Civil War

The Confederate note pictured in this picture is a $20 printed by the Confederate States of America in 1864. It portrays the Tennessee State Capital Building in Nashville. The man in the right lower corner is Alexander Stephens, the Confederate Vice-President. The bill was printed by Keatinge and Ball, Co. and the signatures were handwritten.

The poem was written by Major Sidney Alroy Jonas shortly after General J.E. Johnston's April 1865 surrender of his forces in North Carolina. Jonas wrote the poem for a young northern lady who wanted something to take home as a souvenir. It eloquently expressed what most of the Southern soldiers felt about the rapidly devaluating Confederate currency.

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The Gettysburg Address is recognized as one of America's literary masterpieces and probably the most quoted speech in American history. It was written by Abraham Lincoln for his address at the dedication of Soldiers National Cemetery at the battle site on November 19, 1863, four and a half months after the battle of Gettysburg. That battle with its Union victory is considered the decisive battle of the Civil War. The price in human lives was high, at the end of the three day battle, 7,500 men lay dead in the steaming July heat.

In just two minutes, Lincoln evoked all the buzz words, "freedom," "equality," "union," and "God." 15,000 people assembled for the ceremony. Lincoln was not the primary speaker. That was the Hon. Edward Everett, who had served as senator, congressman and President of Harvard University. Everette spoke for about two hours and few people remember that speech. Lincoln's address of 272 words far overpowered the wordy orator.

There are differences of opinion of the exact wording but the Bliss version (used here) is widely considered the most accurate as it is the only version that has come down to us that is signed by President Lincoln.