This is a look at some events that happened during the month of August in the Civil War and other years...

Infamous Quantrill's Raiders...were the best-known of the pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas (also known as "bushwhackers") who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was

William Quantrill and they included

Jesse James his brother

Frank James and

Bloody Bill Anderson

Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821 - October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealth as a cotton plantation owner, horse and cattle trader, real estate broker, and slave trader. In June 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate Army and became one of the few soldiers during the war to enlist as a private and be promoted to general without any prior military training. An expert cavalry leader, Forrest was given command of a corps and established new doctrines for mobile forces, earning the nickname "The Wizard of the Saddle". His methods influenced future generations of military strategists, although the Confederate high command is seen by some commentators to have underappreciated his talents.[3] Although scholars generally acknowledge Forrest's skills and acumen as a cavalry leader and military strategist, he has remained a controversial figure in Southern racial history for his main role in the massacre of several hundred Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, a majority of them black, coupled with his role following the war as a leader of the Klan.

Ship Of Gold Sails into Oblivion A frigate with more than 150 souls on board, as well as nearly three tons of gold, sailed out of Melbourne on this day, August 12, 1853 - never to be seen again. SS Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, was a 280-foot (85 m) sidewheel steamer that operated between Central America and the eastern coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally named the SS George Law, after Mr. George Law of New York . The ship sank in a hurricane in September 1857, along with 425 of her 578 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of gold, contributing to the Panic of 1857.

America 's Last Public Hanging. The last man to be publicly hanged in the United States met his fate on this day in history. August 14, 1936 — A crowd variously estimated at 10,000 to 20,000 gathered at Owensboro , Kentucky on this day to watch the last ever public hanging in the United States . The fact that the prisoner was a young black man and that the sheriff overseeing the execution was a white woman intensified the interest of both the public and the Press.

August 1, 1838 - Slavery was abolished in Jamaica . It had been introduced by Spanish settlers 300 years earlier in 1509.

August 1, 1944 - Anne Frank penned her last entry into her diary. "[I] keep on trying to find a way of becoming what I would like to be, and what I could be, if...there weren't any other people living in the world." Three days later, Anne and her family were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Anne died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on March 15, 1945, at age 15.

August 3, 1492 - Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos , Spain , with three ships, Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria . Seeking a westerly route to the Far East, he instead landed on October 12th in the Bahamas , thinking it was an outlying Japanese island.

August 4, 1962 - Apartheid opponent Nelson Mandela was arrested by security police in South Africa . He was then tried and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1964, he was placed on trial for sabotage, high treason and conspiracy to overthrow the government and was sentenced to life in prison. A worldwide campaign to free him began in the 1980s and resulted in his release on February 11, 1990, at age 71 after 27 years in prison. In 1993, Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize with South Africa 's President F.W. de Klerk for their peaceful efforts to bring a nonracial democracy to South Africa . In April 1994, black South Africans voted for the first time in an election that brought Mandela the presidency of South Africa .