Abner Doubleday

 

June 26, 1819 - January 26, 1893

Abner Doubleday, born one of three sons to Ulysses and Hester Doubleday on June 26, 1819, in Ballston Spa, N.Y., was schooled at Auburn and Cooperstown, N.Y. Doubleday planned a career in civil engineering, but in 1838 he was appointed to West Point. He graduated in 1842 with a commission in the artillery, and served in the Mexican and Seminole Wars. In 1852-53, Doubleday became a member of a commission investigation allegations of fraud during the Mexican War. Doubleday was known for his dignified ande courteous manner and he used no profanity, liquor, or tobacco.

Doubleday was promoted to first lieutenant in 1847 and to captain in 1855. Stationed in Charleston Harbor in 1860-61, Doubleday fired the first Union shot from Fort Sumter after the Confederate ironclad battery bombardment of that fort. Next appointed major of the 17th Infantry in May 1861, Doubleday served in the lower Shenandoah Valley and in the defense of Washington. Later, he became brigadier general of volunteers, assigned to command a brigade in Union Gen. Irvin McDowell's corps. He saw action on the Rappahannock, at 2d Bull Run, and as commander in the bttles of South Mountain, Antietam, and Fredericksburg.

In 1863, as major general of volunteers, Doubleday commanded the fighting at Gettysburg. On the first day, Doubleday led the Union troops in their repulse of the Confederate army until reinforcements arrived. Doubleday's top commander, Gen. George G. Meade, was not, however aware of all of the facts concerning Doubleday's meritorious service and Doubleday's division's credit for the ultimate Union victory on the third day of Gettysburg. Therefore, Doubleday did not earn the permanent command of his division; instead it was given to former West Point classmate John Newton, and Doubleday was returned to a lesser command.

Doubleday retired from active service in 1873 and made his home in New Jersey, where he died twenty years later.

Abraham Lincon

 Abraham Lincon

Early Life

Born on Feb. 12, 1809, in a log cabin in backwoods Hardin co., Ky. (now Larue co.), he grew up on newly broken pioneer farms of the frontier. His father, Thomas Lincoln, was a migratory carpenter and farmer, nearly always poverty-stricken. Little is known of his mother, Nancy Hanks, who died in 1818, not long after the family had settled in the wilds of what is now Spencer co., Ind. Thomas Lincoln soon afterward married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow; she was a kind and affectionate stepmother to the boy. Abraham had almost no formal schooling—the scattered weeks of school attendance in Kentucky and Indiana amounted to less than a year; but he taught himself, reading and rereading a small stock of books. His first glimpse of the wider world came in a voyage downriver to New Orleans on a flatboat in 1828, but little is known of that journey. In 1830 the Lincolns moved once more, this time to Macon co., Ill.

After another visit to New Orleans, the young Lincoln settled in 1837 in the village of New Salem, Ill., not far from Springfield. There he began by working in a store and managing a mill. By this time a tall (6 ft 4 in./190 cm), rawboned young man, he won much popularity among the inhabitants of the frontier town by his great strength and his flair for storytelling, but most of all by his strength of character. His sincerity and capability won respect that was strengthened by his ability to hold his own in the roughest society. He was chosen captain of a volunteer company gathered for the Black Hawk War (1832), but the company did not see battle.

Returning to New Salem, Lincoln was a partner in a grocery store that failed, leaving him with a heavy burden of debt. He became a surveyor for a time, was village postmaster, and did various odd jobs, including rail splitting. All the while he sought to improve his education and studied law. The story of a brief love affair with Ann Rutledge, which supposedly occurred at this time, is now discredited.

• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Introductory
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume I
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume II
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume III
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume IV
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume V
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume VI
• The Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Volume VII

Lincoln's Funeral Train

Abraham Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington DC. Lincoln was attending a presentation of the play "Our American Cousin" when Booth entered the box where the President, his wife and guests were quietly enjoying the show. At approximately 10:15pm, Booth shot the President in the back of the head with a small revolver. The bullet penetrated behind Lincoln's ear and lodged in his brain - death was imminent. The entire legacy of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln is a topic that has been discussed time and time again. What we are concerned with here is the train that brought the body of Lincoln from Washington back to his home in Springfield, Illinois. While the assassination itself was a shocking and unforgiving tragedy that engulfed the nation after four brutal years of Civil War, the funeral train was a sort of closure. The man who had tried to keep the country together throughout his entire presidency was dead, and the train that carried the slain martyr symbolized not only the end of the war, but the fact that an era was truly finished. As thousands witnessed the train, many asked if the struggle was it worth it in the end. The train left Washington on April 21, 1865, retracing the same route Lincoln took when he made the 1654 mile journey from Springfield to Washington to accept the Presidency of the United States back in February of 1861. After stopping in Baltimore, Harrisburg, Philadelphia, New York and Albany, the funeral train finally arrived in Buffalo at 7:00am on April 27, 1865 at the Exchange Street Station. The Buffalo Morning Express was there to cover the occasion. "The solemn spectacle has passed. The body of the great martyr has been borne through our hushed streets and onward to its rest. We have looked upon the immortal face and a sacred memory is in our hearts. We have hallowed a shrine in our midst forever, the touch of the dead man's bier. The procession of cities and States has swept on to the West, and the funeral dirge which wailed upon us from the ocean a week ago is dying along the lakes. What a journey of the dead we have seen! What a nation's performance of the funeral rites of a nation's Chief! What a nation's great testimony of love and grief! We have borne our part. In the majestic spectacle we have paid our tribute of honor to the illustrious dead; we have done it lovingly and well. The remembrance of the great solemnity is made forever grateful to us by the perfect harmony and decorum of its every circumstance. Our city has done honor to itself in the method and the manner of Abraham Lincoln. The Scene at Batavia. The funeral train was met at Batavia yesterday morning by the Committee from this city which included Honorable Millard Fillmore. The Committee left here at 6:00 o'clock Wednesday evening by a special car provided for their accommodation, passing the night at Batavia. At 5:00 o'clock yesterday morning, the funeral train arrived at that point, where it was received, as at every halting point along the line of its long, sad journey, by an immense concourse of people. The assemblage had begun with the very dawn, when the firing of the minute guns awoke the village from its slumbers and hastened the steps of pilgrims from the surrounding country flocking in. Before the train appeared, it had grown to the proportions of a city throng. The multitude stood with their heads bowed, silent, sorrowful and reverent, paying that sincere homage to the dead which had everywhere been so memorable and remarkable. The pause of the train was but for ten minutes, during which the committee from Buffalo took their places in the car reserved for them. From thence to this city no halt on the journey was made but at every station and almost continuously the train passed between long lines of people, who had come to catch but a floating glimpse of what bore the remains of their beloved President; and everywhere they bowed, with uncovered heads, in afflicting bestowment of their little passing tribute of solemn reverence. The New York Central's Exchange Steet Station. It was here that Lincoln's funeral train arrived on the morning of April 27, 1865. The Arrival in Buffalo With the gray light of morning, people here were astir to prepare for the reception of the funeral train on its arrival as preliminary and unfinished arrangements were completed by the authorities for the carrying out of the program as previously arraigned. The time for the arrival of the train was 7:00 o'clock, but long ore that hour, the streets in the vicinity of the depot were filled with the eager and expectant multitude. At ten minutes before seven, the pilot engine, properly decorated for the use to which it had been assigned, arrived to announce the approach of the funeral train. Punctually to the time, the latter came slowly in - so slowly and silently that it announced in its very manner the solemnity of its nature. The crowds received it with uncovered heads and every mark of respect. The depot had been elaborately draped as also was the Wadsworth House, Bloomer's Dining Saloon and other buildings in the vicinity. On the arrival of the train in the depot, the burial party was shown into Bloomer's Railroad Dining Saloon, where they were entertained in Bloomer's best style, and evidently an acceptable entertainment too after the unrefreshing ride of the night. The Funeral Train The train which bore the remains and the funeral party was a grand affair and attracted much attention. The engine, the Dean Richmond, Leonard Ham, engineer, was very tastefully and richly draped. It had a full length portrait of the President underneath the head lights in front, which was surrounded by the graceful folds of two national flags thrown over the upper part of the engine, each trimmed with black and white crape. Two exquisite bouquets took the place of the engine flags and another still surmounted the sand-box. The hand rails were neatly adorned with festoons of black and white tasteful rosettes. The cab was draped with the national colors. The cars of which the train was made up were also draped with exquisite taste. The Funeral Car But the chief attraction of all was the funeral car which has borne the remains thus far from Washington, and is designed to bear them to the hero's welcome home. It was built by Mr. Jamison of Alexandria for the United States military railroad and was intended for the use of the President and other dignitaries when traveling over the military road. It contains a parlor, sitting room and sleeping apartment; all of which are fitted up to the most approved modern style. Black curtains have been placed at all windows. Inside and out, the car is robed in black. A deep silver flange also hangs from the edge of the roof and the festoons of crape are looped over each window with a silver star and large silver tassel. The Procession At 8:00 o'clock the arrangements for the procession were formed in front of the Depot. The crowd was forced back and the remains of the eminent deceased were taken from the car which had conveyed them hither, and borne to the funeral car in front of the depot, the shoulders of a detachment of the Guard of Honor. The coffin was borne into the funeral car which was drawn by six magnificent white horses, housed to the feet in black. The line of the procession was as follows: up Exchange Street to Main; up Main to Niagara; Niagara to Delaware; Delaware to Tupper; Tupper to Main; Main to Eagle. Moving President Lincoln's body from the Catafalque to St. James Hall, Main Street, Corner of Eagle Street. The number of people along the line of march was immense - thronging all the available space on either side of the streets. The business places were all closed but every window and housetop was filled and covered with a mass of human beings. The crowd in the vicinity of St. James Hall, through the forenoon, was terrible and we heard of many cases of fainting on the part of ladies who were not able to stand the severe pressure brought upon them. Finally the throng was loosened and matters so arranged that free passage was given. At St. James Hall At a few minutes before 10:00 o'clock, the procession arrived at the Young Men's Association Building, at the end of its march. Here the coffin was taken from the bearers and borne into the hall by the Main Street entrance. It was placed upon a double dais erected for that purpose, the upper one inclined to an angle of perhaps twenty degrees, and the whole richly draped with black velvet with silver fringe and rosettes. As the remains of the deceased President were placed upon the dais, the St. Cecelia Society, who were in position on the stage outside the sable apartment, sung the solemn dirge, "Rest, Spirit, Rest," with impressive effect. It was repeated after the body had been prepared for exhibition by the embalmer and undertaker, and coming through the folds of the drapery the sweet strains of melody seemed, indeed, angelic. Appearance of the Hall The appearance of the Hall, as prepared for the occasion, was grandly impressive. It was in the form of an immense pavilion, sable and somber, but adorned in the most exquisite perfection of art. The walls of the pavilion were richly and tastefully decorated and wreathed with black and white crape, lace and fringe. Large bows of crape also decked its sides. Eight columns, elaborately draped with wreaths, rosettes and festoons, were placed in position around the inner line of the apartment. There were three arched entrances, or passage ways, with the folds of the drapery looped up with rosettes and ties of white and black. The whole was set off by a magnificent chandelier suspended from the center, directly over the dais and remains. The Hall will be open today for the inspection of those who did not examine it to their satisfaction yesterday. The Coffin A little after 10:00 o'clock, the lid was removed from the coffin, and after some preparation by the embalmer and undertaker, exposed to public view. The corpse was dressed in plain black and the face wore that same kind, benignant look that characterized the "People's President" when alive. The face was slightly discolored , but not as much as many had been led to expect, and the life-like expression of the features were surprising. The thought would arise as we gazed upon the quiet face that he had found the rest for which he must have so often sighed. This was the scene in New York as thousands of people viewed the open coffin of Abraham Lincoln. The events were very similar in Buffalo. The Crowds of Spectators As soon as the doors were thrown open the people began to pour into, and pass through the hall, to view all that is mortal of the great man who has signally blessed this nation with his wisdom and beneficent government. The marching through the courts of death was an ceaseless as the flow of mighty waters. All day long did they stream pass along uninterruptedly. Persons of all ages, sexes and conditions came to pay their respects to the man whom the had so much admiration and love. It is safe to estimate that the total number of people that passed through there during the day was from eighty to one hundred thousand people. Notwithstanding this immense throng, there was not the slightest incident to mar the decorum of the occasion. The place was oppressively silent, save with the constant tramp of the multitude. The arrangements for the passing of the people was admirable. The main entrance was on Eagle Street, near Washington, up which they came four abreast. Upon entering the hall, they divided, two passing to the right and two passing to the left, only to reunite on the other side of the coffin. They then marched down and out of the entrance on Eagle, near Main Street.   The Closing Ceremonies At a quarter past 8:00 o'clock, the coffin was closed and arrangements made to escort the remains back to the depot. At half past, the procession moved towards the depot. The bands played solemn dirges and with the darkness of the night, all was wrapped in the deepest gloom. A large body of citizens followed to the last point, and only turned their footsteps homeward as they saw the remains deposited in the funeral car which was to bear them away. At a little after 10:00 o'clock, the funeral cortege and escort took the train which had been provided for them and went their sorrowful way to the West. Although seemingly impossible for the same set of unhappy events to happen again in Buffalo, thirty six years later, the body of President William McKinley would lie at death's door within the Queen City. Once again, Buffalo would be brought to her knees in tragedy.

Admiral David Glasgow Farragut

Admiral David Glasgow Farragut was the hero of the Union Navy's successful run past the two Confederate forts guarding the lower Mississippi River approach to New Orleans, which led to the immediate capture of the city.  On the night of March 14, 1863, he commanded a similar attempt to run past the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson.  If he could get his fleet upstream of Port Hudson, he could blockade the mouth of the Red River, and shut off Confederate supplies from the west.
In preparation for this battle, Farragut ordered a smaller gunboat lashed to the port side of three of his larger ships, Hartford, Richmond, and Monongahela, to provide more power and steering control against the five mile-per-hour river current.  The side-wheeler Mississippi would make the trip on its own.  The ironclad Essex and six mortar boats with 13-inch mortars were  to support the seven ships making the passage attempt by bombarding the Confederate gun batteries.  The spectacular battle between the ship's batteries and the Port Hudson river batteries began around 11:00 PM, when the ships headed up river.  When the firing ended, only Farragut's flagship Hartford and its consort, the gunboat Albatross, had succeeded in getting through.  The Mississippi was destroyed, and the other ships attempting the run withdrew back downstream, all having sustained various degrees of damage.
Union Ships engaged at Port Hudson on March 14, 1863:

• USS Hartford
• USS Richmond
• USS Mississippi
• USS Monongahela
• USS Essex
• USS Genesee
• USS Albatross

The gunboat USS Kineo also participated in the Port Hudson run, lashed to the side of the USS Monongahela

The Hartford and Albatross continued on up the river, and effectively cut off Port Hudson's supply route via the Red River.  Throughout the siege period, Farragut's ships continued to bombard the Confederate defenses

Ambrose Everett Burnside

 

May 23, 1824 - September 13, 1881

After his successful campaign in North Carolina, Union Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside was recalled to Washington in June 1862 and offered command of the Union Army of the Potomac following Gen. George B. McClellan's failed Peninsular campaign. Citing his inexperience, Burnside declined the position and received command of the IX Corps. Following the Union's disastrous defeat at 2d Bull Run, Burnside was again offered command of the army and again he declined. Burnside's generalship was poor at the September 1862 Battle of Sharpsburg, Md., where a bridge his men crossed now bears his name, but even still his ability was much superior to the generalship of McClellan, the army commander.

When McClellan was again removed from command of the Army of the Potomac in November 1862, President Abraham Lincoln did not ask Burnside again. Instead Lincoln appointed Burnside to command the army. This time Burnside reluctantly accepted, but told his fellow generals "that he knew he was not fit for so big a command." In the next month's Battle of Fredericksburg, where his men were slaughtered in the attacks on Marye's Heights, Burnside proved that he had been a competent judge of his own capabilities.

After the disastrous, humiliating January 1863 "Mud March," the army was taken from Burnside and he was assigned to the command of the Department of the Ohio. There he had considerable success waging war against Southern sympathizers. He ordained that "the habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy will no longer be tolerated." On the basis of this controversial order he had Copperhead leader Clement L. Vallandigham arrested, tried, and convicted and shut down the Chicago Times newspaper.

Burnside is also credited with the capture of elusive Rebel raider Gen. John Hunt Morgan. In September Burnside took to the field and captured Knoxville and the Cumberland Gap, and then successfully defended Knoxville from a Confederate siege.

During his army career, Burnside was genial and generally well liked by other officers and the Northern press. he enjoyed a number of notable wartime successes, which greatly contributed to the ultimate Union victory. However, his disastrous, ill-advised 1862 attack on Fredericksburg will forever cloud his reputation. Only moderately successful as a corps commander, Burnside performed better with smaller commands. Burnside resigned his commission on April 15, 1865.

After the war Burnside was elected governor of Rhode Island for three consecutive terms and then declined to run again. After an extended tour of Europe, Burnside returned to Rhode Island and was elected U.S. Senator in 1875. He served in the Senate until his death in 1881.

Brigadier General Charles P. Stone

Brigadier General Charles P. Stone was the controversial Chief of Staff to General Nathaniel Banks at Port Hudson.  He was part of the Union commission appointed by Banks to negotiate the surrender of the Confederate forces on July 8, 1863.
Charles Pomeroy Stone was born in Greenfield, Massachusetts, on September 30, 1824.  Graduating from West Point in 1845, he served in the Mexican War under Gen. Winfield Scott, and was later employed privately as chief commissioner for the exploration of Sonora, a state in Mexico.  When the Civil War began, Stone became a colonel for the District of Columbia Volunteers in April of 1861, placed in charge of the safety of the capital and the President.  After fighting in the Shenandoah Valley and taking part in the Rockville Expedition, he was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers, to rank from May 17, 1861.  Stone was blamed for the Union failure at Ball's Bluff in the autumn of 1861, and the Committee on the Conduct of the War had him arrested at midnight on February 8, 1862.  He was placed in solitary confinement in Fort Lafayette in New York for 50 days with no explanation, then was moved to Fort Hamilton.  Held for a total of 189 days, he was released in August, without ever having been confronted with charges.  Stone went on to serve at Port Hudson and in the Red River Campaign, then resigned from the army in September of 1864.

After the Civil War, Stone served as superintendent for a mining company in Virginia.  He then entered the military service of the khedive of Egypt, whose chief of staff and general aide-de-camp he became, with the rank of lieutenant-general and the title of Ferik Pasha.  When he returned to the United States, he worked as engineer for the Florida Ship Canal Company, then moved to New York City, where he worked as an engineer.  In 1886, Stone would undertake his most important task: he was named chief engineer in charge of erecting the new Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.  When the work was finished, Stone was given the honor of serving as grand marshal during the dedication ceremonies on Oct. 28, 1886.  Ironically, he caught a chill during the festivities and died on January 24, 1887, and was buried at West Point.

Brigadier General Cuvier Grover

 

Brigadier General Cuvier Grover was the commander of the division occupying the right-center of the Union lines at Port Hudson at the time of the May 27th attack, during which his troops attacked the Confederate position "Fort Desperate".  Afterwards, he was placed in command of the entire Union right wing.

Cuvier Grover was born in Bethel, Maine on 24 July, 1829.  Grover was a career officer in the regular Army, graduating from West Point in 1850.  Prior to being transferred to the Department of the Gulf, he served in the Army of the Potomac, seeing action at Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, and second Bull Run, and other locations.  After Port Hudson, Grover commanded a division in the Shenandoah campaign from August to December, 1864. He was wounded at the battle of Cedar Creek on 19 October, 1864, and brevetted major-general of volunteers the same day for gallantry at Winchester and Fisher's Hill.  After the war he remained in the Army, and died on June 6, 1885 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Brigadier General Francis S. Nickerson

 

Brigadier General Francis S. Nickerson commanded a brigade under General Sherman, and on May 27th, participated in the attack across Slaughter's Field, along with General Dow's brigade. When General Sherman, then General Dow were wounded, the division command fell to Nickerson, but he wasn't notified, and for a time the division was leaderless. After the battle, the command of the division was taken away and given to General Dwight. On June 14th, Nickerson's brigade took part in Dwight's attack on the Citadel, which did not succeed in breaching the fortress. On the night of June 29, and again the night of the 30th, Nickerson's men stormed at the Citadel, but were repulsed after heavy, hand-to hand fighting.

Francis Stillman Nickerson was born in Swanville, Maine on 27 August, 1826. He was educated at East Corinth academy, Maine, and was a collector of customs at the beginning of the civil war, when he resigned and became successively captain, major, and lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Maine regiment. He was commended in general orders by Gen Oliver O. Howard for bravery at Bull Run, and on 31 December, 1861, was made colonel of the 14th Maine and sent to New Orleans under General Benjamin F. Butler. He was specially mentioned for his services at Baton Rouge, and on 29 November, 1862, was promoted to brigadier-general of volunteers. He then served in the Department of the Gulf, including the Port Hudson and Red River Campaigns, until his resignation on 13 May, 1865. After the war Nickerson resided in Boston, Massachusetts.

Brigadier General George L. Andrews

General George Leonard Andrews was departmental Chief of Staff under Union Commander General Banks at Port Hudson.
One noteworthy incident involving General Andrews occurred on May 27, 1863.  When General Thomas Sherman, commander of the Union division on the left flank did not move his troops to attack on the morning of May 27th as ordered, an angry General Banks sent General Andrews to relieve Sherman of his command.  When Andrews arrived, he found Sherman and his men moving out to attack, and he chose not to deliver the order.  During the subsequent battle the division was severely battered, and Sherman was seriously wounded in the leg, which was later amputated.  Upon hearing of Sherman's disabling wound, Andrews took command of the shattered division and attempted to restore order among the disorganized troops.
It was Andrews who led the commission which met with General Gardner on July 9th and accepted his surrender of  Confederate forces at Port Hudson, ending the battle.  He was named the commander of the newly-occupied  Union post of Port Hudson.
George Leonard Andrews was born at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, on August 31, 1828.  After finishing state normal school in Bridgewater, he attended the United States Military Academy, graduating at head of the class of 1851.  He was assigned to the Corps of Engineers and took part in the construction of Fort Warren in Boston Harbor and, after brief tour at West Point as an Assistant Professor, he resigned from the Army in 1855 to pursue a career in civil engineering.
Andrews returned to the Army as Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry, of which he became Colonel in June 1862.  On November 10, 1862, he was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers and was involved in some of the early battles in Eastern theater of the war, including Cedar Mountain and Sharpsburg. 

He was mustered out in August 1865, having been brevetted Major General of Volunteers.  His civil occupations included being a planter in Mississippi from 1865 to 1867, U.S. Marshal of Massachusetts until 1871, and Professor of French at West Point.  He retired in 1892 and made his residence in Brookline, Massachusetts, where he died April 4, 1899.  He was buried with full military honors in Section 2 (Grave 930) of Arlington National Cemetery.

Brigadier General Godfrey Weitzel

Brigadier General Godfrey Weitzel was the commander of the forces occupying the right wing of the Union lines at Port Hudson.
Weitzel was born on November 1, 1835 in Cincinnati, Ohio.  He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1855 and was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant of Engineers.  From 1855 to 1860, he served on the construction and repair of fortifications on the lower Mississippi, was Chief Engineer on the fortifications at Cincinnati, and taught Civil and Military Engineering at West Point. In January 1860, he was assigned as 1st Lieutenant to Company A of the Engineers and sent to Washington, D.C. where Company A became the bodyguard for President Abraham Lincoln at his inauguration.
When war began, he went with Company A to Fort Pickens, Florida.  Ordered to Washington in December 1861, he was placed in command of Company C of the Engineers in the Army of the Potomac.  Ordered to the staff of Major General Ben Butler as Chief Engineer for the New Orleans expedition, his knowledge of Forts Jackson and St. Philip enabled the Fleet to successfully pass those forts, and take the city of New Orleans.  He became Assistant Military Commander and Acting Mayor of New Orleans.  Promoted to Brigadier General August 29, 1862, he led his Brigade at Bayou LaFourche, Bayou Teche, Sabine Pass, and later commanded a division on the right wing at Port Hudson.  Weitzel became full major-general of volunteers on 7 November 1864, and in March and April, 1865, was in charge of all troops north of the Potomac River during the final operations against General Robert E. Lee's army, taking possession of Richmond on 3 April, 1865.

After the war, Weitzel returned to the Army Engineers.  He died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19 March, 1884.

Brigadier General Halbert E. Paine

 

Brigadier General Halbert E. Paine commanded Third Division, on the Union right flank for the May 27th assault. Afterwards, his division was shifted more toward the center of the Union lines. While leading his troops in the June 14th assault on Priest Cap, he was hit by a rifle shot which broke his leg below the knee. He lay on the battlefield for hours in the sun, under the guns of the Confederates, before finally being rescued. He lost the leg as a result of the wound.
Halbert Eleazar Paine was born in Chardon, Ohio on 4 February, 1826. After his graduation at Western Reserve in 1845 he studied law, was admitted to the bar of Cleveland in 1848, and moved to Milwaukee in 1857. He entered the army in May, 1861 as Colonel of the 4th Wisconsin Regiment. He was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on 13 March, 1863, while at Port Hudson. He defended Washington D.C. during General Jubal A. Early's raid in 1864, and was breveted major general of volunteers on 13 March, 1865, and resigned from the army on 3 May of that year.

He was elected to Congress from Wisconsin as a Republican, serving from 4 December, 1865, until 3 March, 1871, and was instrumental in the passage of a bill in 1869 that provided for taking meteorological observations in the interior of the continent. He was a delegate to the Philadelphia loyalists' convention of 1866, and after the expiration of his third term in congress, practiced law in Washington, D. C. He was appointed United States Commissioner of Patents by President Grant and served from 1879 until 1881. He is the author of " Paine on Contested Elections" (Washington, 1888). He died in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1905, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Brigadier General Hugh J. Kilpatrick

Kilpatrick was the fourth child of Col. Simon Kilpatrick and Julia Wickham. He was born on the family farm in the Wantage Township. He graduated from West Point in 1861, just after the start of the war, ranked 17 out of 45 in his class. He was assigned in the artillery-cavalry and commissioned a 2nd lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Artillery. Within 3 days, he was a captain in the 5th New York Infantry, the "Duryea's Zouaves".

Kilpatrick was the first Union army officer to be wounded in the Civil War, struck in the thigh by canister fire while leading a company at Big Bethel. By September 25, he was a Lieutenant Colonel, in the 2nd New York Cavalry. He next went served in the defenses of Washington, D.C. until January 29, 1862, when he was sent to Kansas as the Chief of Artillery on Brigadier Gen. James H. Lane's Texas Expedition. When he returned to his regiment, he participated in raids and skirmishes at Carmel Church, Brandy Station, Freeman's Ford, Sulphur Springs, Waterloo Bridge, Thoroughfare Gap, and Haymarket.

Assignments were initially quiet for Kilpatrick, serving in staff jobs and in minor cavalry skirmishes. At the 2nd Bull Run, he raided the Virginia Central Railroad early in the campaign and then ordered a twilight cavalry charge the first evening of the battle, losing a full squadron of cavalrymen. He was promoted to full Colonel that December 6.

Kilpatrick was aggressive, fearless, ambitious, and blustery. He was a master, in his mid-twenties, of using political influence to get ahead. His men had little love for his manner and his willingness to exhaust men and horses and to order suicidal mounted cavalry charges. The widespread nickname they used for Kilpatrick was "Kill Cavalry", for using tactics in battle that were considered as a reckless disregard for lives of soldiers under his command . He also had a bad reputation with others in the Army. His camps were poorly maintained and frequented by prostitutes, often visiting himself. He was jailed in 1862 on charges of corruption, accused of selling captured Confederate goods for personal gain. He was jailed again for a drunken spree in Washington, D.C., and for allegedly accepting bribes in the procurement of horses for his command.

In February 1863, Major Gen. Joseph Hooker created a Cavalry Corps in the Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major Gen. George Stoneman. Kilpatrick assumed command of the 1st Brigade, 2nd Division. In the Chancellorsville Campaign, Stoneman's cavalry was ordered to swing deeply behind Gen. Robert E. Lee's army and destroy railroads and supplies. He did just that. Although the corps failed to distract Lee as intended, he achieved fame by aggressively capturing wagons, burning bridges, and riding around Lee, almost to the outskirts of Richmond, Virginia.

At the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign, Kilpatrick fought at Brandy Station, the largest cavalry battle of the war. He was promoted to Brigadier General, fought at Aldie and Upperville, and assumed division command 3 days before Gettysburg. On June 30, he clashed briefly with Major Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry at Hanover, but then proceeded on a wild goose chase in pursuit of Stuart, rather than fulfilling his mission of intelligence gathering.

On July 3, after Pickett's Charge, Kilpatrick was ordered by Major Gens. George G. Meade and Alfred Pleasonton to launch a cavalry charge against the infantry positions of Lieutenant Gen. James Longstreet's Corps on the Confederate right flank, just west of Little Round Top. His lone brigade commander, Brigadier Gen. Elon Farnsworth, protested against the futility of such a move, but obeyed orders; Kilpatrick essentially questioned his bravery and dared him to charge. Farnsworth was killed in the attack and his brigade suffered significant losses. He and the rest of the cavalry pursued and harassed Lee during his retreat back to Virginia. That fall, he took part in the Kilpatrick-Dahlgren Raid.
Just before the start of Lieutenant Gen. Ulysses S Grant's Overland Campaign in the spring of 1864, Kilpatrick conducted a raid toward Richmond and through the Virginia Peninsula, hoping to rescue Union prisoners at Belle Isle and Libby Prison. He destroyed much property and had many encounters with the enemy, but was unsuccessful in his aims. And one of his brigade commanders, Col. Ulric Dahlgren, son of Rear-Adm. John A. Dalhgren, was killed in the process. The "Kilpatrick-Dahlgren" expedition was such a fiasco that he found he was no longer welcome in the Eastern Theater. He transferred west to command the 3rd Division of the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Cumberland, under Major Gen.William T. Sherman.

Starting in May 1864, Kilpatrick rode in the Atlanta Campaign. On May 13, he was severely wounded in the thigh at Resca and his injuries kept him out of the field until late July. He had considerable success raiding behind Confederate lines, tearing up railroads, and at one point rode his division completely around the Confederate positions in Atlanta.

Kilpatrick continued with Sherman in the "March to the Sea" Campaign to Savannah and north through the Carolinas Campaign. He delighted in destroying Confederate property. On 2 occasions, his coarse personal instincts betrayed him. The first occassion was when the Confederate cavalry raided his camp while he was in bed with prostitutes, and he was forced to flee for his life in his underclothes. He commanded a division of the Cavalry Corps in the Military Division of Mississippi from April to June, 1865, and was promoted to major general of volunteers on June 18, 1865. He was later brevetted a Brigadier General, Regular Army, for actions at Aldie, Gettysburg, Resaca, Fayetteville, and brevetted major general, Regular Army, for actions in the Carolinas Campaign. He resigned from the army on December 1, 1865.

He became active in politics as a Republican, and in 1880, he was an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Congress from New Jersey.

In 1865, Kilpatrick became active in politics as a Republican and was appointed U.S. Minister to Chile by President Andrew Johnson. He continued in that office by President Ulysses S. Grant, but was recalled in 1868. In 1872, he ran unsuccessfully ran for U.S. Congress. In March 1881, President James Garfield appointed him again to the post of U.S. Minister to Chile, where he died shortly after his arrival in Santiago. His remains were returned to the U.S. in 1887 and were interred at the West Point Post Cemetery.

Kilpatrick was both praised for the victories he achieved, and despised by southerners whose homes and towns he devastated.

Brigadier General Neal Dow

 

Brigadier General Neal Dow was a brigade commander in General Sherman's command, and his troops took part in the May 27th attack across Slaughter's Field on the Confederate center. When Sherman was wounded and removed from the field, Dow was placed in command, but was himself wounded shortly afterwards. As with the other Union efforts on May 27th, the attack across Slaughter's Field failed to breach the Confederate defenses. In late June, General Dow was taken prisoner by men from Colonel Logan's cavalry while he convalesced as an uninvited guest at a nearby plantation. Eight months later he was exchanged for General W. H. F. Lee, son of Robert E. Lee.

Neal Dow was born in Portland, Maine, 20 March 1804. He served as mayor of Portland, Maine, and also in the Maine legislature. Dow was a campaigner for temperance, and through his efforts while he was mayor, "The Maine Law", the toughest statute against the sale and consumption of spirits anywhere in the world, was passed in 1851 prohibiting under severe penalties the sale of intoxicating beverages. He was very well known for his prohibition efforts, and on 31 December 1861, after he volunteered his services to the Union, he was appointed colonel of the 13th Maine volunteers, and with his regiment he joined General Butler's expedition to New Orleans. His regiment was known as the "Temperance Regiment", since he allowed no drinking of alcohol by his men. He was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers on 28 April 1862, and placed in command of the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi, and later of the district of Florida. From there he was transferred to Camp Parapet, on the Mississippi River, six miles above New Orleans, and from there he was transferred to the command of General Banks, where he served at Port Hudson. He resigned from the army on 30 November 1864. Afterward he continued to work for the temperance cause. He died in 1897.

Brigadier General Thomas W. Sherman

At the time of the May 27th Union assault, Brigadier General Thomas West Sherman commanded 2nd Division, occupying the left flank of the Union lines at Port Hudson.
On the morning of the May 27th attack, possibly due to confusion about orders, Sherman did not send his troops against the Confederates as General Banks had ordered.  He came near to being removed from his command.  He did move in the afternoon, and while leading his troops in the resulting battle was badly wounded in the right leg, which was later amputated.
Thomas W. Sherman was born in Newport, Rhode Island, on March 26, 1813.  He is best remembered for, at age 18, having walked almost 400 miles from home in order to speak with President Andrew Jackson about poor educational opportunities in Rhode Island.  Jackson rewarded him for his effort by giving him an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point. Graduating from West Point in 1836, he fought in campaigns against Indians, and in the Mexican War.  When the Civil War began, he was first involved with the defense of Washington, D.C., then was sent south, as a Brigadier General, to secure bases on the coast in support of the Union naval blockade.  He was later assigned to the Department of the Gulf, serving in Louisiana for the remainder of the war.
Sherman retired from the military in 1870, at the rank of major general. He died in his home in Newport, Rhode Island, on March 16, 1879.1897.

Brigadier General William Dwight

 

On May 27th, Brigadier General William Dwight was a brigade commander on the right wing of the Union lines, under the command of General Weitzel.  He had as part of his command two Negro regiments, the 1st and 3rd Louisiana Native Guards, which he ordered to attack a heavily fortified section at the extreme left of the Confederate lines.  The Guards were turned back after suffering extremely heavy casualties.  After the assault of May 27th, Dwight was given command of the wounded General Sherman's Second Division on the left flank, which was reduced to the strength of a brigade.  On June 14, his forces launched an attack on the powerful Confederate position known as The Citadel, but the defenses were not breached.

William Dwight was born in Springfield, Mass. on July 14 1831.  He was a student at a preparatory military school at West Point, 1846-49, and a cadet at the United States Military Academy, 1849-53, but resigned before graduation to engage in manufacturing in Boston.  He was commissioned captain in the 13th U. S. Infantry, May 14, 1861, and in June of that year was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the 70th N. Y. Volunteers, of which Daniel E. Sickles was Colonel.  At the Battle of Williamsburg, where his regiment lost half its men, he was twice wounded, left for dead on the field, and taken prisoner.  He was exchanged, and for gallantry was promoted Brigadier-General of Volunteers, Nov. 29, 1862.  He was appointed a member of the commission to receive the surrender of Confederate forces on July 9, 1863.  After May, 1864, he was Chief of Staff to General Banks in the Red River expedition, and in July of that year was assigned to the command of the 1st of the 19th Army Corps, with which he rendered important service under Sheridan in the campaign of the Shenandoah Valley, notably at Winchester, Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek.  He resigned on Jan. 15, 1866, and engaged in business in Cincinnati, Ohio.  General Dwight died in Boston, Mass. on April 21, 1888.

Brigadier General William S. Hancock

Hancock was one of twin brothers, and named after the famous general Winfield Scott. He graduated from West Point in 1844, ranked 18 out of 25 in his class. He served in the infantry during the frontier duty, Mexican war, Seminole War, the Kansas border disputes, and the Utah expedition. His was a 2nd lieutenant in the 6th U.S. Infantry Regiment, with which he fought in the Mexican War. He was brevetted to 1st lieutenant for gallant and meritorious service at Contreras and Churubusco, where he was wounded in the knee, in 1847.

He became the Chief Quartermaster, Southern District of California. Fearing that he would be left to sit in California-where he had been instrumental in frustrating the plans of local secessionists-while the war raged elsewhere, he was ordered East to the Quartermaster's Department. He had earned a brevet before the transfer. He was appointed a Brigadier General to date from September 23, 1861.

Hancock was given an infantry brigade to command in the Army of the Potomac. He earned his "Superb" designation in the Peninsula Campaign in 1862 by leading a critical attack on Fort Magruder at Williamsburg; sadly, Major Gen. George B. McClellan did not follow through on Hancock's initiative, and the Confederate forces were allowed to withdraw unmolested.

At Antietam, Hancock assumed division command in the II Corps following the death of Major Gen. Israel B. Richardson. He was promoted to major general of volunteers in November, 1862. He led his division in the disastrous attack on "Marye's Heights" at Fredericksburg was wounded in the abdomen. At Chancellorsville, his brigade covered Major Gen. Joseph Hooker's withdrawal and he was wounded again. His corps commander, Brigadier Gen. Darius Couch, transferred out of the Army of the Potomac in protest of actions Hooker took in the battle and he assumed command of II Corps, which he would lead for the rest of the war. He is considered by many to the best Union corps commander of the war.

Hancock's most famous service was as a new corps commander at Gettysburg. After Major Gen. John F. Reynolds was killed early on July 1, Major Gen. George G. Meade, the new commander of the Army of the Potomac, sent him to take command of the units on the field and assess the situation. He was in temporary command of the "left wing" of the army, consisting of the I, II, III, and XI Corps. He organized the Union defenses on Cemetery Hill as Confederate forces drove the I and XI Corps back through the town. He decided to stand and fight at the town of Gettysburg. He later received the thanks of the U.S. Congress for "for his gallant, meritorious and conspicuous share in that great and decisive victory". Meade arrived after midnight and overall command reverted to him.

On the second and third days of the battle, he directed the Union center until severely wounded in his thigh by a nail and by wood fragments, possibly from his saddle driven into his thigh by Confederate fire. His position bore the brunt of Pickett's Charge on July 3rd. Despite his pain, he refused evacuation to the rear until the battle was over. He had been an inspiration for his troops throughout the battle. After a recuperation leave of 6 months, he returned to active service.

Hancock suffered from the effects of his wound for the rest of the war. He did recruiting over the winter and returned in the spring to field command of the II Corps for Lieutenant Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign, but he never regained full mobility and his former youthful energy. Nevertheless, he performed well at the Wilderness and commanded a critical breakthrough assault at the "Bloody Angle" at Spotsylvania Court House. His corps suffered enormous losses during a futile assault at Cold Harbor.

During the siege of Petersburg, Hancock's only significant reverse occurred. His corps moved south of the city, along the Weldon Railroad, tearing up track. On August 25, Major Gen. Henry Heth attacked and overran the Union position at Ream’s Station, shattering the II Corps, and capturing many prisoners. This humiliation was a principal reason for him giving up field command in November, but he also expressed his concern with Grant's casualty-intensive tactics. He performed more recruiting, commanded the Middle Department, and relieved Major Gen. Philip Sheridan in command of forces in the Shenandoah Valley.

After the war, Hancock commanded the the 5th Military District. During the Reconstruction, he drew much criticism from Grant and others for being lenient to the defeated Confederates. By 1866, he was a major general in the Regular Army, and eventually took command of the Department of the East.
Hancock was considered but passed over for the Democratic nomination for U.S. President in 1868. He was eventually chosen as the Democratic opponent to James Garfield in the U.S. election of 1880, but was narrowly defeated in his attempt.

Hancock died while still in command of the Department of the East. He was buried in Montgomery Cemetery in Norristown, Pennsylvania. He was considered one of the greatest Union generals serving in the East. He was known to army colleagues as "Hancock the Superb".

Colonel Benjamin H. Grierson

Colonel Benjamin Henry Grierson (shown above as Brigadier General) commanded a brigade of cavalry at Port Hudson under General Bank's command.
One of Grierson's main goals was the defeat and elimination of the Confederate cavalry forces under the command of Colonel John Logan, which operated outside the Port Hudson garrison throughout the siege.  Logan's men harassed the Union troops from the rear, attacked supply wagons, and were otherwise a major nuisance to Banks.  There were repeated skirmishes between the two cavalry units, but none decisive.  On June 3rd, Grierson led 1,300 men supported by eight cannon toward Clinton, determined to finish the Confederate cavalry.  Logan was alerted and a battle ensued, resulting in Grierson's forces being defeated and forced to retreat back to Port Hudson.  Banks then sent General Paine with a powerful force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery back to crush Logan, but the Confederates had escaped.
Prior to Port Hudson, Grierson had become famous for leading a cavalry raid (April 17-May 2) through Confederate areas of Mississippi to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, this being known as "Grierson's Raid".  Primarily as a result of this he was promoted to Brigadier General, effective June 3, 1863.  The movie, "The Horse Soldiers", made in 1959 starring John Wayne, was based on Grierson's foray.Benjamin Henry Grierson was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on July 8, 1826.  After being educated in Ohio, he moved to Illinois and taught music, then entered business.  When the Civil War began, Grierson joined the army at Cairo on May 8, 1861, serving initially as a volunteer aide, with the nominal rank of Lieutenant. On October 24, 1861, he was commissioned Major of the Sixth Illinois Cavalry, and on March 28, 1862 was promoted by choice of the regiment to be colonel.  While ascending through the military ranks, he took part in raids and skirmishes in West Tennessee and northern Mississippi.  He pursued the Confederate forces after their raid against the Union supply depot at Holly Springs, Mississippi.  Because of this action, he was given command of a cavalry brigade.  Although he lacked a formal military education, Grierson became a skilled Union cavalry leader.  After the Civil War, he was appointed colonel of the 10th US Cavalry, and took part in several actions against Indians.  Eventually, he became one of the few civilians who attained the rank of brigadier general in the Regular army.  Grierson died on September 1, 1911, in Omena, Michigan.

Colonel Henry W. Birge

 

Colonel Henry Wagner Birge (shown above as a Brigadier General) was a brigade commander in General Grover's division at the time of the May 27th assault.  His men unsuccessfully attacked Fort Desperate and took heavy casualties.  When General Paine was wounded during the June 14th assault on the Priest Cap, Colonel Birge was ordered to assume his command, and he directed the continuing, but ultimately failed attack.  Later, when General Banks called for a thousand volunteers to form a storming party to mount a "forlorn hope" attack, Colonel Birge volunteered to lead it.  Birge drilled and trained this party, but the surrender of the Confederates came before the attack could be mounted.
Birge was born on August 25, 1825 at Hartford, Connecticut.  He was appointed colonel of the 13th Connecticut Infantry Regiment in winter, 1861.  The regiment was assigned to General Butler and arrived in Louisiana in March, 1862.  After the surrender of Port Hudson, Birge was promoted to Brigadier General and participated in the Red River Campaign of 1864.  Later he was at the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia.

Birge died on June 1, 1888 at New York, NY and was buried at Yantic Cemetery, Norwich, CT.

Colonel Nathan A. M. Dudley

Colonel Nathan Augustus Monroe Dudley commanded a brigade in General Auger's 1st Division at Port Hudson.  His troops participated in the Battle of Plains Store on May 21, 1863, and in the assault on the Confederate center defended by General Beall's troops on May 27th.
Dudley was born in Lexington, Massachusetts on August 20, 1825.  He enlisted in the U. S. Army at an early age, and served from 1855 until he retired in 1889.  He had a rather mixed military record, being court-martialed three times for drunkenness and conduct unbecoming an officer.  Except for the Civil War years, his military service was spent mostly on the frontier.
When the war began, he was a captain in the 10th US Infantry.  He was appointed colonel and commander of the 30th Massachusetts Volunteers, which he led for much of the early part of the conflict.  He later served under Major General Nathaniel Banks before reverting back to the Regular Army, where he was promoted to Major of the 15th U.S. Infantry. He was brevetted Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers on January 19, 1865 for his faithful service.  Dudley is probably best known for his highly questionable behavior in the so-called Lincoln County War in New Mexico in 1878, for which he was the subject of a court of inquiry, suspended of his command, and later brought to trial in 1879.  He was acquitted of the charges and continued his military career.  He eventually retired from the U. S. Army on Aug. 20, 1889, at the rank of brigadier general.  He returned to the east and died of natural causes on April 29, 1910.  His body was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery.

David Glasgow Farragut

July 5, 1801 - August 14, 1870

When Virginia seceded in April 1861, Navy Capt. David G. Farragut told his Virginian wife that he was "sticking to the flag." "This act of mine may mean years of separation from your family," he told her, "so you must decide quickly whether you will go north or remain here."

Although Farragut was Southern born, married a Virginian -- "a very superior woman in character and cultivation" -- and resided in the South, he was squarely behind the Union. "God forbid," he said, "that I should have to raise my hand against the South." But he would not hesitate to obey orders to the best of his abilities.

They went north, to Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., where Farragut was assigned a desk job until January 1862, at which time he was chosen to command an expedition to capture New Orleans. He assembled nearly 50 ships carrying more than 200 cannon, with which he blasted his way past the forts protecting the city. Sailing on up the Mississippi River to New Orleans, Farragut forced its surrender and became a Northern hero. For this performance he received the Thanks of Congress citation and was made the Navy's first rear admiral.

Farragut next wanted to take his fleet and capture Mobile Bay, but the opening of the Mississippi River was the first prority, and he contributed top the success of that long struggle by blockading the mouth of the Red River and supporting the siege of the Confederate fort at Port Hudson. After the surrender of Vicksburg and Port Hudson in July 1863, Farragut sailed to New York for repairs to his flagship, the Hartford.

Farragut went back to the Gulf Coast in 1864 and fought the fiercest of his battles when he "damned the torpedoes" and blasted his way into Mobile Bay. A ship's officer wrote that when Farragut saw the bodies of his killed crewmen laid out on the deck after the battle, "It was the only time I ever saw the old genleman cry. But tears came in his eyes like a little child."

Sixty-threee year old Farragut's health gave out in November, and he returned to New York to recuperate. He was received with great public enthusiasm and given $50,000 by grateful businessmen to be used to by a New York home. Congress created the rank of vice admiral and bestowed it upon Farragut. The next year they conferred the rank of admiral upon him.

Elmer Ephraim Ellsworth

 

April 11, 1837 - May 24, 1861

Elmer E. Ellsworth, born near Saratoga Springs, N.Y., left home and went to New York City at an early age. He then moved to Chicago, Ill., where he worked as a law clerk, became interested in military science, and joined Chicago's National Guard Cadets. Made colonel of the group, Ellsworth infused the unit with his enthusiasm. He introduced his men to the flashy Zouave uniforms and drill that emulated French colonial troops in Algeria and turned the group, renamed the U.S. Zouave Cadets, into a national champion drill team. In the summer of 1860, the unit performed hundreds of quick, flashy movements with their muskets and bayonets for awed audiences in 20 cities.

In August Ellsworth went to Springfield, Ill., to study law in Abraham Lincoln's office. He helped Lincoln with his campaign for president and went with him to Washington, D.C. Lincoln called Ellsworth "the greatest little man I ever met." When the Civil War erupted, Ellsworth went to New York City and raised a regiment of volunteers from the city's firefighters.

As colonel of the New York Fire Zouaves, Ellsworth was anxious to be the first to invade the South. On May 24, 1861, the day after Virginia seceded, Ellsworth led his men uncontested down the streets of Alexandria. He sent some of his men to take the railroad station while he and a few others went to secure the telegraph office.

On the way he noticed a Confederate flag atop the Marshall House Inn. Ellsworth and four others quickly ascended the stairs; Ellsworth cut down the flag and was on the way down the stairs when the proprietor killed him with a shotgun blast to the chest. Cpl. Francis Brownell immediately killed the innkeeper.

Lincoln, grief-stricken, had an honor guard bring his friend's body to the White House, where it lay in state on May 25. The body was then moved to City Hall in New York City, where thousands paid their respects to the first man to fall for the Union. Ellsworth was buried in Mechanicville, N.Y.

Frederick Douglass

 

February 7, 1817 - February 20, 1895

Originally named Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, Douglass was one of the most eminent human-rights leaders of the 19th century. His oratorical and literary brilliance thrust him into the forefront of the U.S. Abolition movement, and he became the first black citizen to hold high rank in the U.S. government.

Separated as an infant from his slave mother (he never knew his white father), Frederick lived with his grandmother on a Maryland plantation until, at the age of eight, his owner sent him to Baltimore to live as a house servant with the family of Hugh Auld, whose wife defied state law by teaching the boy to read. But Auld declared that learning would make him unfit for slavery, and Frederick was forced to continue his education surreptitiously with the aid of schoolboys in the street.

Upon the death of his master, he was returned to the plantation as a field hand at 16. Later, he was hired out in Baltimore as a ship caulker. He tried to escape with three others in 1833, but the plot was discovered before they could get away. Five years later, however, he fled to New York City and then to New Bedford, Mass., where he worked as a labourer for three years, eluding slave hunters by changing his name to Douglass.

At a Nantucket, Mass., antislavery convention in 1841, Douglass was invited to describe his feelings and experiences under slavery. These remarks were so poignant and naturally eloquent that he was unexpectedly catapulted into a new career as agent for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. From then on, despite heckling and mockery, insult, and violent personal attack, Douglass never failed in his devotion to the Abolitionist cause.

To counter skeptics who doubted that such an articulate spokesman could ever have been a slave, Douglass felt impelled to write his autobiography in 1845, revised and completed it in 1882 as Life and Times of Frederick Douglass. Douglass' account became a classic in American literature as well as a primary source about slavery from the bondsman's viewpoint. To avoid recapture by his former owner, whose name and location he had given in the narrative, Douglass left on a two-year speaking tour of Great Britain and Ireland. Abroad, Douglass helped to win many new friends for the Abolition Movement and to cement the bonds of humanitarian reform between the continents.

Douglass returned with funds to purchase his freedom and also to start his own antislavery newspaper, the North Star (later Frederick Douglass's Paper), which he published from 1847 to 1860 at Rochester, N.Y. The Abolition leader William Lloyd Garrison disagreed with the need for a separate, black-oriented press, and the two men broke over this issue as well as over Douglass' support of political action to supplement moral persuasion.

Thus, after 1851 Douglass allied himself with the faction of the movement led by James G. Birney. He did not countenance violence, however, and specifically counselled against the raid on Harpers Ferry, Va. (October 1859). During the Civil War (1861-65) he became a consultant to Pres. Abraham Lincoln, advocating that former slaves be armed for the North and that the war be made a direct confrontation against slavery.

Throughout Reconstruction (1865-77), he fought for full civil rights for freedmen and vigorously supported the women's rights movement. After Reconstruction, Douglass served as assistant secretary of the Santo Domingo Commission (1871), and in the District of Columbia he was marshal (1877-81) and recorder of deeds (1881-86); finally, he was appointed U.S. minister and consul general to Haiti (1889-91).

General Philip Henry Sheridan

General Philip Henry Sheridan

Born: 6-Mar-1831
Birthplace: Albany, NY
Died: 5-Aug-1888
Location of death: Nonquitt, MA
Cause of death: unspecified

Gender: Male
Religion: Roman Catholic
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Military

Nationality: United States
Executive summary: Union Army General

Military service: Union Army (US Civil War)

American general, born at Albany, New York on the 6th of March 1831. His early life was spent in a country district in Perry county, Ohio, and he proceeded to West Point in 1848, graduating in 1853. He was assigned to the infantry and served on the frontier and on the Pacific coast, gaining some experience of war in operations against the Indians. At the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861 he had just become first lieutenant, and soon afterwards he was promoted captain and entrusted with administrative duties in the western theater of war. Early in 1862 he was commissioned colonel of the 2nd Michigan cavalry, with which he served in Halleck's army on the Tennessee. In June he was placed in command of a cavalry brigade, and a month later he won promotion to the rank of brigadier-general U.S.V. by his skilful conduct of the fight of Booneville on the 1st of July. He took part in General Buell's campaign against Braxton Bragg, and led the 11th division of the Army of the Ohio at the hard-fought battle of Perryville (October 8). Sheridan distinguished himself still more at the sanguinary battle of Murfreesboro (Stone River), and on the recommendation of William S. Rosecrans was made major-general of volunteers, to date from the 31st of December 1862. His division took part in Rosecrans's campaign of 1863 and a very distinguished part at Chickamauga and Chattanooga. Sheridan's leading of his division at the latter battle attracted the notice of General Ulysses S. Grant, and when the latter, as general in chief of the U.S. armies, was seeking an "active and energetic man, full of spirit and vigor and life" to command the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, Sheridan was chosen on the suggestion of General Halleck. The extraordinary activity of the Union cavalry under his command justified the choice. Sheridan's corps took part in the battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House, incidents of which led to a bitter quarrel between Sheridan and George Gordon Meade and to Sheridan's being despatched by General Grant on a far reaching cavalry raid towards Richmond. In the course of this was fought the battle of Yellow Tavern, where the Confederate general Jeb Stuart was killed. After rejoining the army Sheridan fought another well-contested action at Hawes' Shop and took and held Cold Harbor. After the battle at that place Sheridan undertook another raid, this time towards Charlottesville (June 7-28), in view of cooperation with the army of General David Hunter in the Valley. In the course of this was fought the action of Trevilian's Station (June II). A little later came General Sheridan's greatest opportunity for distinction. He was appointed to command a new "Army of the Shenandoah" to oppose the forces of General Early, and conducted the brilliant and decisive campaign which crushed the Confederate army and finally put an end to the war in Northern Virginia. The victories of the Opequan, or Winchester (September 19), Fisher's Hill (September 22) and Cedar Creek (October 19), produced great elation in the North and corresponding depression in the Confederacy, and Sheridan was made successively brigadier-general U.S.A. for Fisher's Hill and major-general U.S.A. for Cedar Creek. "Sheridan's Ride" of 20 miles from Winchester to Cedar Creek to take command of the hard-pressed Union troops is a celebrated incident of the war. His capacity for accepting the gravest responsibilities was shown, not less than by his handling of an army in battle, by his ruthless devastation of the Valley -- a severe measure felt to be necessary both by Sheridan himself and by Grant. From the Valley the cavalry rode through the enemy's country to join Grant before Petersburg, fighting the action of Waynesboro, destroying communications and material of war, and finally reporting to the general-in-chief on the 25th of March 1865. A few days later the indefatigable Sheridan won the last great victory of the war at Five Forks. The operations were conducted entirely by him and were brilliantly successful, leading to the retreat of Robert E. Lee from the lines of Petersburg and the final catastrophe of Appomattox Court House. In the course of the battle of Five Forks Sheridan once more displayed his utter fearlessness of criticism by summarily dismissing from his command General G. K. Warren, an officer of the highest repute, whose corps was only temporarily under Sheridan's orders. The part played by the cavalry corps in the pursuit of Lee was most conspicuous, and Sheridan himself commanded the large forces of infantry and cavalry which cut off Lee's retreat and compelled the surrender of the famous Army of Northern Virginia.

Soon after the close of the war Sheridan, who by these services had gained his reputation as one of the greatest soldiers of the time, was sent to exercise the military command in the southwest, where a corps of observation, on the Mexican frontier, watched the struggle between Maximilian and the Liberals. General Sheridan stated in his memoirs that material assistance was afforded to the Liberals out of the U.S. arsenals, and the moral effect of his presence on the frontier certainly influenced the course of the struggle to a very great extent. Later, in the Reconstruction period, he commanded the Fifth Military District (Louisiana and Texas) at New Orleans, where his administration of the conquered states was most stormy, his differences with President Andrew Johnson culminating in his recall in September 1867. He was then placed in charge of the Department of the Missouri, which he commanded for sixteen years, and in 1869, on Grant's election to the presidency and Sherman's consequent promotion to the full rank of general, he was made lieutenant-general. In 1868-69 he conducted a winter campaign against the Indians, which resulted in their defeat and surrender. During the Franco-German War of 1870 General Sheridan accompanied the great headquarters of the German armies as the guest of the king of Prussia. In 1873, at the time of the "Virginius" incident, when an invasion of Spain was projected, Sheridan was designated to command the United States field army. In 1875 he was sent to New Orleans to deal with grave civil disorder, a duty which he carried out with the same uncompromising severity that he had previously shown in 1867. In 1883 he succeeded Sherman in the chief command of the United States army, which he held until his death at Nonquitt, Massachusetts on the 5th of August 1888. A few months previously he had been raised to the full rank of general.

As a soldier, Sheridan combined brilliant courage and painstaking skill. As a fighting general he was unsurpassed. Few of the leaders of either side could have stemmed the tide of defeat as he did at Stone river and turned a mere rally into a great victory as he did at Cedar Creek, by the pure force of personal magnetism. His restless energy was that of a Charles XII, to whom in this respect he has justly been compared, while, unlike the king of Sweden, he was as careful and vigilant as the most methodical strategist. He was a devout Roman Catholic, and in his private life he had the esteem and admiration of all who knew him well. General Sheridan was president of the Society of the Army of the Potomac and of the Society of the Army of the Cumberland, the latter for fourteen years. In 1875 he married Irene, daughter of General D. H. Rucker. His Personal Memoirs (2 vols.) were published soon after his death.

Wife: Irene Rucker (m. 1875)

    University: US Military Academy, West Point (1848-53)

George Brinton McClellan

 

February 7, 1817 - February 20, 1895

1826–85, Union general in the American Civil War, b. Philadelphia. After graduating (1846) from West Point, he served with distinction in the Mexican War and later worked on various engineering projects, notably on the survey (1853–54) for a Northern Pacific RR route across the Cascade Range. Resigning from the army in 1857, he was a railroad official until the outbreak of the Civil War.

In May, 1861, McClellan was made commander of the Dept. of the Ohio and a major general in the regular army. He cleared the western part of Virginia of Confederates (June–July, 1861) and consequently, after the Union defeat in the first battle of Bull Run, was given command of the troops in and around Washington. In November he became general in chief. The administration, reflecting public opinion, pressed for an early offensive, but McClellan insisted on adequate training and equipment for his army.

In March, 1862, he was relieved of his supreme command, but he retained command of the Army of the Potomac, with which in April, 1862, he initiated the Peninsular campaign. The collapse of this campaign after the Seven Days battles was charged by many to his overcaution. In Aug., 1862, most of McClellan's troops were reassigned to the Army of Virginia under John Pope. After Pope's defeat at the second battle of Bull Run, McClellan again reorganized the Union forces, and in the Antietam campaign he checked Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North.

He was slow, however, to follow Lee across the Potomac and in Nov., 1862, was removed from his command.
In 1864, McClellan was the Democratic candidate for President, although he rejected the party's peace platform. McClellan's candidacy caused the administration much uneasiness, but President Lincoln was reelected by a substantial majority.

McClellan resigned from the army on the day of the election and afterward traveled extensively with his family in Europe. He was later chief engineer of the New York City department of docks and was governor of New Jersey (1878–81). Despite his faults “Little Mack� was an able general and was loved and trusted by his men of the Army of the Potomac. He served one term as governor of New Jersey (elected 1877) and spent his remaining years traveling and writing his memoirs.

George Gordon Meade

 

Born Dec. 31, 1815 - Died November 6, 1872

Though some of his subordinate officers considered him "a damned old goggle-eyed snapping turtle" because of his looks and short temper, George G. Meade was one of the most competent of the Civil War's Union generals. An 1835 West Point graduate, Meade saw some action in the Mexican and Seminole Indian Wars and was a captain with the topographical engineer corps when the war broke out.

Promoted to brigadier general, Meade was given command of a Pennsylvania brigade and participated in the battles of Mechanicsville, Gaines' Mill, and White Oak Swamp. He was not yet fully recovered from a severe wound received at White Oak Swamp when he resumed command of his brigade at 2d Bull Run, South Mountain, and Antietam.

His commendable service won him promotion to major general and command of a division at the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg. Meade commanded the V Corps at Chancellorsville, and on June 28, 1862, while the Army of the Potomac was tracking the Confederate movement into Pennsylvania, Meade was surprised to be appointed to command the Army of the Potomac.

Three days later, at the bloody Battle of Gettysburg, the new army commander performed creditably in defeating Lee, but he was criticized for not being more aggressive. Newly appointed Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, commander of all Union forces and Meade's immediate superior, decided to travel with the Army of the Potomac on its next drive toward Richmond. Meade remained in command, but Grant dictated the strategy and movements of the army. Meade faithfully carried out Grant's orders and assisted in the ultimate Union victory.

After the war, Meade was given a series of difficult Southern commands in which he tried to administer reconstruction policies with fairness and sensitivity. He died in 1872 after succumbing to a combination of pneumonia and old war wounds.

Fascinating Fact: Like many generals, Meade did not get along well with journalists. After he had one run out of camp, sitting backwards on a mule and weari