Page:Facts About the Civil War (1955).djvu/11

 At Fredericksburg in 1862, the Confederate trenches stretched for a distance of 7 miles. The troop density was 11,000 per mile, or 6 men to the yard.

The greatest cavalry battle ever fought in the Western hemisphere was at Brandy Station, Virginia, on June 9, 1863. Nearly 20,000 cavalrymen were engaged on a relatively confined terrain for more than 12 hours.

The Confederate cruiser Shenandoah sailed completely around the world, raiding Union whalers and commerce vessels. The ship and its crew surrendered to English authorities in Liverpool more than 6 months after Lee’s surrender at Appomattox.

The U. S. S. Kearsarge sank the C. S. S. Alabama off the coast of Cherbourg, France, in a fierce engagement. Frenchmen gathered along the beach to witness the engagement, and Manet painted the scene which now hangs in a Philadelphia art gallery.

General Grant’s losses from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor in 1864, a period of 29 days, totalled 54,900.

Approximately 6,000 battles, skirmishes, and engagements were fought during the Civil War.

There were over 2,000 lads 14 years old or younger in the Union ranks. Three hundred were 13 years or less while there were 200,000 no older than 16 years.

The C. S. S. Alabama in 11 months captured 69 Northern prizes valued at $6,500,000.

Besides their captures, Confederate cruisers drove great numbers of U. S. ships under foreign flags for protection, precipitating the decline of the U. S. Merchant Marine.

During the Civil War, one small section of Virginia became America’s bloodiest battle ground. In three neighboring counties, embracing Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor, more than half a million men fought in deadly combat. Here, more men were killed and wounded during the Civil War than were killed and wounded in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the War with Mexico and all of the Indian wars combined. No fewer than 19 generals—10 Union and nine Confederate—met death here.