Eutrochium

Black Terror was a fake warship used in the American Civil War to bluff Confederate forces into destroying the partially-salvaged remains of the ironclad USS Indianola. Union forces were advancing to control the Mississippi River and had made two attempts to capture Vicksburg, Mississippi, in 1862. Early the next year, the ram USS Queen of the West moved downriver to interfere with Confederate shipping on the Red River; Indianola was sent down a few days later. However, Queen of the West was disabled and captured after an encounter with Confederate field fortifications, and Indianola was severely damaged on February 24 after an attack by the repaired Queen of the West and CSS William H. Webb.

Not wanting Indianola to be repaired and enter Confederate service like Queen of the West, Union Navy officer David Dixon Porter had a fake ironclad constructed to bluff Confederate salvage workers into destroying the wreck of Indianola. A flatboat or barge was expanded with logs, and outfitted with fake cannons, lifeboats, and smokestacks. The fake vessel cost less than $9 (equivalent to $189 in 2020) and was named Black Terror. At 23:00 on February 25, the fake ship was released downstream, and successfully convinced the Confederates that it represented a real threat. Believing they faced an actual warship, the Confederate salvage crew of Indianola blew up the ship's remains, although some cannons were later recovered. The naval historian Myron J. Smith has since suggested that Black Terror was actually a later fake designed to reveal the location of Confederate artillery batteries, and that the story has been conflated with a possible earlier ruse aimed at forcing the destruction of Indianola. (Full article...)

California's involvement in the American Civil War included sending gold east to support the war effort, recruiting volunteer combat units to replace regular U.S. Army units sent east, in the area west of the Rocky Mountains, maintaining and building numerous camps and fortifications, suppressing secessionist activity (many of these secessionists went east to fight for the Confederacy) and securing the New Mexico Territory against the Confederacy. The State of California did not send its units east, but many citizens traveled east and joined the Union Army there, some of whom became famous.

Democrats had dominated the state from its inception, and Southern Democrats were sympathetic to secession. Although they were a minority in the state, they had become a majority in Southern California and Tulare County, and large numbers resided in San Joaquin, Santa Clara, Monterey, and San Francisco counties. California was home for powerful businessmen who played a significant role in Californian politics through their control of mines, shipping, finance, and the Republican Party but Republicans had been a minority party until the secession crisis. The Civil War split in the Democratic Party allowed Abraham Lincoln to carry the state, albeit by only a slim margin. Unlike most free states, Lincoln won California with only a plurality as opposed to the outright majority in the popular vote. (Full article...)

Benjamin, c. 1856

Judah Philip Benjamin, QC (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician. He was a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to the United Kingdom at the end of the American Civil War, an English barrister. Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America and the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith.

Benjamin was born to Sephardic Jewish parents from London, who had moved to St. Croix in the Danish West Indies when it was occupied by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Seeking greater opportunities, his family immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Judah Benjamin attended Yale College but left without graduating. He moved to New Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar. (Full article...)

• ... that Carter Moore Braxton fought for the Confederacy throughout the American Civil War and, according to one report, had seven horses killed under him but avoided any wounds?
• ... that some historians believe that Steele's Greenville expedition marked a shift in the Union's war policy?
• ... that singer Frank Croxton performed a duet with his father for the unveiling of a monument to a Confederate States Army general?
• ... that Enoch Marvin Banks resigned from the University of Florida because of public outrage over his belief that the American Civil War was caused by slavery?
• ... that according to one historian, James S. Rains made a "significant contribution to the Confederate war effort" by getting drunk?
• ... that Dubuque, Arkansas, was destroyed in the American Civil War and is now covered by the waters of Bull Shoals Lake?