Charlie's Civil War Biographies
Here are some interesting facts about General Robert E. Lee, General of the Army of the Potomac:
Robert Edward Lee was born in 1807 by General Henry Lee and Anne Hill Carter* He was born in Stratford, Westmore County, Virginia* Robert E. Lee's nephew, Fitzhugh Lee, was in command of the cavalry during Lee's retreat to Apptommox* Robert E. Lee married Mary A.R. Cutis on June, 30, 1831 at Arlington House* In 1831 Lee was a Second Lt. helping seawall escarpments get to the shore while he shared a house with his new bride near Ft. Monroe* In 1835 Lee moved back to Arlington and then became the assistant of the Chief-of-Army Engineers in Washington* Lee was offered command of all Union forces before Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861* Lee became Commander-in-Chief of the of all Confederate forces in 1865, the end part of the Civil War* Lee's House was stolen by Yankees and used as a cemetery which is now Arlington National Cemetery* Robert Edward Lee died in 1870, he lived until 63* Stay tuned for more interesting facts about General Lee!
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Here is some facts about Ulysses s. Grant:
Hiram Ulysses Grant was born on April, 27, 1822 at Point Pleasant, Ohio. His parents were Jesse and Hannah Grant and his siblings were Samuel Simpson, Clara, Virginia Paine, Orvil Lynch, and Mary Frances. In his childhood he enjoyed working with horses and doing practically anything with farming. He was also very quiet and shy. Grant attended the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York from 1839-1843. His class rank was 21 out of 39. He graduated the Academy on July, 1, 1843. In his military career he was excellent at horse-back riding and considered as the best of it in the academy. He was excellent at Math but terrible in French. Grant married Julia Boggs Dent on August, 22, 1848 in St. Louis, Missouri. Julia was 22 and Grant was 26. Their children were Fred(1850-1912), Ulysses Jr.(1852-1929), Nellie(1855-1922), and Jesse(1858-1934)(If you remember, Jesse is Ulysses father's name). Grant died on July, 23, 1885 from throat cancer. Secret about Ulysses: His real name is Hiram Ulysses Grant not Ulysses S. Grant. The S. means Simpson which means nothing.
Here's a link for Ulysses S. Grant Interviews from his wife, mother, father, and many more close friends:
Grant Interviews
The person who I'm now going to do a short biography on is not really related to the Civil War but is related to someone who is. He is Tad Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln who played a huge part in the war. I present to you "Tad" Lincoln.
Thomas "Tad" Lincoln was born on April 4, 1853. He was named Thomas after is grandfather Thomas Lincoln. He was the last of four sons. He moved to the White house in 1861 when he was 8 years old. He was known for making mischief in the White House. When he was 12 in 1865 his father, Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth. Then his mother and him moved to Chicago and Tad went to Brown School on Warren Avenue. In 1868 they took a long trip to Europe. Then in 1870 they moved to England because of the Franco- Prussian War. After that they moved back to Chicago in 1871. After they got back to Chicago, Tad was having trouble breathing when he was laying down so he sat up when he slept. On the following months he became weaker and weaker. Then, on a Saturday morning, on July 15, 1871 at the age of 18 Tad died of, what we think was, tuberculosis.
Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson
Thomas Jonathon "Stonewall" Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia now West Virginia. Thomas was born to Jonathan Jackson and Julia "Neale" Jackson. When Thomas was two years old, both his father and Elizabeth, his sister, died of typhoid fever. With her baby daughter, Laura, and her sons who were Warren and of course Thomas, it was hard to support the family so Thomas' mother sewed and tought school. She married Blake Woodson, a Clarksburg lawyer, in the year 1830.
They soon moved to Ansted, Fayette County, Virginia which is now part of West Virginia. Due to bad health and tough times Thomas and his little sister Laura moved to their uncle's house. They moved into their uncle Cummin Jackon's house at Jackon's Mill. They moved there in 1831, shortly after their mother's death.
Thomas helped at his uncle's farm. He helped with the sheep with help from the sheepdog and drove the groups of oxen to their proper places. He also helped harvest the corn and wheat around the farm.
School and proper teaching was hard to get in these times but when he could get tought he did. He got classes in the county of Westfields in 1837 for thirty-nine days and also took classes in the Assembly Room of the first Lewis County Courthouse. The school there was taught by Colonel Alexander Scott Withers who wrote "Chronicles of Border Warfare". Thomas mostly taught himself instead of others teaching him. He usually tought himself by reading at night by the light of burning pine knots. At one time Thomas made a deal to give one of Uncle Cummins' slaves a reading lesson in return for pine knots. The exchange was carried out but teaching a slave to read or write was illegal in Virginia. With the slave's new knowledge he wrote himself a travel pass to go to the North. There he would escape to freedom. Uncle Cummins was an understanding person so he didn't tell the athorities about it.
In the winter of the years from 1840-1841 Thomas served as a schoolteacher and in 1841 he was elected constable of Lewis County. The age limit for constable was eighteen but Thomas was only seventeen. The Lewis County citizens probably still let him be constable because of Uncle Cummins' popularity in the county. Then In the year of 1842 he was assigned to go to the United States Military Academy located in West Point, New York. He went to the acadeny one year before Ulysses S. Grant went out in 1843. He would unfortunatly never come back to live at Jackson's Mill again. After Thomas graduated from the United States Military Academy he served in the Mexican War. He was a lieutenant and got more promotions then any officer during the Mexican War which. It happened that Thomas visited Jackson Mill(home of his Uncle Cummins) very much during 1840-1850.
In the year 1851 Thomas resigned from the U.S. Army and took profession as a professor at Natural and Experimental Philosphy and Artillery Tactics at VMI(Virginia Military Institute) in Lexington, Virginia. Sadly, Thomas Jackson's last visit to Jackson Mill was in 1857. Thomas' peaceful times at VMI were ruined in the year of 1861, the first year of the historic Civil War. Because Thomas has lived in Virginia all his ife he sided with the Confederate Army. He was promoted to the rank of general.
How he got his nationally known nickname you ask? During the First Battle of Manassas, other wise known as Bull Run Confederate General Bernard be said "There stands Jackson's brigade like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!". That's how he got his nickname "Stonewall".
After the Battle of Chancellorville on May 2, 1863 Thomas was accidentally shot by one of his own men! He developed pnemonia and on May 10, 1863 at Guinea Station, Virginia he died. He was buried five days later on May 15, 1863 at the town cemetery in Lexington, Virginia.
He is pretty much the best known Confederate general behind Robert E. Lee and is known for his performances in The First Battle of Manassas, The Shenandoah Valley campaign, The Defense of Richmond, The Second Battle of Manassas, Harpor's Ferry, Antietam, and The Battle of Chancellorville.
Pierre G.T. Beauregard
Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard was born on May 28, 1818 in a city near New Orleans, Louisiana. Pierre joined the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York and graduated in the year 1838. After his time in the U.S. Military Academy he went first to artillery and then to engineers. In the years from 1838-39 he served as an assistant for the constuction of Fort Adams which is located in Newport. In the years 1840-1846 he served on engineering duty. In the time of the Mexican War he helped with the construction for defenses and was wounded twice in doing that in Mexico City. He also built defenses in Tampico, the siege of Santa Cruz, Cerro Gordo, Contreras, Chapultepee. Soon after the Mexican War he gained rank of major and captain of engineers and was a lieutenant for fourteen years. On January 23, 1861 Pierre was ranked Superintendent of the United States Military Academy. He resigned shortly after on February 20, 1861. After that short job he was offered to fight in the brand new Southern Confederacy. He then took commision and was in charge of the defenses of South Carolina. On the First battle of Manassas on July 21, 1861 Pierre was very victorious and he was mostly in command the whole battle. He helped the Soutern Army in the state of Tennesee, defeated Butler at Drury's Bluff, and helped in the city of Petersburgh to demote(stop) Union advance. After the famous Civil War ,Pierre became the president of the Jackson Railroad, the New Orleans Railroad, and the Mississippi Railroad. He also became the manager of the Louisiana State Lottery. In Beauregard's writer life he wrote "Principles and Maxims of the Art of War" and "Report of the Defenses of Charlestown".
James Longstreet
James Longstreet was born on January 8, 1821 in Edgefield, South Carolina. They had a home in Gainesville, Georgia but James was born on his Grandfather William's plantation. Nine years later, in 1830, he moved to his Uncle Augustus' and served as an assistant. In 1833 his father died of cholera and his family moved to Somerville, Alabama along with James' uncle. In 1838 he was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY by Kinsmen Rueben Chapman, Representative in Alabama. He was known as the Most Handsome Cadet and had excellent physique. James eventually graduated in 1842 at 54 of 56. He ranked a 2nd lieutenant of the U.S. Army and went under Colonel John Garland's 4th Infantry of Jefferson Barracks, Missouri. In that same year, he was severly wounded at Chappultepec in the Mexican War. Six years later, the day of March 8,1848, he married Maria Louisa Garland, Col. John Garland's daughter, at the Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, VA. They had their first child, John Garland Longstreet, on December 26 that same year. He had three other children, Mary Anne, Augustus, and James Jr. They all died of scarlet fever in 1862 at Richmond. He served brilliantly at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, Chickamunga, and the Wilderness. He also went with Gen. Robert E. Lee to surrender at Appomattox. In 1866 he worked as a cotton broker with several others in New Orleans, LA. In the years from 1870-1881 he was appointed as Louisiana Adjutant General(1870), Deputy Collector of Internal Revenue of Georgia(1878), Postmaster of Gainesville, Georgia(1879), US Ambassador of Turkey(May 1880), and US Marshall of Georgia(1881-1884). on December 29, 1889 Maria Longstreet, James' wife, died. He wrote a book called "From Manassas to Appomattox" in 1896. One year later, 1897, he married Helen Dorth in Governor's Mansion, Atlanta, Georgia. In January 1897, James was made the US Commissioner of Railroads. Sadly, he died on January 2,1904 and buried 4 days later at Alta Vista Cemetery in Gainesville, Georgia. We all remember him for his great participation in many major battles of the Civil War.