# U.S. Civil War question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 7, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679 "2003-03-07T06:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/1 "2003-03-07T06:49:45Z")
What was the last major war, anywhere in the world, prior to the U.S. Civil War? ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/2 "2003-03-07T07:00:40Z")
I believe the Napoleonic Wars were still winding down at the time of the US Civil War. That is, of course, off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/3 "2003-03-07T07:01:00Z")
War of 1812? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/4 "2003-03-07T07:03:43Z")
Last major war? I guess it depends on how major of a war you’re thinking. I would say the Crimean War, fought from 1853-1856. There was also the (admittedly short) war of Italian Unification (April-July 1859). The last major war involving America would have been the Mexican-American war (1846-1848). Here’s a good timeline: [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/WARS.html](http://www.worldstatesmen.org/WARS.html) ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/5 "2003-03-07T07:29:54Z")
The Indian Mutiny or Sepoy Rebellion happen in 1857-58. It’s not on that page that Daver914 linked to for some reason. Not sure if you’d count it as a major war, but the same is true for the Italian Unification. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/6 "2003-03-07T07:50:55Z")
The Taiping Rebellion in China started in 1850 and ran through 1864. It was definitely a major war with approximatley 25,000,000 killed. ---
**Author:** ![ChalkPit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@ChalkPit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChalkPit)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/7 "2003-03-07T07:57:26Z")
The Indian Mutiny is certainly a major conflict when you consider that more Victoria Crosses (Britains highest award for bravery in combat) were awarded during it, than during the Second World War. A fact that always amazed me anyway. ---
**Author:** ![DreadCthulhu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@DreadCthulhu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DreadCthulhu)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/8 "2003-03-07T15:49:50Z")
Of course, the standards for recieving the award might have changed in the interveaning years. I know quite a few Medals of Honor were awarded in the US Civil War for acts that wouldn’t be get a medal today. ---
**Author:** ![Daver914](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@Daver914](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daver914)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/9 "2003-03-07T16:41:13Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course, the standards for recieving the award might have changed in the interveaning years. I know quite a few Medals of Honor were awarded in the US Civil War for acts that wouldn’t be get a medal today. That is correct. I don’t have a cite handy, but an entire regiment during the Civil War was offered the Medal of Honor as incentive to re-enlist. Congress recently rescinded a large portion of these rather dubiously-awarded Medals from the Civil War era. ---
**Author:** ![paperbackwriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@paperbackwriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paperbackwriter)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2003, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/u-s-civil-war-question/159679/10 "2003-03-07T16:56:53Z")
The purge of “dubious” Medals of Honor was in 1917. The regiment you are thinking of is likely the 27th Maine. The Home of Heroes web site has a page on the [“Great Purge”](http://www.homeofheroes.com/moh/corrections/purge_army.html).