1.
Lieutenant general (United States)
–
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and the United States Air Force, lieutenant general is a three-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-9. Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general, Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of generals that may be concurrently active to 230 for the Army,60 for the Marine Corps. For the Army and Air Force, no more than about 25% of the active duty general officers may have more than two stars. Some of these slots can be reserved by statute, officers serving in certain intelligence positions are not counted against either limit, including the Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. The President may also add three-star slots to one if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency, the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy is almost always a U. S. Army lieutenant general, either upon appointment or shortly thereafter. The three-star grade goes hand-in-hand with the position of office to which it is linked, officers may only achieve three-star grade if they are appointed to positions that require the officer to hold such a rank. Their rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, the nominee must be confirmed via majority vote by the Senate before the appointee can take office and thus assume the rank. The standard tour length for most lieutenant general positions is three years but some are set four or more years by statute, some statutory limits under the U. S. Code can be waived in times of national emergency or war. Three-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement. Lieutenant generals must retire after 38 years of service unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer, otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense can defer a three-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, General officers typically retire well in advance of the statutory age and service limits, so as not to impede the upward career mobility of their juniors. Since there is a number of three-star slots available to each service. Additionally, lieutenant generals of all services serve as staff officers at various major command headquarters and The Pentagon. Currently, five women serve as lieutenant generals in the US Army, in theory, a general vacates their three or four-star rank at termination of their assignment unless placed in an equal ranking billet. Douglas MacArthur, who served as general and Army Chief of Staff. Even with the status, such officers are also almost always granted permanent retirement in the last grade they held with the satisfactory completion of at least two or three years in grade
Lieutenant general (United States)
2.
Nelson A. Miles
–
Nelson Appleton Miles was a United States soldier who served in the American Civil War, Indian Wars, and the Spanish–American War. Miles was born in Westminster, Massachusetts, on his familys farm and he worked in Boston, read military history, and mastered military principles and techniques, including battle drills. Miles was working as a store clerk in Boston when the Civil War began. He entered the Union Army on September 9,1861, as a volunteer and he became a lieutenant in the 22nd Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the 61st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment on May 31,1862. He was promoted to colonel after the Battle of Antietam, other battles he participated in include Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and the Appomattox Campaign. Wounded four times in battle, on March 2,1867 he was brevetted a brigadier general in the army in recognition of his actions at Chancellorsville. He was again brevetted, this time to the rank of general for his actions at Spotsylvania Court House. He received the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at Chancellorsville and he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers as of May 12,1864, for the Battles of the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House. On October 21,1865, he was appointed general of volunteers at age 26. After the war, he was commandant of Fort Monroe, Virginia, during his tenure at Fort Monroe, Miles was forced to defend himself against charges that Davis was being mistreated. In July 1866, Miles was appointed a colonel in the Regular Army, in March 1869 he became commander of the 5th U. S. On June 30,1868, he married Mary Hoyt Sherman, Miles played a leading role in nearly all of the U. S. Armys campaigns against the American Indian tribes of the Great Plains. In 1874–1875, he was a commander in the force that defeated the Kiowa, Comanche. In the winter of 1877, he drove his troops on a march across Montana. For the rest of Miles career, he would quarrel with General Oliver O. Howard over credit for Josephs capture, the heliographs were supplied by Brig. Gen. Albert J. Myer of the Signal Corps. In December 1880, he was promoted to general in the Regular Army. Crook had relied heavily on Apache scouts in his efforts to capture the Chiricahua leader, instead, Miles relied on white troops, who eventually traveled 3,000 miles without success as they tracked Geronimo through the tortuous Sierra Madre Mountains. Gatewood, who had studied Apache ways, succeeded in negotiating a surrender, under the terms of which Geronimo and his followers, agreed to spend two years in a Florida reservation
Nelson A. Miles
–
Nelson A. Miles
Nelson A. Miles
–
Miles during Civil War
Nelson A. Miles
–
General Nelson Miles and other soldiers on horseback in Puerto Rico.
Nelson A. Miles
–
Miles' portrait at
United States Army Center of Military History
3.
United States Department of War
–
The Secretary of War, a civilian with such responsibilities as finance and purchases and a minor role in directing military affairs, headed the War Department throughout its existence. Retired senior General Henry Knox, then in civilian life, served as the first United States Secretary of War, forming and organizing the department and the army fell to Secretary Knox. On November 8,1800 the War Department building with its records, foundation of the new military academy at West Point along the Hudson River upstream from New York City in 1802 was important to the future growth of the American army. The multiple failures and fiascos of the War of 1812 convinced Washington that thorough reform of the War Department was necessary, winfield Scott became the senior general until the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The bureau chiefs acted as advisers to the Secretary of War while commanding their own troops, the bureaus frequently conflicted among themselves, but in disputes with the commanding general, the Secretary of War generally supported the bureaus. Congress regulated the affairs of the bureaus in detail, and their chiefs looked to that body for support, during the American Civil War, the War Department responsibilities expanded. It handled the recruiting, training, supply, medical care, transportation, a separate command structure took charge of military operations. In the late stages of the war, the Department took charge of refugees and freedmen in the American South through the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, during Reconstruction, this bureau played a major role in supporting the new Republican governments in the southern states. When military Reconstruction ended in 1877, the U. S. Army removed the last troops from military occupation of the American South, and the last Republican state governments in the region ended. The Army comprised hundreds of small detachments in forts around the West, dealing with Indians, the United States Army, with 39,000 men in 1890 was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France had an army of 542,000, temporary volunteers and state militia units mostly fought the Spanish–American War of 1898. This conflict demonstrated the need for effective control over the department. Elihu Root enlarged the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York and established the United States Army War College and he changed the procedures for promotions and organized schools for the special branches of the service. He also devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line, indeed, Secretary Taft exercised little power, President Theodore Roosevelt made the major decisions. In 1911, Secretary Henry L. Stimson and Major General Leonard Wood, his chief of staff, the general staff assisted them in their efforts to rationalize the organization of the army along modern lines and in supervising the bureaus. Assisted by industrial advisers, they reorganized the system of the army. General March reorganized the general staff along similar lines and gave it authority over departmental operations. After the war, the Congress again granted the bureaus their former independence, in the 1920s, General John J. Pershing realigned the general staff on the pattern of his American Expeditionary Force field headquarters, which he commanded
United States Department of War
–
State, War, and Navy Building in 1917
United States Department of War
–
The seal of the U.S. Department of War.
4.
United States Secretary of War
–
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States Presidents Cabinet, beginning with George Washingtons administration. A similar position, called either Secretary at War or Secretary of War, had appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation between 1781 and 1789. Benjamin Lincoln and later Henry Knox held the position, when Washington was inaugurated as the first president under the Constitution, he appointed Knox to continue serving. The Secretary of War was the head of the War Department, at first, he was responsible for all military affairs, including naval affairs. In 1798, the Secretary of the Navy was created by statute, from 1886 onward, the Secretary of War was third in the line of succession to the presidency, after the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of State. The office of Secretary at War was modelled upon Great Britains Secretary at War, the office of Secretary at War was meant replaced both the Commander-in-Chief and the Board of War, and like the President of the Board, the Secretary wore no special insignia. The Inspector General, Quartermaster General, Commissary General, and Adjutant General served on the Secretarys staff, however, the Army itself under Secretary Henry Knox only consisted of 700 men. Parties No party Federalist Democratic-Republican Democratic Whig Republican Confederate States Secretary of War Bell, commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits and Biographical Sketches. United States Army Center of Military History, encyclopedia of the United States Cabinet 1789-2010. Charlottesville, Virginia, The Judge Advocate Generals School, U. S. Army
United States Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
–
Official Seal
United States Secretary of War
United States Secretary of War
–
Swearing in of
Dwight F. Davis as Secretary of War in 1925. Former Secretaries
John W. Weeks and
Chief Justice William Howard Taft are standing beside him.
5.
President of the United States
–
The President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is considered to be one of the worlds most powerful political figures, the role includes being the commander-in-chief of the worlds most expensive military with the second largest nuclear arsenal and leading the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP. The office of President holds significant hard and soft power both in the United States and abroad, Constitution vests the executive power of the United States in the president. The president is empowered to grant federal pardons and reprieves. The president is responsible for dictating the legislative agenda of the party to which the president is a member. The president also directs the foreign and domestic policy of the United States, since the office of President was established in 1789, its power has grown substantially, as has the power of the federal government as a whole. However, nine vice presidents have assumed the presidency without having elected to the office. The Twenty-second Amendment prohibits anyone from being elected president for a third term, in all,44 individuals have served 45 presidencies spanning 57 full four-year terms. On January 20,2017, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th, in 1776, the Thirteen Colonies, acting through the Second Continental Congress, declared political independence from Great Britain during the American Revolution. The new states, though independent of each other as nation states, desiring to avoid anything that remotely resembled a monarchy, Congress negotiated the Articles of Confederation to establish a weak alliance between the states. Out from under any monarchy, the states assigned some formerly royal prerogatives to Congress, only after all the states agreed to a resolution settling competing western land claims did the Articles take effect on March 1,1781, when Maryland became the final state to ratify them. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris secured independence for each of the former colonies, with peace at hand, the states each turned toward their own internal affairs. Prospects for the convention appeared bleak until James Madison and Edmund Randolph succeeded in securing George Washingtons attendance to Philadelphia as a delegate for Virginia. It was through the negotiations at Philadelphia that the presidency framed in the U. S. The first power the Constitution confers upon the president is the veto, the Presentment Clause requires any bill passed by Congress to be presented to the president before it can become law. Once the legislation has been presented, the president has three options, Sign the legislation, the bill becomes law. Veto the legislation and return it to Congress, expressing any objections, in this instance, the president neither signs nor vetoes the legislation
President of the United States
–
Incumbent
Barack Obama since January 20, 2009 (2009-01-20)
President of the United States
–
Presidential Seal
President of the United States
–
Obama signing legislation at the
Resolute desk
President of the United States
–
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, successfully preserved the
Union during the
American Civil War
6.
United States Congress
–
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States consisting of two chambers, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the Capitol in Washington, D. C, both senators and representatives are chosen through direct election, though vacancies in the Senate may be filled by a gubernatorial appointment. Members are usually affiliated to the Republican Party or to the Democratic Party, Congress has 535 voting members,435 Representatives and 100 Senators. The House of Representatives has six non-voting members in addition to its 435 voting members and these members can, however, sit on congressional committees and introduce legislation. Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the members of the House of Representatives serve two-year terms representing the people of a single constituency, known as a district. Congressional districts are apportioned to states by using the United States Census results. Each state, regardless of population or size, has two senators, currently, there are 100 senators representing the 50 states. Each senator is elected at-large in their state for a term, with terms staggered. The House and Senate are equal partners in the legislative process—legislation cannot be enacted without the consent of both chambers, however, the Constitution grants each chamber some unique powers. The Senate ratifies treaties and approves presidential appointments while the House initiates revenue-raising bills, the House initiates impeachment cases, while the Senate decides impeachment cases. A two-thirds vote of the Senate is required before a person can be forcibly removed from office. The term Congress can also refer to a meeting of the legislature. A Congress covers two years, the current one, the 115th Congress, began on January 3,2017, the Congress starts and ends on the third day of January of every odd-numbered year. Members of the Senate are referred to as senators, members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives, congressmen, or congresswomen. One analyst argues that it is not a solely reactive institution but has played a role in shaping government policy and is extraordinarily sensitive to public pressure. Several academics described Congress, Congress reflects us in all our strengths, Congress is the governments most representative body. Congress is essentially charged with reconciling our many points of view on the public policy issues of the day. —Smith, Roberts, and Wielen Congress is constantly changing and is constantly in flux, most incumbents seek re-election, and their historical likelihood of winning subsequent elections exceeds 90 percent
United States Congress
United States Congress
–
United States Congress
United States Congress
–
In 1868, this committee of representatives prosecuted president
Andrew Johnson in his impeachment trial, but the Senate did not convict him.
United States Congress
–
George Washington presiding over the signing of the
United States Constitution.
7.
General (United States)
–
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, general is a four-star general officer rank, with the pay grade of O-10. General ranks above lieutenant general and below General of the Army or General of the Air Force, General is equivalent to the rank of admiral in the other uniformed services. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps,198 for the Air Force, and 162 for the Navy. No more than about 25% of an active duty general or flag officers may have more than two stars, and statute sets the total number of four-star officers allowed in each service. This is set at 7 four-star Army generals,9 four-star Air Force generals,2 four-star Marine Generals, several of these slots are reserved by statute. For example, the two highest-ranking members of service are designated as four-star generals. In addition, for the National Guard, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau is a general under active duty in the Army or Air Force. Officers serving in certain intelligence positions e. g. the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, the President may add four-star slots to one service if they are offset by removing an equivalent number from other services. Finally, all statutory limits may be waived at the Presidents discretion during time of war or national emergency and their active rank expires with the expiration of their term of office, which is usually set by statute. For some positions, statute allows the President to waive those requirements for a nominee deemed to serve national interests, the nominee must be confirmed by the United States Senate before the appointee can take office and assume the rank. Four-star ranks may also be given by act of Congress but this is extremely rare, service vice chiefs serve for a nominal four years, but are commonly reassigned after one or two years. The Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps serves for two years, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau serves a nominal four years. Some statutory limits can be waived in times of emergency or war. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement, a four-star general must retire after 40 years of service unless he or she is reappointed to serve longer. Otherwise all general officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday, however, the Secretary of Defense can defer a four-star officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday and the President can defer it until the officers 68th birthday. General officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. Since only a number of four-star slots are available to each service
General (United States)
8.
George Washington
–
George Washington was an American politician and soldier who served as the first President of the United States from 1789 to 1797 and was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and he is popularly considered the driving force behind the nations establishment and came to be known as the father of the country, both during his lifetime and to this day. Washington was widely admired for his leadership qualities and was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. Washingtons incumbency established many precedents still in use today, such as the system, the inaugural address. His retirement from office two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment now limits the president to two elected terms and he was born into the provincial gentry of Colonial Virginia to a family of wealthy planters who owned tobacco plantations and slaves, which he inherited. In his youth, he became an officer in the colonial militia during the first stages of the French. In 1775, the Second Continental Congress commissioned him as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in the American Revolution, in that command, Washington forced the British out of Boston in 1776 but was defeated and nearly captured later that year when he lost New York City. After crossing the Delaware River in the middle of winter, he defeated the British in two battles, retook New Jersey, and restored momentum to the Patriot cause and his strategy enabled Continental forces to capture two major British armies at Saratoga in 1777 and Yorktown in 1781. In battle, however, Washington was repeatedly outmaneuvered by British generals with larger armies, after victory had been finalized in 1783, Washington resigned as commander-in-chief rather than seize power, proving his opposition to dictatorship and his commitment to American republicanism. Washington presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which devised a new form of government for the United States. Following his election as president in 1789, he worked to unify rival factions in the fledgling nation and he supported Alexander Hamiltons programs to satisfy all debts, federal and state, established a permanent seat of government, implemented an effective tax system, and created a national bank. In avoiding war with Great Britain, he guaranteed a decade of peace and profitable trade by securing the Jay Treaty in 1795 and he remained non-partisan, never joining the Federalist Party, although he largely supported its policies. Washingtons Farewell Address was a primer on civic virtue, warning against partisanship, sectionalism. He retired from the presidency in 1797, returning to his home, upon his death, Washington was eulogized as first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen by Representative Henry Lee III of Virginia. He was revered in life and in death, scholarly and public polling consistently ranks him among the top three presidents in American history and he has been depicted and remembered in monuments, public works, currency, and other dedications to the present day. He was born on February 11,1731, according to the Julian calendar, the Gregorian calendar was adopted within the British Empire in 1752, and it renders a birth date of February 22,1732. Washington was of primarily English gentry descent, especially from Sulgrave and his great-grandfather John Washington emigrated to Virginia in 1656 and began accumulating land and slaves, as did his son Lawrence and his grandson, Georges father Augustine
George Washington
–
George Washington by
Gilbert Stuart, 1797
George Washington
–
Washington's birthplace
George Washington
–
Washington's map, accompanying his Journal to the Ohio (1753–1754)
George Washington
–
A
mezzotint of
Martha Washington, based on a 1757 portrait by
Wollaston
9.
Major general (United States)
–
In the United States Army, United States Marine Corps, and United States Air Force, major general is a two-star general-officer rank, with the pay grade of O-8. Major general ranks above brigadier general and below lieutenant general, a major general typically commands division-sized units of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers. Major general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral in the United States Navy. The United States Code explicitly limits the number of general officers that may be on active duty at any given time. The total number of active duty general officers is capped at 231 for the Army,61 for the Marine Corps, some of these slots are reserved or finitely set by statute. This promotion board then generates a list of officers it recommends for promotion to general rank and this list is then sent to the service secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for review before it can be sent to the President, through the Secretary of Defense for consideration. The President nominates officers to be promoted from this list with the advice of the Secretary of Defense, the secretary, and if applicable. The President may nominate any eligible officer who is not on the recommended list if it serves in the interest of the nation, the Senate must then confirm the nominee by a majority vote before the officer can be promoted. Once confirmed, the nominee is promoted to rank on assuming a position of office that requires an officer to hold the rank. For positions of office that are reserved by statute, the President nominates an officer for appointment to fill that position, since the grade of major general is permanent, the rank does not expire when the officer vacates a two-star position. Tour length varies depending on the position, by statute, and/or when the officer receives a new assignment or a promotion, in the case of the Air National Guard, they may also serve as The Adjutant General for their state, commonwealth or territory. Other than voluntary retirement, statute sets a number of mandates for retirement of general officers, all major generals must retire after five years in grade or 35 years of service, whichever is later, unless appointed for promotion or reappointed to grade to serve longer. Otherwise, all officers must retire the month after their 64th birthday. However, the Secretary of Defense may defer a general officers retirement until the officers 66th birthday, because there are a finite number of General Officer positions, one officer must retire before another can be promoted. As a result, general officers typically retire well in advance of the age and service limits. The rank of general was abolished in the U. S. Army by the Act of March 16,1802. Major general has been a rank in the U. S. Army ever since, to address this anomaly, Washington was posthumously promoted by Congress to the rank of General of the Armies of the United States in 1976. The position of Major General Commanding the Army was entitled to three stars according to General Order No.6 of March 13,1861
Major general (United States)
–
Lafayette in a uniform of a major general of the Continental Army.
Major general (United States)
–
Army,
Air Force, and
Marine Corps two-star
insignia of the rank of Major General. Style and method of wear may vary between the services.
10.
Jacob Brown
–
Jacob Jennings Brown was an American army officer in the War of 1812. His successes on the border during that war made him a hero. In 1821, he was appointed Commanding General of the United States Army, born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Jacob Jennings Brown was the son of Samuel and Abi Brown. Raised a Quaker, Brown graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1790 and he taught school and, in 1798, moved to upstate New York. There he was a settler and landowner in the Black River country. He and his family established mills and a store, laid out roads. However, Hamiltons biographies state he did not have a secretary, biographical sketches of Brown published in 1815 do not mention a connection between him and Hamilton. In 1807, as one of the citizens of his county. Two years later, he was promoted to colonel and his initial commission was the result of regional political connections. However, his promotion to higher rank appears to have resulted from his aversion to frequent, when the War of 1812 began, Brown was a brigadier general in the New York militia, having been appointed to that rank in 1811. Though he opposed the war, he organized the defenses in the Great Lakes region, on 29 May 1813, troops led by Brown defeated the British at the Second Battle of Sackets Harbor. As a result of his actions there, he was given a commission as a general in the regular army. The next year his army captured Fort Erie in Ontario, after, his army defeated a British army at the Battle of Chippawa. He was wounded twice at the Battle of Lundys Lane, one of the bloodiest engagements of the war for both sides and his last battle of the war was the Siege of Fort Erie in 1814, which resulted in an American victory. His successes, in what was the northwest U. S. at that time, to express its appreciation, Congress authorized the award to Brown of a Congressional Gold Medal on 3 November 1814. General Brown was the 24th American to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, in 1818, Brown was admitted as an honorary member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati. After the war, the U. S. Army was reduced in size, by 1821, he was the only major general in the service and President James Monroe made him commanding general. Despite a stroke he suffered in 1821, he functioned well in his new post and he reorganized the army staff into the form it retained for the rest of the century
Jacob Brown
–
Major General Jacob J. Brown
11.
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
–
The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army. As the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, the CSA is the military advisor. The CSA is typically the officer on active-duty in the U. S. Army unless the Chairman and/or the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are Army officers. The Chief of Staff of the Army is a position based in the Pentagon. While the CSA does not have command authority over Army forces proper. The current Chief of Staff of the Army is General Mark A. Milley, the CSA also directs the Inspector General of the Army to perform inspections and investigations as required. In addition, the CSA presides over the Army Staff and represents army capabilities, requirements, policy, plans, under delegation of authority made by the Secretary of the Army, the CSA designates army personnel and army resources to the Commanders of the Combatant Commands. Like the other counterparts, the CSA has no operational command authority over army forces. The CSA is served by a number of Deputy Chiefs of Staff of the Army, such as G-1, Personnel. The CSA base pay is $21,147.30 per month plus Personal Money Allowance of $333.33, basic allowance for subsistence of $253.38, the Chief of Staff of the Army is nominated by the President and must be confirmed by the Senate. By statute, the CSA is appointed as a four-star general, the Chief of Staff of the Army has an official residence, Quarters 1 at Joint Base Myer–Henderson Hall, Virginia. The Chief of Staff holds an annual future study program called Unified Quest, prior to 1903, the senior military officer in the army was the Commanding General, who reported to the Secretary of War. The first chief of staff moved his headquarters to Fort Myer in 1908, the rank listed is the rank when serving in the office. Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army Army Staff Senior Warrant Officer Sergeant Major of the Army Bell, appendix B, Chronological List of Senior Officers of the United States Army. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Armys Senior Officer, United States Army Center of Military History. Commanding Generals and Chiefs of Staff 1775-2005, Portraits & Biographical Sketches of the United States Armys Senior Officer, United States Army Center of Military History. Chief of Staff, Prewar Plans and Preparations, United States Army in World War II. United States Army Center of Military History, - full text The short film Big Picture, Top Soldier is available for free download at the Internet Archive
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
–
Incumbent
GEN Mark A. Milley since August 14, 2015
Chief of Staff of the United States Army
–
Flag of the Chief of Staff of the Army
12.
United States Army
–
The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces and performs land-based military operations. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784, the United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775. As a uniformed service, the Army is part of the Department of the Army. As a branch of the forces, the mission of the U. S. The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States, the United States Army serves as the land-based branch of the U. S. Section 3062 of Title 10, U. S, the army was initially led by men who had served in the British Army or colonial militias and who brought much of British military heritage with them. As the Revolutionary War progressed, French aid, resources, a number of European soldiers came on their own to help, such as Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, who taught Prussian Army tactics and organizational skills. The army fought numerous pitched battles and in the South in 1780–81 sometimes used the Fabian strategy and hit-and-run tactics, hitting where the British were weakest, to wear down their forces. Washington led victories against the British at Trenton and Princeton, but lost a series of battles in the New York and New Jersey campaign in 1776, with a decisive victory at Yorktown, and the help of the French, the Continental Army prevailed against the British. After the war, though, the Continental Army was quickly given land certificates, State militias became the new nations sole ground army, with the exception of a regiment to guard the Western Frontier and one battery of artillery guarding West Points arsenal. However, because of continuing conflict with Native Americans, it was realized that it was necessary to field a trained standing army. The War of 1812, the second and last war between the United States and Great Britain, had mixed results. After taking control of Lake Erie in 1813, the U. S. Army seized parts of western Upper Canada, burned York and defeated Tecumseh, which caused his Western Confederacy to collapse. Following U. S. victories in the Canadian province of Upper Canada, British troops, were able to capture and burn Washington, which was defended by militia, in 1814. Two weeks after a treaty was signed, Andrew Jackson defeated the British in the Battle of New Orleans and Siege of Fort St. Philip, U. S. troops and sailors captured HMS Cyane, Levant, and Penguin in the final engagements of the war. Per the treaty, both sides, the United States and Great Britain, returned to the status quo. Both navies kept the warships they had seized during the conflict, the armys major campaign against the Indians was fought in Florida against Seminoles. It took long wars to defeat the Seminoles and move them to Oklahoma
United States Army
–
Storming of Redoubt #10 in the
Siege of Yorktown during the
American Revolutionary War prompted the British government to begin negotiations, resulting in the
Treaty of Paris and British recognition of the United States of America.
United States Army
–
Emblem of the United States Department of the Army
United States Army
–
General
Andrew Jackson stands on the parapet of his makeshift defenses as his troops repulse attacking
Highlanders during the
defense of New Orleans, the final major battle of the War of 1812
United States Army
–
The
Battle of Gettysburg, the turning point of the American Civil War
13.
Continental Army
–
The Continental Army was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14,1775, the Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and troops that remained under control of the individual states or were otherwise independent. General George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the army throughout the war, most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris ended the war. The 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form the nucleus of the Legion of the United States in 1792 under General Anthony Wayne and this became the foundation of the United States Army in 1796. The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all 13 colonies, and after 1776, when the American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19,1775, the colonial revolutionaries did not have an army. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the leading to the war. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774, colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. On April 23,1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of an army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar, on July 18,1775, the Congress requested all colonies form militia companies from all able bodied effective men, between sixteen and fifty years of age. It was not uncommon for men younger than sixteen to enlist as most colonies had no requirement of consent for those under twenty-one. Four major-generals and eight brigadier-generals were appointed by the Second Continental Congress in the course of a few days, after Pomeroy did not accept, John Thomas was appointed in his place. As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, as a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units. Soldiers in the Continental Army were citizens who had volunteered to serve in the army, early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men, turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved. Major General Philip Schuylers ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada, the Continental Army of 1776, reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to the length of the war to avoid the crises that depleted forces
Continental Army
Continental Army
–
Infantry of the Continental Army.
Continental Army
–
1778 Drawing of a member of the
Stockbridge Militia (from Revolutionary War diary of
Johann Von Ewald)
Continental Army
–
Continental Army Plaza,
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
14.
American Revolutionary War
–
From about 1765 the American Revolution had led to increasing philosophical and political differences between Great Britain and its American colonies. The war represented a culmination of these differences in armed conflict between Patriots and the authority which they increasingly resisted. This resistance became particularly widespread in the New England Colonies, especially in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. On December 16,1773, Massachusetts members of the Patriot group Sons of Liberty destroyed a shipment of tea in Boston Harbor in an event that became known as the Boston Tea Party. Named the Coercive Acts by Parliament, these became known as the Intolerable Acts in America. The Massachusetts colonists responded with the Suffolk Resolves, establishing a government that removed control of the province from the Crown outside of Boston. Twelve colonies formed a Continental Congress to coordinate their resistance, and established committees, British attempts to seize the munitions of Massachusetts colonists in April 1775 led to the first open combat between Crown forces and Massachusetts militia, the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Militia forces proceeded to besiege the British forces in Boston, forcing them to evacuate the city in March 1776, the Continental Congress appointed George Washington to take command of the militia. Concurrent to the Boston campaign, an American attempt to invade Quebec, on July 2,1776, the Continental Congress formally voted for independence, issuing its Declaration on July 4. Sir William Howe began a British counterattack, focussing on recapturing New York City, Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, leaving American confidence at a low ebb. Washington captured a Hessian force at Trenton and drove the British out of New Jersey, in 1777 the British sent a new army under John Burgoyne to move south from Canada and to isolate the New England colonies. However, instead of assisting Burgoyne, Howe took his army on a campaign against the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. Burgoyne outran his supplies, was surrounded and surrendered at Saratoga in October 1777, the British defeat in the Saratoga Campaign had drastic consequences. Giving up on the North, the British decided to salvage their former colonies in the South, British forces under Lieutenant-General Charles Cornwallis seized Georgia and South Carolina, capturing an American army at Charleston, South Carolina. British strategy depended upon an uprising of large numbers of armed Loyalists, in 1779 Spain joined the war as an ally of France under the Pacte de Famille, intending to capture Gibraltar and British colonies in the Caribbean. Britain declared war on the Dutch Republic in December 1780, in 1781, after the British and their allies had suffered two decisive defeats at Kings Mountain and Cowpens, Cornwallis retreated to Virginia, intending on evacuation. A decisive French naval victory in September deprived the British of an escape route, a joint Franco-American army led by Count Rochambeau and Washington, laid siege to the British forces at Yorktown. With no sign of relief and the situation untenable, Cornwallis surrendered in October 1781, Whigs in Britain had long opposed the pro-war Tory majority in Parliament, but the defeat at Yorktown gave the Whigs the upper hand
American Revolutionary War
–
Clockwise from top left:
Surrender of Lord Cornwallis after the
Siege of Yorktown,
Battle of Trenton,
The Death of General Warren at the
Battle of Bunker Hill,
Battle of Long Island,
Battle of Guilford Court House
American Revolutionary War
–
Notice of Stamp Act of 1765 in newspaper
American Revolutionary War
–
This iconic 1846 lithograph by
Nathaniel Currier was entitled "The Destruction of Tea at Boston Harbor"; the phrase "Boston Tea Party" had not yet become standard. Contrary to Currier's depiction, few of the men dumping the tea were actually disguised as Indians.
American Revolutionary War
–
The British marching to
Concord in April 1775
15.
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
George Washington commanded the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War, and was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. Because of his role in the founding of the United States. His devotion to republicanism and civic virtue made him a figure among early American politicians. Washington played a military and political role in the American Revolution. His involvement began as early as 1767, when he first took political stands against the acts of the British Parliament, after the war broke out with the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, his role became military with his appointment as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He appeared before the Second Continental Congress in military uniform, signaling that he was prepared for war, Congress created the Continental Army on June 14, the next day it selected Washington as commander-in-chief. At the end of the year in both 1775 and 1776, he had to deal with expiring enlistments, since the Congress had only authorized the existence for single years. In 1777 Washington was again defeated in the defense of Philadelphia, Washingtons activities from late 1778 to 1780 were more diplomatic and organizational, as his army remained outside New York, watching Sir Henry Clintons army that occupied the city. His attention was drawn to the frontier war, which prompted the 1779 Continental Army expedition of John Sullivan into upstate New York. When General Clinton sent the turncoat General Benedict Arnold to raid in Virginia, the arrival of Lord Cornwallis in Virginia after campaigning in the south presented Washington with an opportunity to strike a decisive blow. The army was disbanded after peace in 1783, and Washington resigned his commission as commander-in-chief on December 23,1783. Born into a well-to-do Virginia family near Fredericksburg in 1732, Washington was schooled locally until the age of 15, the early death of his father when he was 11 eliminated the possibility of schooling in England, and his mother rejected attempts to place him in the Royal Navy. Thanks to the connection by marriage of his half-brother Lawrence to the wealthy Fairfax family, Washington was appointed surveyor of Culpeper County in 1749 and its investors also included Virginias Royal Governor, Robert Dinwiddie, who appointed Washington a major in the provincial militia in February 1753. Washington played a key role in the outbreak of the French and Indian War and he closely observed British military tactics, gaining a keen insight into their strengths and weaknesses that proved invaluable during the Revolution. He demonstrated his toughness and courage in the most difficult situations, including disasters and he developed a command presence—given his size, strength, stamina, and bravery in battle, he appeared to soldiers to be a natural leader and they followed him without question. Washington learned to organize, train, and drill, and discipline his companies, from his observations, readings and conversations with professional officers, he learned the basics of battlefield tactics, as well as a good understanding of problems of organization and logistics. He gained an understanding of strategy, especially in locating strategic geographical points. He developed a negative idea of the value of militia, who seemed too unreliable, too undisciplined
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
Currier and Ives depiction of Washington accepting his
Continental Army commission from the
Second Continental Congress
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
Washington was in the vanguard of British forces that occupied
Fort Duquesne, recently abandoned by the French, in 1758.
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
Washington in 1772
George Washington in the American Revolution
–
British forces evacuate the city at the end of the
Siege of Boston
16.
Second Continental Congress
–
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in the spring of 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5,1774 and October 26,1774, also in Philadelphia, the second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4,1776. When the Second Continental Congress came together on May 10,1775 it was, in effect, many of the same 56 delegates who attended the first meeting were in attendance at the second, and the delegates appointed the same president and secretary. Notable new arrivals included Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania and John Hancock of Massachusetts, within two weeks, Randolph was summoned back to Virginia to preside over the House of Burgesses, he was replaced in the Virginia delegation by Thomas Jefferson, who arrived several weeks later. Henry Middleton was elected as president to replace Randolph, but he declined, Hancock was elected president on May 24. Delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies were present when the Second Continental Congress convened, Georgia had not participated in the First Continental Congress and did not initially send delegates to the Second Continental Congress. On May 13,1775, Lyman Hall was admitted as a delegate from the Parish of St. Johns in the Colony of Georgia, not as a delegate from the colony itself. The Second Continental Congress would meet on May 10,1775, by the time the Second Continental Congress met, the American Revolutionary War had already started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The Congress was to charge of the war effort. For the first few months of the struggle, the Patriots had carried on their struggle in an ad-hoc and they had seized arsenals, driven out royal officials, and besieged the British army in the city of Boston. On July 6,1775 Congress approved a Declaration of Causes outlining the rationale, on July 8, Congress extended the Olive Branch Petition to the British Crown as a final attempt at reconciliation. However, it was received too late to do any good, silas Deane was sent to France as a minister of the Congress. American ports were reopened in defiance of the British Navigation Acts, the Congress had no authority to levy taxes, and was required to request money, supplies, and troops from the states to support the war effort. Individual states frequently ignored these requests, Congress was moving towards declaring independence from the British Empire in 1776, but many delegates lacked the authority from their home governments to take such a drastic action. Advocates of independence in Congress moved to have reluctant colonial governments revise instructions to their delegations, on May 10,1776, Congress passed a resolution recommending that any colony lacking a proper government should form such. The resolution of independence was delayed for weeks as revolutionaries consolidated support for independence in their home governments. The records of the Continental Congress confirm that the need for a declaration of independence was intimately linked with the demands of international relations, on June 7,1776, Richard Henry Lee offered a resolution before the Continental Congress declaring the colonies independent. He also urged Congress to resolve to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign Alliances, Lee argued that independence was the only way to ensure a foreign alliance, since no European monarchs would deal with America if they remained Britains colonies
Second Continental Congress
–
Thirteen Colonies United States
Second Continental Congress
–
The Assembly Room in Philadelphia's
Independence Hall, where the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Second Continental Congress
17.
John Adams
–
John Adams was an American patriot who served as the second President of the United States and the first Vice President. He was a lawyer, diplomat, statesman, political theorist, and, as a Founding Father and he was also a dedicated diarist and correspondent, particularly with his wife and closest advisor Abigail. He collaborated with his cousin, revolutionary leader Samuel Adams, Adams was a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, where he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, as a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and acquired vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. Adams was the author of the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780 which influenced American political theory. Adamss credentials as a revolutionary secured for him two terms as President George Washingtons vice president and also his own election in 1796 as the second president. In his single term as president, he encountered fierce criticism from the Jeffersonian Republicans, as well as the dominant faction in his own Federalist Party, led by his rival Alexander Hamilton. Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, and built up the army, the major accomplishment of his presidency was a peaceful resolution of the conflict in the face of Hamiltons opposition. Due to his strong posture on defense, Adams is often called the father of the American Navy and he was the first U. S. president to reside in the executive mansion, now known as the White House. In 1800, Adams lost re-election to Thomas Jefferson and retired to Massachusetts and he eventually resumed his friendship with Jefferson upon the latters own retirement by initiating a correspondence which lasted fourteen years. He and his wife established a family of politicians, diplomats, Adams was the father of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. He died on the anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Modern historians in the aggregate have favorably ranked his administration, John Adams was born on October 30,1735 to John Adams Sr. and Susanna Boylston. He had two brothers, Peter and Elihu. Adams birthplace was then in Braintree, Massachusetts, and is preserved at Adams National Historical Park, Adams mother was from a leading medical family of present-day Brookline, Massachusetts. His father was a Congregationalist deacon, a farmer, a cordwainer, the Deacon also served as a selectman and supervised the building of schools and roads. Adams often praised his father and recalled their close relationship, though raised in modest surroundings, Adams felt an acute responsibility to live up to his familys heritage of reverence. Journalist Richard Brookhiser wrote that Adams Puritan ancestors believed they lived in the Bible, England under the Stuarts was Egypt, they were Israel fleeing
John Adams
–
John Adams
John Adams
–
Adams' birthplace in
Quincy, Massachusetts
John Adams
–
Mrs. Abigail Smith Adams – 1766 Portrait by Benjamin Blythe
John Adams
–
John Adams – 1766 Portrait by Benjamin Blyth
18.
Henry Knox
–
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, who also served as the first United States Secretary of War from 1789 to 1794. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, he owned and operated a bookstore there, cultivating an interest in military history and joining a local artillery company. When the American Revolutionary War broke out in 1775, he befriended General George Washington, in this role he accompanied Washington on most of his campaigns, and had some involvement in many major actions of the war. He established training centers for artillerymen and manufacturing facilities for weaponry that were valuable assets to the fledgling nation, following the adoption of the United States Constitution, he became President Washingtons Secretary of War. In this role he oversaw the development of coastal fortifications, worked to improve the preparedness of local militia, Knoxs idealistic views on the subject were frustrated by ongoing illegal settlements and fraudulent land transfers involving Indian lands. He retired to what is now Thomaston, Maine, in 1795 and he died in 1806 from an infection he contracted after swallowing a chicken bone, leaving an estate that was bankrupt. Henry Knoxs parents, William and Mary, were of Scotch-Irish origin and his father was a ship builder who, due to financial reverses, left the family for St Eustatius in the West Indies where he died in 1762 of unknown causes. Henry was admitted to the Boston Latin School, where he studied Greek, Latin, arithmetic, since he was the oldest son still at home when his father died, he left school at the age of 12 and became a clerk in a bookstore to support his mother. The shops owner, Nicholas Bowes, became a father figure for the boy, allowing him to browse the shelves of the store. The inquisitive future war hero, when he was not running errands, taught himself French, learned some philosophy and advanced mathematics and he immersed himself in literature from a tender age. However, Knox was also involved in Bostons street gangs, becoming one of the toughest fighters in his neighborhood, impressed by a military demonstration, at 18 he joined a local artillery company called The Train. On March 5,1770 Knox was a witness to the Boston massacre, according to his affidavit, he attempted to defuse the situation, trying to convince the British soldiers to return to their quarters. He also testified at the trials of the soldiers, in which all, in 1771 he opened his own bookshop, the London Book Store, in Boston opposite Williams Court in Cornhill. The store was, in the words of a contemporary, a resort for the British officers and Tory ladies. Boasting an impressive selection of excellent English products and managed by a friendly proprietor, as a bookseller, Knox built strong business ties with British suppliers and developed relationships with his customers, but he retained his childhood aspirations. Largely self-educated, he stocked books on science, and also questioned soldiers who frequented his shop in military matters. The genial giant initially enjoyed reasonable success, but his profits slumped after the Boston Port Bill. In 1772 he cofounded the Boston Grenadier Corps as an offshoot of The Train, shortly before his 23rd birthday Knox accidentally discharged a shotgun, shooting two fingers off his left hand
Henry Knox
–
Henry Knox
Henry Knox
–
An ox team hauls cannon toward Boston
Henry Knox
–
Men are visible behind Washington working to unload cannon in
Thomas Sully 's 1819 Passage of the Delaware.
Henry Knox
–
Steel engraving of Henry Knox by Alonzo Chappel
19.
Articles of Confederation
–
Its drafting by a committee appointed by the Second Continental Congress began on July 12,1776, and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification on November 15,1777. The Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1,1781, a guiding principle of the Articles was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states. The federal government received only those powers which the colonies had recognized as belonging to king, the Articles formed a war-time confederation of states, with an extremely limited central government. Actually the adoption of the Articles made no change in the federal government. That body was now taken over as the Congress of the Confederation, as the governments weaknesses became apparent, especially after Shays Rebellion, individuals began asking for changes to the Articles. Their hope was to create a national government. Initially, some states met to deal with their trade and economic problems, however, as more states became interested in meeting to change the Articles, a meeting was set in Philadelphia on May 25,1787. It was quickly realized that changes would not work, and instead the entire Articles needed to be replaced, on March 4,1789, the general government under the Articles was replaced with the federal government under the Constitution. The new Constitution provided for a stronger federal government by establishing a chief executive, courts. The Articles of Confederation would bear some resemblance to it, over the next two decades, some of the basic concepts it addressed would strengthen and others would weaken, particularly the degree of deserved loyalty to the crown. It was an era of constitution writing—most states were busy at the task—and leaders felt the new nation must have a written constitution, during the war, Congress exercised an unprecedented level of political, diplomatic, military and economic authority. It adopted trade restrictions, established and maintained an army, issued fiat money, created a military code, to transform themselves from outlaws into a legitimate nation, the colonists needed international recognition for their cause and foreign allies to support it. The monarchies of France and Spain in particular could not be expected to aid those they considered rebels against another legitimate monarch, foreign courts needed to have American grievances laid before them persuasively in a “manifesto” which could also reassure them that the Americans would be reliable trading partners. Without such a declaration, Paine concluded, “he custom of all courts is against us, Congress then created three overlapping committees to draft the Declaration, a Model Treaty, and the Articles of Confederation. The committee met repeatedly, and chairman John Dickinson presented their results to the Congress on July 12,1776, there were long debates on such issues as sovereignty, the exact powers to be given the confederate government, whether to have a judiciary, and voting procedures. Under the Articles, the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the national government, the individual articles set the rules for current and future operations of the United States government. Article XIII stipulated that their provisions shall be observed by every state. John Dickinsons and Benjamin Franklins handwritten drafts of the Articles of Confederation are housed at the National Archives in Washington, after the war, nationalists, especially those who had been active in the Continental Army, complained that the Articles were too weak for an effective government
Articles of Confederation
–
Page I of the Articles of Confederation
Articles of Confederation
–
Articles of Confederation 200th Anniversary commemorative stamp First issued in York, Pennsylvania., 1977
Articles of Confederation
–
The Act of the Maryland legislature to ratify the Articles of Confederation on February 2, 1781
20.
John Doughty
–
John Doughty was an American military officer who briefly served as the senior officer of the United States Army in 1784. Born in New York City on July 25,1754, he graduated from Kings College in 1770 and he served as adjutant general of two Morris County battalions and was appointed captain lieutenant of the New Jersey Eastern Artillery Company in March 1776. Doughty became a captain of the 2nd Continental Artillery Regiment in January 1777, later, he was assigned to command the New York State Artillery Company in March 1777. John Doughty would participate in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, Monmouth, Springfield and he was appointed brigade major of the Corps of Artillery in 1779 and was appointed fort major for the West Point garrison in 1782. He was transferred to the Corps of Artillery in June 1783 and he superintended the construction of Fort Harmar and Fort Washington on the Ohio frontier. He repelled with serious losses an attack by Cherokee, Shawnee and he declined an appointment to lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, after which he retired from the army in March 1791. In May 1800 Doughty resigned and returned to life on his estate at Morristown, New Jersey, to engage in agriculture. He died there on September 16,1826 and this article incorporates public domain material from the United States Army Center of Military History document John Doughty. Heitmans Historical Register of Officers of the Continental Army
John Doughty
–
John Doughty
21.
Josiah Harmar
–
Josiah Harmar was an officer in the United States Army during the American Revolutionary War and the Northwest Indian War. He was the officer in the Army for seven years. Josiah Harmar was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and educated at a Quaker school and he started his military career during the American Revolutionary War, receiving a commission as a captain in 1775. He served under George Washington and Henry Lee during the war, a lieutenant colonel at its conclusion, he was chosen by Congress in 1784 to relay the ratified Treaty of Paris to commissioner Benjamin Franklin in Paris. Harmar was an member of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati when it was founded on October 4,1783. The same day, he was elected as the Societys first secretary, Harmar served as secretary of the Society for two years. In the 1780s, many Americans wished to settle the Old Northwest as the Midwest was known at the time, supported by the British who still held fur-trading forts in the Old Northwest, the Indians were resolved to oppose the Americans. In 1784, the newly independent United States had almost no army, in 1784, the entire United States Army comprised just 55 artillerymen at West Point and 25 more at Fort Pitt. For defense, the United States relied upon the state militias, as the largest contingent came from Pennsylvania, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was allowed to choose the commander of the regiment. Thomas Mifflin, a powerful Pennsylvania politician successfully pushed for his friend Josiah Harmar to become commander, Harmar was described as a political general with a fondness for alcohol who was only given the position due to his political connections. As commander of the First American Regiment, Harmar was the officer in the United States Army from 1784 to 1791. In 1785, he wrote to a friend, I wish you were here to view the beauties of Fort MIntosh, what think you of pike of 24 lbs, a perch of 15 to 20 lbs, cat-fish of 40 lbs, bass, pickerel, sturgeon &c &c. He also consumed huge quantities of wine, cognac, whiskey and he signed the Treaty of Fort McIntosh in 1785, the same year that he ordered the construction of Fort Harmar near Marietta, Ohio. Such are the glories of industry, short-sightedness on the part of the military was the reason that no preparatory training in guerrilla warfare was ever imposed on the Army. No federal unit under Harmar or St. Clair was ever instructed in the method of war. It is very unlikely that the Continental Army would had won the Revolutionary War without Steubens training, Harmar also supervised the construction of Fort Steuben near present-day Steubenville, Ohio. He was brevetted as a general in July 1787. He directed the construction in 1789 of Fort Washington on the Ohio River, the fort was named in honor of President Washington
Josiah Harmar
–
Josiah Harmar
Josiah Harmar
–
Fort Harmar
22.
Harmar Campaign
–
The Harmar Campaign was an attempt by the United States to subdue Native Americans in the Northwest Territory in the Autumn of 1790. They were seeking to expel American settlers whom they considered interlopers in their territory, the campaign was led by General Josiah Harmar and is considered an early part of the Northwest Indian War. The campaign consisted of a series of battles that were all overwhelming victories for the Native Americans, however, there was no general war. American settlers were eager to enter these lands and started to do so, St. Clair decided the tribes wanted war, and called for militia forces to be assembled at Fort Washington and Vincennes, Indiana. The primary objective of the campaign was the destruction of the large, main Miami village of Kekionga, St. Clair and Harmar also planned to build a fort there. But when St. Clair presented his plan to Washington at New York in August 1790, at this time, British forces still occupied Fort Detroit, in violation of the Treaty of Paris. St. Clair wrote to the British at Fort Detroit to assure them that the expedition was against only Indian tribes, General Harmar gathered 320 regulars of the First American Regiment and 1,133 militia from Kentucky and Pennsylvania, for a total of 1,453 men. The force also had three horse-drawn 6-pounder cannons, few experienced frontiersmen took part in the campaign, many instead paid recent immigrants to take their place. Lt. Ebenezer Denny wrote that the appear to be raw. The troops were assembled in September, and the campaign had to be completed before winter set in, the pack horses which carried the troops supplies were fed by grazing, and would starve on the frontier in winter. The Army had no time to train the militia, the campaign was launched from Fort Washington on 7 October 1790. General Harmar began the march north, along the Great Miami River, a smaller army led by Jean François Hamtramck marched north from Vincennes to distract the Wabash Indians. Hamtramcks force was delayed, and returned to Vincennes, by 14 October, Harmars force had marched to within 25 miles of Kekionga. On that day, Kentuckian scouts captured a Shawnee, after some intense interrogation, the Indian said that the Miami and Shawnee were gathering at Kekionga to meet Harmars army. Before dawn on 15 October, Harmar dispatched 600 men under Colonel John Hardin on a march to surprise the Indians at Kekionga. When Colonel Hardins detachment reached Kekionga, they found the village abandoned and they burned it together with any stores they found, and camped south of the destroyed town. Harmar reached other Miami villages near Kekionga on 17 October, the Miami had warning of the attack, and had evacuated their villages with as much food as they could carry. Some British-affiliated traders had been living among the Miami, they fled to Fort Detroit with their families and they had distributed all available arms and ammunition to Miami warriors
Harmar Campaign
–
General Josiah Harmar
Harmar Campaign
–
Harmar Campaign
Harmar Campaign
–
Little Turtle
23.
Arthur St. Clair
–
Arthur St. Clair was an American soldier and politician. Born in Thurso, Scotland, he served in the British Army during the French and Indian War before settling in Pennsylvania, where he held local office. During the American Revolutionary War, he rose to the rank of general in the Continental Army. After the war, he served as President of the Continental Congress and he was then made governor of the Northwest Territory in 1788, and then the portion that would become Ohio in 1800. In 1791, St. Clair commanded the American forces in what was the United Statess worst ever defeat against the American Indians, politically out-of-step with the Jefferson administration, he was replaced as governor in 1802. St. Clair was born in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, little is known of his early life. Early biographers estimated his year of birth as 1734, but subsequent historians uncovered a birth date of March 23,1736 and his parents, unknown to early biographers, were probably William Sinclair, a merchant, and Elizabeth Balfour. He reportedly attended the University of Edinburgh before being apprenticed to the renowned physician William Hunter, in 1757, St. Clair purchased a commission in the British Army, Royal American Regiment, and came to America with Admiral Edward Boscawens fleet for the French and Indian War. He served under General Jeffrey Amherst at the capture of Louisburg, on April 16,1762, he resigned his commission, and, in 1764, he settled in Ligonier Valley, Pennsylvania, where he purchased land and erected mills. He was the largest landowner in Western Pennsylvania, in 1774, the colony of Virginia took claim of the area around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and some residents of Western Pennsylvania took up arms to eject them. St. Clair issued an order for the arrest of the leading the Virginia troops. Lord Dunmores War eventually settled the boundary dispute, by the mid-1770s, St. Clair considered himself more of an American than a British subject. In January 1776, he accepted a commission in the Continental Army as a colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment and he first saw service in the later days of the Quebec invasion, where he saw action in the Battle of Trois-Rivières. He was appointed a general in August 1776, and was sent by Gen. George Washington to help organize the New Jersey militia. He took part in George Washingtons crossing of the Delaware River on the night of December 25–26,1776, many biographers credit St. Clair with the strategy that led to Washingtons capture of Princeton, New Jersey on January 3,1777. St. Clair was promoted to general in February 1777. In April 1777, St. Clair was sent to defend Fort Ticonderoga and his small garrison could not resist British General John Burgoynes larger force in the Saratoga campaign. St. Clair was forced to retreat at the Siege of Fort Ticonderoga on July 5,1777 and he withdrew his forces and played no further part in the campaign
Arthur St. Clair
–
Major General Arthur St. Clair II
Arthur St. Clair
–
A Narrative printed by
Jane Aitken
Arthur St. Clair
–
St.Clair signed check while Governor of Northwest Territory (1796)
24.
Northwest Territory
–
In the 18th century, Great Britain and the France disputed for control of this region. The French had claimed it in the 17th century as part of New France and this activity stimulated the development of the eastern parts of the eventual National Road by private investors. Most of the territory and its successors was settled by emigrants passing through the Cumberland Narrows, the Congress of the Confederation enacted the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 to provide for the administration of the territories and set rules for admission of jurisdictions as states. On August 7,1789, the new U. S. Congress affirmed the Ordinance with slight modifications under the Constitution, the territory included all the land of the United States west of Pennsylvania and northwest of the Ohio River. It covered all of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. The area covered more than 260,000 square miles, European exploration of the region began with French-Canadian voyageurs in the 17th century, followed by French missionaries and French fur traders. French-Canadian explorer Jean Nicolet was the first recorded European entrant into the region, landing in 1634 at the current site of Green Bay, Wisconsin. The French exercised control from widely separate posts in the region, France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain as part of the Indian Reserve in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, after being defeated in the French and Indian War. A new colony, named Charlotina, was proposed for the southern Great Lakes region, however, facing armed opposition by Native Americans, the British issued the Proclamation of 1763, which prohibited white colonial settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. This action angered American colonists interested in expansion, as well as those who had settled in the area. In 1774, by the Quebec Act, Britain annexed the region to the Province of Quebec in order to provide a civil government, the prohibition of settlement west of the Appalachians remained, contributing to the American Revolution. In February 1779, George Rogers Clark of the Virginia Militia captured Kaskaskia, the Old Northwest Territory included all the then-owned land of the United States west of Pennsylvania, east of the Mississippi River, and northwest of the Ohio River. It covered all of the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan. The area covered more than 260,000 square miles and was a significant addition to the United States, several states then had competing claims on the territory. As a concession in order to obtain ratification, these states ceded their claims on the territory to the government, New York in 1780, Virginia in 1784, Massachusetts. So the majority of the territory became public land owned by the U. S. government, Virginia and Connecticut reserved the land of two areas to use as compensation to military veterans, The Virginia Military District and the Connecticut Western Reserve. In this way, the United States included territory and people outside any of the states, Thomas Jeffersons Land Ordinance of 1784 was the first organization of the territory by the United States. Some older French communities property claims based on systems of long
Northwest Territory
–
Check signed by
Arthur St. Clair while Governor of the Northwest Territory (1796)
Northwest Territory
–
Flag
Northwest Territory
–
Plaque at
Marietta, Ohio commemorating the first American settlement of the Northwest Territory
Northwest Territory
–
Seal of the Northwest territory over a time capsule outside the
Campus Martius Museum. Latin phrase “He has planted one better than the one fallen,” signifies the replacement of wilderness by civilization.
25.
Anthony Wayne
–
Anthony Wayne was a United States Army officer, statesman, and member of the United States House of Representatives. He later served as General in Chief of the Army and commanded the Legion of the United States, Wayne was one of four children born to Isaac Wayne and Elizabeth Iddings Wayne in Easttown Township, near present-day Paoli, Chester County, Pennsylvania. His father had immigrated from Ireland, and was part of a Protestant Anglo-Irish family, Wayne was born on January 1,1745, on his familys Waynesborough estate. He was educated as a surveyor at his uncles private academy in Philadelphia, as well as at the College of Philadelphia, in 1767 he returned to work in his fathers tannery, while continuing work as a surveyor. He became a prominent figure in Chester County and served in the Pennsylvania legislature from 1774–80 and he married Mary Penrose in 1766 and they had two children. Their daughter Margretta was born in 1770 and their son Isaac Wayne, representative from Pennsylvania, was born in 1772. At the onset of the war in 1775, Wayne raised a unit and, in 1776. His service resulted in a promotion to general on February 21,1777. On September 11,1777, Wayne commanded the Pennsylvania Line at Brandywine, the two forces fought for three hours until the American line withdrew, and Wayne was ordered to retreat. Later, Wayne was ordered to harass the British rear in order to slow General Howes advance towards Pennsylvania, Waynes camp was attacked on the night of September 20–21, in the Battle of Paoli. General Charles Grey ordered his men to remove their flints and attack with bayonets in order to keep their assault secret, the attack earned General Grey the nickname No Flint, but the Americans used the tactics and casualties as propaganda regarding British brutality. General Waynes own reputation was tarnished by the American losses, only days later, on October 4,1777, Wayne again led his forces against the British in the Battle of Germantown. Waynes soldiers pushed ahead of other American units, and, according to his report, generals Wayne and Sullivan advanced too quickly, however, and became entrapped when they reached two miles ahead of other American units. As General Howe arrived and reformed the British line, American forces retreated, General Wayne was again ordered to hold off the British and cover the rear of the retreating body. After winter quarters at Valley Forge, Wayne led the American attack at the 1778 Battle of Monmouth, during this battle, Waynes forces were abandoned by General Charles Lee and pinned down by a numerically superior British force. Wayne held out until relieved by reinforcements sent by Washington, Wayne reformed his troops and continued to fight. Because the body of Lt. Colonel Henry Monckton was discovered by the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, in July 1779 Washington named Wayne to command the Corps of Light Infantry, a temporary unit of four regiments of light infantry companies drawn from all the regiments in the Main Army. Waynes successful attack on British positions at Stony Point, New York in the Battle of Stony Point was the point of his revolutionary war service
Anthony Wayne
–
Anthony Wayne
Anthony Wayne
–
A statue of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne stands in Fort Wayne's Freimann Square.
Anthony Wayne
–
Statue of Wayne at
Valley Forge, facing toward his home in nearby
Paoli, Pennsylvania
Anthony Wayne
–
Major-General Anthony Wayne (Pastel by
James Sharples, Sr ca. 1795)
26.
James Wilkinson
–
James Wilkinson was an American soldier and statesman, who was associated with several scandals and controversies. He served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, after his death, he was discovered to have been a paid agent of the Spanish crown. Wilkinsons actions have since been condemned by a number of historians and politicians such as Theodore Roosevelt. James Wilkinson was born three miles northeast of Benedict, Charles County, Maryland, on a farm south of Hunting Creek. His grandfather had been sufficiently wealthy to buy a property known as Stoakley Manor in Calvert County. The family felt that although their property was smaller, they fell in with a higher social class. James grew up with the idea that the image of respectability excused the reality of betrayal and his father, Joseph Wilkinson, inherited the property but, by that time, the family was in debt. In 1764, Stoakley Manor was broken up and sold and his older brother, Joseph, inherited the property after his father died and, as the second son, James was left with nothing. Historian Andro Linklater argued that his upbringing led to James aggressive reaction towards insults of his behavior and his father had left with the last words of My son, if you ever put up with an insult, I will disinherit you. Wilkinson married Ann Biddle of the prominent Biddle family of Philadelphia on November 12,1778 in Philadelphia and she was a first cousin of Charles Biddle, an associate of Aaron Burr, and Wilkinsons marriage to the dynamic Biddle only helped his career as a politician and general. She died on February 23,1807, the couple had four sons, John, James Biddle, Joseph Biddle, and Walter. James and Walter both served as Captains in the US Army, theofannie died as a child in early 1822. Wilkinson first served in Thompsons Pennsylvania rifle battalion, 1775–76, and was commissioned a captain in September 1775 and he became aide to Arnold just prior to the final retreat and left Canada with Arnold on the very last boat out. Shortly thereafter, he left Arnolds service and became an aide to General Horatio Gates in August 1776, when Gates sent him to Congress with official dispatches about the victory at the Battle of Saratoga in 1777, Wilkinson kept Congress waiting while he attended to personal affairs. When he finally showed up, he embellished his own role in the victory, and was brevetted as a general on November 6,1777. Gates soon had enough of Wilkinson, and the officer was compelled to resign in March 1778. On July 29,1779, Congress appointed him clothier-general of the Army and he moved to Kentucky in 1784, and he was active there in efforts to achieve independence from Virginia. In April 1787, Wilkinson made a controversial trip to New Orleans
James Wilkinson
–
James Wilkinson
27.
Quasi-War
–
The Quasi-War was an undeclared war fought almost entirely at sea between the United States of America and the French Republic from 1798 to 1800. Louis XVI of France fell from power in 1792 during the French Revolution, the United States had already declared neutrality in the conflict between Great Britain and revolutionary France, and American legislation was being passed for a trade deal with Britain. When the U. S. refused to continue repaying its debt using the argument that the debt was owed to the government, not to the French First Republic. First, French privateers began seizing American ships trading with Britain, next, the French government refused to receive Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, the new U. S. Minister, when he arrived in Paris in December 1796. In April 1798, President Adams informed Congress of the XYZ Affair, meanwhile, French privateers inflicted substantial losses on American shipping. On 21 February 1797, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering told Congress that during the eleven months. French marauders cruised the length of the Atlantic seaboard virtually unopposed, the United States government had nothing to combat them, as the navy had been abolished at the end of the Revolutionary War and its last warship sold in 1785. The United States had only a flotilla of small revenue cutters, increased depredations by French privateers led to the rebirth of the United States Navy and the creation of the United States Marine Corps to defend the expanding American merchant fleet. Congress authorized the president to acquire, arm, and man not more than twelve ships of up to twenty two guns each, several merchantmen were immediately purchased and refitted as ships of war, and construction of the frigate Congress resumed. Congress rescinded the treaties with France on 7 July 1798 and that date is now considered the beginning of the Quasi-War. This was followed two days later with the passage of the Congressional authorization of attacks on French warships in American waters. The U. S. Navy operated with a fleet of about twenty five vessels. French privateers generally resisted, as did La Croyable, which was captured on 7 July 1798, by Delaware outside of Egg Harbor, enterprise captured eight privateers and freed eleven American merchant ships from captivity. Experiment captured the French privateers Deux Amis and Diane, numerous American merchantmen were recaptured by Experiment. Boston forced Le Berceau into submission, silas Talbot engineered an expedition to Puerto Plata harbor in the Colony of Santo Domingo, a possession of Frances ally Spain, on 11 May 1800. Sailors and Marines from Constitution under Lieutenant Isaac Hull captured the French privateer Sandwich in the harbor, the U. S. Navy lost only one ship to the French, Retaliation, which was later recaptured. She was the captured privateer La Croyable, recently purchased by the U. S. Navy, Retaliation departed Norfolk on 28 October 1798, with Montezuma and Norfolk, and cruised in the West Indies protecting American commerce. Montezuma and Norfolk escaped after Bainbridge convinced the senior French commander that those American warships were too powerful for his frigates, renamed Magicienne by the French, the schooner again came into American hands on 28 June, when a broadside from Merrimack forced her to haul down her colors
Quasi-War
–
From top to bottom:
USS Constellation vs L 'Insurgente; U.S. Marines from the USS Constitution
board and capture the French Privateer before
spiking the cannons of the Spanish fort
Quasi-War
Quasi-War
–
The fight between the USS Constellation and L'Insurgente (William Bainbridge Hoff)
Quasi-War
–
A 20th-century illustration depicting
United States Marines escorting French prisoners
28.
French First Republic
–
In the history of France, the First Republic, officially the French Republic, was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted until the declaration of the First Empire in 1804 under Napoleon, under the Legislative Assembly, which was in power before the proclamation of the First Republic, France was engaged in war with Prussia and Austria. The foreign threat exacerbated Frances political turmoil amid the French Revolution and deepened the passion, in the violence of 10 August 1792, citizens stormed the Tuileries Palace, killing six hundred of the Kings Swiss guards and insisting on the removal of the king. A renewed fear of action prompted further violence, and in the first week of September 1792, mobs of Parisians broke into the citys prisons. This included nobles, clergymen, and political prisoners, but also numerous common criminals, such as prostitutes and petty thieves, many murdered in their cells—raped, stabbed and this became known as the September Massacres. The resulting Convention was founded with the purpose of abolishing the monarchy. The Conventions first act, on 10 August 1792, was to establish the French First Republic, the King, by then a private citizen bearing his family name of Capet, was subsequently put on trial for crimes of high treason starting in December 1792. On 16 January 1793 he was convicted, and on 21 January, throughout the winter of 1792 and spring of 1793, Paris was plagued by food riots and mass hunger. The new Convention did little to remedy the problem until late spring of 1793, despite growing discontent with the National Convention as a ruling body, in June the Convention drafted the Constitution of 1793, which was ratified by popular vote in early August. The Committees laws and policies took the revolution to unprecedented heights, after the arrest and execution of Robespierre in July 1794, the Jacobin club was closed, and the surviving Girondins were reinstated. A year later, the National Convention adopted the Constitution of the Year III and they reestablished freedom of worship, began releasing large numbers of prisoners, and most importantly, initiated elections for a new legislative body. On 3 November 1795, the Directory was established, the period known as the French Consulate began with the coup of 18 Brumaire in 1799. Members of the Directory itself planned the coup, indicating clearly the failing power of the Directory, Napoleon Bonaparte was a co-conspirator in the coup, and became head of the government as the First Consul. He would later proclaim himself Emperor of the French, ending the First French Republic and ushering in the French First Empire
French First Republic
–
Napoleon Bonaparte seizes power during the Coup of 18 Brumaire
French First Republic
–
Flag
29.
Alexander Hamilton
–
Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. As the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton was the author of the economic policies of the George Washington administration. He took the lead in the funding of the debts by the Federal government, as well as the establishment of a national bank, a system of tariffs. His vision included a central government led by a vigorous executive branch. This was challenged by Virginia agrarians Thomas Jefferson and James Madison who formed a rival party and they favored strong states based in rural America and protected by state militias as opposed to a strong national army and navy. They denounced Hamilton as too friendly toward Britain and toward monarchy in general, Hamilton was born out of wedlock in Charlestown, to a married mother of British and French Huguenot ancestry and a Scottish father. His father, James A. Hamilton, was the son of laird Alexander Hamilton of Grange. Orphaned as a child by his mothers death and his fathers abandonment, Hamilton was taken in by an older cousin and he was recognized for his intelligence and talent, and sponsored by a group of wealthy local men to travel to New York City to pursue his education. Hamilton attended Kings College, choosing to stay in the Thirteen Colonies to seek his fortune, discontinuing his studies before graduating when the college closed its doors during British occupation of the city, Hamilton played a major role in the American Revolutionary War. At the start of the war in 1775, he joined a militia company, in early 1776, he raised a provincial artillery company, to which he was appointed captain. He soon became the aide to General Washington, the American forces commander-in-chief. Hamilton was dispatched by Washington on numerous missions to convey plans to his generals, after the war, Hamilton was elected as a representative to the Congress of the Confederation from New York. He resigned to practice law, and founded the Bank of New York, Hamilton was among those dissatisfied with the weak national government. He led the Annapolis Convention, which successfully influenced Congress to issue a call for the Philadelphia Convention in order to create a new constitution, Hamilton became the leading cabinet member in the new government under President Washington. These programs were funded primarily by a tariff on imports, to overcome localism, Hamilton mobilized a nationwide network of friends of the government, especially bankers and businessmen, which became the Federalist Party. A major issue in the emergence of the American two-party system was the Jay Treaty and it established friendly trade relations with Britain, to the chagrin of France and the supporters of the French Revolution. Hamilton played a role in the Federalist party, which dominated national. In 1795, he returned to the practice of law in New York and he tried to control the policies of President Adams
Alexander Hamilton
–
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
–
The Hamilton House, Charlestown, Nevis. The current structure was rebuilt from the ruins of the house where Alexander Hamilton was born and lived as a young child.
Alexander Hamilton
–
Hamilton in his youth
Alexander Hamilton
–
Statue of Hamilton outside Hamilton Hall overlooking Hamilton Lawn at his alma mater,
Columbia University in New York City
30.
War of 1812
–
Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but the British often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. By the wars end in early 1815, the key issues had been resolved, the view was shared in much of New England and for that reason the war was widely referred to there as Mr. Madison’s War. As a result, the primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies, the war was fought in three theatres. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U. S. –Canadian frontier, Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, early victories over poorly-led U. S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U. S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britains Native American allies, both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. This brought an Era of Good Feelings in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism, the war was also a major turning point in the development of the U. S. military, with militia being increasingly replaced by a more professional force. The U. S. also acquired permanent ownership of Spains Mobile District, the government of Canada declared a three-year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012, intended to offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border. At the conclusion of the commemorations in 2014, a new national War of 1812 Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. The war is remembered in Britain primarily as a footnote in the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe, historians have long debated the relative weight of the multiple reasons underlying the origins of the War of 1812. This section summarizes several contributing factors which resulted in the declaration of war by the United States, as Risjord notes, a powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honour in the face of what they considered to be British insults such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair. The approaching conflict was about violations of American rights, but it was also vindication of American identity. Americans at the time and historians since often called it the United States Second War of Independence, in 1807, Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions via a series of Orders in Council to impede neutral trade with France, with which Britain was at war. The United States contested these restrictions as illegal under international law, the American merchant marine had come close to doubling between 1802 and 1810, making it by far the largest neutral fleet. Britain was the largest trading partner, receiving 80% of U. S. cotton, the British public and press were resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition. The United States view was that Britains restrictions violated its right to trade with others, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy expanded to 176 ships of the line and 600 ships overall, requiring 140,000 sailors to man. The United States believed that British deserters had a right to become U. S. citizens and this meant that in addition to recovering naval deserters, it considered any United States citizens who were born British liable for impressment. Aggravating the situation was the reluctance of the United States to issue formal naturalization papers and it was estimated by the Admiralty that there were 11,000 naturalized sailors on United States ships in 1805
War of 1812
–
Clockwise from top: damage to the
US Capitol after the
Burning of Washington; the mortally wounded
Isaac Brock spurs on the
York Volunteers at the
battle of Queenston Heights;
USS Constitution vs HMS Guerriere;
The death of Tecumseh in 1813 ends the Indian armed struggle in the American Midwest;
Andrew Jackson defeats the
British assault on New Orleans.
War of 1812
–
Press gang: oil painting by
Luke Clennell
War of 1812
–
James Madison, U.S. President, (1809–1817).
War of 1812
–
Lord Liverpool, British Prime Minister, (1812–1827).
31.
Henry Dearborn
–
Henry Dearborn was an American soldier and statesman. In the Revolutionary War, he served under Benedict Arnold in the expedition to Quebec, after being captured and exchanged, he served in George Washingtons Continental Army, and was present at the British surrender at Yorktown. Dearborn served on General Washingtons staff in Virginia and he was US Secretary of War, serving under President Thomas Jefferson from 1801 to 1809, and served as a commanding general in the War of 1812. In later life his criticism of General Israel Putnams performance at the Battle of Bunker Hill caused a major controversy, Fort Dearborn in Illinois and the city of Dearborn, Michigan, were named in his honor. Henry Dearborn was born February 23,1751, to Simon Dearborn and Sarah Marston in North Hampton and he was descended from Godfrey Dearborn, from Exeter in England, who came to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639. Godfrey Dearborn settled at Exeter, New Hampshire, and then soon after at Hampton, Henry spent much of his youth in Epping, New Hampshire, where he attended public schools. He grew up as a boy, notably strong and a champion wrestler. He studied medicine under Dr. Hall Jackson of Portsmouth and opened a practice on the square in Nottingham, New Hampshire, in 1772. Dearborn was married three times, to Mary Bartlett in 1771, to Dorcas Marble in 1780, and to Sarah Bowdoin, Henry Alexander Scammell Dearborn was his son by his second wife. He was appointed Deputy Quartermaster General in July 1781 and served on George Washingtons staff while in Virginia, Dearborn years later would accuse Israel Putnam of failing his duty during that battle, resulting in a major controversy. Dearborn volunteered to serve under Colonel Benedict Arnold in September 1775, later Dearborn would record in his Revolutionary War journal their overall situation and condition, We were small indeed to think of entering a place like Quebec. But being now almost out of provisions we were sure to die if we attempted to return back, on the final leg of the march he was taken seriously ill with fever, forcing him to remain behind in a cottage on the Chaudière River. Later he rejoined the forces of Arnold and Gen. Richard Montgomery in time to take part in the assault on Quebec. Dearborns journal is an important record for that campaign, during the march he and Aaron Burr became companions. Along with a number of officers, Dearborn was captured on December 31,1775, during the Battle of Quebec. He was released on parole in May 1776, but he was not exchanged until March 1777, after fighting at Ticonderoga in July 1777, Dearborn was appointed major in the regiment commanded by Alexander Scammell. In September 1777, Dearborn was transferred to the 1st New Hampshire Regiment and he took part in the Saratoga campaign against Burgoyne at Freemans Farm. The first battle was fought by troops from New Hampshire
Henry Dearborn
–
Henry Dearborn
32.
Alexander Macomb (general)
–
Alexander Macomb was the Commanding General of the United States Army from May 29,1828 until his death on June 25,1841. He was promoted to Major General for his conduct, receiving both the Thanks of Congress and a Congressional Gold Medal, born at British-held Detroit, Macomb was the son of Alexander Macomb and Mary Catherine Navarre. He moved with his parents to New York City and received an education at Newark Academy. In 1798, the age of 16, Macomb joined a New York militia company, in January 1799, with the recommendation of Alexander Hamilton during the French emergency, he was commissioned a Cornet in the Regular Army. In March he was promoted to lieutenant, and honorably discharged. In February 1801, he was commissioned a lieutenant, 2d Infantry. He then spent five years in charge of fortifications in the Carolinas. He also established fortifications at Fort Gratiot, Michigan, Chicago, Mackinaw, Prairie du Chien, St. Peters, at the beginning of the War of 1812, in July 1812, then 30-year-old Macomb was promoted to colonel of the newly organised 3rd Artillery Regiment. He won acclaim during the War of 1812 as brigadier general in command of the frontier of northern New York, macombs heavily outnumbered troops fell back before the British columns in a series of encounters as Prevost advanced towards the American defensive works. Long narrow lines of marching soldiers were unable to easily stop and they became entangled in the narrow false road maze, and were sitting targets for the waiting Americans. The British were about to launch an assault on the American defenses when the news came through of the defeat of the British naval squadron on Lake Champlain, Prevost needed the British Lake Champlain squadron to supply his planned advance into Vermont. Without it, he had no choice but to abandon the Expedition, the British invaders marched off back to Canada. He was promoted Major General for his conduct at this battle, receiving both the thanks of Congress and a Congressional Gold Medal. When Major General Jacob Brown, the U. S. Army’s commanding general, died in February 1828, Macomb was a colonel, president John Quincy Adams promoted him to commanding general of the Army with the rank of major general. The Armys brigadier generals — Winfield Scott and Edmund P. Gaines — had been vying for the position, their quarrels scandalized the Army and his last active service in a theater of war was in the Seminole War in Florida, in 1835. Macomb’s tenure as Commanding General was marked by continuing uncertainty about the responsibilities, in the same document he sought to define his relationship to the Secretary of War and establish his primacy over the bureau chiefs, including his successor as Chief of Engineers. This was easier said than done, Most issues were not fully resolved until early the next century. He advocated doubling Army strength, increasing enlisted pay, providing relief for some widows and orphans, in 1840 the Army Corps of Engineers adopted the castle uniform insignia and first described the Corps of Engineers’ distinctive Essayons button
Alexander Macomb (general)
–
General Macomb's official portrait, by
Thomas Sully, 1829, in the
West Point Museum Art Collection, U.S. Military Academy
Alexander Macomb (general)
–
Maj. Alexander Macomb (Charleston, SC 1809), by
Charles-Balthazar-Julien Fevret de Saint-Mémin.
Alexander Macomb (general)
–
Macomb's Congressional Medal (obverse), Marshall Davies Lloyd Collection.
Alexander Macomb (general)
–
See Reverse
33.
Winfield Scott
–
Winfield Scott was a United States Army general and unsuccessful presidential candidate of the Whig Party in 1852. He served as Commanding General of the United States Army for twenty years, a national hero after the Mexican–American War, he served as military governor of Mexico City. Such was his stature that, in 1852, the Whig Party passed over its own incumbent President of the United States, Millard Fillmore, at six feet five inches in height, he remains the tallest man ever nominated by a major party. He was educated by tutors and in the schools, and briefly attended the College of William. He then studied law in the office of attorney David Robinson, Scott attained admission to the bar, and made a brief attempt to practice law. He also gained his military experience as a corporal of cavalry in the Virginia militia near Petersburg in 1807. He was subsequently commissioned as a captain in the Light Artillery in May 1808, Scotts early career in the army was tumultuous. Scotts commission was suspended for one year, and after returning to duty, Scott earned the nickname Old Fuss and Feathers for his insistence on military bearing, courtesy, appearance and discipline. In his own campaigns after reaching high rank, Scott preferred to use a core of Army regulars augmented by volunteers whenever possible, Scott perennially concerned himself with the welfare of his men, as demonstrated by his quarrel with Wilkinson over the New Orleans bivouac site. In another instance, when cholera broke out at a post under his command, the army promoted Scott to lieutenant colonel of the 2nd Artillery Regiment in July 1812. Scott served primarily on the Niagara Campaign front in the War of 1812 and he took command of an American landing party during the Battle of Queenston Heights on October 13,1812. The British held Scott as a prisoner of war, the British considered Irish-American prisoners of war British subjects and traitors and executed 13 such Americans captured at Queenstown Heights. The British paroled and released Scott in a prisoner exchange, upon release, Scott returned to Washington to pressure the Senate to take punitive action against British prisoners of war in retaliation for the British executions of Irish-American soldiers. The Senate wrote a bill after this urging, but President James Madison believed the execution of prisoners of war unworthy of civilized nations. Scott was promoted to colonel in March 1813, Scott planned and led the capture of Fort George, Upper Canada, on the Niagara River. By crossing the Niagara and landing on the Lake Ontario shore, Colonel Scott was wounded in this battle, which is considered among the best-planned and best-executed U. S. operations of the war. Scott was promoted to general on March 19,1814. He was only 27 years old at the time, one of the youngest generals in the history of the U. S. Army, Scott commanded the 1st Brigade, and was instrumental in the American success at the Battle of Chippawa on July 5,1814
Winfield Scott
–
Scott in 1862
Winfield Scott
–
Scott during the War of 1812
Winfield Scott
–
Winfield Scott, 1835 portrait by
George Catlin
Winfield Scott
–
Statue of Winfield Scott on
Scott Circle in Washington, D.C.
34.
Battle for Mexico City
–
The Battle for Mexico City refers to the series of engagements from September 8 to September 15,1847, in the general vicinity of Mexico City during the Mexican-American War. Included are major actions at the battles of Molino del Rey and Chapultepec, the U. S. Army under Winfield Scott scored a major success that ended the war. The major objective of American operations in central Mexico had been the capture of Mexico City, after capturing the port of Veracruz in March, General Winfield Scott was able to secure a base and move inland and defeat a large Mexican force at the Battle of Cerro Gordo. After routing the Mexicans at the Battle of Churubusco, Scotts army was five miles away from its objective of Mexico City. Although defeated at Cerro Gordo and Churubusco, General Santa Annas army remained intact, on September 8, the fight for Mexico City began. Scott believed that a cannon foundry was located at the Molino del Rey, Scott sent the 1st Division under William J. Worth to seize and destroy the foundry. Worth wished to include Chapultepec Castle in his attack, and when Scott refused, in the ensuing battle, both sides suffered heavy casualties, and Worth drove the Mexicans from the mill, separating them from the forces at Chapultepec. The battle produced no significant military gains for the U. S, the main assault on the city came a few days later on September 12. Mexico City was guarded in part by Chapultepec Castle, which was being used as a military academy, Scott preceded infantry assault with an all day artillery barrage on September 12. The next day, September 13, the 4th Division, under John A. Quitman, spearheaded the attack against Chapultepec, future Confederate generals George E. Pickett and James Longstreet participated in the attack. Serving in the Mexican defense were the cadets later immortalized as Los Niños Héroes, the Mexican forces fell back from Chapultepec and retreated within the city. Gen. Pérez, 11th Infantry & remnants of Light Regts. ) from the city during the night, Quitman sent Lieutenant Pierre Beauregard to arrange the surrender of the ciudadela. Beauregard and Mansfield Lovell were met by a Mexican officer who asked for a receipt for the captured ciudadela, Beauregard exclaimed that we give receipts at the point of their swords. Scott gave the honor of entering the city to Quitmans Division. The conquering army was less than impressing, the troops wore ragged and bloodstained uniforms, Quitman marched into the Zócalo plaza in the center of the city in front of the National Palace where the formal surrender took place. As Worths division entered the city the leading unit was John Garlands brigade, stragglers from the Mexican army left in the city after Santa Annas withdrawal climbed to the roofs of houses and began shooting at the American soldiers. General Garland was hit in the chest with the first shot, before he evacuated, Santa Anna released 30,000 prisoners into the streets of the city, and these rooftop shots provoked the prisoners into similar acts. Worth did manage to get the sniping under control, William S. Harneys dragoons escorted General Scott into the city wearing his immaculate dress uniform and was greeted by patriotic music
Battle for Mexico City
–
The American assault on Chapultepec Castle.
Battle for Mexico City
–
Molino del Rey is on the left. "O" depicts a Mexican battery, "P" an American battery, and "R" is Steptoe's battery.
Battle for Mexico City
–
James Walker,
Storming of Chapultepec (1847)
Battle for Mexico City
–
This
Carl Nebel painting depicts
Winfield Scott entering the
Plaza de la Constitución; the
Metropolitan Cathedral is in the background.
35.
American Civil War
–
The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the Confederate States of America, the Union won the war, which remains the bloodiest in U. S. history. Among the 34 U. S. states in February 1861, War broke out in April 1861 when Confederates attacked the U. S. fortress of Fort Sumter. The Confederacy grew to eleven states, it claimed two more states, the Indian Territory, and the southern portions of the western territories of Arizona. The Confederacy was never recognized by the United States government nor by any foreign country. The states that remained loyal, including border states where slavery was legal, were known as the Union or the North, the war ended with the surrender of all the Confederate armies and the dissolution of the Confederate government in the spring of 1865. The war had its origin in the issue of slavery. The Confederacy collapsed and 4 million slaves were freed, but before his inauguration, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to declare secession had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, the first seven with state legislatures to resolve for secession included split majorities for unionists Douglas and Bell in Georgia with 51% and Louisiana with 55%. Alabama had voted 46% for those unionists, Mississippi with 40%, Florida with 38%, Texas with 25%, of these, only Texas held a referendum on secession. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession, outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincolns March 4,1861 inaugural address declared that his administration would not initiate a civil war, speaking directly to the Southern States, he reaffirmed, I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the United States where it exists. I believe I have no right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. After Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy, efforts at compromise failed, the Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on King Cotton that they would intervene, but none did, and none recognized the new Confederate States of America. Hostilities began on April 12,1861, when Confederate forces fired upon Fort Sumter, while in the Western Theater the Union made significant permanent gains, in the Eastern Theater, the battle was inconclusive in 1861–62. The autumn 1862 Confederate campaigns into Maryland and Kentucky failed, dissuading British intervention, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which made ending slavery a war goal. To the west, by summer 1862 the Union destroyed the Confederate river navy, then much of their western armies, the 1863 Union siege of Vicksburg split the Confederacy in two at the Mississippi River. In 1863, Robert E. Lees Confederate incursion north ended at the Battle of Gettysburg, Western successes led to Ulysses S. Grants command of all Union armies in 1864
American Civil War
–
New Orleans the largest cotton exporting port for New England and Great Britain textile mills, shipping Mississippi River Valley goods from North, South and Border states.
American Civil War
–
Clockwise from top:
Battle of Gettysburg,
Union Captain John Tidball's artillery,
Confederate prisoners,
ironclad USS Atlanta, ruins of
Richmond, Virginia,
Battle of Franklin
American Civil War
–
Sen. Stephen Douglas, author of the
Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854
American Civil War
–
Sen. John J. Crittenden, of the 1860
Crittenden Compromise
36.
George B. McClellan
–
George Brinton McClellan was an American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician. A graduate of West Point, McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican-American War, although McClellan was meticulous in his planning and preparations, these very characteristics hampered his ability to challenge aggressive opponents in a fast-moving battlefield environment. He chronically overestimated the strength of units and was reluctant to apply principles of mass. McClellan organised and led the Union army in the Peninsula Campaign in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862 and it was the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. General McClellan failed to maintain the trust of President Abraham Lincoln and he did not trust his commander-in-chief and was privately derisive of him. McClellan went on to become the unsuccessful Democratic Party nominee in the 1864 presidential election against Lincoln, the effectiveness of his campaign was damaged when he repudiated his partys platform, which promised an end to the war and negotiations with the Confederacy. He served as the 24th Governor of New Jersey from 1878 to 1881 and he eventually became a writer, and vigorously defended his Civil War conduct. Most modern authorities have assessed McClellan as a battlefield general. Some historians view him as a capable commander whose reputation suffered unfairly at the hands of pro-Lincoln partisans who made him a scapegoat for the Unions military setbacks. After the war, Ulysses S. Grant was asked for his opinion of McClellan as a general and he replied, McClellan is to me one of the mysteries of the war. Also, when Robert E. Lee was asked who was the best Union general, George Brinton McClellan was born in Philadelphia, the son of a prominent surgeon, Dr. George McClellan, the founder of Jefferson Medical College. His fathers family was of Ulster Scots heritage and his mother was Elizabeth Sophia Steinmetz Brinton McClellan, daughter of a leading Pennsylvania family, a woman noted for her considerable grace and refinement. The couple had five children, a daughter, Frederica, then three sons, John, George, and Arthur, and finally a daughter, Mary. McClellan was the great-grandson of Revolutionary War general Samuel McClellan, of Woodstock and he attended the University of Pennsylvania in 1840 at age 13, resigning himself to the study of law. After two years, he changed his goal to military service, with the assistance of his fathers letter to President John Tyler, young George was accepted at the United States Military Academy in 1842, the academy having waived its normal minimum age of 16. At West Point, he was an energetic and ambitious cadet, deeply interested in the teachings of Dennis Hart Mahan and his closest friends were aristocratic Southerners such as James Stuart, Dabney Maury, Cadmus Wilcox, and A. P. Hill. He graduated in 1846, second in his class of 59 cadets and he was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. McClellans first assignment was with a company of engineers formed at West Point and he arrived near the mouth of the Rio Grande in October 1846, well prepared for action with a double-barreled shotgun, two pistols, a saber, a dress sword, and a Bowie knife
George B. McClellan
–
1861 portrait by
Mathew Brady
George B. McClellan
–
A portion of the
Julian Scott portrait of McClellan in the
National Portrait Gallery in
Washington, D.C.
George B. McClellan
–
George B. McClellan and Mary Ellen Marcy (Nelly) McClellan
George B. McClellan
–
Patriotic cover honoring the arrival of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan in Washington, D.C., on July 26, 1861.
37.
Army of the Potomac
–
The Army of the Potomac was the principal Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. It was created in July 1861 shortly after the First Battle of Bull Run and was disbanded in June 1865 following the surrender of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in April. The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was only the size of a corps. Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, and it was the army fought the wars first major battle. The arrival in Washington, D. C. of Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan dramatically changed the makeup of that army, on July 26,1861, the Department of the Shenandoah, commanded by Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. The men under Bankss command became a division in the Army of the Potomac. The army started with four corps, but these were divided during the Peninsula Campaign to produce two more, after the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Army of the Potomac absorbed the units that had served under Maj. Gen. John Pope. It is a popular, but mistaken, belief that John Pope commanded the Army of the Potomac in the summer of 1862 after McClellans unsuccessful Peninsula Campaign, on the contrary, Popes army consisted of different units, and was named the Army of Virginia. The Army of the Potomac underwent many changes during its existence. The army was divided by Ambrose Burnside into three divisions of two corps each with a Reserve composed of two more. Thereafter the individual corps, seven of which remained in Virginia, Hooker also created a Cavalry Corps by combining units that previously had served as smaller formations. In late 1863, two corps were sent West, and—in 1864—the remaining five corps were recombined into three, burnsides IX Corps, which accompanied the army at the start of Ulysses S. Grants Overland Campaign, rejoined the army later. For more detail, see the section Corps below, the Army of the Potomac fought in most of the Eastern Theater campaigns, primarily in Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. After the end of the war, it was disbanded on June 28,1865, the Army of the Potomac was also the name given to General P. G. T. Beauregards Confederate army during the early stages of the war. However, the name was changed to the Army of Northern Virginia. In 1869 the Society of the Army of the Potomac was formed as a veterans association and it had its last reunion in 1929. Because of its proximity to the cities of the North, such as Washington. Philadelphia, and New York City, the Army of the Potomac received more media coverage than the other Union field armies
Army of the Potomac
–
Commanders of the Army of the Potomac at Culpeper, Virginia, 1863. From the left:
Gouverneur K. Warren,
William H. French,
George G. Meade,
Henry J. Hunt,
Andrew A. Humphreys,
George Sykes.
Army of the Potomac
–
The Army of the Potomac -- Our Outlying Picket in the Woods, 1862
Army of the Potomac
–
Saint Patrick's Day celebration in the Army of the Potomac, depicting a
steeplechase race among the
Irish Brigade, March 17, 1863, by
Edwin Forbes.
Army of the Potomac
–
Scouts and guides, Army of the Potomac,
Mathew Brady
38.
Abraham Lincoln
–
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
Abraham Lincoln
–
Lincoln in 1863, aged 54
Abraham Lincoln
–
The young Lincoln in sculpture at Senn Park, Chicago.
Abraham Lincoln
–
1864 photo of President Lincoln with youngest son,
Tad
Abraham Lincoln
–
Lincoln depicted protecting a Native American from his own men in a scene often related about Lincoln's service during the
Black Hawk War.
39.
Peninsula Campaign
–
The Peninsula Campaign of the American Civil War was a major Union operation launched in southeastern Virginia from March through July 1862, the first large-scale offensive in the Eastern Theater. The operation, commanded by Maj. Gen. George B, McClellan, was an amphibious turning movement against the Confederate States Army in Northern Virginia, intended to capture the Confederate capital of Richmond. McClellan landed his army at Fort Monroe and moved northwest, up the Virginia Peninsula, Magruders defensive position on the Warwick Line caught McClellan by surprise. His hopes for a quick advance foiled, McClellan ordered his army to prepare for a siege of Yorktown, just before the siege preparations were completed, the Confederates, now under the direct command of Johnston, began a withdrawal toward Richmond. The first heavy fighting of the campaign occurred in the Battle of Williamsburg, in which the Union troops managed some tactical victories, an amphibious flanking movement to Elthams Landing was ineffective in cutting off the Confederate retreat. In the Battle of Drewrys Bluff, an attempt by the U. S. Navy to reach Richmond by way of the James River was repulsed. As McClellans army reached the outskirts of Richmond, a battle occurred at Hanover Court House. The battle was inconclusive, with casualties, but it had lasting effects on the campaign. On August 20,1861, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan formed the Army of the Potomac, with himself as its first commander. During the summer and fall, McClellan brought a degree of organization to his new army. It was an achievement, in which he came to personify the Army of the Potomac. He created defenses for Washington that were almost impregnable, consisting of 48 forts and strong points, on November 1,1861, Gen. Winfield Scott retired and McClellan became general in chief of all the Union armies. The president expressed his concern about the vast labor involved in the role of army commander and general in chief. On January 27, Lincoln issued an order that all of his armies to begin offensive operations by February 22. On January 31, he issued an order for the Army of the Potomac to move overland to attack the Confederates at Manassas Junction. Although Lincoln believed his plan was superior, he was relieved that McClellan finally agreed to begin moving, on March 8, doubting McClellans resolve, Lincoln called a council of war at the White House in which McClellans subordinates were asked about their confidence in the Urbanna plan. They expressed their confidence to varying degrees, after the meeting, Lincoln issued another order, naming specific officers as corps commanders to report to McClellan. McClellan retooled his plan so that his troops would disembark at Fort Monroe, Virginia, in the Battle of Hampton Roads, Virginia defeated wooden U. S
Peninsula Campaign
–
George B. McClellan and
Joseph E. Johnston, respective commanders of the
Union and
Confederate armies in the Peninsula Campaign.
Peninsula Campaign
–
Brig. Gen.
Samuel P. Heintzelman
Peninsula Campaign
–
Brig. Gen.
Erasmus D. Keyes
Peninsula Campaign
–
Maj. Gen.
D. H. Hill
40.
Henry Halleck
–
Henry Wager Halleck was a United States Army officer, scholar, and lawyer. A noted expert in military studies, he was known by a nickname that became derogatory and he was an important participant in the admission of California as a state and became a successful lawyer and land developer. Halleck served as General-in-Chief of all Union armies during the American Civil War, Early in the Civil War, Halleck was a senior Union Army commander in the Western Theater. However, Halleck was not present at the battles, and his subordinates received most of the credit, the only operation in which Halleck exercised field command was the Siege of Corinth in a spring of 1862, a Union victory which he conducted with extreme caution. Halleck also developed rivalries with many of his generals, such as Ulysses S. Grant. In July 1862, following Major General George B, mcClellans failed Peninsula Campaign in the Eastern Theater, Halleck was promoted to general-in-chief of all U. S. armies. Halleck served in capacity for about a year and a half. Halleck was a general who believed strongly in thorough preparations for battle and in the value of defensive fortifications over quick. President Abraham Lincoln once described him as more than a first rate clerk. In March of 1864, Grant was promoted to general-in-chief, without the pressure of having to control the movements of the armies, Halleck performed capably in this task, ensuring that the Union armies were well-equipped. Halleck was born on a farm in Westernville, Oneida County, New York, third child of 14 of Joseph Halleck, a lieutenant who served in the War of 1812, and Catherine Wager Halleck. Young Henry detested the thought of a life and ran away from home at an early age to be raised by an uncle. He attended Hudson Academy and Union College, then the United States Military Academy and he became a favorite of military theorist Dennis Hart Mahan and was allowed to teach classes while still a cadet. He graduated in 1839, third in his class of 31 cadets, returning home a first lieutenant, Halleck gave a series of twelve lectures at the Lowell Institute in Boston that were subsequently published in 1846 as Elements of Military Art and Science. His scholarly pursuits earned him the nickname Old Brains, during the Mexican-American War, Halleck was assigned to duty in California. He was awarded a promotion to captain in 1847 for his gallant and meritorious service in California. He was transferred north to serve under General Bennet Riley, the general of the California Territory. Halleck was soon appointed military secretary of state, a position made him the governors representative at the 1849 convention in Monterey where the California state constitution was written
Henry Halleck
–
General Henry Halleck
Henry Halleck
–
Elizabeth Hamilton
Henry Halleck
–
General Henry Wager Halleck
41.
Ulysses S. Grant
–
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War and he implemented Congressional Reconstruction, often at odds with President Andrew Johnson. His presidency has often criticized for tolerating corruption and for the severe economic depression in his second term. Grant graduated in 1843 from the United States Military Academy at West Point, after the war he married Julia Boggs Dent in 1848, their marriage producing four children. Grant initially retired from the Army in 1854 and he struggled financially in civilian life. When the Civil War began in 1861, he rejoined the U. S. Army, in 1862, Grant took control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee, and led Union forces to victory in the Battle of Shiloh, earning a reputation as an aggressive commander. He incorporated displaced African American slaves into the Union war effort, in July 1863, after a series of coordinated battles, Grant defeated Confederate armies and seized Vicksburg, giving the Union control of the Mississippi River and dividing the Confederacy in two. After his victories in the Chattanooga Campaign, Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general, Grant confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of bloody battles, trapping Lees army in their defense of Richmond. Grant coordinated a series of devastating campaigns in other theaters, as well, in April 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, effectively ending the war. Historians have hailed Grants military genius, and his strategies are featured in history textbooks. After the Civil War, Grant led the armys supervision of Reconstruction in the former Confederate states and he also used the army to build the Republican Party in the South. After the disenfranchisement of some former Confederates, Republicans gained majorities, in his second term, the Republican coalitions in the South splintered and were defeated one by one as redeemers regained control using coercion and violence. In May 1875, Grant authorized his Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow to shut down and his peace policy with the Indians initially reduced frontier violence, but is best known for the Great Sioux War of 1876. Grant responded to charges of corruption in executive offices more than any other 19th Century president and he appointed the first Civil Service Commission and signed legislation ending the corrupt moiety system. In foreign policy, Grant sought to trade and influence while remaining at peace with the world. His administration successfully resolved the Alabama claims by the Treaty of Washington with Great Britain, Grant avoided war with Spain over the Virginius Affair, but Congress rejected his attempted annexation of the Dominican Republic. His administration implemented a standard and sought to strengthen the dollar. Grant left office in 1877 and embarked on a two-year diplomatic world tour that captured the nations attention, in 1880, Grant was unsuccessful in obtaining the Republican presidential nomination for a third term
Ulysses S. Grant
–
Grant during the mid-1870s
Ulysses S. Grant
–
Grant's birthplace in
Point Pleasant, Ohio
Ulysses S. Grant
–
Second lieutenant Ulysses S. Grant in full dress uniform in 1843
Ulysses S. Grant
–
"Hardscrabble", the home Grant built in Missouri for his family
42.
List of Presidents of the United States
–
The President of the United States is the elected head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The president is elected to a four-year term by the people through an Electoral College. Since the office was established in 1789,44 people have served as president, the first, George Washington, won a unanimous vote of the Electoral College. Grover Cleveland served two terms in office, and is counted as the nations 22nd and 24th president. Thus the incumbent, Donald Trump, is the nations 45th president, there are currently five living former presidents. The most recent death of a president was on December 26,2006 with the death of Gerald Ford. William Henry Harrison spent the shortest time in office, dying 31 days after taking office in 1841. Franklin D. Roosevelt served the longest, over years, before dying early in his fourth term in 1945. Of the individuals elected as president, four died in office of natural causes, four were assassinated, the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the Constitution put Tylers precedent into law in 1967. It also established a mechanism by which an intra-term vacancy in the presidency could be filled. Richard Nixon was the first president to fill a vacancy under this Provision when he appointed Gerald Ford to the office, later, Ford became the second to do so when he appointed Nelson Rockefeller to succeed him. Previously, a vacancy was left unfilled. Throughout most of its history, politics of the United States have been dominated by political parties, the Constitution is silent on the issue of political parties, and at the time it came into force in 1789, there were no parties. Soon after the 1st Congress convened, factions began rallying around dominant Washington Administration officials, such as Alexander Hamilton and he was, and remains, the only U. S. president never to be affiliated with a political party. Since Washington, every president has been affiliated with a party at the time they assumed office. Four presidents held other high U. S. federal offices after leaving the presidency, several presidents campaigned unsuccessfully for other U. S. state or federal elective offices after leaving the presidency. Additionally, one president, John Tyler, served in the government of the Confederate States during the American Civil War
List of Presidents of the United States
–
The
White House in
Washington, D.C. is the president's official residence, the center of the administration, and a prominent symbol of the office.
List of Presidents of the United States
List of Presidents of the United States
–
1
List of Presidents of the United States
–
2
43.
William Tecumseh Sherman
–
William Tecumseh Sherman was an American soldier, businessman, educator and author. Sherman began his Civil War career serving in the First Battle of Bull Run and he served under General Ulysses S. In 1864, Sherman succeeded Grant as the Union commander in the Western Theater of the war and he proceeded to lead his troops to the capture of the city of Atlanta, a military success that contributed to the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. Shermans subsequent march through Georgia and the Carolinas further undermined the Confederacys ability to continue fighting and he accepted the surrender of all the Confederate armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida in April 1865, after having been present at most major military engagements in the Western Theater. When Grant assumed the U. S. presidency in 1869, Sherman succeeded him as Commanding General of the Army, as such, he was responsible for the U. S. Armys engagement in the Indian Wars over the next 15 years. Sherman advocated total war against hostile Indians to force them back onto their reservations and he steadfastly refused to be drawn into politics and in 1875 published his Memoirs, one of the best-known first-hand accounts of the Civil War. British military historian B. H. Liddell Hart famously declared that Sherman was the first modern general, Sherman was born in 1820 in Lancaster, Ohio, near the banks of the Hocking River. His father Charles Robert Sherman, a lawyer who sat on the Ohio Supreme Court. He left his widow, Mary Hoyt Sherman, with eleven children, Sherman was distantly related to American founding father Roger Sherman and grew to admire him. Shermans older brother Charles Taylor Sherman became a federal judge, one of his younger brothers, John Sherman, served as a U. S. senator and Cabinet secretary. Another younger brother, Hoyt Sherman, was a successful banker, Sherman would marry his foster sister, Ellen Boyle Ewing, at age 30 and have eight children with her. Shermans unusual given name has attracted considerable attention. Sherman reported that his name came from his father having caught a fancy for the great chief of the Shawnees. Since an account in a 1932 biography about Sherman, it has often reported that, as an infant. According to these accounts, Sherman only acquired the name William at age nine or ten and his foster mother, Maria Willis Boyle, was of Irish ancestry and a devout Roman Catholic. Sherman was raised in a Roman Catholic household, though he left the church. Sherman wrote in his Memoirs that his father named him William Tecumseh, Sherman was baptized by a Presbyterian minister as an infant, as an adult, Sherman signed all his correspondence – including to his wife – W. T. Sherman. His friends and family called him Cump
William Tecumseh Sherman
–
Sherman as a major general in May 1865. The black ribbon of mourning on his left arm is for U.S. President
Lincoln. Portrait by
Mathew Brady.
William Tecumseh Sherman
–
Sherman's childhood home in Lancaster
William Tecumseh Sherman
–
Young Sherman in military uniform
William Tecumseh Sherman
–
An 1866 painted portrait of Sherman, by George P.A. Healy.
44.
Philip Sheridan
–
Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. In 1865, his cavalry pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee and was instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox, Sheridan fought in later years in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains. Both as a soldier and private citizen, he was instrumental in the development, in 1883, Sheridan was appointed general-in-chief of the U. S. Army, and in 1888 he was promoted to the rank of General of the Army during the term of President Grover Cleveland. Sheridan claimed he was born in Albany, New York, the child of six by John and Mary Meenagh Sheridan, Catholic immigrants from the parish of Killinkere, County Cavan. He grew up in Somerset, Ohio, fully grown, he reached only 165 cm tall, a stature that led to the nickname, Little Phil. Sheridan worked as a boy in general stores, and eventually as head clerk. In his third year at West Point, Sheridan was suspended for a year for fighting with a classmate, the previous day, Sheridan had threatened to run him through with a bayonet in reaction to a perceived insult on the parade ground. He graduated in 1853, 34th in his class of 52 cadets, Sheridan was commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant and was assigned to the 1st U. S. Infantry regiment at Fort Duncan, Texas, then to the 4th U. S, most of his service with the 4th U. S. He lived with a mistress during part of his tour of duty and he was promoted to first lieutenant in March 1861, just before the Civil War, and to captain in May, immediately after Fort Sumter. In the fall of 1861, Sheridan was ordered to travel to Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri, for assignment to the 13th U. S. Infantry. He departed from his command of Fort Yamhill, Oregon, by way of San Francisco, across the Isthmus of Panama, frémont, whose administration of the Department of the Missouri was tainted by charges of wasteful expenditures and fraud that left the status of $12 million in debt. Sheridan sorted out the mess, impressing Halleck in the process, much to Sheridans dismay, Hallecks vision for Sheridan consisted of a continuing role as a staff officer. Nevertheless, Sheridan performed the task assigned to him and entrenched himself as an excellent staff officer in Hallecks view, in January 1862, he reported for duty to Maj. Gen. Samuel Curtis and served under him at the Battle of Pea Ridge. Sheridan soon discovered that officers were engaged in profiteering and they stole horses from civilians and demanded payment from Sheridan. He refused to pay for the property and confiscated the horses for the use of Curtiss army. When Curtis ordered him to pay the officers, Sheridan brusquely retorted, Curtis had Sheridan arrested for insubordination but Hallecks influence appears to have ended any formal proceedings. Gen. William T. Sherman, who offered him the colonelcy of an Ohio infantry regiment and this appointment fell through, but Sheridan was subsequently aided by friends, who petitioned Michigan Governor Austin Blair on his behalf
Philip Sheridan
–
Sheridan during the 1860s
Philip Sheridan
–
Brevet Second Lieutenant Philip Sheridan
Philip Sheridan
–
Rienzi, taxidermied and on display at the
National Museum of American History
Philip Sheridan
–
Union Cavalry General Philip Sheridan
45.
John Schofield
–
John McAllister Schofield was an American soldier who held major commands during the American Civil War. He later served as U. S. Secretary of War, John McAllister Schofield was born September 29,1831, in Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York, son of Rev. James Schofield and his first wife, the former Caroline Schofield. His father, a Baptist minister in Sinclairville became a missionary and moved his family to Bristol. When John was 12, they settled in Freeport, Illinois, where Rev. Schofield became the towns first Baptist minister in 1845. Then U. S. Rep. Thomas J. Turner secured John Schofield an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point and he sold land for travel expenses and reported on June 1,1849. He was dismissed from West Point, but after meeting with Illinois U. S, senator Stephen A. Douglas, appealed the decision to the Secretary of War, who referred the matter back to a Board of Inquiry at the Academy. Although Schofields eventual memoirs did not mention Thomas on the review board, Schofield graduated in 1853, ranking seventh in his class, and was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the artillery. Schofield served for two years in the artillery and his first post was at Fort Moultrie, South Carolina, which he later noted involved the same guns that would be used to bombard Fort Sumter in 1861. He then served at places in Florida during the armed truce with the Seminole Nation. Upon regaining his health, First Lieutenant Schofield returned to West Point as assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy from 1855 to 1860 and his career seemed stalled, so he took leave, to work as professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Several of his brothers had settled in St. Louis, following the lead of his eldest brother Rev. James Van Pelt Schofield, when the Civil War broke out, Schofield helped assure Missouri did not join the Confederacy. He became a major in the 1st Missouri Infantry Regiment and served as chief of staff to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel Lyon until Lyons death during the Battle of Wilsons Creek in August 1861. Schofield acted with conspicuous gallantry during the battle, and decades later received the Medal of Honor for that action, Schofield was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on November 21,1861, and to major general on November 29,1862. From 1861 to 1863 he held commands in the Trans-Mississippi Theater. He was eventually relieved of duty in the West, at his own request, on April 17,1863, he took command of the 3rd Division in the XIV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland. He returned to Missouri as commander of the Department of Missouri in 1863 and his command in Missouri was marred by controversy after a massacre at Lawrence, Kansas, when Schofield refused to allow a posse to pursue the combatants into Missouri. In 1864, as commander of the Army of the Ohio, Schofield with his XXIII Corps and the XIV Corps then spent the month in front of Atlanta and East Point with lackluster results. Sherman resorted to a movement to defeat the Confederates under Hood
John Schofield
–
John McAllister Schofield
John Schofield
–
John Schofield during the
Civil War.
John Schofield
–
Official U.S. Army Chiefs of Staff portrait, by
Stephen W. Shaw, 1874
John Schofield
–
This article is about the United States military officer. For the football coach, see
John Schofield (football coach). For the recipient of a Victoria Cross, see
John Schofield (VC). For the jazz rock guitarist, see
John Scofield.
46.
Edwin Stanton
–
Edwin McMasters Stanton was an American lawyer and politician who served as Secretary of War under the Lincoln Administration during most of the American Civil War. Stantons management helped organize the military resources of the North. He also organized the manhunt for Lincolns killer, John Wilkes Booth, however, he was criticized by many Union generals for perceived over-cautiousness and micromanagement. After Lincolns assassination, Stanton remained as the Secretary of War under the new President Andrew Johnson during the first years of Reconstruction and he opposed the lenient policies of Johnson towards the former Confederate States. Johnsons attempt to dismiss Stanton ultimately led to President Johnson being impeached by the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives, before the American Revolution, Stantons paternal ancestors, the Stantons and the Macys, both of whom were Quakers, moved from Massachusetts to North Carolina. In 1774, Stantons grandfather, Benjamin Stanton, married Abigail Macy and that year, Benjamins widow moved to the Northwest Territory, accompanied by much of her family. Soon, Ohio was admitted to the Union, and Macy proved to be one of the developers of the new state. She bought a tract of land at Mount Pleasant, Ohio from the government, one of her sons, David, became a physician in Steubenville, and married Lucy Norman, the daughter of a Virginia planter. Their marriage was met with the ire of Ohios Quaker community, as Lucy was a Methodist and this forced David Stanton to abandon the Quaker sect. The first of David and Lucy Stantons four children, Edwin McMasters, was born to them on December 19,1814 in Steubenville, the Stantons later had two daughters, Oella and Pamphilia, and another son, Darwin. In his youth, Edwin was physically delicate, grave and studious, as well as frank, eloquent and empathetic, edwins early formal education consisted of a private school and a seminary behind the Stantons residence, called Old Academy. When he was ten, he was transferred to a school taught by a Presbyterian minister and it was also at ten that Edwin experienced his first asthma attack, a malady that would haunt him for life, making him convulse at times. His asthma assured him that he would be unable to partake in physical activities. Edwin was a reader of books and poetry. He even formed a library of sorts among him and his friends. Edwin attended Methodist church services and Sunday school regularly, at the age of thirteen, Stanton become a full member of the Methodist church. David Stantons medical practice afforded him and his family a decent, when David Stanton suddenly died in December 1827 at his residence, Edwin and family were left destitute. Edwins mother opened a store in the front room of their residence, selling the medical supplies her husband left her, along with books, stationery, the youthful Edwin was removed from school, and employed at the store of a local bookseller, James Turnbull
Edwin Stanton
–
Edwin Stanton
Edwin Stanton
Edwin Stanton
–
Stanton's birthplace in Steubenville, Ohio
Edwin Stanton
–
Stanton's home in Cadiz, Ohio
47.
Ethan A. Hitchcock (general)
–
Ethan Allen Hitchcock was a career United States Army officer and author who had War Department assignments in Washington, D. C. during the American Civil War, in which he served as a major general. Hitchcock was born in Vergennes, Vermont, Hitchcocks siblings included Henry Hitchcock, a Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Henrys son Ethan Hitchcock served as United States Secretary of the Interior under William McKinley, another of Henrys sons, Henry Hitchcock, was a prominent attorney in St. Louis. Ethan A. Hitchcock graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1817 and was commissioned a lieutenant of Field Artillery. He was promoted to captain in 1824, from 1829 to 1833, he served as commandant of cadets at West Point and was promoted to major in 1838. By 1842 he achieved the rank of the lieutenant colonel in the 3rd Infantry Regiment, in command of Fort Stansbury. He served in the Seminole War in Florida, in the Pacific Northwest, and in the Mexican-American War and he received a brevet promotion to colonel for Contreras and Churubusco and to brigadier general for Molino del Rey. In 1851 became the colonel of the 2nd Infantry, from 1851 to 1854 he commanded the Pacific Division and then the Department of the Pacific. In October,1855, he resigned from the Army following a refusal by Secretary of War Jefferson Davis to extend a four-month leave of absence that he had requested for reasons of health. He moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and began a retirement, occupying himself with writing and studies of general literature. After the start of the Civil War, Hitchcock applied to return to the service and it was only after the intervention of Winfield Scott that he was commissioned a major general in February,1862 and became special adviser to the Secretary of War. Hitchcock sat on the court-martial of Maj. Gen. Fitz John Porter which convicted the general of disobedience and cowardice, from November 1862 through the end of the war, he served as Commissioner for Prisoner of War Exchange, and then Commissary-General of Prisoners. Hitchcock was mustered out in 1867 and moved to Charleston, South Carolina, then to Sparta and he died at Glen Mary Plantation in Sparta in 1870 and is buried in West Point National Cemetery, New York. By the time of his death, Hitchcock had amassed a private library. This collection was regarded as one of the finest private holdings of rare alchemical works and is preserved by St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri-St. Through Remarks upon Alchemy and the Alchemists and other writings, Hitchcock argued that the alchemists were actually religious philosophers writing in symbolism. In Problems of Mysticism and its Symbolism, the Viennese psychologist Herbert Silberer credited Hitchcock with helping to open the way for his explorations of the content of alchemy. Hitchcock also played the flute and amassed a collection of flute music
Ethan A. Hitchcock (general)
–
Ethan Allen Hitchcock
Ethan A. Hitchcock (general)
–
A manuscript from the Hitchcock collection
48.
Lorenzo Thomas
–
Lorenzo Thomas was a career United States Army officer who was Adjutant General of the Army at the beginning of the American Civil War. After the war, he was appointed temporary Secretary of War by President Andrew Johnson, Thomas was born in New Castle, Delaware. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1823, and was commissioned a lieutenant in the 4th U. S. Infantry. He fought in the Seminole War in Florida and, during the Mexican-American War and he received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel for Monterrey, which was made permanent in 1852. From 1853 to 1861, he served as chief of staff to the general of the U. S. Army. Just before the start of the Civil War, Thomas was promoted to colonel, the Senate confirmed the appointment on August 5,1861. Camp Thomas, a Regular Army training base in Columbus, Ohio, was named in his honor in July 1861. He held the position of adjutant general until he retired in 1869, Thomas did not get along well with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton and this assignment outside of Washington, D. C. was considered a form of banishment. Many historians have claimed Thomas was banished in disgrace after conspiring to defame Union General William T. Sherman as insane, Thomas was replaced by Maj. Gen. Edward D. Townsend as Adjutant General, who would serve until 1880. On April 6,1863, General Thomas was sent by the War Department to Helena and he created the first black troop in Arkansas, fighting for Union side as part of Bureau of Colored Troops, which was created by the War Department on May 22,1863. On February 21,1868, President Johnson attempted to replace Stanton by appointing Thomas as Secretary of War ad interim, Thomas, still stinging from his bad treatment by Stanton, boasted of his ability and determination to oust him from office by force, if necessary. Some historians believe that it was this attitude in his testimony at Johnsons impeachment trial in the Senate that was responsible for Johnsons acquittal. Thomas retired from the Army on February 22,1869, ten days before Johnson left office and he died in Washington, D. C. and is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery, Georgetown. Fort Thomas, a military post established in Arizona Territory in 1876, was named for Thomas, list of American Civil War generals Boritt, Gabor S. and Stephen W. Sears. New York, Oxford University Press,1994, Eicher, John H. and David J. Eicher. Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press,2001, warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue, Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge, Louisiana State University Press,1964, claims document detailing $52,899 in property losses Thomas suffered during the Civil War. Thomas was eventually awarded $6,500 from the government, New York Times short piece addressing Thomas service in the Mississippi Valley recruiting African-American soldiers
Lorenzo Thomas
–
Adjutant General Lorenzo Thomas
Lorenzo Thomas
49.
Montgomery C. Meigs
–
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer, who served as Quartermaster General of the U. S. Army during and after the American Civil War. Seward viewed it as a key factor in Union victory, Meigs was born in Augusta, Georgia, in May 1816. He was the son of Dr. Charles Delucena Meigs and Mary Montgomery Meigs, Montgomery Meigs mother, Mary, was the granddaughter of a Scottish family from Brigend which emigrated to America in 1701. Meigs father apprenticed as a physician in Philadelphia until 1812, at time he moved to Athens. He enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania in 1815, the year he began to practice medicine in Georgia. The Meigs family was wealthy and well-connected, and Charles Meigs was a supporter of the Democratic Party. Meigs had extremely good memory, and his father instilled in him a sense of duty, young Montgomery received schooling at the Franklin Institute. Meigs learned French, German, and Latin, and studied art, literature and he enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania when he was only 15 years old. A hard worker, he was one of the top students at the university, the Meigs family had extensive ties to the military and to West Point, the United States Military Academy. Montgomery Meigs, caught up in the fervor of the time. West Point was also the engineering school in the United States at the time. Through family connections, Meigs won an appointment to West Point and he excelled in his studies at West Point, although he himself said he spent too much time at athletics and outdoor activities. He was among the top three students in French and mathematics, and did well in history and he graduated fifth out of a class of 49 in 1836, and he had more good conduct merits than two-thirds of his classmates. He received a commission as a lieutenant in the 1st U. S. Artillery. In his early assignments, Meigs helped build Fort Mifflin and Fort Delaware and he also served under the command of then-Lt. Robert E. Lee to make improvements on the Mississippi River. Beginning in 1844, Meigs also was involved with the construction of Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain in upstate New York and his favorite prewar engineering project was the Washington Aqueduct, which he supervised from 1852 to 1860. It involved the construction of the monumental Union Arch Bridge across Cabin John Creek, designed by Alfred Rives, which for 50 years remained the longest single-span masonry arch in the world
Montgomery C. Meigs
–
Montgomery C. Meigs
Montgomery C. Meigs
–
Montgomery C. Meigs in March 1861.
Montgomery C. Meigs
Montgomery C. Meigs
–
The Civil War Unknowns Monument circa 1866, designed by Montgomery Meigs.
50.
Joseph Gilbert Totten
–
Joseph Gilbert Totten fought in the War of 1812, served as Chief of Engineers and was regent of the Smithsonian Institution and cofounder of the National Academy of Sciences. General Joseph G. Totten was born in New Haven, Connecticut to Peter Gilbert Totten and he was one of only three cadets to graduate from the United States Military Academy as part of the class of 1805 and was the 10th graduate in the Academys history. He was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers on July 1,1805 and he resigned in March 1806 to assist his uncle, Major Jared Mansfield, who was then serving as Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory. Major General Joseph K. Mansfield, who died at the Battle of Antietam, was his cousin, Totten re-entered the Corps of Engineers in February 1808 and assisted in building Castle Williams and Castle Clinton in New York harbor. During the War of 1812, he was Chief Engineer of the Niagara frontier, at the Battle of Queenston Heights, he fought alongside Winfield Scott, who used Tottens cravat as a white flag to signal the American surrender. He was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallant conduct in the Battle of Plattsburgh, from 1825 until 1838, Totten oversaw the construction of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. Fort Adams was the second largest construction project attempted by the Army in the 19th century—exceeded only by Fort Monroe in Virginia, Totten employed recent graduates of West Point as assistant engineers at Fort Adams where they learned advanced engineering techniques. Tottens apprentices included John G. Barnard, George W. Cullum, beauregard and Alexander D. Bache all of whom earned distinction during the Civil War. In 1833 Totten purchased the Francis Malbone House on Thames Street in Newport, at that time, it was the most opulent house in Newport. He lived there for the remainder of his time in Newport, Totten was appointed Chief Engineer of the United States Army in 1838, and served in that position for 25 years until his death in 1864, the longest tenure of any Chief Engineer. As Chief Engineer he was involved with every aspect of the Army Corps of Engineers activities from fortifications to harbor improvement. He was elected an Associate Fellow of the American Academy of Arts, beginning in 1844, Totten was involved with the construction of Fort Montgomery on Lake Champlain in upstate New York. During this period, Totten invented an iron reinforced embrasure for cannon which would protect the gunners inside a fort. Known as Totten shutters, the swinging doors were installed on the cannon openings of the fort between the mortar and brick facade. Balanced to swing freely, the shutters would be forced open by the gasses expelled from the cannon. First installed in American forts in 1857, the design was incorporated in such locations as Fort Montgomery, Fort Delaware, Totten was greatly admired by General Scott, for whom he directed the siege of Veracruz as his Chief Engineer during the Mexican-American War. He later served as a Civil War Union Army general, being brevetted as a US Army Brigadier General in 1847, one of Tottens most significant achievements was the design and construction of the Minots Ledge Light near Cohasset, Massachusetts. It stands to this day flashing a distinctive 1-4-3 light pattern which has interpreted to mean I LOVE YOU
Joseph Gilbert Totten
–
Joseph Gilbert Totten
Joseph Gilbert Totten
–
Brief Observations On Common Mortars, Hydraulic Mortars, and Concretes
