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Posted on 03/19/2005 11:14:04 PM PST by snippy_about_it
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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 Here's what the statistics tell us. How Many Fought About 2.75 million soldiers fought in the Civil War -- million for the North and 750,000 for the South. The Average Soldier  According to historian Bell I. Wiley, who pioneered the study of the Civil War common soldier, the average Yank or Reb was a "white, native-born, farmer, protestant, single, between 18 and 29." He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed about 143 pounds. Most soldiers were between the ages of 18 and 39 with an average age just under 26. Making a Living  The majority of soldiers North and South had been farmers before the war. Union rosters contained references to more than 300 different careers, including accountant, surveyor, locksmith, teacher, carpenter, shoemaker, black- smith, painter, mason, teamster, and mechanic. Southerners who had not farmed included carpenters, mechanics, merchants, machinists, lawyers, teachers, blacksmiths, and dentists. Rifle, Carbine, or Cannon?  In the Union army, 80 percent of the men were in the infantry, 14 percent in the cavalry, and 6 percent in artillery. In the Confederate army, 75 percent of the men served in the infantry, 20 percent in the cavalry, and 5 percent in artillery. The Odds Against Them  Of every 1,000 Federals, 112 were wounded; 150 of every 1,000 Confederates were hit. A Yankee stood a 1 in 8 chance of dying due to illness and a 1 in 18 chance of dying in battle. A Rebel faced a 1 in 5 chance of succumbing to disease and a 1 in 8 chance of dying in combat. Taps  360,000 Yankees died—110,000 in battle and 225,000 of disease. The South lost 258,000 men—94,000 in battle and 164,000 to disease. Prisoners of War  Roughly 211,000 Union soldiers were captured and imprisoned in the South; 30,000 of them died there. 214,000 Confederates were imprisoned in the North, and 26,000 of them died. Why They Fought Men on both sides were inspired to fight by patriotism, state pride, the chance for adventure, or steady pay. Union soldiers fought to preserve the Union; the common Confederate fought to defend his home. Later in the war, increasing numbers of Yankee soldiers fought to abolish slavery, if for no other reason than to end the war quickly. Confederate soldiers sometimes fought because they feared Union victory would result in a society where black people were placed on an even footing with whites. Army Melting Pots The large majority of Civil War soldiers were native born. Nonetheless, large numbers of stout-hearted newcomers to the country also volunteered to fight—especially in the North. Nearly one quarter of the Union's soldiers were immigrants, including 200,000 Ger-mans; 150,000 Irish; 45,000 English; 15,000 Canadians, and lesser numbers of French, Norwegians, Italians, Mexicans, and Poles. Exact figures for the South are sketchy, but tens of thousands of Irish, Germans, British, French, Canadians, Dutch, and Austrians entered Confederate ranks. Black Troops By war's end, African-American soldiers made up roughly 10 percent of the Union army. Approximately 179,000 black soldiers wore the blue; 37,000 lost their lives. In March 1865, the Confederate congress authorized the army to recruit 300,000 black troops. Some units were raised, but it was too late for them to make a difference. Soothing the Savage Breast  Johnny Reb and Billy Yank loved to sing—on the march, in camp, and sometimes even in battle. The men in blue favored "Battle Cry of Freedom," "Red White and Blue," "The Star Spangled Banner," and others. The men in gray cherished "Dixie," "Bonnie Blue Flag," "Yellow Rose of Texas," and other songs. Both sides were moved by the heartbreaking tune "Home Sweet Home." Mess Time  "What breakfast could possibly compare with this," Union Lieutenant Theodore Ayrault Dodge wrote in his journal in 1862—"hard crackers, boiled beef (2 days in the haversack) and bologna sausage (ditto)." Officially, the daily Union ration consisted of 22 ounces of bread and either 12 ounces of pork or a pound of salted beef. Confederates were supposed to be supplied (but seldom were) with 12 ounces of bacon or 20 ounces of beef (usually salted) along with 18 ounces of flour or 20 ounces of corn meal or hard bread. Vegetables such as beans and peas often proved hard to come by, especially for the Rebs. Usually, Yankees banked on hardtack and coffee, while their counterparts tried to get by on corn bread and coffee. Men on both sides got what they could from sutlers or foraging. Coffee and tobacco were common cravings. The Wages of War  Soldiers on each side initially earned $11 per month. In June 1864, the Confederacy raised each soldier's pay to $18 per month, a sum worth less and less as the Confederate dollar dropped in value. That same month the Union upgraded its soldiers' monthly wage to $16. Black soldiers were initially paid just $10 per month—minus the $3 clothing allowance that white troops received. After June 1864, black soldiers who had been free men before the war were paid the same as whites, but recently freed slaves who joined the army's ranks did not get the raise. Passing the Time  Soldiers had to deal with much boredom. To fill the hours, Yanks and Rebels wrote letter after letter to family, friends, and sweethearts. In spite of the warnings of officers, bouts of drinking and especially gambling broke out. Soldiers played checkers, chess, and baseball, whittled and carved, and if they were feeling particularly creative, would even put on plays. Tennessean Sam Watkins described one winter diversion: "Brigades and divisions were soon involved, and such a scene was never before seen on earth. Many thousands of men were engaged in a snow ball battle." Both sides read whatever they could get their hands on: Yankees favored Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, Harper's Weekly, American Review, and The Atlantic. Confederates read Southern Illustrated News, Southern Literary Messenger, and Field and Fireside. Both sides loved dime novels and the Bible. Dirt and Disease  Whenever armies remained settled in camp, sanitary conditions worsened. For starters, until later in the war, latrines were often built upwind. Accumulation over time created an unpleasant and unhealthy environment. Eventually, refuse from cooking and slaughtered animals began to cover the ground, and the local water source often became fouled. Disease spread rapidly. Religion  Both armies claimed to be fighting with God's blessing, and religion played a big part in the lives of many soldiers. "Sometimes, a few of the fellows would gather in prayer, while the rest of us fought the guns," wrote Confederate soldier William M. Dame. "Several times...we met under fire...we held that prayer hour every day, at sunset, during the entire campaign." While the slaughter and grief of war drove some men from their faith, religious revivals swept through both armies, claiming thousands of converts. Most of the men were Christian, though 7,000 Jews fought for the Union and 3,000 for the South. 600 Jewish soldiers died in the war.      |
To all our military men and women past and present, military family members, and to our allies who stand beside us
Thank You!
Busy Sunday Bump
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
Good morning, snippy and eveyrone at the Foxhole.
Good morning Snippy. Went to welcome the 1171st home from Iraq yesterday evening. The local PD gave them a police escort into town. The fire department was there with the ladder truck and the Flag. There were 3 bus loads of them. Lots of family and friends and the general public as well as the TV news.
They were so darned young. One forgets.
Okay....maybe I was a wee bit too close to it.....LOL
Jesus is Lord. His is "the name which is above every name" (Philippians 2:9). The word Lord refers to His sovereignty. He is the King, and every believer in Him is a member of His kingdom. We make Jesus the Lord of our lives by bowing to His authority as King. This means we live in obedience to Him. Don't be like the man who claimed to be a Christian but chose to live in sin. When his minister confronted him, he glibly replied, "Don't worry, pastor. It's okay. I'm just a bad Christian." It's not okay. Not at all! Not for a member of Christ's kingdom (Luke 6:43-49). On this Palm Sunday, make sure you're honoring Him with your deeds as well as with your words. Then you can join with others in proclaiming, "Jesus is Lord!" -Dave Egner
Worthy is He of our praise; Magnify Him with thanksgiving- Gladly our voices we raise. -Anon. To follow Christ is to take Him as your Savior and your Lord.
Religion Or Christ: What's The Difference? What Does It Take To Follow Christ? |
Gtreat article. But it omitted the Indians who fought. Significant numbers of the Five Civilized nations fought on both sides, although predominantly for the Confederacy (slaveholding by the Indians may have played a part, as did, no doubt their past treatment by the U.S gov't). Stand Watie, a Cherokee attained the rank of Brigadier General, CSA. The Seminoles fought for both the Union and Confederacy. Grant's aide, Horace Parker, was a an Iroquois who also reached the rank of Brigadier General.
Morning Everyone!
Thanks for the lazy Sunday. heh... My spring break's over, back to work tomorrow. :-)
On this Day In History
Birthdates which occurred on March 20:
0043BC Ovid Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet, born. (“The Art of Love.”)
1634 Balthasar Bekker Frisian theologist
1725 Abdül-Hamid I 27th sultan of Turkey (1774-89)
1804 Neal Dow Brigadier General (Union volunteers), died in 1897
1811 George Caleb Bingham US, politician/painter (Country Election)
1811 Napoleon Bonaparte II Napoleon's son/King of Rome
1812 George Bibb Crittenden Major General (Confederate Army), died in 1880
1823 John Echols Brigadier General (Confederate Army), died in 1896
1825 William Nelson Rector Beall Brigadier General (Confederate Army)
1828 Henrik Ibsen Norway, dramatist (Peer Gynt, Hedda Gabler)
1830 Eugene Asa Carr Brevet Major General (Union Army), died in 1910
1856 Frederick Winslow Taylor father of scientific management (Talk about an oxymoron)
1870 Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck Prussian General/politician (East Africa)
1882 René Coty Le Havre France, President of France (1953-58)
1904 B(urrhus) F(rederic) Skinner Susquehanna PA, Behaviorism pioneer (Skinner box)
1906 Abraham Beame (Mayor-Democrat-NYC), NYC's 1st Jewish mayor
1906 Ozzie Nelson Jersey City NJ, actor (Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet)
1908 Frank Stanton Muskegon MI, broadcasting executive (CBS)
1908 Sir Michael Redgrave Bristol England, actor (Browning Version, The Lady Vanishes)
1914 Wendell Corey Dracut MA, actor (11th Hour, Peck's Bad Girl)
1918 Bernd-Alois Zimmermann German composer (Soldiers)
1918 Jack Barry Lindenhurst NY, game show emcee (Joker's Wild)
1920 Marian McPartland jazz pianist
1920 Werner Klemperer Cologne Germany, actor (Colonel Klink-Hogan's Heroes)
1922 Carl Reiner Bronx NY, comedian/actor (2000 Year Old Man, Dick Van Dyke Show)
1922 Ray Goulding Lowell MA, comedian (Bob & Ray)
1925 John D Erlichman Politician (Nixon aide, Watergate conspirator)
1928 Hans Küng Swiss religious theologist
1928 Mr [Fred McFeely] Rogers Latrobe PA, children's television host (Mr Roger's Neighborhood)
1931 Hal Linden [Harold Lipshitz] Bronx NY, actor (Barney Miller, Blacke's Magic, Rothchild)
1937 Helmut Recknagel Germany, 90 meter ski jump (Olympics-gold-1960)
1937 Jerry Reed Atlanta GA, singer/actor ('Gator, Bat 21, Smokey & the Bandit)
1945 Pat Riley Schenectady NY, NBA star/coach (San Diego Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks, Miami Heat)
1946 Ranger Doug [Douglas Green], Illinois, singer (Riders in Sky-Cowboy Way)
1947 Carl Palmer drummer (Asia-Heat of the Moment, Emerson Lake & Palmer)
1948 Bobby Orr Parry Sound Ontario, Hall of Fame NHL defenseman (Boston Bruins)
1948 John de Lancie actor (Q-Star Trek Next Generation, Eugene Bradford-Days of our Lives)
1950 William Hurt Washington DC, actor (Big Chill, Children of a Lesser God)
1951 Jimmie Vaughan guitarist (Fabulous Thunderbirds)
1951 John Wetton rocker (Asia, UK, King Crimson)
1957 Spike Lee Atlanta GA, director (Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever,Malcolm X)
1958 Holly Hunter Conyers GA, actress (The Piano, Broadcast News, Roe vs Wade)
1961 Slim Jim Phantom [Jim Mcdonnell] rock drummer (Stray Cats-Stray Cat Strut)
1967 Dana Rinehart Dalton Orlando FL, Miss Florida-America (1990)
1969 Thang Thanh Nguyen Soc Trang Vietnam, murderer (FBI Most Wanted)
You've got mail. ;-)
Excellent information, Snippy. I'm forwarding the link to our UDC Chapter president. We always do a history program at least yearly, and usually more often.
Thanks for another good one.
Good morning, Bombardier!
FYI
Help honor 911 Lifesaving Hero RICK RESCORLA-Ft. Benning GA Sculpture
RICK RESCORLA MEMORIAL FOUNDATION ^ | 3-18-2005 | Mrs. SUSAN RESCORLA
Posted on 03/18/2005 11:20:10 PM CST by ALOHA RONNIE
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1365968/posts?page=1
HE HE
Regards
alfa6 ;>}
This is an extremely well done posting, in historical data, coupled with graphics presentation!
I agree, great job!
Morning Aeronaut.
HI Radu.
Morning alfa6.
Trying to get that last 2% done today? ;-)
Morning E.G.C
Still windy this morning and some low clouds but no rain so far.
Went to welcome the 1171st home from Iraq yesterday evening. The local PD gave them a police escort into town.
We had the 2nd Battalion, 162nd Infantry return a few days ago. They got a warm reception at ort Lewis. :-)
Hi Sam.
Morning Iris7.
They're always young, just like we were.
Morning Bombardier
Morning Mayor.
Morning PzLdr.
Thanks for the reminder about the Indians. Most at the Foxhole are familiar with Stand Watie.
:-(
Throughout the period of Hitler's rise to power, Ernst Roehm represented the militant wing of the Nazi Party as the chief organizer of the party militia known as the S.A. (Sturmabteilung) or the Brownshirts.
Wounded three times in World War I, he later becomes one of the original founders of the Nazi Party. In the 1920s, he helps Hitler secure the support of the army in Bavaria and is later imprisoned for his role in Hitler's failed 1923 Beer Hall putsch.
Throughout his years of service to the Nazi cause, Roehm remains dog-loyal to his master. Roehm's Nazi zeal lead him to advocate that the Nazi seizure of power should culminate in the SA absorbing if not replacing the Reichswehr as the new German army, nazified from the ground up.
After Hitler wins power in January 1933, he becomes increasingly alarmed by Roehm who is now demanding that his multi-million man militia be placed on an equal footing with the Nazi Party. Hitler, the German Army High Command, and Roehm's arch-rival, SS leader Heinrich Himmler, now see Roehm and his SA as a common threat.
In the early morning hours of June 30, 1934, SS forces, accompanied by SS commander Sepp Dietrich and followed by Adolf Hitler himself, burst into a country inn near Munich where Roehm and his SA staff had gathered together for a general conference. Roehm and his staff are literally dragged out of their beds and thrown into prison where Roehm and the entire SA command are summarily executed. The German people and the rest of the world are then told that Hitler has foiled a plot by Roehm and his SA sympathizers to seize power and subvert the Nazi revolution.
The Night of the Long Knives as the June 30th massacre came to be called is the Nazi regime's baptism of fire. It secures for Hitler the German Army's gratitude and unquestioning loyalty thereafter. It also translates into a big power gain for Himmler and the SS who now represent the new armed wing of the Nazi Party with the SA neutralized and absorbed into its ranks.
On the same day that Roehm and his SA staffers are massacred, Nazi assassins seize the opportunity to pay two discreet visits to the homes of the two highest ranking officers in the German Army - General (and former Weimar Chancellor) Walter von Schleicher and General Kurt von Bredow. Schleicher and Bredow happened to be anti-nazi in their beliefs and strongly opposed to Hitler's plans to nazify the German Army. In both cases, a knock on the door is followed by a hail of bullets that kills Schleicher and Bredow.
The German conspirators who attempted to overthrow Hitler and the Nazi regime from 1938 to 1944 never forgot the June 30th massacre. Many held it up as proof that Hitler would stop at nothing to achieve his demonic ends and could only be removed in the same manner.
It never pays to challenge a dictator's power.
Morning Humal.
Hi Feather.
We get the Band Tailed Pigeon at our feeders
We'll see how OSU does today against Southern Illinois in the NCAA Tourney. OU goet knocked out yesterday by Utah 68-50.
Thanks. We strive to do that every day at the Foxhole!
Good morning Aeronaut.
Hey radu.
Hiya alfa6.
Good morning EGC.
Wonderful. I'm so glad people are not becoming complacent about it. We can't let that happen.
So where is that teenage picture of you when you went to serve? ;-)
Grtant's aide was Horace PORTER. My apologies. Another senior moment.
The FReeper Foxhole Profiles General Stand Hope Watie - Jan. 5th, 2004
So are you a reenactor?
Thanks Mayor. Good morning.
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The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem a few days before His death focused attention on Christ as Lord. When Jesus sent His disciples to get the colt He was to ride, He instructed them to tell its owners, "The Lord has need of it" (Luke 19:31). And when the crowds shouted their praise, they quoted Psalm 118:26, saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Luke 19:38).