10 Fun Facts About Cranford and the Civil War

As we approach the final year of the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, here are some facts about our town's connection to that transformative conflict:

1.  A Cranford resident's mother is sometimes called the "Betsy Ross of the Confederacy" for her involvement in the design of the first Rebel flag.

2.  The father of a North Union Avenue resident taught at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point when Confederate President Jefferson Davis and General Robert E. Lee both attended the school as cadets.

3.  A Springfield Avenue resident thwarted the first assassination plot against President Abraham Lincoln.

4.  A Holly Street resident witnessed John Wilkes Booth assassinating President Lincoln at Ford's Theatre.

5.  An early Cranford resident commanded the artillery battery directly supporting the famous charge of the African-American 54th Massachusetts at Fort Wagner, South Carolina, which was made into the Hollywood movie "Glory."

6.  An early mayor of Cranford who served as an officer in the Union army was court-martialed in Virginia for sitting down and changing his muddy shoes, with the assistance of his servant, when he was supposed to be marching.

7.  Another early mayor of Cranford, who had been a sergeant in the Union army, served as captain of the amateur Thief Detecting Society, which kept the peace in town before the establishment of a formal police force.

8.  A Cranford resident raised the first Union flag to fly over Atlanta upon that city's fall to General William T. Sherman.

9.  An African-American resident of Johnson Avenue, who served in the Union army and was present at Appomattox for the surrender of Robert E. Lee to Ulysses S. Grant, was not allowed to attend the victory celebration, but was instead sent to Texas with other black troops to guard against a possible French-backed invasion of the United States by Mexico (which never came). 

10. A Walnut Avenue resident lost his right arm during the final push of the Union army at Petersburg, but nevertheless won a national prize for penmanship after the war, when he learned to write with his other hand.