Two important birthdays just had to happen on the same day here in Gettysburg. Ms. Jennie Wade was born on May 21, 1843. Her birthday pal turned 5 years old today and wanted to celebrate her birthday with coming to see her on their special day. She couldn’t get out of the car, but she made sure she wined a little to say “Happy Birthday”.
Happy Birthday to Ms. Jennie Wade and Layla.
After the amputation of his left arm on the early morning of Mary 3rd, he was moved to the Chancellor’s House on May4th. Mary Ann Jackson was alerted of her husband’s amputation and made arrangements to come to see her husband and nurse him. Reverend Lacy arrived on May 5th and read bible versus to Stonewall Jackson. Mrs. Jackson arrived on May 7th to help around the small house and talk to her husband as he rested after his surgery.
On Friday, May 8th, Stonewall Jackson’s health took a turn for the worse as he fell into pneumonia. Reverend Lacy continued to spend time in vigil while the staff that served Jackson for the last two years helps Mrs. Jackson. On Sunday, May 10th, Dr. McGuire informs everyone that Stonewall will pass away sometime today. Mrs. Jackson spends time with Thomas Jackson as he opens his eyes and slowly takes and whispers with his wife. Stonewall mentions that he’d like to be buried in his family plot in Lexington, Virginia.
Around 1 p.m., Stonewall slowly whispers the following statement: ” It is the Lord’s day, my wish is fulfilled and have always desired to die on his day.” A few hours later around 3:15 p.m., he opens his eyes wide and starts talking in phrases: “Let us cross over the river, and rest under the shade of the trees”. Thomas Stonewall Jackson peacefully closes his eyes and dies on the bed with his wife and staff surrounding the bed.
This picture above is from Arlington National Cemetery in 2013 when I visited it. It shows a small river in the “shade of the trees” within the cemetery. It shows thousands of graves of soldiers that crossed over the river to heaven. It is a fitting tribute to a great general that served his soldiers, his family, and his faith.
This battle that occurred in Virginia was considered one of General Robert E. Lee’s greatest battles. According to the historians, this was the fifth deadliest battle of the Civil War. However, even though this battle was a complete success against the Union, it came with a cost. General Stonewall Jackson, Lee’s right hand man, was mortally wounded by friendly fire on the evening of May 2nd.
Overall at Chancellorsville, the Union army had around 97,000 soldiers with 1700 being killed, 9700 wounded, and 6000 soldiers were missing. On the other hand, the Confederates had around 57,000 soldiers, approximately 1725 killed, 9200 wounded, and 2500 missing. Across this battlefield, there is more signage and wayside markers than monuments.
The grand plan that Lee and Jackson developed was to attack the Union’s right flank. Lee had approximately 13,000 soldiers and a huge artillery battalion, while Jackson had nearly 28,000 soldiers and had to march twelve miles out of view behind the Union lines.
The attack began around 5 p.m. on the afternoon of May 2nd and attacked the 11th Corps, which was commanded by Union General Oliver O. Howard. As I have mentioned within the first day battle in Gettysburg, the 11th Corps were called the “Flying Dutchmen”. This is where they obtained that nickname. The 11th Corps were surprised attacked by the Confederates and fled more than 2 miles before General Hooker dug in and awaited the Confederates near the Chancellor’s House.
Darkness fell and around 8 p.m. General Stonewall Jackson and his commanders on horseback were possibly near enemy lines. They were unsure about their location of their troops and the enemy. The 33rd North Carolina skirmish line fires into the group. Jackson is hit three times: one in the right hand, the second in the left shoulder blade, and the other in the left elbow. Jackson’s horse runs off and Jackson is put into a stretcher and taken to a field hospital. During the shooting and the field hospital, Jackson would fall off the stretcher three times, and have bandages on his shoulder and elbow. His own physician, Hunter McGuire, would see Jackson in the field hospital. On the morning of May 3rd, his left arm was amputated. From the bullet that was taken out of his amputated arm, it was a smooth-bore bullet, which came from the 33rd North Carolina regiment. Around the same time, General Robert E. Lee learns that Stonewall Jackson was shot.
Robert E. Lee was quoted as saying, “He has lost his left arm, but I have lost my right.”
Sadly, on April 15, 1865, Abraham Lincoln died at 7:22 a.m. on Saturday morning. He died at the young age of 56 years old. A silence fell over the room, and Mary Todd Lincoln was weeping with her son, Robert. His War Secretary, Stanton, finally broke the silence and said the following:
Abraham Lincoln left the White House and went towards his favorite place when he wasn’t at the “People’s house. He traveled by carriage north a few miles to a location that overlooked the scenic view of Washington, D.C, and the surrounding countryside. He arrived at the Soldiers’ Home, that also served as the summer retreat for the family. Even though the Civil War ended a few days earlier at Appomattox on April 9th, he relaxed for a few hours on April 13th before heading back to the White House. The next day, President Abraham Lincoln co-signed his last document along with Treasury Secretary Hugh McCulloch, and he then had lunch with Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln in the early afternoon.
Afterward, they went on a carriage ride to the Navy Yards. While there, they witnessed three Monitors in port that were damaged during the Battle of Fort Fisher in North Carolina. Above is a picture of a Monitor that President Abraham Lincoln and Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln may have seen. While riding in the carriage, Mr. Lincoln mentioned that “we must both be more cheerful in the future” after having been miserable since their son Willy died in February 1862.
The blue dot (house) is the location of the White House. The red dot (gun) is the location of Ford’s Theatre, and the location of the black dot (bullseye) is the location of the Petersen House.
They arrived back to the White House and had dinner and met with other Illinois friends. He read a few chapters of a book and got ready to head out for the evening. Around 8 to 8:30 p.m., President Abraham Lincoln, Mary Todd Lincoln, Major Henry Rathbone, and his fiancé Clara Harris got into a carriage and left for Ford’s Theatre. They arrived after the play started to a full house that was viewing “Our American Cousin ” and there was a standing ovation to his arrival as they sat down in the presidential box. Things would change only a few hours later for the worst.
Numerous things occurred in April 1865 around the Nation’s Capital and the White House. Abraham Lincoln was alerted of Confederate Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox on April 9th, that signaled the end of the Civil War. A month prior to the surrender, he gave his second inaugural address to the Nation after winning the election over democratic nominee and former Union Army general George McClellan. Lincoln received 55.1% of the popular vote. On April 13th, Lincoln left the White House and headed toward the Cottage northwest of town to relax. This cottage is now called the President Lincoln’s Cottage.
Recently as of 2008, this cottage is open to the public. Lincoln resided at the cottage with his family during the months of June to November of 1862-1864. I was able to explore the cottage with family members during the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. It was an amazing experience to witness where his family would enjoy Washington D.C. away from the tidal basin and how he would have to travel back and forth each day to the White House.
Citizens around Washington D.C. were happy that Lincoln continued to improve the Nation and was looking forward to the next four years and see where Reconstruction would occur between the North and the South. Flags waved through the streets and across different locations around town.
The Civil War was against the North and the South. Infantry walked thousand of miles from Pennsylvania to Florida and from the Atlantic Ocean to eastern Kentucky over and over again. However, it wasn’t just the infantry doing the fighting on the ground. There was also battles on the water that prevented trade routes to enforce the Confederates with goods and supplies from Britain or from other states. Naval battles occurred near the port cities near Norfolk, Baltimore, Savannah, Charleston, and New Orleans. Some cities, like Norfolk, had Union and Confederate ships fighting each other to control the waterways.
In the Battle of Hampton Roads, the ironclads of the CSS Virginia and the USS Monitor happened for first and only time between the two ships. The battle lasted four hours and it was a draw. It was the first fight for any ironclad to fight with a rotating turret. Luckily, the USS Monitor was able to use this advantage and shoot more often at the CSS Virginia since it also had a shallow draft, unlike the Confederate ship.
The USS Monitor had a draft of 10 feet, while the CSS Virginia had 22 feet. Both were a problem for each ship for different reasons. Two months after the Battle of Hampton Roads, Union troops and the U.S. Navy advanced on occupied Norfolk. The Virginia was steam-powered and was not able to enter into the Atlantic Ocean even though it could pass through the Union blockade. They could have escaped the enemy forces, but the James River was too shallow for it to pass. Even after dumping most of the coal and supplies into the river, it was still not enough to move northward. Therefore, the new caption of the USS Virginia ordered her destruction and was destroyed by scatting gunpowder and cotton on the ship’s deck. On May 11th, the fire reached the ironclad’s magazine and lead to a massive explosion and the ship sank in approximately 30 feet of water.
On December 30th-31st, 1862, the USS Monitor along with the aid of a tug, the side-wheeler frigate USS Rhode Island, was rounding Cape Hatteras in the Atlantic Ocean as a storm lashed it’s decks. The storm increased in intensity and it started to leak and take on water. It pitched and rolled in the swells and after awhile, sank to the bottom. Luckily, the USS Rhode Island was there to pick up as many survivors as they could, but sadly 16 sailors lost their lives and it sank into 230 feet of water.
When the turret was raised to the surface in 2002 and placed in a local museum to be studied and preserved, they found two of the sixteen inside the turret. Both of them along with a military honors for the others were given within Arlington National Cemetery. They are located near the gravesites for the Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia.
President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated on March 4, 1861. Between his election victory in November 1860 and this week’s ceremonies, seven state seceded and formed the Confederate States of America. However, the crowds came to see the man who won the election that was going to lead them through the Civil War.
Looking at the picture itself, the east wing of the Capital is being worked on to be finished.
His second inauguration day was four years to the day later on March 4, 1865. A few weeks later, the Civil War ended. After the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox, he was shot at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. on April 14th, 1865 and died the next morning. He was the first president to be assassination.
The Wade’s and McClellan’s families, along with the author have one thing in common. What is it?
One of the most famous president’s of all time would be celebrating his 217th birthday on February 12th, 2026. He was the one of a few presidents who was assassinated while in office. However, his work and contributions in providing safety, order, and leadership is well documented and revived among historians, collogues of his time, and historians still to the present day.
As a moderate Republican, he had to navigate political opinions across the parties, deal with a Civil War between the North and the South, and give tremendous speeches. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1st, 1863 which declared the slaves in the states to be free. He delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 1863 after the battle of Gettysburg. He was re-elected in 1864 and sought to heal the nation through Reconstruction. He was able to witness and see the results of the surrender of the Confederate Army at Appomattox in April 1865.
However, your life ended far too soon on April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theatre by receiving a shot to the head by stage actor John Wilkes Booth. You were carried from the Theatre across the street on a door to the Petersen House where you passed away at 7:22 a.m. on April 15, 1864. Even though you don’t remember, your wife Mary Todd Lincoln and your son Robert Todd Lincoln were at your bedside with numerous others as you slipped into the ages.
Today is the day of your birth, so even though it’s with great sadness that you passed away at an early age (55), your still a legend and a symbol for the American people. You were born in Illinois and became a notable president that people still remember.
Happy Birthday, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States!!
