at Little Round Top. Although Sickles had at first obeyed his orders, he soon became concerned that the Confederates might attack from a more advantageous position. Without permission, Sickles moved the III Corps half a mile or more forward, placing one of his two divisions on the Emmitsburg road and the other along the Peach Orchard and the Wheatfield. In doing this Sickles left Little Round Top undefended.

Commanding general, Major General George Meade, dispatched his chief-of-engineers, Brigadier General Gouverneur K. Warren, to assess the situation. Climbing Little Round Top Warren discovered only a signal corps station atop the hill and Confederates approaching. Realizing the threat to the Army of the Potomac should Little Round Top fall into Confederate hands, Warren began looking to reinforce the Federal position. V Corps commander Major General George Sykes agreed to send some of his men to reinforce Little Round Top and dispatched a messenger to find Brigadier General James Barnes, commander 1st Division V Corps, about reinforcing the hill. Before they could find Barnes they encountered his 3rd Brigade commander, Colonel Strong Vincent. Without receiving orders from his immediate superior, Vincent moved the 3rd Brigade to Little Round Top. The 3rd Brigade was composed of, from right flank to left on Little Round Top, the 16th Michigan, 44th New York, 83rd Pennsylvania, and the 20th Maine (commanded by Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain).

The 20th Maine was the extreme left flank of the Federal line on July 2nd and after multiple attacks by Confederates was forced to make a last ditch, desperate bayonet charge down the hill. As Chamberlain would write: "Not a moment was about to be lost! Five minutes more of such a defensive and the last roll call would sound for us! Desperate as the chances were, there was nothing for it but to take the offensive. I stepped to the colors. The men turned towards me. One word was enough- 'BAYONETS!' It caught like fire and swept along the ranks. The men took it up with a shout; one could not say whether from the pit or the song of the morning sat, it was vain to order 'Forward!' No mortal could have heard it in the mighty hosanna that was winging the sky. The whole line quivered from the start; the edge of the left-wing rippled, swung, tossed among the rocks, straightened, changed curve from scimitar to sickle-shape; and the bristling archers swooped down upon the serried host- down into the face of half a thousand! Two hundred men!

"It was a great right wheel. Our left swung first, the advancing foe stopped, tried to make a stand amidst the trees and boulders, but the frenzied bayonets pressing through every space forced a constant settling to the rear. Morrill with his detached company and the remnants of our valorous sharpshooters... now fell upon the flank of the retiring crowd. At the first dash the commanding officer I happened to confront, coming on fiercely (with) sword in hand and big navy revolver (in) the other, fires one barrel almost in my face. But seeing the quick saber point at his throat, reverses arms, gives sword and pistol into my hands and yields himself prisoner.

"Ranks were broken; some retired before us somewhat hastily; some threw their muskets to the ground- even loaded; sunk on their knees, threw up their hands calling out, 'We surrender. Don't kill us!' As if we wanted to do that! We kill only to resist killing. And these were manly men, whom we could befriend and by no means kill, if they came our way in peace and good will."

Answer: Jubal Early

In May and June 1864, Major General David Hunter's Federal forces conducted a destructive raid in the Shenandoah Valley. On June 12th General Robert E. Lee dispatched the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by Lt. General Jubal Early, to deal with Hunter's forces. At this time the Second Corps was an independent command dubbed the Army of the Valley, or the Army of the Valley District. It would march to Lynchburg, Virginia, to aid Major General John C. Breckinridge's forces in defending the city from Hunter.

Early would defeat Hunter in the June 17-18th Battle of Lynchburg. He would pursue Hunter for a time, though Hunter's forces quickly moved to the Ohio River and Early would give up the chase. Breckinridge's troops would be folded into the Army of the Valley and Early's troops would then begin moving back down the Valley With Early still in the Valley after having driven Hunter out, he was given another goal. To clear the Valley of all Federal troops. It was hoped that in doing this Early would be able to pull some of Lt. General Grant's forces off Lee. The Army of the Valley would arrive at Staunton, Virginia on June 27th before beginning to move back up the Valley to Winchester, Virginia. They arrived at Winchester July 2nd.

The only serious Federal force in the Valley to deal with Early were the troops under Major General Franz Sigel. With less than half Early's troops, Sigel chose to retreat through Harper's Ferry to a strong defensive position at Maryland Heights and force Early to attack him. Rather than take the bait, Early moved to Sheperdstown, West Virginia before crossing over into Maryland.

Once in Maryland Early dispatched Brigadier General John McCausland's cavalry brigade to Haggerstown, Maryland to demand between $200,000 and $220,000 not to destroy in reparation for damages done by Hunter in the Valley. Early would do the same thing at Frederick, Maryland while McCausland was at Haggerstown. or whatever reason, either having misunderstood Early's order or thinking the amount too high, McCausland only asked for $20,000. The gambit of dispatching Early to draw off some of Grant's forces worked as Grant dispatched Brigadier General James Brewerton Ricketts' division of the VI Corps to Baltimore and some 3,000 dismounted cavalry to Washington, DC. Ricketts arrived in Baltimore July 7th before moving out to rendezvous with Major General Lew Wallace near Frederick on the Monocacy River.

Wallace's force numbered about half of Early's when the two met July 9th in the Battle of Monocacy. It proved a Confederate victory and Early would begin a two day march on Washington. Monocacy would accomplish something for both the North and South. Early's defeat of Wallace would force Grant to send the rest of Major General Horatio G. Wright's VI Corps to defend Washington, removing more of the troops Lee was facing. But the battle also delayed Early in his march on Washington, giving the VI Corps time to reinforce Washington's defenses.

The battle, and two day march in 95 degree temperature would exhaust Early's men to the point where Early chose not to do more than let his sharpshooters and skirmishers harass the Federal defenders when he arrived on the outskirts of the capital city July 11th. This would mark the start of the two days Battle of Fort Stevens. Had Early realized he was facing a mere two hundred men, he might have pushed harder to take Fort Stevens that day.

By the afternoon the VI Corps arrived in Washington and began marching to the ring of forts around the city, particularly Fort Stevens. They were joined by a detachment of Major General Quincy Gillmore's XIX Corps and a Major General Christopher Augur's XXII Corps. Reinforcements began arriving on the scene in the early evening, as did President Lincoln who arrived to see the preparations of the defenses of the capital. It would be perhaps at this time that a young officer by the name of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. may have ordered Lincoln to take cover against the threat of Confederate sharpshooters (Justice Holmes himself was unsure exactly who did this, whether some enlisted man, General Wright, or himself; it should be noted that this happened multiple times during the battle).

On learning of the arriving Federal forces, Early decided to retreat from the battle during the night of the 12th. This would be hastened by a Federal attack on Early's lines at dusk on the 12th. A Federal artillery barrage destroyed many buildings Confederate sharpshooters were using for cover, and then a brigade of the VI Corps moved in to engage the exposed Confederate lines. Despite these attacks, Early's forces were merely driven back rather than routed. But Early's threat to Washington was effectively ended and Early retreated back to Virginia with Wright in pursuit.

Answer: John Wilkes Booth

On April 9, 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Lt. General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, marking the beginning of the end of the Civil War. Two days later on the evening of the 11th some government buildings were lit up in advance of the so called grand illumination of the 13th which would mark a celebration of Lee's surrender.

By the mid-19th century, illuminations were uncommon events and used for celebratory reasons. Illuminating inside a building was nothing new as candles and oil lamps using oils such as whale oil and olive oil had been used for centuries. But outdoors such methods of lighting were too dim to be practical. Although electric lighting was not unheard of, in fact famed French magician Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin was among the first to demonstrate its potential when he publicly demonstrated early incandescent bulbs at his estate in Blois, France, it was still in its infancy and highly impractical for the illuminations prior to the late 19th century. Rather, gas lamps using coal gas (also called town gas) and the relatively new kerosene was used to light up the night. It would have been by such light that the crowd gathered outside the White House on the evening of April 11th. would have seen Lincoln give what would be his last public speech.

This speech laid the basic floor plan for Lincoln's plan for reconstruction. A part of that was how this vision of reconstruction should aid "the colored man" (Lincoln would use both colored man and black in the speech in referring to African Americans). It seems clear that Lincoln had devoted a part of his plans to the suffrage of African Americans during the reconstruction years and intended to give them all rights of citizenship other Americans had at the time.

John Wilkes Booth, who was in the crowd that night, was infuriated by this speech. Fellow conspirator Lewis Powell (also known as Lewis Payne and Lewis Paine) was in the crowd with Booth that night and Booth urged him to shoot Lincoln then and there. Powell refused due to the crowd. Booth, if he hadn't already done so before April 11th, determined that night to assassinate Lincoln.

As for the wrong answers, all are fictional Federal soldiers. Buster Kilrain first appears in Michael Shaara's "The Killer Angels" (his son Jeff Shaara later used Kilrain in "Gods and Generals", which is set before Kilrain's death at the Battle of Gettysburg). Jim Conklin appears in Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage". And Jefferson Davis Bussey appears in Harold Keith's "Rifles for Waite".

Answer: Winfield Scott Hancock

Being a corps commander didn't automatically ensure one's safety in battle as many corps commanders were wounded and killed during the war. Major General Joe Hooker was wounded at the Battle of Antietam. Lt. General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson would be wounded by friendly fire at the Battle of Chancellorsville and would die of pneumonia while recovering. Major General A.P. Hill, Jackson's senior division commander, briefly took over Jackson's II Corps at Chancellorsville before he too was wounded. Major General John Reynolds was killed the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Major General Daniel Sickles lost a leg on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Lt. General James Longstreet was wounded at the Battle of the Wilderness. As with Jackson, Longstreet was the victim of friendly fire. Lt. General Leonidas Polk was killed by Federal artillery at Pine Mountain during the Battle of Marietta. These are just a few generals who, while serving as corps commander, would be wounded or killed in battle.

During the Confederate artillery barrage on July 3, 1863, Hancock was mounted on horseback reviewing and encouraging his troops on Cemetery Ridge. One of Hancock's subordinates, perhaps remembering what had happened to Reynolds on July 1st and Sickles just the day before, is reported to have said "General, the corps commander ought not to risk his life that way." Hancock replied "There are times when a corps commander's life does not count." This attitude surely made him a prime target during Pickett's charge as a Confederate bullet would strike his saddle horn before lodging itself and a saddle nail in his thigh, making Hancock the third Federal corps commander wounded or killed during the Battle of Gettysburg. Despite his wound, Hancock refused to leave the field until the battle was over.

Answer: Hogs

"That night a number of stray hogs came to where I lay and commenced rooting and tearing at the dead men around me. Finally one fellow that in the darkness looked of enormous size approached and attempted to poke me--grunting loudly the while. Several others also came up, when waiting my chance, I jammed my sword into his belly, which made him set up a prolonged, sharp cry. By constant vigilance and keeping from sleeping I contrived to fight the monsters off till daylight."
-Lt. Barzilia Inman, Co. F 118th Pennsylvania Volunteers, on his experience during the Battle of Gettysburg.

Lt. Inman was wounded during the fighting in and around the Wheatfield. He'd not be rescued until July 4th. Inman's wounds would end his military service and he'd eventually be discharged in March 1864.

Civil War battlefields would have been horrors to begin with. But for the seriously wounded, lying out in the field waiting for someone to find them and being unable to return to the safety of their own lines, the horrors faced on the battlefields could become even worse. Lt. Inman was not the only one to discuss seeing hogs at Gettysburg. Another such eyewitness was Private Charles Drake of Co. C 12th NH Volunteers. Drake had to have his right leg amputated and watched as the amputated limb, which had been thrown onto a pile of such limbs, was devoured by a hog. Years later while visiting another 12th NH veteran he'd reveal to having felt not only phantom pains from the loss of the leg, but to actually feeling the phantom pain of the flesh being torn from the bone as the hog devoured it.

Nor were reports of hogs on battlefields limited to Gettysburg. Other battles such as Shiloh and Cold Harbor would have their own share of horrors caused by hogs. Omnivorous, hogs would have been drawn to the battlefields by the scent of blood from both the dead and wounded. And while some of the incidents may have involved feral hogs, others were likely caused by hogs on farms local to where the battles took place being set free by the battle and the men passing through the farm.

Of course hogs weren't the only non-fighting horrors on the battlefield for both wounded and non-wounded to face. Many wounded would perish in fires on battlefields, most notably at The Wilderness, unable to escape the flames. Some would commit suicide rather than burn to death. In other instances wounded men would drown as rains flooded creek beds. There are even some claims of wounded being tortured by fire ants, though this is unlikely to be the so-called red imported fire ant which was introduced to the U.S. decades after the war.