Eric Durr, New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs

From www.army.mil

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (Oct. 8, 2014) --A university professor who is also a former government code breaker, and a retired college financial aid director teamed up to transcribe and decode the secrets in a 150-year-old Confederate diary discovered in the collections of the New York State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, New York.

The Military Museum is administered by the New York State Division of Military and Naval Affairs, the state agency which oversees the New York Army and Air National Guard.

Written in 1863 and 1864, by Confederate Army Lt. James Malbone, an officer in Company B, 6th Virginia Infantry, the diary records information about Soldiers in his unit, items he's bought and sold, his African-American slaves, the faithlessness of other officers' wives, Confederate deserters, women, and military movements.

Early Photo Of William F. Cody "Buffalo Bill" (1846-1917) -He Served As A Union Scout In The Civil WAr

In a life that was part legend and part fabrication, William F. Cody came to embody the spirit of the West for millions, transmuting his own experience into a national myth of frontier life that still endures today.

Born in Scott County, Iowa, in 1846, Cody grew up on the prairie. When his father died in 1857, his mother moved to Kansas, where Cody worked for a wagon-freight company as a mounted messenger and wrangler. In 1859, he tried his luck as a prospector in the Pikes Peak gold rush, and the next year, joined the Pony Express, which had advertised for “skinny, expert riders willing to risk death daily.” Already a seasoned plainsman at age 14, Cody fit the bill.

During the Civil War, Cody served first as a Union scout in campaigns against the Kiowa and Comanche, then in 1863 he enlisted with the Seventh Kansas Cavalry, which saw action in Missouri and Tennessee. After the war, he married Louisa Frederici in St. Louis and continued to work for the Army as a scout and dispatch carrier, operating out of Fort Ellsworth, Kansas.

Finally, in 1867, Cody took up the trade that gave him his nickname, hunting buffalo to feed the construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. By his own count, he killed 4,280 head of buffalo in seventeen months. He is supposed to have won the name “Buffalo Bill” in an eight-hour shooting match with a hunter named William Comstock, presumably to determine which of the two Buffalo Bill’s deserved the title.

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/naa/taylor/taylor4.htm

http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/people/a_c/buffalobill.htm

From The Civil War Parlor

 

The Florida Archives record for these photos reads, "Born on January 18, 1848 in Coffee Springs, Alabama. He was a member of Company D 4th Alabama Cavalry Regiment of the Confederate States of America Army. He died on September 1, 1957 in Crestview, Florida." (Courtesy Florida State Archives, Florida Memory Project, rc13906, www.foridamemory.com) 

William Lundy was allegedly born near, in Pike County, Alabama, on January 18, 1848 (also reported at Coffee Springs, Coffee County).

He is said to have enlisted in the last days of March 1864, at age 16; Company D (Brown's), 4th Alabama Cavalry Regiment (Home Guard) at Elba; and to have been honorably discharged at Elba in May 1865, on account of close of war. He moved his family to Laurel Hill in 1890, where he and wife, Mary Jane Lassiter, raised ten children.

He was granted a Confederate soldiers pension in Florida, no. 8948, of $600 per annum was awarded to be paid effective from June 12, 1941. At some point the pension increased to $75 per month ($900 per annum), and finally, in 1953, it was increased to $150 per month ($1800 per annum). Source: Florida Pension Records On January 18, 1955, the Boston Traveler published an article, "Reb on T.V.", of which William Allen Lundy was the subject; making mention of the 107 year old Confederate veteran being on television in Pensacola.

By a Joint Resolution of Congress of July 18, 1956, a gold medal was authorized to be struck and presented to the only four surviving Civil War veterans; One Union veteran, and three Confederate veterans. The Union soldier died before the medals could be presented.

He was the last surviving Confederate soldier residing in Florida, and one of three (all Confederate) Civil War veterans in the United States.

At the ostensible age of 109, Private Lundy died at Crestview, Okaloosa County, on September 1, 1957. He is interred at Almarant Cemetery, Laurel Hill.

In 1955 he visted Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to celebrate his 105th birthday.

From: wikipedia

WASHINGTON, D.C. – As part of its commemoration of the Civil War Sesquicentennial and coinciding with events marking the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Shiloh, the National Park Service has launched a Civil War themed website atwww.nps.gov/civilwar that provides an overview of the war, with special emphasis on the Civil War sites administered and preserved by the National Park Service.

The website features a wide range of richly-illustrated content, including stories of the Civil War, ranging from causes of the conflict to its consequences; biographies of notable individuals associated with the war, both military and civilian; places within the National Park System that interpret the Civil War; and information on the ways in which the National Park Service preserves Civil War battlefields, objects, landscapes and other historic resources. New content will be added regularly, so visitors are encouraged to check back to the site often.

 

Presentation by Walter Hall at the George E. Dixon Camp 1962, March 1, 2012 Camp Meeting. Walter Hall discusses several war crime charges and specification brought against Sherman and contrast them against the laws of war. Camp members vote on each specification in this mock trial.

Very rarely do you see a Confederate Admiral here in the Midwest. 

"Franklin Buchanan was born in Baltimore, Maryland, on 13 September 1800. He became a U.S. Navy Midshipman in 1815, was promoted to Lieutenant in 1825, to Commander in 1841 and to Captain in 1855. Over the four and a half decades of his U.S. Navy service, Buchanan had extensive and worldwide sea duty. He commanded the sloops of war Vincennes and Germantown during the 1840s and the steam frigate Susquehanna in the Perry expedition to Japan during the 1850s. In 1845-47, he served as the first Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, followed by notable Mexican War service. In 1859-61, Captain Buchanan was the Commandant of the Washington Navy Yard.

Former President John Tyler, born 221 years ago, still has two living grandchildren. The one-term president isn't a well-known historical figure; he's probably best remembered for helping to push through the annexation of Texas in 1845, shortly before leaving office.

So, how is it possible that a former president who died 150 years ago would still have direct descendents alive today? As it turns out, the Tyler men were known for fathering children late in life.

And that math is pretty outstanding when added up: John Tyler was born in 1790. He became the 10th president of the United States in 1841 after William Henry Harrison died in office. Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler in 1853, at age 63. Then, at the age of 71, Lyon Gardiner Tyler fathered Lyon Gardiner Tyler Jr. in 1924 and four years later at age 75, Harrison Ruffin Tyler.

Both men are still alive today. That means just three generations of the Tyler family are spread out over more than 200 years. President Tyler was also a prolific father, having 15 children (8 boys and 7 girls) with two wives. He even allegedly fathered a child, John Dunjee, with one of his slaves. Some context on Tyler's progeny: Jane Garfield (granddaughter of James Garfield) is 99, making her the oldest living grandchild of a former president, even though Garfield took office 40 years after Tyler. Former Ambassador John Eisenhower is the oldest living presidential child, turning 89 this past August.

A few other Tyler tidbits:

He joined the South's secession efforts shortly before his death and was even elected to the Confederate House of Representatives.

Because of his Confederate ties, Tyler's is the only presidential death not officially mourned.

Tyler ascended to the presidency in 1841.

Other things that happened that year: Canada became a nation; the United States Senate has its first filibuster, lasting nearly a month; the city of Dallas, Texas was founded. Tyler was the first person to ascend to the presidency through succession as vice president.

From Mental Floss

I spent the morning at Walnut Hill Cemetery in Belleville, Illinois looking for the grave of former Sheriff Frederick Ropiequet (served in 1866 and 1880).  Found my sheriff and then saw this imposing monument.

William Charles Kueffner (February 27, 1840 – March 18, 1893) was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War who served in the 9th Illinois Infantry in the Western Theater in several campaigns. He was later brevetted as a brigadier general for bravery in combat and was a noted attorney in southern Illinois following the war.

Author’s grandson preserves history, releases 110-year-old book

I felt his story should not remain untold.

Chattanooga, Tenn. (PRWEB) October 03, 2011

A 110-year-old memoir is now revealing the life, courage and faith of one man during the Civil War.

Edited by his grandson, THM: A Memoir (published by WestBow Press) follows the captivating time period embedded in the life of influential Chattanooga pastor Thomas Hooke McCallie. Touching on what he knew of his ancestral immigration and his education, the detailed memoir provides insight into McCallie’s life in Chattanooga during the Civil War and his prominent role in the church, which was during the war years was the city’s only church and served as a temporary hospital after the Battle of Chickamauga.

“I felt his story should not remain untold,” says editor and grandson David McCallie.