A West Point Man To The End

Union General George Washington Cullum died February 28th 1892.


George Washington Cullum was born February 25th 1809 in New York City. He grew up in Meadville Pennsylvania, before entering West Point. Cullum graduated third in his class of forty-three in 1833. He became a member of the Corps of Engineers, where he supervised construction projects on the East Coast, including Fort Trumbull in New London Connecticut. Cullum taught engineering at West Point from 1848 to 1855.

At the beginning of the Civil War Cullum served as the aide-de-camp for General Winfield Scott. In November 1861 he was promoted to Brigadier General and transferred to the Department of Missouri as Chief Engineer. He was the chief engineer during the Siege of Corinth. Cullum was brevetted Major General and sent back to West Point were he served as the superintendent of the military academy until 1866.

Following the war Cullum stayed in the military, working on an assortment of engineering projects designed to strengthen the United State’s coastal defenses. He retired in January 1874 and moved back to New York City. Cullum died there from pneumonia February 28th 1892. He left money to West Point for the building of a Memorial Hall and the continuations of his “Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the US Military Academy.

Reducing The Exposure To Battle And Disease

The inventor of the Gatling Gun, Dr Richard Jordan Gatling died February 26th 1903.


Richard Jordan Gatling was born September 12th 1818 in Money’s Neck, Como, North Carolina, the son of Jordan Gatling. His father was also an inventor. Gatling’s first invention at the age of 21 was a screw propeller for steamboats, however he found that the same thing had recently been patented by John Ericsson. Gatling owned a store, and while running it he continued to invent, coming up with a planting device for rice and wheat. He made enough money from this invention, to attend and graduate from the Ohio Medical College in 1850. He married Jemima Sanders the daughter of an Indianapolis Indiana doctor October 25th 1854.

After noting during the Civil War that most of dead, died from disease, rather gunshots, Gatling began working on a machine gun. He wrote, "It occurred to me that if I could invent a machine - a gun - which could by its rapidity of fire, enable one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would, to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies, and consequently, exposure to battle and disease [would] be greatly diminished." After developing a working prototype in 1862 Gatling started the Gatling Gun Company in Indianapolis. Although Union General Benjamin F Butler and Union Admiral David Dixon Porter bought the guns, the United States didn’t start buying them until 1866. Gatling sold his patents for the gun to Colt in 1870, but he remained president of the division until 1897.

After inventing the Gatling Gun he continued to work on other improvements, including toilets, methods for cleaning raw wool, bicycles, and others. He lived in St Louis Missouri, where he opened a company to manufacture his steam tractors and plows. While on a trip to visit his daughter in New York City, Gatling died at her home February 26th 1903. He is buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis Indiana.

Beauty From War

American artist Winslow Homer noted for his landscapes and Civil War scenes was born February 24th 1836.

Winslow Homer was born in Boston, Massachusetts February 24th 1836, the son of Charles Savage and Henrietta [Benson] Homer. He learned watercolor from his mother and was a self taught artist who didn’t get an education in art. Homer began his career in art as an apprentice to a commercial lithographer. In the 1850’s he began working for Harper’s Weekly, creating line art from photographs. Most of these works were published without creditting Homer. As time went by Homer’s reputation expanded, and he stopped working from photos and began creating his own illustrations, such as when he attended Abraham Lincoln’s inauguration.

Harper’s Weekly sent him to front lines of the Civil War. As the Civil War continued Homer’s style grew. He began to draw in a more artistic way with less attention to details. Homer drew scenes of battle and camp life. One of his more famous works was of Union Major General George B McClellan on the banks of the Potomac River in 1861. Following the war he began his career as a painter. Several of his painting are based on drawings Homer made during the war, including “the Sharpshooter” and the “Prisoners from the Front”.

In the 1880’s he moved to Prout’s Neck Maine. Here he painted scenes of the coast. Homer died September 29th 1910, he is buried in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge Massachusetts.

Keep The Confederates Busy

The First Battle of Dalton began February 22nd 1864 in Georgia.

As part of General William Tecumseh Sherman’s march on Meridan Mississippi east from Vicksburg, General Ulysses S Grant ordered that the Confederates be keep busy. Union Major General George Henry Thomas; leading part of the Army of the Cumberland, decided to explore Confederate General Joseph E Johnston’s troop strength. On February 22nd 1864 Thomas’ troop began skirmishing with the Confederates to see if the loss of two divisions made them vulnerable. Beginning the First Battle of Dalton in the Whitfield County, Georgia area. After several days of off and on fighting the Union army withdrew, realizing that Johnston could hold off any assault.

Hung For A Slave Trader

Nathaniel Gordon was hung on February 21st 1862 as a slave trader.


Nathaniel Gordon was born about 1834 in Portland Maine. Using his ship the “Erie” he loaded 897 black Africans, raging in age from 6 months to forty-seven near the Congo River in West Africa. He and the ship were capture on August 8th 1860 by the USS “Mohican”. He was brought to trial for being engaged in the Slave Trade, using the Piracy Law of 1820. Gordon’s first trial ended in a hung jury, but the second trial held in New York City brought a conviction on November 9th 1861. He was sentenced to death by hanging on February 7th 1862. President Abraham Lincoln issued Gordon a stay of execution, so that he could his affairs in order. The night before the execution Gordon tried prevent the hanging by using strychnine to committed suicide. He was unsuccessful and became the only American ever executed for being a slave trader on February 21st 1862.

His Stirrup Broke

Confederate officer William Edwin Baldwin died February 19th 1864.


William Edwin Baldwin was born July 28th 1827. He owned a bookstore in Columbus Mississippi and was a member of the local militia. Baldwin enlisted in the Confederate army when Mississippi seceded, and was commissioned a Colonel in the 17th Mississippi Infantry. He was briefly posted in Pensacola Florida, before the Unit was sent to Tennessee and then Kentucky. Baldwin was captured at the Battle of Fort Donelson. After being exchanged he was sent to West Tennessee and promoted to Brigadier General. Baldwin took over command of a brigade of Tennessee and Mississippi soldiers, who saw service at the Battle of Coffeeville, and in the Vicksburg Campaign. He was captured again, but once again managed a release and was assigned to the District of Mobile. Baldwin died February 19th 1864 when his stirrup broke and he fell off his horse near Dog River Factory in Alabama.

The First And Only

Jefferson Davis took the oath of office February 18th 1861 and became the first and only President of the Confederacy.

Jefferson Davis was in his garden when news came that he had been elected President of the Confederate States of America. His wife Varina Davis thought the telegram, most have brought the news of a death in the family from her husband’s reaction. Davis left the next day for Confederate capital in Montgomery, Alabama were the inauguration ceremony was held February 18th 1861. As the first and only president of the Confederacy he grappled with trying to run a war and create a government for the new nation.