Who Was Who in the Civil War PDF
Preview Who Was Who in the Civil War
WHO WAS WHO IN THE WAR CIVIL by Stewart Sifakis y FactsOn FilePublications NewYork•Oxford — PHOTOCREDITS AC Author'scollection B&L BattlesandLeadersoftheCivil War Harper's "Harper'sWeekly" Leslie's "FrankLeslie'sIllustratedNewspaper" LC LibraryofCongress NA NationalArchives NPS National ParkService SI Smithsonian Institution WhoWasWhointheCivilWar Copyright© 1988byStewartSifakis FirstpublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyFactsOnFile,Inc. 460ParkAvenueSouth, NewYork, NewYork 10016. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedorutilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recordingorbyanyinformationstorageandretrieval systems, withoutpermission inwritingfromthePublisher. LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Sifakis, Stewart. WhowaswhointheCivilWar. 1. UnitedStates—History—CivilWar, 1861-1865 Biography. I. Title. E467.S56 1986 973.7'092'2 84-1596 ISBN0-8160-1055-2 Printedin theUnitedStatesofAmerica CONTENTS Introductio—n vii Entries A Z 1 Appendix A 742 Appendix B 747 Bibliography 748 Index 751 INTRODUCTION It has been estimated that foreveryday since theend ofthe short-term militia, and tended to melt away when the im- AmericanCivilWaronebook, magazineornewspaperarticle mediatedangerhadpassed.InEuropetheWarwasconsidereda has appeared dealing with some aspect of that fratricidal sideshowintheconflictagainstNapoleon. Accordingly,Great struggle. Why has interest beensoextensiveandenduring? Britaininvestedaminimumofherresourcesintheconflicton Mostprobably,becauseitwasanall-Americanfight. Before thewesternsideoftheAtlantic. and after the war the North and South were one common TheMexican Warwas foughtagainstanenemy thatmost country. Infact,thewarwasthekeyfactorinformingthetwo Americansfeltwasraciallyinferiorandthatitwasonlynatural sectionsintoatruenation. Therelativelyrapidcoolingoffof they should defeat easily. Actually, this conflict should be animositiesisremarkable.Ex-Confederategenerals,suchasJoe studiedmorecloselybyCivilWarscholarssincemanyofthe WheelerandM.CaldwellButler,wor—eFederalblueasgeneral seniorUnionandConfederateofficersreceivedtheireducation officersintheSpanish-AmericanWar alongsidetheirformer incombatsouthoftheRioGrande. opponents. Other ex-Confederates were serving in the U.S. The Spanish-American War, like the Mexican War, was Congressasearlyasthe1870s.Wellintothe20thcentur—ythere foughtagainstan"inferior"enemyandthuslacksthesparkto werejointreunionsofUnionandConfederateveterans most kindlewidespreadinterest.Toacertainextentthesamecanbe notablyatGettysburg, Pennsylvania. saidofthevariousIndianwars. InrecenttimesithasbeenperfectlynaturalforNortherners WorldWarIwasfortheUnitedStatesonlyabriefconflict. toshareintheadmirationoftheaccomplishmentsofRobertE. While the European continent was convulsed in mutual Lee,"Stonewall"Jackson,NathanB.ForrestorJebStuart.The genocideforyears,Americansactivelyenteredtheconflictonly diff—erences in nomenclature used to identify the Civil inthefinalmonths. War WaroftheRebellion, WarforSouthernIndependence, WorldWarIIistheclosestrivaltotheCivilWarinthelevel WarofSecession, W—aroftheNorthern Aggression, andThe ofliteratureandpublicinterestithasspawned.Butitwillprob- LateUnpleasantness havetakenonanalmostwhimsicalring, ablynevertakeoverfromtheCivilWarsinceAmericawasonly whilestill identifying aspeaker'sattituderegarding thecon- oneofmanyactors intheglobalstruggle. flict. TheKoreanWarlacksinterestonawidescalesinceitended ButwhatofAmerica'sotherwars?Toalargeextent,because inadraw.WhiletheVietnamWarwasanoutandoutdebacle. ofa matterofscale, they have not sparked the same level of Another key factor in thecontinuing fascination with the interest as the Civil War. Great Britain did not use het full WarBetweentheStatesisitsamazingcost.Infouryearsofwar resourcestoopposetheAmericanRevolution;andtheAmerican over 600,000 lives were lost, North and South. Toput this army itself was constantly dissolving and there were few figureinperspective,whenoneputsAmerica'slossesinallofits Colonial successes to report. Furthermore, the Colonies otherwarstogether, itisnotuntilwellintotheVietnamWar themselves were not fully behind the Revolution. Modern that thelosses intheCivilWarareexceeded. estimatesindicatethatonlyone-thirdofthepopulationofthe No large portion of the United States has ever felt the 13Colonieswereforindependence. Anotherthirdwereeither destructionwroughtbyaforeign,occupyingpower. Onlythe activelyorpasivelyloyaltothecrown.Thebalancejustwanted Confederacyhassufferedsuchdevastationandthatatthehands tobe leftalone. ofotherAmericans. LiketheRevolution,theWarof1812sportedfewAmerican TheCivilWarmarksaturningpointinthehistoryofthe battlefieldsuccessesandwasfoughtwithalackofenthusiasm Americanrepublic.Notonlydiditforgeaunitednationbutit on both sides. The American army was composed mostly of alsofacilitatedtheIndustrialRevolutionthatmadetheUnited VII viii Introduction — — Statesaworldpowerandleaderbytheearly20thcentury.New NorthandSouth e.g., AndrewCurtinandJoeBrown are industriesandinventionsplacedinoperationduringtheCivil covered. — War,andexpandedafterwards,preparedthenationforitsrole Other political activists such as secessionist Edmund inthenextcentury'sworldwars. Also, thereleaseofsomany Ruffin, abolitionistFrederickDouglass, CopperheadCle—ment men from the opposing armies, so soon after Appomattox, L. VallandighamandSouthernUnionistJohnA. Gilmer are provided themanpowerthatled to therapid conquestofthe included. Westandtheestablishmentofatrulytranscontinentalpower, Ofcourse, indealing withanywarmostofthecoverageis with interests beyond both theAtlanticand Pacificoceans. going to bedevoted tothe mi—litary. Accordingly, I have in- Furthermore,theCivilWarwasawarofinnovation.Theex- cluded all of those officers 583 Union and 425 Con- — tensiveuseoflonger-rangeriflesandartillerydrasticallyaltered federate generally recognized as having attained one ofthe battlefieldtactics. Trenchwarfarebecameextensive. Railroads four(for theConfederates)orthree(forthe Union)gradesof wereusedtacticallyandstrategicallyforthefirsttime;railroad general.InadditionIhavetreatedmostofthosewhowere,then artillerycame intouse. Aerialobservationand fire-control of orlater,generallyreferredtoashavingbeengeneralofficersbut artillery came into being in the first years of the war. for whom there is no official confirmation of their Telegraphiccommunicationswereusedextensively. Landand appointments,suchasGeorgeP.—Harrison,Jr.Militiaofficers watermines(theycalledthemtorpedoes)weredevised,aswere whoactuallyservedatthefront likeM.Jeff. Thom—psonfor primitivehandgrenades. Ironcladvesselsfoughteachotherfor theConfederatesandRobertPattersonfortheFederals arein- thefirst time. Thefirstsinkingofawarshipbyasubmarine cluded. Also, those officers promoted to brigadier or major occurred. The first Congressional Medals of Honor were general by General E.—Kirby Smith in the cut-off Trans- awarded. Breech-loading carbines, rifles and cannon were Mississippi Department e.g., AlexanderW. Terrell. brought into battlefield use. Repeating carbines and rifles There is a fargreater problem in selecting which officers begantomaketheirdebut, andsomeprimitivemachineguns belowthegradeofbrigadiergeneralrateinclusion. Irejected weredeveloped. BothNorthandSouthintroducedanational theexpedientofsimplytakingthe 1,367officersoftheUnion militarydraftforthefirsttimeinAmericanhistory.TheUnion armywhoachievedtherankofbrigadierormajorgeneralonly introducedthefirstfederalincometax.Andthewarledtothe by brevet. (A "brevet" commission gives a military officera firstassassinationofapresidentoftheUnitedStates. highernominal rankthanthatforwhichheisactuallypaid.) Manyask:IfsomuchhasbeenwrittenontheCivilWar, is This rejection was based upon twoconsiderations. First, the therereallyaneedformore?Theanswerisanemphaticyes. South did not have a system of brevet promotions. Thus Therearemanyaspectsoftheconflictthathavebeencovered meritorious officers, such as Edward Willis, did not receive onlysuperficiallyandrequiremorein-depthresearch. Butfor appropriate recognition (when there was no vacancy for a suchresearchabedrockofreferenceworksisessential. Thatis brigadiergeneral). Seco—nd, thewholesystemofbrevetswasso where WhoWas WhoIn TheCivilWarcomesin. abused and politicized—especially by the mass issuance of Todate, thereareencyclopedicbiographiesdealingcollec- brevets in March 1865 that many deserving officers never tivelywithUniongenerals, Confederategenerals, WestPoint receivedthemwhileothers, whoseservicesareratherobscure, graduates,regulararmyofficers,volunteerofficersfromcertain did. Someofthelatterserved theentirewarinobscurestaff states,fieldgradeofficersinLee'sarmy,medicalofficers,Con- posts and only had the regular rank of captain but were federate congressmen and civilian appointees in the regular brevettedthroughbrigadiergeneral. Otherswhosebattlefield army.Someofthesewerepublishedinthelastcenturyandare recordswereremarkablewerenotrecognized.Anexcellentex- hardtolocatetoday. Thereisnoone, currentsourceava—ilable ampleofnon-recognitionisColonelEdwardE.Crosswhowas coverin—g the full range of personalities who made and wounded three times in separate engagements before being fought theCivil War. mortallywoundedwhilecommandingabrigadeatGettysburg. In any collective biography the major difficulty is the Instead,Ihaveincludedthoselower-rankingofficerswholed establishmentofselectioncriteria.ForthisworkIhavetriedto forceslargerthanaregimentforalengthyperiodorinmajor include thosepersons whomostaffected theconflict. At the actions. ThusUnionColone—lGuyV. Henryisincluded. Also same time I have attempted to strike a reasonable balance included—are juniorofficers like Bayard Wilkeson andJohn betwwenNorth and South, militaryandcivilian, and heroes Pelham who were particularly distinguished in leading and rogues. smaller units. Officers and men who took part in important Amongthenearly2,500entriesIhaveincludedthosepoliti- raids (Jesse C. McNeill) or won the Congressional Medal of cal leaders whohad themost impactonprewarandwartime Honor(Jacob Parrott)aretreated. policy matters. Thus the presidential and vice presidential Othercombatantsinclude:navalpersonnel,suchasDavidD. candidatesin1860and1864aretreatedaswellasseveralprewar Porter and Franklin Buchanan; scouts and spies, such as U.S.presidents.ForboththeNorthernandSoutherncongresses Longstreet'sHarrison;andMarineCorpsofficers,suchasJohn Ihaveincludedmostsenatorsandthosemembersofthelower G. ReynoldsandLloydJ. Beall. houses who either served as committee chairmen or were Amongthenoncombatantsatthefrontwere:thejournalists, particularlynotedfortheirlegislativeactivities,suchasJustin such as Samuel Wilkeson; the artist-correspondents, such as S. Morrill and William P. Miles. All ofthestategovernors, AlfredR.Waud;thesurgeons,suchasJonathanLetterman;the Introduction ix nurses,suchasClaraBarton;andmembersoftheChristianand (USA)commissions. Inadditionanofficercouldwinbrevetsin Sanitarycommissions, suchas Henry W. Bellows. bothservices.AtypicalexampleisthecaseofGeorgeA.Custer. OnthediplomaticfrontmanyambassadorsfromNorthand WhenhewaskilledbyIndiansin1876mostAmericansreferred South (Charles F. Adams andJohn Slidell)and from abroad tohimasageneral.Technically, thiswasnotthecase. Hewas (Henri Mercier)are included. Confederate purchasing agents officially lieutenant colonel ofthe 7th Cavalry. However, he abroad,suchasJamesD. Bullock,alsoappear. Foreignleaders heldabrevetasmajorgeneralintheregulararmy. Attheclose suchas Napoleon III andQueen Victoriaaretreated. Foreign oftheCivilWarhewasonlyacaptainofregularsbutamajor military observers such as Augusto Fogliardi also make their generalofvolunteers. Inadditionheheldbrevetsatthelatter appearance. grade in bothservices. — In addition, all members of the Union and Confederate Inthelistoforganizat—ionsledbyanindividual especiallyin cabinetsarecovered. thecaseofConfederates thedatesofcommandareoftenonly Thisworkconcentratesonthecharacters'actionsduringthe approximateduetothelackofadequaterecords.Thoserecords Civil War, giving researchers the basic career data of the inexistencemayindicateseveraldifferentdatesforanofficer's participants. Thuspre-andpostwaractivitiesareonlybriefly assumptionorrelinquishmentofcommand.Thesedatesmight sketched.Ofcourse,whenanindividualplayedaroleinbring- betheactualdateofphysicalassumption,thedateonwhichhe ingaboutsecessionandthewar,muchmoreattentionisgiven issuestheorderannouncing hisassumptionofcommand, the tohisprewaractions. datehewasassignedbyalocalcommandertoduty,and/orthe In the biographiesofthose military officers who led units datethatthiswasconfirmedbytheWarDepartment. Dueto larger than regiments it should be noted that armies and thedifficultiesoftravelitwasnotuncommonforanofficerto departments freqently operated as one organization with the takeamatterofweeksinreportingtoanewassignment.Ihave samecommander.ThusRobertE.LeecommandedtheDepart- alwaystriedtodeterminethedateclosesttoactualassumption ment ofNorthern Virginiaas well as theArmyofNorthern butthiswasfreqentlynotpossible. Thishasledtosomeover- Virginia. Whereconfusionmayoccurbothtitlesaregivenfor lappingofdatesofassignment.Anothercauseofsuchoverlap- clarity. pingareactualcasesofduplicateassignments.Oftenanofficer AnothersourceofconfusionisthatUnionofficersmayhaveas would command a field brigade and a geographical district manyasfourdifferentranks.Thisresultedfromthepracticeof simultaneously. Also, in times oflimited activity a brigade regular army officers seeking advancement in the volunteer commanderwouldbeinchargeofthedivisionwhilestillretain- service(denotedbyUSV)whilemaintainingtheirregulararmy inghisnormalcommand.
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