Important Figures of the War

This page is dedicated to the important figures of the Civil War, such as generals, soldiers, and politicians, and how they made a significant impact on the course of the war, the beginning of the war, and reconstruction of the Union after the war.

Abraham Lincoln 

Elected president in 1860, Lincoln helped the presidency during the Civil War. Not only did he support the end of slavery, but his election was enough to trigger South Carolina, as well as other states, to secede from the Union and from the Confederacy. He proved to be an excellent leader during the war, Using all his resources available, Lincoln was able to convert the North into a war machine, utilizing the railroads and telegrams, as well as the industries, These three factors would play a crucial key in helping Lincoln win the war.

Primary Source: Lincoln is rembered in history for being the President who was able to finally end slavery. He made this the CIivl War's effort when he enacted the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves. Herre is a link to the proclamation:

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/emancipation.html

Jefferson Davis 

Jefferson Davis was the only president of the Confederacy. David had fought in the Mexican War, was a slave owner, and believed that slavery was critical to the well being of the south. Davis was appointed Secretary of State in 1853 by president Franklin Pierce. He resigned after Mississippi seceded from the Union in 1861. A month later Davis was elected to a six-term presidency of the Confederacy. Davis was not popular in his presidency as he demanded a lot from his army but still lost many battles, appointed unnecessary officials, and was very short tempered. He was finally captured by Union troops in 1865. 

Stephen Douglas

 

Stephen Douglas had many different impacts on the Union. One of his biggest accomplishments was to make the Kansas-Nebraska Act(1854), which gave popular sovereignty to the citizens in the matter on whether or not slavery would be allowed, This also caused the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. Douglas also participated in the famous Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858 in which both candidates were competing for a senate seat in Illinois. The debates helped thrust Lincoln into political spotlight and help him become better know. Douglas was later candidate fro presidency in the election of 1860 when he was nominated a candidate by the Democratic Northern party due to his support of popular sovereignty. 

Fredrick Douglas 

Fredrick Douglass was a prominent abolitionist leader. After escaping slavery, he dedicated his life to equality. He was viewed as important as Lincoln, Tubman, and Garrison. After meeting Garrison, published of The Liberator,  Douglas was encouraged to share his story through lectures at abolitionist conventions. Douglas published his famous book Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass: An American Slave in 1845. The book became an instant success and gained Douglas fame due to how well written it was. Many believed that is was an impossible for an African American to be so eloquent. Due to becoming well know, Douglas was forced to move to the United Kingdom in fear that his previous master would try to reclaim him. Douglas's work help to pass the 13th,14thand 15th Amendments. 

John Brown 

John Brown is infamous or famous for the raid on Harper's Ferry. Before the raid, however, Brown had always been an abolitionists. He was a conductor of the Underground Railroad and aided slaves in escaping to Canada. After the city of Lawrence, Kansas was attacked by pro slavery supporters, Brown responded by murdering five men near the Pottawatomie Creek on May 24, 1856. Brown's next major attack was on Harper's Ferry. Having spent time training his army of 21 men, both black and white, he planned to attack a federal arsenal, gather the weapons, and then allow the armed slaves to revolt. The plan did not work out, as Brown was captured, the slaves did not revolt, and the raid was stuck down by Robert E. Lee's men. Brown was executed on December 2, 1859. His case is important to the abolitionists cause since he demonstrated that a white man could take the cause of abolitionism. Brow also believed that the end of slavery would not come without the loss of many lives. 

George McClellan 

George McClellan was nicknamed "Young Napoleon" , and is remembered mainly for being the general which organized Union Army of the Potomac. McClellan eventually became commander in chief in 1861. He was removed from this post a year later. However, he still remained general of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan's caution would cost him his title in the spring of 1862. McClellan, pressured by Lincoln, launched the Peninsula Campaign against the Confederate capital. It during this battle that Confederate General Johnston was wounded, thus leading to Robert E. Lee being appointed general. Lee then launched several attacks against McClellan known as the Seven Days' Battles, which caused the Union troops to retreat to Washington. McClellan's caution cost Union victories once again at the battle of Second Manassas, a Union attempt to counterattack Lee's attempt to invade Maryland in 1862. McClellan won a stalemate against Lee in the battle of Antietam, the bloodiest battle of the entire war. Lincoln was disappointed with McClellan and relieved him of his post in November 1862. 

Robert E. Lee 

Before serving as a general for the Confederacy, Lee was the superintendent at West Point Academy in 1855. He put down Harper's Ferry in 1859. He became commander of the Virginia Peninsula Army, which he later renamed Army of Northern Virginia, in 1862, when general Johnston was wounded in battle. This army was one of the most successful in the Confederacy. Lee launched a campaign in September 1862 to invade Maryland as an attempt to steer the war away from Virginia. This led to the battle of Antietam, which ended in a stalemate, yet forced Lee to retreat his troops to Virginia. After gaining confidence with the victory at Chancellorsville, Lee decided once again to take offensive action again in June of 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Only July 3, Lee ordered a massive attack on Union General Meade's central forces. This assault is know as Pickett's charge and resulted in a Confederate defeat. Lee was later appointed commander in chief of all the Confederate forces in February 1865. He surrendered his troops at Appomattox Court House two months later on April 9, 1865. 

Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson 

Jackson met Lee during the Mexican War. Similar to Lee, Jackson had been teaching at Virginia Military Institute before the war began. During the war, Jackson would first serve as a Brigadier general and led his troop in the Battle of First Manasses. He was also able to gain Confederate victories at Front Royal, Winchester, Cross Keys, and Port Republic in 1862. Jackson aided Lee during the battle of Chancellorsville by leading the flank march. The same night of the victory at Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, Jackson died due to being shot by a fellow soldier on accident. 

P.G.T Beauregard 

Beauregard was the first important general of the Confederacy. Similar to Jackson and Lee, he was superintendent of a military academy prior to the beginning of the war. He commanded Confederate troop at Fort Sumter during the beginning of the Civil War in April 12, 1861. He would then go on to earn a Confederate victory at the First Battle of Bull Run. Along with also leading troops in the Battle of Shiloh, Beauregard defended Petersburg, Virginia, thus saving the Confederate capital of Richmond in June, 1864. Beauregard's army was put under the command of Sherman in June, 1865.  

William Tecumseh Sherman 

Sherman was one of the most widely recognized Union military offices after Grant. Similar to Lee, Beauregard, and Jackson, Sherman worked in a military school before the start of the war. Sherman starts out serving as a colonel in the 13th United States Infantry. After an impressive performance during the First Battle of Manasses, Lincoln promoted Sherman to brigadier general on August 7, 1861. Major battle Sherman participated in were the battle of Shiloh. One of his greatest achievements was helping the Union capture Atlanta in September 2, 1864. This Union victory was crucial since it helped Lincoln win the reelection. Sherman also led his famous 'March to the Sea", which left a sixty mile wide trail of disaster throughout Georgia. At the end of his trip Sherman was able to capture the city of Savannah on December 21, 1864. 

Ulysses S. Grant 

Grant was General-in-Chief of the Union troops throughout the majority of the Civil War. Grant was originally a volunteer at the beginning of the war in 1861 and was first assigned colonel of the 21st Illinois Infantry. He was promptly promoted to brigadier general in July 1861. He was then given command of the District of Southeast Missouri. Grant managed to obtain Union victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. However, Grants defeat in the Battle of Shiloh led to several making a request for his removal,which Lincoln rejected. Grant scored another Union victory at Vicksburg, Mississippi in May of 1863. Grant was able to cross the Mississippi river on May 1, 1863. Grant also claimed a Union victory at Gettysburg on July 4, 1863, making the capture of Vicksburg the turning point of the war. Grant was appointed general-in-chief by Lincoln in 1864. Grant was able to wipe out half of Lee's army that year, and this along with the Union victory at Petersburg, Lee was forced to surrender in 1865. After the war, Grant was appointed Secretary of State and later would win the presidency in 1868, winning the election over Johnson. 

Thaddeus Stevens 

Throughout his career, Stevens always advocated for the rights of minority groups, such as Jews, Natives, and Mormons. His dedication to human rights actually led him to leave the Whig party and loose his seat in Congress when he refused to agree with the Compromise of 1850, made up of several acts which affected which territories would become slave, because Stevens believed that a compromise on human rights was inhumane. He later joined the Republican party in 1855 and was reelected into Congress in 1858.  During the Civil War, Stevens made an impact by helping to to pa anti-slavery legislature. He helped to draft the 13th Amendment and in 1861 he helped pass an act that would allow the Union to confiscate Confederate property, including slaves. Stevens also helped to finance the war. He created an emergency loan system with which to pay the first volunteers of the war. Stevens was also instrumental in passing the Legal Tender Act of 1862 which allowed the United States to make it's own paper money instead of using only gold and silver. 

Rutherford B. Hayes 

A couple years after serving in the Civil War, Hayes ran for president in the election of 1876, in which he ran against Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. This election was the one in which the Compromise of 1877, an unofficial deal done between Republican leaders and Democrats in the House of Representatives, was made in order to ensure that Hayes be elected president. During his term (1877-1881) , he allowed for the removal of troops from the South and the Democratic party to take over state governments in South Carolina and Louisiana causing the end of the Radical governments. However, Hayes did promise to fight for the rights of African Americans in the south. 

Benjamin Wade 

Benjamin Wade was a Senator who advocated for equal rights for African Americans. He pushed for the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, did not agree to Kansas being admitted to the Union under the Lecompton constitution, and did not agree with the Kansas-Nebraska Act. During the war, Wade openly attacked what he believed to be bad leadership for the Union troops. However, Wade was important after the war, during the Reconstruction. As a leader of the Radical Republicans, he and Henry Winter Davis created the Wade-Davis Bill, which required the majority of citizens in ex-Confederate states to take an oath to the Union before being able to set up a government again. Wade also involuntarily played a key role in preventing the removal of Johnson from office, since many in Congress disliked the idea of Wade being elected as the next president, due to his support of woman suffrage and equal rights for African Americans. 

John Wilkes Booth 

Booth became infamous for the assassination president Lincoln.

Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 at Ford Theater in Washington D.C.


The following link contains a video and written facts that go over more dates and how Booth went from planning to kidnap the president first later deciding to assassinate him instead.


http://www.biography.com/people/john-wilkes-booth-9219681 

Ku Klux Klan 

The Ku Klux Klan is a hate group which was formed to protest African American suffrage and equal rights. The KKK was first organized in 1866 in Tennessee's. Their goal was to restore white supremacy with the use of violent acts to intimidate African Americans. Their acts were incredibly violent as they tried to prevent African Americans from voting for the Radical Republicans. This intimidate worked in the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Georgia where Democrats had power. IN order to combat this, the Grant administration passed acts known as the Force Acts in 1870 and 1871, which allowed for government supervision of elections and made interference with voting rights a federal crime. Through an effort to enforce these laws, the election of 1872 was relatively peaceful and fair. 

Summary 

Throughout the Civil War, many people had an impact on the course it would take and the fate of the Union afterwards. During the war, generals such as Grant and Lee used their best strategies to help gain Union or Confederate victory, even a the cost of many lives. The two famous generals, however, did receive support from their subordinate generals, such as Union general Sherman and Confederate general Jackson. Leaders such as United States president Lincoln and Confederate president Davis would play an important role as well in guiding their nation through the war. After the end of the war, Reconstruction began. Lincoln was assassinated by Booth, and that lead to Johnson being president. Even though Johnson disliked the south he did not advocate for the rights of African Americans in the way that Congressmen Stevens or Wade did. Radical Reconstruction ended with president Hayes, who was elected with the help of the Compromise of 1877, as he let Democrats take over the South. 

Sources: 

"Stephen A. Douglas (United States Senator)." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 02 Jan. 2014. 

Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014.

"Benjamin Wade (1800-1878)." Benjamin Wade (1800-1878). N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Jan. 2014.


Photos are there to provide a visual about the significant figure that is being addressed.