During the Civil War Robert E. Lee’s hair turned from a strong black to completely white.
When the Rev. William N. Pendleton (West Point, ’30), who eventually became a brigadier general in the Confederate Army, took command of a battery in 1861 he promptly named the guns “Matthew,” “Mark,” “Luke,” and “John.”
On 3 May 1861 the Congress of the Confederate States of America declared war on the United States of America.
Drill instructors were in such short supply at the onset of the war that 13- year - old cadets from places such as Virginia Military Institute were pressed into service to drill men old enough to be their fathers and grandfathers.
No one knows whether it was a Yank or a Reb who made one of the most monumental discoveries of the war, but the troops of both sides very quickly learned that the barrel of a musket could hold nearly a pint of whiskey.
