The Civil War of the United States

June Birthdays

John Hunt Morgan, born June 1, 1825

John Hunt Morgan was born in Huntsville, Alabama, the eldest of ten children of Calvin and Henrietta (Hunt) Morgan. He was a maternal grandson of John Wesley Hunt, a founder of Lexington, Kentucky, and one of the first millionaires wet of the Allegheny Mountains. He was 36 years old when the Civil War began. He was the eldest of six brothers, all of whom would fight for the Confederacy. His two sisters married Confederate generals. He and his brother, Tom, were killed during the war.

Harriet Beecher Stowe, born June 14, 1811

Harriet Elisabeth Beecher was born in Litchfield, Connecticut on June 14, 1811. She was the seventh of 13 children born to religious leader Lyman Beecher (1775-1863) and Roxana (Foote) (1775- 1816), a deeply religious woman. Harriet Beecher Stowe was 50 years old when the Civil War began.

Adah Isaacs Menken, born June 15, 1835
Adah Isaacs Menken was also known as Adelaide McCord and Ada Bertha Théodore. Because Menken told so many version of her origins, including name, place of birth, ancestry, and religion, historians have differed in their accounts. Most have said she was born a Louisiana Creole Catholic of mixed race, with European and African ancestry. She was variously reported to have been born in New York, Havana, and other places. She was said to have been born of a distinguished, old Southern family; another account claimed she was born in Arkansas of a French mother and an American-Indian father. She was 26 years old when the Civil War began.

Joseph Rainey, born June 21, 1832

Joseph Hayne Rainey was born into slavery in Georgetown, South Carolina, a seaside town consisting mainly of rice plantations. He and his brother, Edward Jr., were of mixed race; their mother, Grace, was of African and French descent. Their father, Edward Rainey, had been allowed to earn money by creating a successful business as a barber, though he paid a portion of his income to his master as required by law. He saved enough by the 1840s to purchase his freedom and that of his wife and sons. He was 29 years old when the Civil War began.

Martha "Mattie" Ready Morgan, born June 21, 1840
Martha Ready was born near Murfreesboro, Tennessee on June 21, 1840. She was the sixth of eight children, and the second of four girls, born to Colonel Charles Ready, Jr. and Martha Strong Ready. She was 21 years old when the Civil War began.

Henry Ward Beecher, born June 24, 1813

Born in Litchfield, Connecticut, Henry was the eighth of thirteen children of Lyman Beecher, a Presbyterian preacher from Boston, Massachusetts. Henry's mother, Roxana Foote, died when Henry was three years old. He was 48 years old when the Civil War began.

David Sinton, born June 26, 1808
David Sinton was born in County Armagh, Ireland, the son of Quaker linen manufacturer John Sinton, of Unshinagh, and Mary McDonnell. John Sinton was a cousin of Irish Quaker industrialist brothers, Thomas and John Sinton. Thomas Sinton made a significant impact upon the Irish linen trade, establishing the village of Laurelvale in County Armagh. The Sintons, like so many of Northern Ireland's linen families were Quakers. David Sinton was 53 years old when the Civil War began.