Abraham Lincoln was not particularly fond of the nickname “Abe” so no one called him that.  His wife Mary called him Mr. Lincoln or Father and other acquaintances and friends called him Mr. Lincoln or just Lincoln and he often signed letters to his friends with A. Lincoln.

The first submarine to sink an enemy ship was the H.L. Hunley on February 17, 1864.  A Confederate submarine, with a crew of 8 including Confederate Lt. George Dixon, set off into the Charleston Harbor to sink the Union ship U.S.S. Housatonic. The sub was man powered by hand cranks attached to the propeller shaft. They were successful in attaching an explosive to the U.S.S. Housatonic and detonating it, sending the ship to the bottom, however, before it could return to port, the H.L. Hunley sank to the bottom also killing its entire crew.

In July of 1863 Union Brig. Gen. Edward H. Hobson captured Confederate Brig. Gen. John Hunt Morgan and took him to the Ohio State Prison.  Morgan escaped from prison and less than a year later, he and his men captured a group of Federal troops in Cynthiana, Kentucky.  Their commander was Edward H. Hobson.

It was not a forgone conclusion that Robert E. Lee would command the Confederate States Army. In many ways he sympathized with the North. He considered slavery wrong and supported the preservation of the Union, yet he turned down Lincoln's offer to command Union forces. In the end, his loyalty to his state of Virginia was stronger than his loyalty to the Union.

Thomas Jefferson did not consider himself a good public speaker and avoided it whenever possible.  In fact while he was President, rather than address Congress in person as they do today, he would communicate with Congress in writing.

Both John Adams and Thomas Jefferson died July 4, 1826, exactly 50 years after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Shortly before John Adams passed away, his last clear words were "Thomas Jefferson" or simply "Jefferson" followed by some less intelligible words.  Some claim his last words were "Thomas Jefferson survives but no one can say for sure.  What we do know is that unknown to Adams, Thomas Jefferson had actually died just hours earlier.

John Hancock may be best know for his larger than life signature on the Declaration of Independence. What many don't know is that he was the only one to sign the document on the day it was adopted, July 4, 1776.  Indeed it was the only signature on the document until August 2 when the remaining delegates began signing.

At the age of 10, Washington inherited 10 slaves. By the time of his death, there were 316 slaves either owned or managed by him on his plantation at Mount Vernon.  In his early ages, Washington appeared to have no reservations about the institution of slavery but as he grew older his attitude towards slavery began to change.  By 1786 he admitted privately to friends that he wished to no longer own slaves but the laws in Virginia at the time made it difficult to emancipate a slave and to sell them would require the break-up of the slave families which he refused to do.  During his later years, he often wrote of his desire to find a plan for the gradual abolition of slavery and also realized that the issue of slavery could at some point bring about the breakup of the Union.

Although Benjamin Franklin was never the President of the United States, he was the only one of our founding fathers to have signed all four of what might be the most important documents in the creation of the United States.  Those documents were the Declaration of Independence (of which he helped create), the Treaty of Alliance, Amity, and Commerce with France, the Treaty of Peace between England, France, and the United States, and the Constitution (of which he also helped create).