Abraham Lincoln. Jefferson Davis

Transcription

1 Abraham Lincoln Jefferson Davis Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught Illinois lawyer and legislator shocked many when he overcame several more prominent contenders to win the Republican Party's nomination for president in His election making him the 16 th president, that November pushed several Southern states to secede by the time of his inauguration in March 1861, and the Civil War began barely a month later. Contrary to expectations, Lincoln proved to be a shrewd military strategist and a savvy leader during what became the costliest conflict ever fought on American soil. His Emancipation Proclamation, issued in 1863, freed all slaves in the rebellious states and paved the way for slavery's eventual abolition, while his Gettysburg Address later that year stands as one of the most famous and influential pieces of oratory in American history. In April 1865, with the Union on the brink of victory, Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by the Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth; his untimely death made him a martyr to the cause of liberty and Union. Over the years Lincoln's mythic stature has only grown, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest presidents in the nation's history. Jefferson Davis ( ) was a Mexican War hero, U.S. senator from Mississippi, U.S. secretary of war and president of the Confederate States of America for the duration of the American Civil War ( ). Prior to the start of the war, Davis had argued against secession, but when Mississippi seceded he resigned from the U.S. Senate. In February 1861 he was elected president of the Confederacy. Davis faced difficulties throughout the war as he struggled to manage the Southern war effort, maintain control the Confederate economy and keep a new nation united. Davis' often contentious personality led to conflicts with other politicians as well as his own military officers. In May 1865, several weeks after the Confederate surrender, Davis was captured, imprisoned and charged with treason, but never tried.

2 George McClellan Robert E Lee George B. McClellan ( ) was a U.S. Army officer, railroad president and politician who served as a major general during the Civil War ( ). McClellan organized the Army of the Potomac in 1861 and briefly served as general-in-chief of the Union Army. McClellan was well liked by his men, but his reticence to attack the Confederacy with the full force of his army despite a significant numerical advantage put him at odds with President Abraham Lincoln. In 1862, McClellan s Peninsula Campaign unraveled after the Seven Days Battles, and he also failed to decisively defeat Robert E. Lee s Confederate Army at the Battle of Antietam later that year. Frustrated by McClellan s overly cautious tactics, Lincoln removed him from command of the Army of the Potomac in late McClellan would go on to mount a failed presidential campaign against Lincoln in 1864, and would later serve as the governor of New Jersey from 1878 to Robert E. Lee ( ) served as a military officer in the U.S. Army, a West Point commandant and the legendary general of the Confederate Army during the American Civil War ( ). In June 1861, Lee assumed command of the Army of Northern Virginia, which he would lead for the rest of the war. Lee and his army achieved great success during the Peninsula Campaign and at Second Bull Run (Mansassas) and Fredericksburg, with his greatest victory coming in the bloody Battle of Chancellorsville. In the spring of 1863, Lee invaded the North, only to be defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. With Confederate defeat a near certainty, Lee continued on, battling Union General Ulysses S. Grant in a series of clashes in Virginia in before finally surrendering what was left of his army in April Lee has been praised by many for his tactical brilliance, and remains a revered figure in the American South.

3 US Grant Stonewall Jackson Ulysses Grant ( ) commanded the victorious Union army during the American Civil War ( ) and served as the 18th U.S. president from 1869 to An Ohio native, Grant graduated from West Point and fought in the Mexican- American War ( ). During the Civil War, Grant, an aggressive and determined leader, was given command of all the U.S. armies. After the war he became a national hero, and the Republicans nominated him for president in A primary focus of Grant's administration was Reconstruction, and he worked to reconcile the North and South while also attempting to protect the civil rights of newly freed black slaves. While Grant was personally honest, some of his associates were corrupt and his administration was tarnished by various scandals. Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson ( ) was a war hero and one of the South's most successful generals during the American Civil War ( ). After a difficult childhood, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in time to fight in the Mexican War ( ). He then left the military to pursue a teaching career. After his home state of Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, Jackson joined the Confederate army and quickly forged his reputation for fearlessness and tenacity during the Shenandoah Valley Campaign later that same year. He served under General Robert E. Lee ( ) for much of the Civil War. Jackson was a decisive factor in many significant battles until his mortal wounding by friendly fire at the age of 39 during the Battle of Chancellorsville in May 1863.

4 William Tecumseh Sherman PGT Beauregard Perhaps the originator and the first practitioner of what the twentieth century came to know as "total war," William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864 commanded the Union armies of the West in the decisive drive from Chattanooga to Atlanta and the famous "march to the sea" across Georgia. In these campaigns and his later push northward from Savannah through the Carolinas, Sherman's troops carried the war to the Southern home front and blazed a wide path of destruction that delivered the death blow to the Confederacy's will and ability to fight. For the accompanying destruction, his name is still cursed in some parts of the South; but he is also recognized as a great strategist, a forceful leader, and-- together with Ulysses Grant --the ablest Union general of the war. Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard ( ) was a U.S. military officer who later served as a Confederate general during the Civil War ( ). A native of Louisiana, Beauregard resigned from the U.S. Army in February 1861 and ordered the first shots of the Civil War during the bombardment of Fort Sumter in April Beauregard was instrumental in the early Confederate victory at the First Battle of Bull Run and in 1862 served at the Battle of Shiloh and Siege of Corinth. Beauregard s outspoken and combative nature led to a strained relationship with Confederate President Jefferson Davis, and in 1863 he was removed from his post and placed in command of the defenses of Charleston, South Carolina, where helped withstand repeated naval assaults by Union forces. Beauregard later returned to the field and led a crucial defense of Petersburg in After the war Beauregard worked as a railroad director and as a supervisor for the Louisiana Lottery. He died in 1893 at the age of 74.

5 Ambrose Burnside James Longstreet Ambrose Burnside ( ) was a U.S. military officer, railroad executive and politician best known for serving as a Union general during the Civil War ( ). Burnside first saw combat in the Civil War at the First Battle of Bull Run in July He later led an expeditionary force in North Carolina and then served during the Maryland Campaign at the Battle of Antietam. Although he was reluctant to take the post, in November 1862 Burnside was placed in charge of the Union Army of the Potomac. He was removed from command in January 1863 after the devastating Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg. Burnside next held a departmental command in Ohio and then participated in the defense of Knoxville in the fall of He would later resign from duty in the wake of his unit s failure during the Battle of the Crater in July After the Civil War Burnside worked as a railroad director and later served as a U.S. senator and governor of Rhode Island. He died in 1881 at the age of 57. James Longstreet was a U.S. Army officer, government official and most famously a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War ( ). One of Robert E. Lee s most trusted subordinates, Longstreet played a pivotal role in Confederate operations in both the Eastern and Western Theaters of the war. Known as Lee s War Horse, Longstreet first distinguished himself in early Confederate victories at the Battles of First and Second Bull Run before mounting a pair of successful defensive stands at the Battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg in Longstreet played a controversial part in the Confederate defeat at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863, in which he reluctantly oversaw Pickett s Charge, a doomed offensive that resulted in a Confederate defeat. Longstreet later took part in the crucial Confederate victory at the Battle of Chickamauga in Tennessee, and was seriously wounded during the Battle of the Wilderness in After the war Longstreet s criticism of Robert E. Lee s tactics and his support of Lincoln s Republican party in particular the 1868 presidential campaign of Ulysses S. Grant led to repeated attacks on his character in the South. Longstreet would go on to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Turkey and as a railroad commissioner before his death in 1904.

6 George Meade George Pickett George Meade ( ) was a U.S. Army general and civil engineer who served as commander of the Union Army of the Potomac during the Civil War ( ). Meade entered the Civil War as a brigadier general and first served during the Peninsula Campaign in He was badly wounded at the Battle of Glendale during the Seven Days Battles, but recovered and went on to perform admirably at the Battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. Meade succeeded General Joseph Hooker as commanding officer of the Army of the Potomac in June Only a few days later Meade achieved a major victory at the Battle of Gettysburg, where his army repelled repeated assaults by General Robert E. Lee s Confederate forces. While Meade s victory crippled the Confederate Army, he was widely criticized for allowing Lee s weakened force to escape into Virginia. Meade s reputation for caution led to the appointment of the more aggressive Ulysses S. Grant as Union general-in-chief in Meade continued to lead the Army of the Potomac in a subordinate role until the end of the war, serving at the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor. George Pickett ( ) was a U.S. military officer and later a Confederate major general during the Civil War ( ). A hero of the Mexican-American War ( ), Pickett entered the Civil War in 1861 and served as a brigade commander at the Battles of Seven Pines and Williamsburg before being wounded at the Battle of Gaines Mill. Pickett is best known for his participation in the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, when his division was decimated during a massive frontal assault that became known as Pickett s Charge. After Gettysburg, Pickett commanded troops in North Carolina and later participated in the defense of Petersburg. Pickett s humiliating defeat at the Battle of Five Forks in April 1865 triggered a Confederate retreat that led to Robert E. Lee s surrender at Appomattox. A controversial figure during and after the Civil War, Pickett lived his later life as a farmer and insurance agent. He died in 1875 at the age of 50.

7 Robert Gould Shaw & Massachusetts 54 th Nathan Bedford Forrest From the beginning of the Civil War, President Lincoln argued that the Union forces were not fighting to end slavery but to prevent the disintegration of the United States. For abolitionists, however, ending slavery was the reason for the war, and they argued that black people should be able to join the fight for their freedom. However, African Americans were not allowed to serve as soldiers in the Union Army until January 1, On that day, the Emancipation Proclamation decreed that such persons [that is, African-American men] of suitable condition, will be received into the armed services of the United States. The Massachusetts 54 th was one such unit led by Robert Gould Shaw. Nathan Bedford Forrest ( ) was a Confederate general during the Civil War ( ). Despite having no formal military training, Forrest rose from the rank of private to lieutenant general, serving as a cavalry officer at numerous engagements including the Battles of Shiloh, Chickamauga, Brice s Crossroads and Second Franklin. Known for his maxim get there first with the most men, Forrest was relentless in harassing Union forces during the Vicksburg Campaign in 1862 and 1863, and conducted successful raiding operations on federal supplies and communication lines throughout the war. In addition to his ingenious cavalry tactics, Forrest is also remembered for his controversial involvement in the Battle of Fort Pillow in April 1864, when his troops massacred black soldiers following a Union surrender. After the Civil War Forrest worked as a planter and railroad president, and served as the first grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. He died in 1877 at the age of 56

8 Clara Barton John Wilkes Booth Clara Barton was an American nurse, suffragist and humanitarian who is best remembered for organizing the American Red Cross. Following the outbreak of the Civil War, she independently organized relief for the wounded, often bringing her own supplies to front lines. As the war ended, she helped locate thousands of missing soldiers, including identifying the dead at Andersonville prison in Georgia. Barton lobbied for U.S. recognition of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and became president of the American branch when it was founded in Barton continued her humanitarian work throughout several foreign wars and domestic crises before her death in Despite his success as an actor on the national stage, John Wilkes Booth will forever be known as the man who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Booth, a native of Maryland, was a fierce Confederate sympathizer during the Civil War. Before the fateful night at Ford's Theatre, he had conspired to kidnap Lincoln and hide him until all Confederate prisoners were released. On April 14, 1865, Booth entered the theater s balcony, shot Lincoln at close range and immediately fled the scene. After a 12-day manhunt, Booth was tracked down and killed by Union soldiers.

9 Dorothea Dix Confederate Signal Corps & Secret Service Bureau Dorothea Lynde Dix ( ) was an author, teacher and reformer. Her efforts on behalf of the mentally ill and prisoners helped create dozens of new institutions across the United States and in Europe and changed people s perceptions of these populations. Charged during the American Civil War with the administration of military hospitals, Dix also established a reputation as an advocate for the work of female nurses. Her own troubled family background and impoverished youth served as a galvanizing force throughout her career, although she remained silent on her own biographical details for most of her long, productive life. Though neither the Union nor the Confederacy had a formal military intelligence network during the Civil War, each side obtained crucial information from spying or espionage operations. From early in the war, the Confederacy set up a spy network in the federal capital of Washington, D.C., home to many southern sympathizers. The Confederate Signal Corps also included a covert intelligence agency known as the Secret Service Bureau, which managed spying operations along the so-called "Secret Line" from Washington to Richmond. As the Union had no centralized military intelligence agency, individual generals took charge of intelligence gathering for their own operations. General George B. McClellan hired the prominent Chicago detective Allan Pinkerton to set up the first Union espionage organization in mid-1861