Philip Henry Sheridan was a career United States Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with General-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant, who transferred Sheridan from command of an infantry division in the Western Theater to lead the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the East. In 1864, he defeated Confederate forces under General Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley and his destruction of the economic infrastructure of the Valley, called "The Burning" by residents, was one of the first uses of scorched-earth tactics in the war. In 1865, his cavalry pursued Gen. Robert E. Lee and was instrumental in forcing his surrender at Appomattox Courthouse.
Sheridan during the 1860s
Brevet Second Lieutenant Philip Sheridan, engraving by H. B. Hall
Rienzi, stuffed and on display at the National Museum of American History
Union Cavalry General Philip Sheridan
General officers in the United States
A general officer is an officer of high military rank; in the uniformed services of the United States, general officers are commissioned officers above the field officer ranks, the highest of which is colonel in the Army, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force and captain in the Navy, Coast Guard, Public Health Service Commissioned Corps (PHSCC), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps (NOAACC).
Henry Knox in the uniform of a major general
Ulysses Grant in the uniform of a lieutenant general
Air Force Four-Star General Richard B. Myers with four-star rank insignia
General of the Army George C. Marshall and General of the Army Henry "Hap" Arnold
