The dog at the foot of the Irish Brigade’s monument at Gettysburg is an Irish wolfhound, the brigade’s mascot. Two Irish wolfhounds were adopted by the 69th New York Infantry and were clad in green coats bearing the number “69” in gold letters. They would parade immediately to the rear of the Regimental Color Guard. Most Civil War units, North and South, often adopted a mascot of some kind—dogs, cats, birds, bears, raccoons, badgers, and in one case, a camel.
The Irish Brigade was famous for its war cry, “Faugh a ballagh,” which means “clear the way.” Many Union units had their own war cries, and Union soldiers were famous for cheering on the battlefield to celebrate victory, or on occasion, to salute the gallantry of an enemy unit.
The Confederate troops preferred their own form of battle cry called “the rebel yell.” It is said to be a high pitched “Wa-woo-woohoo, wa-woo woohoo” almost always reserved for the attack. Shelby Foote notes that historians are not quite sure how the yell sounded, being described as “a foxhunt yip mixed up with sort of a banshee squall.” Union Soldiers described the yell with reference to “a peculiar corkscrew sensation that went up your spine when you heard it,” along with the comment that “if you claim you heard it and weren’t scared that means you never heard it.”
Before the Civil War, Union General Dan Sickles shot and killed Phillip Barton Key, the son of Francis Scott Key in Lafayette Park in Washington, DC, over an alleged romance with Sickles’s wife. Sickles was acquitted of the murder by using the “not guilty by reason of insanity” defense, the first American to successfully make such a plea. One of his defense lawyers was Edwin M. Stanton, who became Secretary of War under President Lincoln. Sickles’s severed leg bone from his wounding at Gettysburg is still on display at the National Museum of Health and Medicine. He outlived all the other general officers who fought at Gettysburg, passing away on May 3, 1914, at the age of ninety-four, in New York City.
On July 12, 1862, Congress passed a resolution to establish the Medal of Honor for military personnel who “distinguished themselves by their gallantry in action.” Sixty-three soldiers received this award for their actions at Gettysburg, including Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain.
The Confederate Congress authorized a Confederate Medal of Honor in October 1862, but no official awards for gallantry were ever issued to soldiers. Instead a “Roll of Honor” was established to contain the names of deserving soldiers selected one-per-company by their peers at each engagement. To be “mentioned in dispatches” on official after-action reports was a great honor.
Lincoln was the tallest president. At 6 feet, 4 inches, Lincoln towered over most other people. The average height for a man during that time was about 5 feet, 6 inches. When seated, the president was about the same height as an average man; he just had exceptionally long legs. His height and appearance were often the subject of jokes he made about himself, which he used with great effect to gain the attention of onlookers before a speech. One of his favorite jokes was, “If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?”
Lincoln’s stovepipe top hat served as more than fashionable headgear. He used it to store and carry notes, letters, and even bills. It is said he liked to wear his tall hat in order to be easily seen in a crowd and to stand above his political rivals.
Before Abraham Lincoln, there had never been a U.S. president with a beard. Since his presidency, four presidents have had full beards.
Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America, were born only a few dozen miles apart from each other in Kentucky.
Abraham Lincoln was the first president to be born outside of the original thirteen states.
Lincoln was a deeply religious Christian, but never formally joined any church. He read the Bible often. When asked if he thought the Lord was on the side of the North in the Civil War, Lincoln responded, “I am not at all concerned about that. . . But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.”
In February of 1862, Lincoln turned down an offer by the King of Siam to send a herd of elephants to help the Union win the Civil War. Lincoln kindly replied, “I appreciate most highly Your Majesty’s tender of good offices in forwarding to this Government a stock from which a supply of elephants might be raised on our own soil... Our political jurisdiction, however, does not reach latitude so low as to favor the multiplication of the elephant...”