The statue in 2007

Robert E. Lee on Traveller (also known as General Robert E. Lee and Confederate Soldier, and Robert E. Lee and Young Soldier) is a bronze sculpture by Alexander Phimister Proctor depicting the Confederate general of the same name, his horse Traveller, and a young Confederate States Army officer, formerly installed at Dallas' Turtle Creek Park, in the U.S. state of Texas. The statue was unveiled by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936, removed in 2017, and sold by the city for $1,435,000 to a law firm. It now stands on a Texan golf course. (Full article...)

Texas declared its secession from the Union on February 1, 1861, and joined the Confederate States on March 2, 1861, after it had replaced its governor, Sam Houston, who had refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. As with those of other states, the Declaration of Secession was not recognized by the US government at Washington, DC. Some Texan military units fought in the Civil War east of the Mississippi River, but Texas was more useful for supplying soldiers and horses for the Confederate Army. Texas' supply role lasted until mid-1863, when Union gunboats started to control the Mississippi River, which prevented large transfers of men, horses, or cattle. Some cotton was sold in Mexico, but most of the crop became useless because of the Union's naval blockade of Galveston, Houston, and other ports. (Full article...)

Crosshatch portrait, based on an 1890 gelatin silver print by Edward Bierstadt

Elliott Fitch Shepard (July 25, 1833 – March 24, 1893) was a New York lawyer, banker, and owner of the Mail and Express newspaper, as well as a founder and president of the New York State Bar Association. Shepard was married to Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt, who was the granddaughter of philanthropist, business magnate, and family patriarch Cornelius Vanderbilt. Shepard's Briarcliff Manor residence Woodlea and the Scarborough Presbyterian Church, which he founded nearby, are contributing properties to the Scarborough Historic District.

Shepard was born in Jamestown, New York, one of three sons of the president of a banknote-engraving company. He graduated from the University of the City of New York in 1855, and practiced law for about 25 years. During the American Civil War, Shepard was a Union Army recruiter and subsequently earned the rank of colonel. He was later a founder and benefactor of several institutions and banks. When Shepard moved to the Briarcliff Manor hamlet of Scarborough-on-Hudson, he founded the Scarborough Presbyterian Church and built Woodlea; the house and its land are now part of Sleepy Hollow Country Club. (Full article...)

• ... that some historians believe that Steele's Greenville expedition marked a shift in the Union's war policy?
• ... that Dubuque, Arkansas, was destroyed in the American Civil War and is now covered by the waters of Bull Shoals Lake?
• ... 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 the state of Illinois erected both the Illinois Memorial and the Illinois Monument on American Civil War battlefields in the early 1900s?
• ... that the Battle of Saint Charles featured what is known as the deadliest shot of the American Civil War?
• ... that the Confederate States Navy ordered six Squib-class torpedo boats from England, but they were never delivered?