Curated playlist
Union army generals
- Ulysses S. GrantIn 1859, Ulysses S. Grant freed an enslaved man worth at least $1,000 that he desperately needed.
- Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes won the presidency by one electoral vote, 185 to 184.
- Don Carlos BuellUnion General Don Carlos Buell missed most of the battle that ended his career. At Perryville, weather muffled the guns.
- James A. GarfieldJames A. Garfield won his party's nomination after arriving to nominate someone else.
- Chester A. ArthurChester Alan Arthur became the 21st president of the United States at 2:15 in the morning on the 20th of September 1881. He took the oath inside his own house on Lexington Avenue in New York City, from a judge named John R. Brady. The news…
- Andrew JohnsonAndrew Johnson kept his presidency by a single Senate vote in May 1868. The Senate fell one vote short of removing him.
- Winfield ScottWinfield Scott died on his own birthday, the 29th of May, at age 79. The general led the U.S. Army for twenty years.
- Joseph HookerA typesetter's dropped dash gave Civil War general Joseph Hooker the nickname "Fighting Joe." Hooker hated it.
- George Armstrong CusterGeorge Armstrong Custer, born on the 5th of December 1839, graduated from West Point in 1861 ranked 34th out of 34. In four years at the academy he piled up 726 demerits, one of the worst conduct records in its history. A roommate observed…
- John Pope (general)Union general John Pope captured Island No. 10 on the Mississippi after his engineers cut a channel around it.
- William Tecumseh ShermanThe Cincinnati Commercial called Union general William Tecumseh Sherman insane in 1861. He later took Atlanta.
- Irvin McDowellIrvin McDowell told politicians his troops weren't ready, and they sent him to fight anyway.
- John SedgwickUnion General John Sedgwick told his men enemy sharpshooters couldn't hit an elephant.
- Quincy Adams GillmoreQuincy Adams Gillmore directed a bombardment in which more than 5,000 artillery shells fell on Fort Pulaski from a range of 1,700 yards. The fort's stone walls were breached, and its garrison surrendered. Gillmore lived from 1825 to 1888.…
- George B. McClellanGeneral McClellan wrote that he might have made himself Dictator if he had wanted to.
- Gordon GrangerGordon Granger read the order in Galveston that told Texas all slaves were free. The date became Juneteenth.
- John SchofieldIn 1892, General John Schofield awarded himself the Medal of Honor. He was then Commanding General of the U.S. Army.
- Philip SheridanUnion general Philip Sheridan rose from captain to major general in six months.
- Benjamin ButlerGeneral Benjamin Butler kept three escaped slaves as contraband of war. Lincoln's Cabinet backed him.
- Carl SchurzCarl Schurz slipped back into Prussia in 1850 and broke a friend out of prison.
- David HunterIn May 1862, General David Hunter declared all enslaved people in three states free. Lincoln canceled it.
- Franz SigelGerman immigrant soldiers cheered "I'm going to fight mit Sigel" for a general who kept disappointing.
- George CrookThe Apache called General George Crook Nantan Lupan, meaning Chief Wolf. He testified for the Ponca tribe in court.
- George Henry ThomasGeorge Henry Thomas's sisters sent back his money and declared they had no brother. He stayed in the U.S. Army.
- Nathaniel P. BanksA former mill bobbin boy became Speaker of the U.S. House. Nathaniel P. Banks won on the 133rd ballot in 1856.
- William W. AverellCivil War general William W. Averell patented a pavement method in 1878.
- Francis Amasa WalkerCivil War officer Francis Amasa Walker nearly drowned swimming a river to escape, and was recaptured.
- George MeadeGeorge Meade woke to a messenger at his tent and assumed he was being arrested. Instead he got command of the army.
- John C. FrémontJohn C. Frémont served just 175 days as a U.S. senator. He was in Washington for only twenty-one working days.
- Ambrose BurnsideAmbrose Burnside turned down command of the Union's main army twice. The third time, he took it to keep Hooker out.
- Nathaniel LyonGeneral Nathaniel Lyon ended a four-hour meeting with Missouri's governor by saying his demands meant war.
- William Babcock HazenWilliam Babcock Hazen, a United States Army officer who lived from 1830 to 1887, was summed up by the writer Ambrose Bierce as "The best hated man I ever knew." Bierce did not mean it as a compliment, and the record suggests he had…
- William RosecransGeneral William Rosecrans lost his command after one badly worded order at Chickamauga.