U.S. Presidents with Union Ties

Same source as the presidents with Confederate ties.

Some of the ex-presidents still alive during the Civil War, including Martin Van Buren and James Buchanan, were vocal supporters of Lincoln and the Union cause.

Charles Francis Adams was the son of one president and grandson of another and was minister of Great Britain under Lincoln.  (John Quincy Adams and John Adams)

Lincoln's second vice president, Andrew Johnson, was a Tennessee senator who had remained loyal to the Union.  This helped present a united ticket in the 1864 election.  Johnson became president after Lincoln's assassination.

Five future U.S. presidents:  Grant, Hayes, Garfield, Harrison and McKinley, all fought for the Union.

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Not a Union Tie

Robert E. Lee's wife Mary was the granddaughter of George Washington's stepson.

--Old Secesh

December 19: The President Taunts Crowd at Augusta Visit

From the August 19, 2020, Augusta (Georgia) Chronicle.

I bet you're thinking that President Trump left the White House for one more campaign rally.  But that is not the case because the December 19 in this instance is December 19, 1898, and the president is William McKinley.

DECEMBER 19, 1898

President William McKinley came to town and he brought his sense of humor with him.  On  a damp day in the week before Christmas, the republican drew one of the largest crowds ever on Broad Street.

During a lull in the activities, an ex-Confederate who was chatting with the president pointed with pride to a large marble memorial only a few yards away  and said, "That represents what sort of soldier we were."

"Yes, and what you were," replied the president who was a Union Army sergeant at the Battle of Antietam, "for I see the soldier surmounting the column has a 'U.S.' on his cartridge box."

McKinley referred to the  figure atop the memorial, according to an account in the Baltimore Sun,  and told the old Confederate that things had really worked out for the best.

Then, he wasted little time introducing a local favorite, Gen. Joseph  Wheeler.  The Augusta native and once dashing Confederate cavalryman was now a hero of the Spanish-American conflict.

Earlier this month, an Augusta task force has recommended this memorial be removed to a cemetery.  You know why.

Back Then, Not Now.  --Old Secesh

Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 5: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt

Continued from June 3.

President McKinley returned to Antietam Battlefield  on May 30, 1900, Memorial Day, to deliver  an address at the unveiling of the Maryland State Monument.  Interestingly, among McKinley's guests of honor  were Mr. and Mrs James Longstreet.

The next president to visit was  McKinley's successor, the old Rough Rider himself, Theodore Roosevelt.  Born in 1858, he was obviously too young to serve in the Civil War, but he did vividly remember watching the Lincoln funeral procession making its way through the streets of New York from his parents' bedroom window in April 1865.

Roosevelt visited Antietam Battlefield on September 17, 1903, to deliver a speech at the dedication of New Jersey's state monument.

--Old Secesh

Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 4: William McKinley

Perhaps no other U.S. president, save for possibly Lincoln, is as closely associated with Antietam Battlefield than William McKinley.  He served at Antietam as a sergeant of Company E, 23rd Ohio Infantry, the so-called Presidents Regiment.

Just three days before Antietam, at the Battle of South Mountain, McKinley's regimental commander, Lieutenant Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, had his left arm shattered by a musket ball and was forced to relinquish command.

As a nineteen-year-old commissary sergeant, McKinley kept the boys of the regiment well-fed at Antietam, even risking his life on the firing line to do so.

After the war, he served many years  in the U.S. House of Representatives, then as a two-term governor of Ohio before being elected president in 1896 and 1900.

--Old Secesh

Presidential Visits to Antietam Battlefield-- Part 1: McKinley and Lincoln

Today, I wrote about the speech President William McKinley gave at the Antietam Battlefield for Decoration Day (it was called this before changing to Memorial Day) in 1900 where he stressed he unification of the North and South after the bloody Civil War.  This was in my Civil War II blog.  Sadly, events today where certain groups are trying to erase any and all things Confederate, was not that way back 120 years ago.  The word was reunification and let bygones be bygones.

From the National Park Service:  Antietam National Battlefield, Maryland, "Presidential Visits to Antietam."

There is a strong presidential connection to Antietam battlefield ranging from  future president William McKinley being there during the battle and no less than eight sitting presidents have visited the site.

**  The first, of course, was Abraham Lincoln, who spent four days traveling over the battlefield in October 1862, just two weeks after the battle.  He met with his general, McClellan and tried to prod him to action.  While there, the president met with other generals and thousands of wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate.

His trip is well documented with many photographs, including that one in the tent conversing with McClellan.  Until recently, I had not noticed the Confederate flag on the ground behind Lincoln until someone in Civil War Talk pointed it out.

--Old Abe to Little Mac.  --Old Secesh

MCCWRT Trivia-- Part 3: What Were Hub Wafers?

**  Give the names of four Civil War leaders who have had their picture on U.S. current or past currency.  (The first two are easy, but man those last two.)

**   How many Confederate generals were killed and wounded at the Battle of Franklin?

**   Hub Wafers were eaten by Union soldiers.  What are they known as now?

**  Name the four Lincoln conspirators who were hanged.

ANSWERS

**  Lincoln on the $5 bill, Grant on the $50 bill, McKinley on the $500 and Salmon Chase on the $10,000 bill.   In case you're wondering, the biggest bill, $100,000 had the face of Woodrow Wilson on it.

**  6 died, 7 wounded

**  Necco Wafers   In case you're wondering, Neeco stands for the New England Confectionary Company.

**  Lewis Powell, Mary Surratt, David Herold and George Atzerodt.

Just All Sorts of Learning Going On.  --Old Secesh

Ten Notable Civil War Coincidences-- Part 1

The March 4th List Universe had "Ten Notable Coincidences of the American Civil War.

I knew some of them, but not others.

10. PRESIDENTS-- Two future presidents of the United States, Rutherford Hayes and William McKinley served in the23rd Ohio Volunteers.

9. FAMOUS LAST WORDS-- The Union Army's 6th Corps commander, Major General John Sedgwick tried to rally his men who were ducking because of sniper fire at the opening of the Battle of Spotsylvania, May 8, 1864. he had just started to say, "They couldn't hit an elephant from this distance, when a bullet shot to the head killed him instantly.

8. THE FALLING SWORD-- General Jackson's sword was propped up against a tree when it fell over on its own. Some believed it was an ominous sign. Later that day, he was wounded by his own men and later died from it. This helped foster the story of the falling sword.

More Coincidences to Come. --Old B-Runner