Civil War Facts – Facts You Should Know About the Civil War

10 Facts About the Civil War

Susie King Taylor, a runaway slave from 0 and Civil War nurse was one of the first African American nurses in US history. She also taught soldiers to read and write.

Dr Mary Edwards Walker was the only female surgeon in U.S. Military history and she is the only woman in the Civil War to be awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest honor given to a citizen of U.S. And she is the only female recipient of the award to date.

In the Civil War, 1 in every 7 wounded federates died and 1 in 5 wounded confederates died, sometimes within minutes, sometimes after months of suffering.

Surgeons treated over 73,000 soldiers for syphilis and over 109,000 for gonorrhea among the Union white troops. African American soldiers had incidents of less than half than that of the white troops.

“Quaker guns” were fake artillery used by both sides during the Civil War to cause confusion about troop location and strength.

African American soldiers were allowed to join the Union Army in 1863.

Gatling gun was a Civil War invention. Richard Gatling hoped that his rapid fire gun would help Union win over Confederates.

Harriet Tuban led raids to free slaves during the Civil War. She also taught slave women skills that could earn them wages with the Union Army.

Andersonville is the most ill-famed of Civil War prison camps. Approximately 33,000 soldiers were imprisoned there at some point in the war, and more than 13,000 men died at this camp.

Although both the North and South did not allow women to fight, it is believed that about 250-400 women fought disguised as men.