*********************** THE GOLD HOAX **************************
In May 1864, Joseph Howard, city editor of the "Brooklyn Eagle," conceived a scheme designed to make himself rich almost over- night. His first step was to buy gold with every dollar he could borrow. Then he fed bogus news stories concerning a Federal call for an additional four hundred thousand men to numerous publications. Two of them, the "New York World" and the "Journal of Commerce" took the bait detailing military failures necessitating the draft. When readers absorbed the dismal news, many began to buy gold as a hedge against infla- tion. The price of gold jumped 10 percent in a single day.
Now famous as the Gold Hoax, the plot masterminded by a news- paper editor did not make him rich. Instead, it sent him to jail for ninety days.
In Washington, the gold scare caused Lincoln to suffer one of the most serious embarrassments of his presidency. He had planned to issue just such a call as Howard described, but furor created by the Gold Hoax forced him to delay the procla- mation for two months.
****************** THE GENERAL KNOWS BEST *********************
Indiana-born Ambrose E. Burnside graduated from West Point in 1847 and was assigned to the artillery branch of the service. His Mexican War duties consisted only of garrison assignments, but he was later wounded while fighting Apaches in New Mexico.
During his recuperation he devised a way to improve breech- loading carbines. His invention had such potential that he resigned from the army and became a weapons manufacturer in Rhode Island.
With the outbreak of the war, he became a major of the First Rhode Island Infantry on May 2, 1861 - a command he held only one month. After having led a brigade at the battle of Manassas, Burnside accepted a brigadier's rank in the U. S. Volunteers.
His successful leadership of the North Carolina Expeditionary Corps (from December 1861 to April 1862) repeatedly put his name into headlines. Probably as a result of the publicity gained from his penetration into Secessionist territory, Lincoln offered to put the Hoosier at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Burnside declined, believing he lacked adequate experience. When Lincoln's patience with George B. McClellan was exhausted following the battle of Antietam, the president again approached Burnside and made it clear that he expected immediate acceptance.
Perhaps reluctantly, Burnside took command over the most powerful Federal army in the country. Now remembered more for his facial hair than for his success on the battlefield, Burnside's ineptness demonstrated that he - not Lincoln - was right about his ability to lead an army.
*** Read more about interesting personalities of the Civil War in our section on "Biographies" at: http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/features/people/list.cfm
********************** MONUMENT TO A DRUM **********************
Private Henry Brown of Darlington, South Carolina, is renowned as having been the only regularly enrolled man of African descent who fought in the Confederate forces of his state. Brown was not issued a musket or rifle; he carried a drum.
Since his combat service was in a class by itself, South Carolina citizens later decided to extend to him another unique honor. A monument fifteen feet tall was erected to his memory, the only memorial of its sort in the Old Confederacy.
*** More information on "Regimental Units" from South Carolina can be found at: http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/features/regimental/index.cfm
********************** BURIED SECRETS *************************
An unexpected discovery was made in 1934 near Shiloh National Military Park. Digging in his garden, Mancil Milligan found a quantity of human bones. He eventually learned that he had stumbled upon the unmarked grave of nine Federal soldiers killed in the battle.
While Milligan's find evoked wide interest in the region, it was not until pathologists examined them that a more interesting discovery was made. One set of bones belonged to a female, probably killed or fatally wounded by the minie ball that lay close to her ribs.
Investigation failed to identify the woman who died at Shiloh. According to some authorities, however, she was the only female positively known to have been killed in combat.
********************** "CUMPY" SHERMAN *************************
Attorney Charles R. Sherman of Ohio considered the Native American warrior Tecumseh to be one of the greatest men of the region. He named his son in honor of the Shawnee chieftain. Relatives found the boy's name cumbersome, so they abbreviated it to Cump.
When Cump was nine years old, his father died suddenly, leaving his widow and eleven children all but destitute. Relatives and friends took the children into their homes and reared them as though they were their own.
Cump was adopted informally by wealthy Thomas Ewing, a neighbor. Soon Ewing insisted that the boy be baptized formally, decreeing that Cump must have "a proper Christian name." Since the day chosen was the feast day of Saint William, at Ewing's orders the priest christened the boy William Tecumseh.
The boy went on to be one of the most effective Union generals of the Civil War. Although he customarily signed all military documents as W. T. Sherman, among relatives and intimates he continued to be known as Cump or Cumpy.
*** Read more about interesting personalities of the Civil War in our section on "Biographies" at: http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/features/people/list.cfm
***************** LEE'S PARADOXICAL CAVALIER ******************
CSA Brigadier General John Pegram was a Virginia gentleman from an aristocratic family. He was also a professional soldier who answered his state’s call to rebellion. In battle he was courageous to a fault, and his officers and men generally responded to his leadership by example. But there was something wrong about his generalship.
*** Read the full essay about Pegram, the research paper authored by Scott Laidig for the American Military University, and titled "Brigadier General John Pegram: Lee's Paradoxical Cavalier," which can be found at: http://www.ehistory.com/uscw/library/essays/list.cfm
