American Civil War Quiz

[Albany Rifles]

I have the name rattling around in what I call a brain but I can't recall it. Tried looking it up this weekend but couldn't find it.

I'd say you have stumped us pretty well!

[Shek]

What Confederate officer lost a son, killed by the forces he commanded?

Hardee?

[Bluesman]

Hardee?

Not to my knowledge, but if you can give us the details, I'll take it in lieu of the man I have in mind.

[Bluesman]

I'll give you a hint, but it may not be all that helpful:

It wasn't friendly fire; the son was on the other side. And he wasn't a Union soldier.

[Bluesman]

Dammit; I was going from memory, and I got one little detail wrong: the Confederate officer wasn't COMMANDING the forces that killed his son; he was a staff officer in the action, and was present when his son received his mortal wounds.

The action also had a great many other odd facts.

[Albany Rifles]

Shek,

I know Willie Hardee was killed at Bentonville but I believe it was Union rifle fire which killed him.

[Albany Rifles]

Blue's

Was the son a member of the US Sanitary Commission?

[Shek]

Shek,

I know Willie Hardee was killed at Bentonville but I believe it was Union rifle fire which killed him.

That's what I thought, but I wasn't sure and so I'd figure that I'd hazard it as a guess.

[Bluesman]

This is a WAY obscure incident, but one of the most poignant moments in a Civil War which saw such enormous tragedy.

The battle that saw this human disaster also was noteworthy for several OTHER notable facts:
The officer in the question was a general in a pre-war state militia, but only a major in the battle in which his son was killed, because that state was not in the Confederacy.
The son was second-in-command of one of the units enagaged, and his commanding officer was also killed.
That battle was fought on New Year's Day.
It saw what was very probably the youngest AND oldest (in uniform, anyway; hat-tip to John Burns) combatants.
A United States military unit was named in the son's honor.
A NORTHERN city was named for the father (a Confederate).
Both father and son graduated from different national military academies.

Some other noteworthy facts, but I'm late for lunch. :(

[Bluesman]

Blue's

Was the son a member of the US Sanitary Commission?

No.

[Bluesman]

Okay, any other tries before I give the answer?

[Bluesman]

Major Albert Lea (West Point, 1831) was adjutant to Major General 'Prince John' Magruder (West Point, 1830) at the Battle of Galveston, 1 January, 1863.

His son, Edward (US Naval Academy, 1855), was executive officer on the USS Harriet Lane, commanded by Commander Jonathon Mayhew Wainwright. Both men were mortally wounded in the battle.

'My father is here.'

[Bluesman]

Albert Lea, Minnesota is named after the father; USS Lea (DD-118), a Wickes-class destroyer built in 1918 and served in both World Wars, was named after the son.

The father was a general in the Iowa state militia before the Civil war.

The oldest (69)and youngest(10) uniformed combatants in the Civil War likely served in the Battle of Galveston.

[Albany Rifles]

Excellent question!

[Bluesman]

Thanks, Buck.