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Lincoln
| Abraham Lincoln was born on February
12, 1809, in a log cabin in the backwoods of Hardin county Kentucky.
In 1834 Lincoln was elected to state legislature where he served
for consecutive terms and achieved prominence as a Whig. In 1836
he obtained his attorney's license and became the partner of John
Stuart. In 1842 he married Mary Todd after a tough courtship.
He worked hard for the election to be the Whig candidate, but
Zachary Taylor got it in 1848. He tried to become a senator in
1855 but was defeated. In 1856 he became a republican where the
Republican Party, opposing Douglas in the Illinois senatorial
race, nominated him. Douglas won the senatorial but the Republicans
nominated him for the President in 1860. |
Sixteenth
President of the United States of America (1861-1865)
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"In your
hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine,
is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not
assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy
the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to
preserve, protect and defend it."
Lincoln
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Lincoln
was elected with a minority of the popular vote. By the time
of Lincoln's inauguration seven states had seceded. Lincoln
ordered the provisioning of Fort Sumter, and the South regarded
it as an act of war and Fort Sumter was fired upon and the Civil
War started. Lincoln couldn't find a good commander in chief
until he picked Ulysses S. Grant. After the battle of Antietam
he was able to issue his own emancipation proclamation. Lincoln
made the Gettysburg address at the dedication of the cemetery
at Gettysburg in 1863. A great majority reelected Lincoln over
George B. McClellan, and when he delivered his second inaugural
address the war was coming to a close. Lincoln was able to see
the end of the war, but was not able to enact his reconstruction
process because John Wilkes Booth at Ford's theatre shot him
on April 14, 1865.
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McClellan
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McClellan was
often referred to by the soldiers as "Little Mac."
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McClellan was the
Union general in the American Civil War. He served with distinction
in the Mexican War after graduating from West Point in 1846.
Later he worked on various engineering projects, well known
for the survey for a Northern Pacific RR route across the Cascade
Range. He resigned from the army in 1857 and was a railroad
official until the outbreak of the Civil War. McClellan was
made commander of the Dept. of the Ohio and major general in
the regular army in May 1861. He cleared the western past of
Virginia of Confederates and after the Union defeat in the first
battle of Bull Run, was given command of the troops in and around
Washington. He became general in chief in November. McClellan
insisted on adequate training and equipment for his army even
though the administration, reflecting public opinion, pressed
for the offensive. He was relieved of his supreme command in
March 1862, 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 over caution.
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Most of McClellan's
troops were reassigned to the Army of Virginia under John Pope
in Aug. 1862. McClellan again reorganized the Union forces after
Pope's defeat at the second battle of Bull Run and in the Antietam
campaign he checked Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North.
He was slow to follow Lee across the Potomac and in Nov. 1862,
war removed from his command. McClellan ran for the Democratic
candidate for President in 1864, although he rejected the party's
peace platform. McClellan's candidacy caused the administration
much uneasiness, but Lincoln was reelected by a substantial
majority. McClellan resigns 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 loved and trusted by his men of
the Army of the Potomac. He wrote McClellan's Own Story in defense
of his military record.
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McClellan was
a the Democratic candidate for President in 1864, but dropped
out on election day after winning only three states.
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Davis
| Born in Kentucky not far from
Abraham Lincoln in time or distance. He was the President of the
Confederacy and a decorated war veteran and politician. In the
Mexican-American War Davis saved Zachary Taylor from defeat while
holding his position at Buena Vista. Taylor's daughter was his
first wife. She died shortly after their marriage in 1835. He
later married the daughter of a Mississippi aristocrat plantation
owner. |
A reporter
who interviewed Davis said he had a "heart as warm as
ever for the land he has loved so well" , and he "did
not desert during the war and he has not deserted since."
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Davis is known
for being the President of the Confederacy during the American
Civil War.
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Now a politician, he became a
spokesman for the South. Serving as Secretary of War under Franklin
Pierce and in the Senate, Davis viewed the South as "…a country
within a country." Davis was not the first choice for President,
Alexander " Little Aleck" Stephens was. Davis was an authoritarian
Federalist. His policies split the state governors like Joseph
E. Brown of Georgia, who felt that Davis violated the intent of
Confederate Constitution. Davis repeatedly interfered with strategies
of his battle ill prepared for war. During his presidency Davis
visited Georgia four times, including the inaugural tour. With
the South in ruins and Grant's army near Davis fled to Richmond.
After his capture in the vicinity of Irwinville, Ga. at the end
of the war the former president spent two years in jail for treason
but was released before trial. After his release he became a businessmen
and author. Davis died in 1889 at the age of 82. |
Lee
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John Williams
Jones said that "He possessed every virtue of the great
commanders, without their vices.
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Lee was for the
Union, but he decided not to go against his home state of
Virginia and on April 23 he assumed command of the military
and naval forces of Virginia which he organized thoroughly
before they were absorbed by the confederacy. Lee then became
the General for the confederate army appointed by confederate
president Jefferson Davis. Lee developed the South Atlantic
coast defenses. In March of 1862, Davis recalled Lee to Richmond
to try to keep General George B. McClellan, who was threatening
Richmond, was stopped with the help of T.J. (Stonewall) Jackson
in the Shenandoah. After stopping McClellan in Richmond, he
went on and defeated John Pope at the second battle of Bull
Run in a battle that lasted seven days. On Lee's second attempt
at invasion on the North, he was defeated at Gettysburg. In
1864 Ulysses S. Grant attacked Lee at Petersburg after Lee
had tried to resign from the army, but Davis not letting him.
On April second 1865 Grant broke through Petersburg.
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| Lee graduated second in his
class at West Point in 1829, and was commissioned in the Corps
of Engineers. He married Martha Washington's great-granddaughter,
Mary Anne Randolph, in 1831. In the Mexican War Lee proved himself
as an excellent leader winning three brevets, and serving with
Gen. Winfield Scott. Lee became superintendent at West Point
from 1852-1855, until he was made lieutenant colonel of the
second Cavalry and sent to West Texas. There he commanded the
regiment from 1857-1861 He was chosen to go to war with General
Scott who he had previously served with in the Mexican War. |
Lee once
said "Abandon your animosities and make your sons Americans."
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Grant
| From 1822-1825 he
was the commander in chief of the Union army in the Civil War.
He was also the 18th President of the United States from 1869-1877.
Ulysses Grant spent his younger years in Georgetown Ohio, and
graduated from West Point in 1843. He served in the Mexican war,
and was forced to resign from the army in 1854 because of excessive
drinking. He tried farming, business, and working as a clerk at
a family leather store, but he failed in all of these things.
When the Civil War broke out he was commissioned colonel of the
21st Illinois Volunteers, and in August 1861, he became a brigadier
general of the volunteers. Grant went about war realistically
and grimly. He was a skilled tactician and at times a brilliant
strategist. |
President Lincoln
once said "I can't spare this man--he fights."
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Eighteenth
President of the United States of America (1869-1877)
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In 1867 President
Andrew Johnson, replacing Edwin Stanton, appointed him Secretary
of War. Grant returned the office back to Stanton when the Senate
refused to sanction his removal. Grant was chosen as the republican
nomination for President, and in 1868 he was elected President
of the United States. His Presidency was a national disgrace.
About the only thing that came out of Grant's first term was that
foreign affairs accomplished a lot. Grant was unanimously renominated
in 1872, and also elected. Grant nearing the end of his term was
found to have been deceived by his loyal friends William W. Belknap,
and Orvile E. Babcock. Both of the men got off without punishment.
After his Presidency, he spent two years traveling the world.
Some tried to renominate Grant, but their efforts failed. He invested
a lot of money in a private banking business, but it failed and
left Grant bankrupt. Finally he became fatally ill with throat
cancer, and wrote his memoirs so as to provide for his family,
and died. |
Jackson
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Stonewall Jackson
was born in 1824 and he died in 1863. His real name was Thomas
Jonathan Jackson. Jackson served under Winfield Scott from 1851-1861
in the Mexican War. Jackson was a teacher at the Virginia Military
Institute, too. He resigned in February of 1852 from the army.
Although, he was practically unknown he became colonel of Virginia
troops and went to Harpers Ferry to command. J.E Johnston gave
Jackson a brigade in May of 1861, and he was made a Confederate
brigadier general. The name Stonewall came from the first battle
of Bull Run when he and his brigade stood "like a stone wall."
Jackson was finally promoted to a general.
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| Johnston
assigned him to command in the Shenandoah Valley in November.
Jackson attacked James Shield's division at Kernstown on March
23, 1862; thus, forcing the retention of Union troops in the valley.
Robert E. Lee wanted Jackson to fall upon Nathaniel P. Banks'
force in the lower valley in April. Lee was hoping that this would
keep Ervin McDowell's army from joining George McClellan in Richmond.
This plan worked, he defeated part of John C. Fremont's force
at McDowell on May 8, 1862. Jackson then returned to Shenandoah
and drove him across the Potomac. In fear of Jackson advancing
on Washington, the Federal administration sent help from McDowell's
army to Fremont's army. This helped to cut Jackson off, but he
retreated back to the valley. On June 8th and 9th Jackson defeated
Fremont at Cross Keys and Port Republic. Since Jackson was successful
in the Shenandoah Valley he teamed up with Lee in the Seven Days
battles. His first week in service was very disappointing, but
he came back to life real soon. In 1862 his "foot cavalry" defeated
Pope in August, this was known as the battle of Cedar Mt. This
helped to set the stage for the second battle of Bull Run. Lee
made Jackson commander of the second Corps when Lee reorganized
his army. He was also promoted to lieutenant general. Jackson
commanded the Confederates in the battle of Fredericksburg and
in the battle of Chancellorsville. In the battle of Chancellorsville
Lee and Jackson used the same tactics as that of Second Bull Run.
Stonewall Jackson was badly wounded by the fire of his own men
because he tried to press on in the dark. This mistake took Jackson's
life. He was greatly missed by the Confederates because he was
of such high rank, and he was a very skilled leader. |
(Jackson's gravesite and his fellow
soldiers)
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