Factual Fact

My sister was riding me because I hadn't blogged in almost a month. SO here goes. I am in no way, shape or form implying that this will be good. Or even moderately good. At best it will be somewhat entertaining to my sister who was on the phone with me while I made my "discoveries".



I love history. Really, I do!



Recently my sister, Sarah has enlisted my help with some college papers she has been writing.



This alone make me feel smart, which I am not. The assistance she asks for is usually in the form of internet searches which I do while at work.



Translation. I am her be-yotch. I do the work, she gets the glory.



Today the search was for the exact date the civil war ended.



She ought to have known the can of worms this opened. I mean, CIVIL WAR. People this is the history subject of all history subjects....... at least American history subjects. The little "factual facts" I found were numerous beyond belief. On the PBS Civil War fact sheet alone I found out that:

• More than three million men fought in the war.


• During the Battle of Antietam, Clara Barton tended the wounded so close to the fighting that a bullet went through her sleeve and killed a man she was treating.


• Confederate General Nathan Forrest had 30 horses shot from under him and personally killed 31 men in hand-to-hand combat. "I was a horse ahead at the end," he was quoted as saying.

I love the opportunity to learn. But even more than that I love the opportunity to laugh:

• Ulysses S. Grant was not fond of ceremonies or military music. He said he could only recognize two tunes. "One was Yankee Doodle," he grumbled. "The other one wasn’t."

Maybe its me, maybe its the weather, or maybe I am just delirious, but it seems to me that Ulysses S. Grant was freakin' hilarious. Unlike this post.

By the way, the date was April 9, 1865.