5 Surprising Civil War Facts You've Never Heard

Think you know everything about the Civil War? These facts might surprise you. Both sides sent troops up in hot-air balloons. That's right, aerial reconnaissance existed in the 1860s. A house built from Civil War tombstones? Yep, it's in Virginia. Black soldiers fought hard on the battlefield and for equal pay, and they won on both counts. Glow-in-the-dark soldiers? Not sci-fi. A particular bacteria saved some lucky lives on the battlefield. The Civil War wasn't just a story of battles won and lost. It was a saga full of wild, weird surprises. Discover more fascinating Civil War facts at Veteran Life.