 |
 Samuel Ryan Curtis
was serving in the U.S. House of Representatives
when he was appointed Brigadier General in the
Union Army. As commander of the Army of Southwest
Missouri, he forced Confederate General Sterling
Price's to abandon its Missouri campaign, and
then defeated it at the Battle of Pea Ridge. |
 George Armstrong Custer
served with distinction in the Civil War and
became the Union Army's youngest general at age
23. He spent all of his post-war years fighting
Indians in the Great Plains, in which capacity he
again earned distinction. He is, however, best
remembered for his last Indian campaign, at
Little Bighorn in what is now Montana. |
 Jefferson Davis
served in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate and as
Secretary of War before accepting the nomination
of President of the Confederate States of
America. Although he proved to be a good
administrator, he was constantly accused of
mismanaging the war. |
 David Glasgow
Farragut became a midshipman at the
age of nine. He is best known for shouting "Damn the torpedoes. Full steam
ahead!" during the Battle of Mobile Bay
(August 5, 1864), and for subsequently becoming
the first Rear Admiral in U.S. history and then
the first full Admiral in U.S. history. |
 John White Geary
served as the first Mayor of San Francisco,
Territorial Governor of Kansas during the
"Bleeding Kansas" years, Union General
during the Civil War, and Governor of
Pennsylvania. |
 Robert Edward Lee
was offered the field command of the Union Army,
but could not bring himself to take up arms
against his native state (Virginia). He joined
the Confederate Army, but hoped he would only be
called upon to defend Virginia. He was indeed
called upon to stop a Union invasion of Richmond,
and ultimately led the Confederate Army until he
was forced to surrender in April of 1865. |
 George Brinton
McClellan gained distinction as an
army engineer during the Mexican War, but had
little success as a Union General during the
Civil War. |
 Ben McCulloch
served in Texas' war of independence from Mexico
and played an important part in the taking of
Mexico City during the Mexican War. Offered the
command of a Union regiment upon outbreak of the
Civil War, he chose to accept a Confederate
command instead. |
 Sterling Price
initially opposed Missouri's secession from the
Union, but changed his mind after federal forces
seized a state militia camp. When Missouri chose
to remain with the Union, he made it his mission
to secure the state for the Confederacy; he
ultimately failed. |
 William Clarke
Quantrill joined the
Confederacy upon outbreak of the Civil War. He
spent the first year of the war harassing Union
troops, raiding Union forts and strongholds, and
creating mayhem whenever and wherever possible.
By December 1861 he had organized his own
guerrilla band, which quickly became more
interested in looting and murder than in
furthering the Confederate cause. |
 John Sedgwick
already had a distinguished military career when
the Civil War broke out. On May 9, 1864, he was
struck down by a Confederate sniper's bullet and
became the highest ranking casualty of the war. |
 Philip Henry
Sheridan was a Lieutenant when the
Civil War started, but served with such
distinction that he had become one of the top
three Union Generals by its end. |
 William Tecumseh
Sherman was actually depicted as
insane at one time during the early years of the
Civil War, but still managed to gain the respect
of his superiors and to emerge as one of the most
well-known Generals of the war. He is probably
best remembered for his campaign through Georgia
that resulted in the burning of Atlanta (which
was actually an accident) and the capture of
Savannah. |
