Civil War Ghost Stories and Lore Quiz

Answer: Abraham Lincoln

It's considered a sign of Lincoln predicting his own death. According to Ward Hill Lamon, Lincoln recounted this dream to Mary Todd Lincoln and himself just three days prior to his assassination. In his "Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865", published posthumously in 1895, Lamon claims that Lincoln was disturbed by this dream, being "grave, gloomy, and at times visibly pale, but perfectly calm" as he told the tale of the dream. Lincoln is supposed to have stated that he had the dream ten days before telling it to Mrs. Lincoln and Lamon, which would place the dream thirteen days before his assassination.

How true this story is is up for grabs. Lincoln's body was carried back to the White House by soldiers on April 15th, where it was laid to rest in the East Room - the very room Lincoln had dreamed he'd seen it on a catafalque in his dream. The East Room was open to the public on April 18th, a public funeral was held the next day before the coffin was moved to the rotunda of the Capitol Building. It is possible Lincoln may have had such a dream of his own death, but it's also possible Lamon made it up for the book.

Answer: That Lincoln would be re-elected but would die in office

A doppelganger is supposed to be a person's double, their ghostly, supernatural double. To see one in a mirror means you see your reflection twice in a mirror, one usually looking worse than the other. This is considered by some to be an ill omen of death.

This dream is again recorded in Ward Hill Lamon's book "Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, 1847-1865". According to Lamon, the day Lincoln was nominated to run for his second term in office he was extremely busy at the War Department, communicating by telegraph with General Grant and was unaware that word of his nomination had been delivered to his private office in the White House. About noon time he returned briefly to the executive mansion for a quick bite to eat before returning to the War Department. Had Lincoln taken a few minutes to go to his private office during his lunch he might not have been so shocked when he returned to the War Department to learn that Andrew Johnson had been nominated to run as the Vice-Presidential candidate. The shock appears to have been from the fact that Lincoln thought they announced the Presidential candidate before the Vice-Presidential candidate, not realizing his own second term nomination had been telegraphed to the White House two hours before.

Upon being informed of this Lincoln is supposed to have become reflective and brought up the story of seeing his doppelganger. However, while others attribute the explanation of the doppelganger meaning Lincoln would be re-elected to a second term but dying in office before that term was up to Mary Todd Lincoln, Lamon claims that it was Lincoln himself who made the claim. According to Lamon, in the fall of 1860 in Springfield, Illinois Lincoln was able to look into a mirror on several occasion and witness his doppelganger, but after moving into the White House he was no longer able to see his doppelganger. This lead him to believe that the doppelganger meant he would be elected to a second term but die in office.

Answer: Irish Brigade

Faugh a Ballaugh is the anglicized form of the Irish fág an bealach and means clear the way. During the Battle of Antietam, the Irish Brigade had lead an attack against the Confederate position at the sunken road. About 60% men in the brigade would lose their lives in this attack.

Author Christopher Coleman relates this story in his "Ghosts and Haunts of the Civil War" where he tells that the boys had not had supposedly not had enough time to concoct a prank about hearing Christmas carols, nor did they know the war cry of the Irish Brigade. When questioned all the boys in this group reported hearing what they thought was the chorus of "Deck the Halls" between the Anderson Cannon Monument and the War Department Observation Tower at the Sunken Road that became known as the Bloody Lane.

Answer: The Battle of Fredericksburg

This one I'd read in "Strange Tales of the Civil War" by Michael Sanders. It's easy to write this off as just a made up story. But it's not entirely made up. Sanders tells us that at age 23 Stevenson was a member of Company G, 108 NY Volunteer Infantry, which was mustered in to service in August 1862. Their first engagement was the Battle of Antietam and they did participate in the Battle of Fredericksburg. I did some research back in 2010 and found a roster for the 108th. http://dmna.ny.gov/historic/reghist/civil/rosters/Infantry/108th_Infantry_CW_Roster.pdf On page 128 there is the following entry:

"Stevenson, Charles H. -- Age, 23 years. Enlisted at Rochester, to serve three years, and mustered in as sergeant, Co. G, August 9, 1862; killed in action, December 13, 1862, at Fredericksburg, Va."

Answer: It's the Battle of Shiloh

It's a rather unusual story. According to those who have supposedly witnessed it, around two in the morning the furnishings in the ballroom seem to fade away as the ballroom seems to become the Shiloh battlefield. The dead from both sides draw their battle lines and Beauregard himself makes his entrance atop a white horse through the ballrooms double doors.

As in real life the battle starts out going the South's way, but as it get's closer to day break the tide of the battle turns as it did in life and the spirits begin change in appearance. Limbs become mangled and broken while the appearance of flesh on the faces seems to give way to grinning skulls. Those sensitive to the supernatural claim you can even smell the scent of rotting flesh. The ghostly battle lasts until day break.

Answer: A comet

Lincoln biographer Julia Taft Bayne was among those with a rather unique perspective on Lincoln's time as President. She turned 16 the very day Lincoln was inaugurated. She and her younger brothers were asked to visit the White House so that Lincoln's sons Willie and Tad might have someone to play with when the family first came to Washington. In her book "Tad Lincoln's Father" Mrs. Bayne relates the prediction of an old slave woman who pointed to a comet in the sky and called it a "great fire sword, blazin' in the sky". According to the slave woman the handle of the "sword" was pointed towards the North with the tip pointed towards the South which meant that in the coming war the North would defeat the South. But she also predicted that should Lincoln take the sword it would mean his death.

During the spring and early summer of 1861 there were actually two comets that have been called war comets by some authors as war comets. The first of these was C/1861 G1 (Thatcher), which was discovered by one A. E. Thatcher April 5, 1861. This comet, which is the cause of the Lyrid meteor shower, is likely the "sword" in the old slave woman's prediction. It would soon be over shadowed by the Great Comet of 1861, or C/1861 J1. Discovered May 13, 1861 by Australian astronomer John Tebbutt, it was not visible in the northern hemisphere until June 29, 1861. Many Northern newspaper editors commented on the Great Comet of 1861 and believed that its appearance heralded a major event in the war. Just weeks after it first appeared in the northern hemisphere Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia lost the Battle of First Bull Run (Manassas).

Answer: It wasn't Lincoln's bedroom

Lincoln may have fallen asleep in a chair in this room, but he never slept in a bed in it. During the war there was no West Wing with an Oval Office for the President to work from. In fact the West Wing wouldn't be built until the early 1900s. The Executive Residence, the central portion of the White House, served as both the home of the first family and executive offices. From 1825 through 1865 the modern Lincoln Bedroom was actually the Presidential Office. And during Lincoln's Presidency it also doubled as his Cabinet room. Lincoln did indeed spend a lot of time in this room, which would explain stories of why his ghost haunts the bedroom, but it was not a bedroom during his time as President.

Interestingly, the modern Lincoln Bedroom was not the first room to be referred to as the Lincoln Bedroom. From 1929 to 1948 the room known now as the President's Dining Room, the Family Residence Dining Room, or the Private Dining Room was also known as the Lincoln Bedroom. Prior to that it was the Prince of Wales Room as it was the room in which the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, had stayed during a visit in 1860. Willie Lincoln died in this room in 1862 and Lincoln himself was embalmed in it in 1865.

During Truman's presidency the interior of the residence was found to be structurally unsound. In fact after over a hundred years of occupation by the various presidential families things had become so bad that the leg of Margaret Truman's piano broke through the floor of the President's Dining Room. This forced a remodel of the interior of the White House. This meant tearing down the interior, leaving only the outer shell of the building, and rebuilding it. Since the Truman renovation reports of Lincoln sightings at the White House have declined, but they haven't stopped. One of Reagan's daughters claimed to have encountered Lincoln's ghost.

Answer: Josiah Bartlet

Bartlet was the fictional U.S. President of the series "The West Wing", played by Martin Sheen. As a fictional character any ghostly Lincoln sightings he might have had would have been fictional themselves.

Grace Coolidge is one of the first to have claimed to see Lincoln's ghost at the White House. She claimed he was dressed in black with a stole across his shoulders staring out a window. Winston Churchill claimed to have seen Lincoln standing by a fireplace and to have addressed him with "Good evening, Mr. President. You seem to have me at a disadvantage" before Lincoln disappeared with a smile on his face. And Queen Wihelmina was supposedly woken one night during a WWII visit by a knock on the door of the room she was staying in. Upon opening it she saw Lincoln standing there.

Answer: Made his own tombstone

I've seen three different accounts of this event, all said to have happened at Petersburg. According to the first account the regiment had been pulled back from the trenches and on the morning of June 20th Polley carved his tombstone out of a cracker (hardtack) box lid, leaving the date of his death blank. He was due to transfer to the 37th Massachusetts where he was already to be promoted to 2nd Lt. after having already served three years with the 10th. After completing the grisly carving he ended up using it as firewood to make the morning coffee. Later that that morning the 10th was to witness the execution of a soldier from another regiment who, according to the charges, had attempted to "outrage the person of a young lady at New-Kent Courthouse." At the time of the execution an artillery duel was taking place so the execution was to take place behind a hill to try and shield the witnesses. However, this did not protect Polley who was killed by an artillery round and would be eventually buried at the City Point National Cemetery.

In the second account there is no mention of Polley being transferred to the 37th or of an execution. According to this account Polley had carved a wooden tombstone a day or two before the regiment was to return home which read "Serg.-Major George F. Polley, 10th Mass. Vols. Killed June --- 1864" and that Polley told his colonel that he figured he oughta leave the day of his death blank. His comrades convinced him to use the tombstone as firewood. Then on June 20th the regiment came under artillery fire. Polley was struck by an artillery round, which hit him in the chest. The regiment's colonel was standing near Polley and narrowly escaped his own death. Polley would be buried on the field with a copy of the tombstone he'd made while the regiment would begin the trip home later that day. Because Sargent-Major Polley had been a favorite of the regiment and because he was the last member of the regiment killed during the war, his death cast a shadow on the regiment's return home.

The third account is similar to the second account, but states that Polley was transferring to the 55th Massachusetts and that he had been promoted to 1st Lt. May 6, 1864, though at the time of his death had not been notified of his promotion or that he was being transferred. It also states he was mustered in as a private in Company C on June 21, 1861 at 21, he was promoted to Sargent-Major February 9, 1863, and re-enlisted December 22, 1863.

Answer: Hogs

The sheep herding babe is Babe the pig from the film of the same name and the children's book "The Sheep-Pig". The life saving spider refers to the spider Charlotte from the E.B. White book "Charlotte's Web" who saves the life of the pig Wilbur through the messages she weaves in her web. Eva Gabor starred in "Green Acres", which featured the pig Arnold Ziffel. In the "Odyssey" Odysseus and his crew landed on the island of Circe, daughter of Helios. Circe feeds half of Odysseus crew with foods familiar to them before she transforms them into swine.

Pigs are omnivores, meaning they eat both plant and animal. Because of this both wild and domestic hogs were no a welcome sight on a battlefield after the battle as they would feast upon the dead, dying and wounded still on the battlefield. Where domestic hogs were concerned it would often be the soldiers' fault for these pigs getting onto the battlefield, as they would move across the battlefield they would often tear down fencing in their way to facilitate movement. And artillery shells might cause fencing to fall down, allowing hogs to get loose. Lt. Barzilia (or Berzila) Inman reports on having to deal with the stray hogs on the night of July 2nd while still in the Wheatfield. He was forced to defend himself with his own sword from the hogs, who he had already heard feasting on the dead around him. He wasn't the only one to report on the sight of hogs on the Gettysburg battlefield. Private Charles Drake of the 12th NH had his right leg amputated on July 2nd after it was shattered by grapeshot. He got to watch as hogs ate his leg, and would even report years later of feeling phantom pain in the leg as he watched them tear the flesh from the bone.

Such accounts are not limited to Gettysburg either. A Confederate soldier who fought at Shiloh reported on hearing hogs quarreling over their feast on that battlefield.

Answer: George B. McClellan and George Washington

McClellan makes a bit of sense as the 20th Maine had briefly served in the Army of the Potomac while he was still the commanding general. After Burnside and Hooker, and with no idea if Meade would prove just like the last two commanding general of the Army of the Potomac, there was certainly some desire to return to McClellan. According to the legend the regiment was among those heading towards Gettysburg and had been traveling along a road that had many forks to it all day and a cloudy night had fallen when the column of men came to a fork in the road. The commanders gathered to discuss which road to take as the right road would lead them to their destination. Suddenly the clouds parted and the moonlight revealed a horseman wearing a tricorn hat and riding a pale horse. The figure waved for the column to follow. According to the legend, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is said to have claimed that a staff officer went to each of the colonels in the column and told them that McClellan was leading the Army of the Potomac once more. This may have been the cause of the men proclaiming that it was McClellan himself leading them down the right road. But as they moved a different name emerged. George Washington had died over sixty-three years before the start of the Battle of Gettysburg. And yet the men of this column were soon claiming he had come back from the grave at a crucial time in the nation's history to lead them into battle.

And it would not be the last time the men of the 20th Maine would claim to witness Washington was among them. On July 2nd after intensive fighting on Little Round Top Chamberlain would issue the command for the regiment to charge down the hill with their bayonets fixed. At this point the same figure on the pale horse appeared to the men. Supposedly even Confederate soldiers saw the figure and tried firing on it, to no avail. The 20th Maine charged into history behind the apparition later claimed to be that of George Washington.

Supposedly Secretary of War Stanton sent a colonel to investigate these claims. His report was never officially published. But historians have given a twist to this tale. During his time at Valley Forge Washington supposedly had a dream which has been claimed to have been Washington witnessing the Civil War. Others go as far as to claim more specifically that Washington's dream was about the Battle of Gettysburg. How true these stories are remains open to interpretation, unless we can manage to find the supposed report of Colonel Pittenger.

Answer: North Carolina

There are a number of accounts on how North Carolina became the Tar Heel state. A fuller version of the above story explains how it was troops from Virginia and South Carolina who fled from a battle while the North Carolinians held their ground. After the battle the South Carolinians, looking to make light of the events, ask if there was any more tar left in the Old North State. The North Carolinians replied that there was no tar left in the state as Davis had bought it all and when asked what he planned to do with it they said he was going to stick it to the South Carolinians heels so they'd stick better in the next battle. Upon hearing this Robert E. Lee is supposed to have said "God bless the Tar Heel boys!"

This version of the legend, appearing in Richard Walser's "North Carolina Legends" (which Walser originally published as a 1964 article of the Raleigh newspaper "News and Observer"), seems to have elements from Walter Clark's "Histories of the Several Regiments from North Carolina in the Great War" and the 1901 book "Grandfather Tales of North Carolina History". The idea of the jesting between the North and South Carolinians seems to come from Clark's book while the Lee quote from "Grandfather Tales of North Carolina History".

Another version of the legend claims that North Carolinians were called Tar Heels because the state was one of the last to secede. Following the battle of Antietam in which the 4th Texas lost its flag, the Texans were passing the 6th North Carolina and derisively called out Tar Heels. The North Carolinians replied that if the Texans had had some tar on their heels they'd still have their flag. Still another version claims that the nickname originated during the Revolution and was awarded by William Cornwallis after North Carolinians dumped tar in the Tar River to slow Tar river to slow the British down while trying to cross the river. Supposedly Cornwallis claimed that anyone wading through any of North Carolina's rivers would have tar heels.

Most legends and evidence point to the nickname either originating or becoming popular during the war. The earliest written account still in existence of North Carolinians being called Tar Heels comes from February 1862. A letter from 1864 puts the Lee quote as following the Battle of Ream's Station. And an 1869 "Overland Monthly" magazine article dates the nickname to after the Battle of Chancellorsville, stating that because North Carolinians had failed to hold a position Mississippians told them they had forgotten to tar their heels before the battle.

Answer: The Lincoln Special funeral train

It was a long, slow trip to carry the body of Abraham Lincoln back to what had been intended to be his final resting place. The funeral train, which over the entire route would eventually be pulled by forty-two different locomotives and was composed of nine cars, would eventually pass through seven different states, making twelve stops in order for Lincoln to lie in state. In all the train would pass through four hundred forty-four communities. Rules regarding this train put forth that a pilot train would precede the actual funeral train by ten to fifteen minutes and both would run between 5 MPH (about 8 km/h) and 20 MPH (about 32 km/h) depending on the conditions. In addition the funeral train was not supposed to pass train stations going faster than 5 MPH. When both pilot train and funeral train left a station, the rules dictated that the funeral train was to leave the station actually ten minutes after the time of departure on the schedule, with the pilot train leaving at the time of departure.

Stories of ghostly sightings of the Lincoln Special may date back to the 19th century as at least one story claims an eyewitness to the spectral train had served in the Federal army during the war. The stories do not always agree on every detail, but there are certain details they tend to have in common. The spectral train is witnessed in late April to early May depending on the location of the witness, it follows the actual path the real train took, it appears late at night traveling very slowly, and after it passes watches and clocks have either stopped or are running several minutes slow.

Answer: The Great Locomotive Chase

Early in the morning of April 12, 1862 Andrews' Raiders, lead by James Andrews, boarded a passenger train pulled by the locomotive General at Marietta, Georgia. The plan was to commandeer the train and use it to destroy the Western and Atlantic, thus severing a vital supply and reinforcement link between Chattanooga, Tennessee and Atlanta, Georgia and allowing Federal Major General Ormsby Mitchel a chance to seize the Memphis and Chattanooga Railroad in order to sever ties between the Confederate east and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. When the train stopped at Big Shanty (present day Kennesaw, Georgia) to allow the passengers to get off and get breakfast (as there was no dining car as a part of the train), the raiders struck. Stealing the train, they began their trip north. Their actions did not go unnoticed as the train's conductor, William Fuller, witnessed the train being taken. Fuller and two other men chased after the train on foot before getting their hands on a handcar that belonged to a work crew. This phase of the chase would take them through Allatoona, Georgia before reaching Etowah where the locomotive Yonah was on a siding. Andrews decided not to destroy the smaller locomotive as the raiders could not afford a prolonged firefight, thus allowing Fuller what was perhaps his first real break as he and his compatriots commandeered the Yonah. Eventually Fuller would commandeer the locomotive Texas with which he would finish the chase. The Andrews' Raiders would be forced to abandon their train just 18 miles from Chattanooga, their mission to destroy the Western and Atlantic a failure.

As for the ghost of the Confederate soldier, railroaders working near where his grave is reputed to be have reported seeing him wandering the tracks with a lantern in hand, searching for his friends. An engineer, Polly Milan, encountered the ghost one night when his train broke down near the grave. Milan reported seeing the ghost walking the tracks toward him before sitting down on the ties. He tried talking to the ghost before he lost his courage and ran away. According to the legend, the soldier was trying to return to his unit one night and may have lost his life when trying to pass through enemy lines. This may suggest his death took place sometime around the October 5, 1864 Battle of Allatoona Pass or perhaps earlier that year during Sherman's Atlanta campaign.

Answer: Black Dog

Like the banshee, whose wail is said to be heard prior to the death of a family member, various spectral black dogs are also said to be omens of death. Skirker, also known as Trash, is one such black dog, another is the Barghest (which may also refer to a ghost or household elf).

According to the legend coming out of the Western Theater, whoever witnessed the Black Boar of Doom would die within the next seven days. It was described as a huge boar, black as night with eyes of burning coal. A story tells how one Confederate cavalry trooper did not believe the legend, claiming it was nothing more than an overgrown razor back. The man saw the death omen not long before a major battle and mocked his fellow troopers for being so superstitious. As if to prove he was right, the man survived the battle, giving him even more reason to mock his friends. However, the following evening the men were inspecting weapons captured in the battle, among these was a self-cocking, double action revolver. The trooper was not familiar with the particular make and model and as he was inspecting the weapon it went of. The bullet struck him in the head, killing him instantly. It happened on the seventh day after the trooper witnessed the Black Boar of Doom.

Answer: William H. Mumler

Paranormal researcher Melvyn Willin claimed that Mumler took the photo in 1869 and that he did not know his subject was Mary Todd Lincoln, believing her to be a Mrs. Tundall. Others claim the photo was taken some time in 1870, basing their claim off notes of English cleric and spiritualist medium William Stainton Moses which claim Mrs. Lincoln presented herself to Mumler as a Mrs. Lindall. It was only after the photo was developed that she revealed who she really was and that was after she was prompted by Mumler's wife, a known medium, to identify the ghostly figure

Though there are still those who believe the photo is for real, it is most likely a fraud. By 1869 Mumler was a well known spirit photographer who was supposed to be able to successfully capture the spirits of loved ones and those close to the subject on film. Then in 1869 a number of accusations were leveled against him after it was discovered that a number of the "ghosts" in his photos were actually living people. This would lead to critics, including Phineas Taylor "P. T." Barnum, accusing him of deliberately defrauding customers whose judgment was clouded by grief for the loss of those close to them. Mumler would be brought to trial in April 1869, with Barnum testifying against him. As part of Barnum's testimony he hired Abraham Bogardus to produce another spirit photo, this would be a photo of Barnum himself with Lincoln's ghost looking over his shoulder, to prove just how easy it would be to fake such a photo.

Despite the evidence against him, Mumler was acquitted of fraud. However, his career as a spirit photographer was ruined.

Answer: Jubal Early and Philip Sheridan

The Battle of Cedar Creek was a part of Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign of August through October 1864. Early launched a surprise attack early on the morning of October 19th, taking the Army of West Virginia (a sub-army within the Army of the Shenandoah) completely unprepared. Sheridan was returning from a meeting in Washington and had spent the night of the 18th in Winchester, Virginia, leaving his corps commander Horatio G. Wright in temporary command of the Army of the Shenandoah. Upon learning of the battle at Cedar Creek, Sheridan rode from Winchester to Cedar Creek and managed to rally his army to turn the battle around.

According to the former slave's story, the first to see the ghost was a farmer who rented the barn named Holt Hottel. Hottel first saw the ghost just after sundown when he went to feed his horses and thinking it to be some vagabond he proceeded to order it to leave. When it did not respond, Hottel got angry and tried stabbing it with his pitchfork only to discover this was not a human when the pitchfork passed through the ghost. Over time the ghost became something of a tourist attraction with the local railroad running excursion trains for people to try and see the ghost. Of those who saw it, some claimed it to be headless while others said it did have a head and wore a plug hat. According to the former slave, the ghost was that of a Federal cavalry trooper. However, others claimed that the uniform looked to be a Confederate uniform.

Answer: Yellow Fever

The steamer called the Kate arrived in Wilmington some time in the summer of 1862, carrying with it sailors infected with yellow fever. Local mosquitoes most likely fed on these sailors and then proceeded to spread the disease to the residents of Wilmington. Supposedly by September 1862 yellow fever was unknown to the residents of the city, who began to call it "The Thing" as they did not know what was killing people. Among the dead was a Dr. James H. Dickson, who wrote in his journal of treating the sick.

As the disease was not unknown to the US, outbreaks had occurred in New Orleans, Boston, New York, and Philadelphia among other places, Dr. Dickson may have deduced the identity of "The Thing" right before he died. He died September 28, 1862, the cause of death listed as a hemorrhagic disease. Yellow fever is among the diseases in the Flaviviridae family of hemorrhagic fevers.

Answer: Field Hospital

During the battle Pennsylvania Hall served as both an observation post and field hospital for both armies. Both Federal and Confederate signal men were stationed in the building's cupola to signal their respective armies while the rest of the building served as a field hospital. 700 men would die in the building, which would continue to be used as a field hospital until July 29th. For years bones, human remains, and bloody books were discovered around the building as a grisly reminder of what had happened there. Today Pennsylvania Hall is the administrative building for Gettysburg College, which was called Pennsylvania College from its founding in the early 1830s until 1921.

According to the story, the two administrators were taking an elevator down from the top floor of the building one evening after work when the elevator bypassed their ground floor destination and went to the basement. They believed that perhaps someone in the basement had called for the elevator, but when the doors opened it was as if they had stepped into a time machine and had literally arrived in 1863 during the period the Confederates controlled the building. Dead and wounded lay everywhere with blood splattered surgeons and orderlies moving among them trying to save as many lives as possible. The administrators would report smelling the stench you would associate with a field hospital as they looked upon the scene. They immediately started punching the button to get out of there but the doors wouldn't close until one orderly looked right at the two as if beseeching them for help.

The basement of Pennsylvania Hall isn't the only part of the building said to be haunted. Both college staff and students have reported seeing figures moving about in the cupola only to find no one there upon investigation.

Answer: Jefferson Davis

Fort Davis was named for the then Secretary of War and future President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis. Davis served as Secretary of war from 1853 to 1857 during the Presidency of Franklin Pierce. Fort Davis was established to protect travelers along the San Antonio-El Paso Road from Comanches, Kiowas, and Apaches and was manned by the Eight U.S. Infantry from its inception in 1854 until 1861 when it was ordered abandoned by Department of Texas commander David E. Twiggs. The fort would be briefly occupied by Confederate forces before Federal forces would regain control in 1862 only to abandon it again. It would not be until 1867 that the fort would once more be occupied by the U.S. Army, this time being manned by the 9th U.S. Cavalry. From 1867 to 1891 the fort would be manned by the 9th U.S. Cavalry, the 25th U.S. Infantry, the 24th U.S. Infantry, the 10th U.S. Cavalry, the 1st U.S. Infantry, the 16th U.S. Infantry, the 3rd Cavalry, the 8th U.S. Cavalry, the 19th U.S. Infantry, the 5th U.S. Infantry, and the 23rd U.S. Infantry.

According to the story of Alice Walpole, Alabama born Alice was the wife of a lieutenant stationed at the fort sometime before the war began. One April day Alice had gone out into the mountains, looking for wild white roses to bring back to the fort. Despite knowing the purpose of the fort, Alice reasoned the local tribes were more interested in stagecoaches and would leave her alone. When she failed to return that day search parties were sent out but Alice was never seen alive again. However, Alice's ghost would begin making its presence known at the fort a few months later when a young lieutenant who had known her in life would encounter the spirit one night. Following this first sighting others would report seeing her ghost near quarters where other Southern wives gathered. They'd also report the smell of roses or suddenly finding wild white roses where there had been none before as a sign Alice had been there.

With the war approaching, many Southerners in the army were resigning so as to join their home states. Obviously Fort Davis was no different. According to the Alice legend, on the day seven Southern born officers tendered their resignation to the Fort's commander the man found a vase on his desk with exactly seven white roses in it. The man found it a strange coincidence to have received seven resignations from Southern officers and seven white roses appearing on his desk at the same time.