Who's Who

• Abbott, Henry Livermore, Major in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry who was celebrated for his courage and leadership in key Army of the Potomac campaigns, from Ball’s Bluff to Gettysburg. He was killed in action at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864 and posthumously awarded the rank of brevet brigadier general.

• Akin, Amanda, Union nurse during the American Civil War whose memoir, The Lady Nurse of Ward E, provides a vivid firsthand account of caring for wounded soldiers in military hospitals, particularly following the Battle of Gettysburg.

• Allen, Richard, formerly enslaved African American preacher, abolitionist, and founder of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in 1816, who became a leading advocate for Black religious independence, education, and opposition to slavery during the early republic and antebellum era.

• Ambrose, Daniel L., 1st Lieutenant, Union soldier in the 7th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment whose Civil War diary provides a firsthand account of the regiment's service in the Western Theater, documenting the daily life, marches, hardships, and combat experiences of an Illinois volunteer.

• Anderson, Robert, career U.S. Army officer who commanded the Union garrison at Fort Sumter when Confederate forces opened fire on April 12, 1861, marking the beginning of the American Civil War. Although he surrendered the fort after a 34-hour bombardment, Anderson's steadfast defense made him a national hero in the North and a lasting symbol of Union resolve.

• Bartlett, William Francis, Union general who rose from a volunteer officer in the 20th Massachusetts Infantry to brigadier general through remarkable bravery in battles including Yorktown, Antietam, and the Siege of Petersburg, despite losing his left leg at the Battle of Yorktown in 1862. Captured by Confederate forces during the Battle of the Wilderness in May 1864, Bartlett was imprisoned at Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia, where he endured harsh conditions before being exchanged and returning to Union service.

• Birchard, Sardis, prosperous Ohio businessman, philanthropist, and the maternal uncle and guardian of future President Rutherford B. Hayes, providing financial and personal support that helped shape Hayes's education, legal career, and public service during the Civil War era.

• Bixby, Lydia, Boston widow who became nationally known during the Civil War after President Abraham Lincoln sent her a letter in November 1864 expressing sympathy for the reported loss of five sons in Union service. Although later research showed that not all five sons were killed in the war, Lincoln's "Bixby Letter" remains one of the most celebrated expressions of presidential condolence in American history.

• Bliss, Daniel W., surgeon in charge of Washington, D.C.'s Armory Square Hospital during much of the Civil War, overseeing one of the Union's largest and busiest military hospitals and supervising the care of thousands of wounded soldiers. Renowned for his administrative ability and surgical skill, Bliss directed a staff of surgeons and nurses—including many civilian volunteers—while treating casualties from major campaigns such as Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Petersburg.

• Brooks, Noah, a journalist for the Sacramento Union who became one of Abraham Lincoln's closest newspaper confidants, enjoying unusually frequent access to the president during the Civil War.

• Brown, John, American abolitionist who believed armed insurrection was the only way to overthrow the institution of slavery in the United States. During the 1856 conflict in Kansas, Brown commanded forces at the Battle of Black Jack and the Battle of Osawatomie.  Brown's followers also killed five slavery supporters at Pottawatomie. In 1859, Brown led an unsuccessful raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry that ended with his capture. Brown's trial resulted in his conviction and a sentence of death by hanging.

• Buchanan, James, 15th President of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861, whose administration struggled unsuccessfully to prevent the nation's slide toward civil war amid the escalating conflict over slavery. Widely criticized for his handling of the secession crisis following Abraham Lincoln's election, Buchanan left office just weeks before the outbreak of the American Civil War.

• Buckner, Simon Bolivar Sr., career U.S. Army officer who served in the Mexican–American War and on the western frontier before resigning his commission in 1861 to join the Confederacy after his native Kentucky declared its neutrality. During the Civil War, he became a Confederate lieutenant general, is best known for surrendering Fort Donelson to Ulysses S. Grant in 1862, and later commanded forces in the Western Theater.

• Buell, Don Carlos, Union major general who commanded the Army of the Ohio during the early years of the Civil War, leading Federal forces at the Battle of Shiloh and in the Kentucky Campaign before being relieved of command following the Battle of Perryville.

• Burnside, Ambrose E., Union major general during the American Civil War who commanded the Army of the Potomac at the disastrous Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862 and later led the IX Corps during campaigns including Antietam, Knoxville, and Petersburg. Known for his distinctive facial hair that popularized the term “sideburns,” Burnside was a brave but controversial commander whose military career was marked by both personal courage and strategic failures.

• Calhoun, John C., South Carolina statesman who served as vice president under John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson, U.S. senator, secretary of war, and secretary of state, becoming one of the nation's foremost advocates of states' rights and the protection of slavery. His doctrines of nullification and state sovereignty profoundly influenced the sectional conflict that culminated in the American Civil War, even though he died more than a decade before the fighting began.

• Cameron, Simon, influential Pennsylvania politician who served as President Abraham Lincoln's first secretary of war before becoming U.S. minister to Russia, playing a significant role in organizing the Union's early war effort despite a tenure marred by allegations of political patronage and corruption.

• Chase, Salmon P., President Abraham Lincoln's Secretary of the Treasury during most of the Civil War, overseeing the Union's wartime finances, introducing the nation's first paper currency ("greenbacks"), and later serving as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

• Chesnut, James Jr., Brigadier General in the Confederate Army.signatory of the Constitution of the Confederate States of America, and previous to the war a United States Senator from South Carolina, but resigned and took part in the South Carolina secession convention.  Husband of Mary Boykin Miller Chesnut.

• Chesnut, Mary Boykin Miller, South Carolina author and the wife of Confederate politician James Chesnut Jr. whose celebrated Civil War diary provides one of the most insightful firsthand accounts of Southern society, politics, and the Confederacy during the conflict.

• Clarke, James Freeman, prominent Unitarian minister, abolitionist, and author whose sermons and writings during the American Civil War championed the Union cause, emancipation, and the moral imperative to end slavery.

• Clay, Henry, American statesman, U.S. senator, Speaker of the House, and secretary of state whose advocacy of the American System and repeated efforts to preserve the Union earned him the title "The Great Compromiser." A leading figure in the Whig Party, Clay played a central role in crafting the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850 and was an influential candidate for the presidency despite never attaining the office.

• Conrad, Thomas Nelson, a Confederate spy, actor, and playwright who served the Confederacy as a secret agent during the Civil War, gathering intelligence behind Union lines before returning to a successful theatrical career after the conflict.

• Crook, William Henry, Major, President Abraham Lincoln's White House bodyguards during the final years of the Civil War, earning the president's confidence through his vigilance and personal loyalty. After Lincoln's assassination, Crook remained in the White House under several subsequent presidents and later published Through Five Administrations (1910), a firsthand memoir recounting his years in presidential service.

• Curtis, George William, American writer and public speaker.  In 1863 he became the political editor of Harper's Weekly.  Husband of Anne Shaw Curtis who was the sister of Robert Gould Shaw, Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.

• Davidson, W. J., Private, Co. C, 41st Tennessee Infantry (CSA).

• Davis, Jefferson, President of the Confederate States of America.

• Davis, Varina Howell, First Lady of the Confederate States of America, 2nd wife of Jefferson Davis.

• Dodd, Ephraim Shelby, Private, Co. D, 8th Texas Cavalry, Civil War Diarist.

• Douglass, Frederick, formerly enslaved African American abolitionist, writer, orator, and publisher who became one of the most influential voices of the antebellum antislavery movement through his speeches, newspapers, and autobiographies advocating for emancipation and equal rights. During the Civil War, Douglass advised President Abraham Lincoln, recruited Black soldiers for the Union Army, and worked to ensure that emancipation and the enlistment of African American troops became central goals of the Union war effort.

• Downing, Alexander G., 5th Sergeant, Union soldier in the 11th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment whose detailed Civil War diary chronicled his service in the Western Theater, including the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Atlanta, providing a valuable firsthand account of a Midwestern soldier's wartime experiences.

• Dwight, Wilder, Lieutenant-Colonel of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry.  He died September 19, 1862 from wounds at the Battle of Antietam.  Younger brother of Brigadier-General William Dwight.

• Ellsworth, Elmer E., one of the first Union officers killed in the Civil War when he was shot on May 24, 1861, after removing a Confederate flag from the Marshall House Inn in Alexandria, Virginia. A close friend of Abraham Lincoln and commander of the 11th New York Volunteer Infantry ("Fire Zouaves"), Ellsworth became a Northern martyr whose death galvanized public support for the Union cause.

• Fisk, Clinton B., Union brigadier general during the American Civil War who commanded troops in the Western Theater and later became a leading advocate for the education and protection of formerly enslaved people as assistant commissioner of the Freedmen’s Bureau in Kentucky and Tennessee. Founder of Fisk University.

• Fitzhugh, Henry.  A merchant, businessman and politician from New York. His sister was Ann Carroll (Fitzhugh) Smith (below).

• Forbes, John Murray, American railroad magnate, merchant, philanthropist and abolitionist.

• Forrest, Nathan Bedford, Tennessee planter, slave trader, and self-made businessman who accumulated considerable wealth during the antebellum period despite having little formal education. During the Civil War, he rose from private to lieutenant general in the Confederate Army, earning a reputation as one of the Confederacy's most effective cavalry commanders while also being associated with the 1864 Fort Pillow massacre, in which surrendering Black Union soldiers and white Union troops were killed by Confederate forces under his command. After the war, Forrest became the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction, later claimed to have distanced himself from the organization, and spent his final years in declining financial health before his death in 1877.

• Garrison, William Lloyd, leading antebellum abolitionist, journalist, and founder of The Liberator newspaper in 1831, through which he demanded the immediate abolition of slavery and helped establish the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1833. During the Civil War, Garrison continued to advocate for emancipation and the destruction of slavery, and after the Union victory he supported the adoption of the Thirteenth Amendment before turning his attention toward civil rights and equality for formerly enslaved people.

• Geary, John White, Colonel of the 2nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, Mexican-American War; 18th Alcalde of San Francisco 1849-1850; 1st Mayor of San Francisco 1850-1851; 3rd Territorial Governor of Kansas 1856-1857; Major General of Volunteers, American Civil War; 16th Governor of Pennsylvania 1867-1873.

• Greville, Henry William, (28 October 1801 – 12 December 1872) an English aristocrat and diarist.

• Griggs, Helen, volunteered for service in June 1863 and spent a year as a nurse at Ward A of Washington's Armory Square Hospital, caring for wounded and sick Union soldiers under the direction of Surgeon D. W. Bliss. After the Civil War, she continued her commitment to public service by teaching at a school for formerly enslaved African Americans in Richmond, Virginia.

• Halliday, James, longtime White House carpenter and superintendent of public buildings who oversaw repairs, renovations, and maintenance of the Executive Mansion during the administrations of several presidents, including Abraham Lincoln throughout the Civil War.

• Hancock, Richard R., Private, 2nd Tennesee Cavalry (CSA).

• Hancock, Winfield, Scott, one of the Union Army’s most capable and respected corps commanders, earning the nickname “Hancock the Superb” for his calm leadership and personal bravery on the battlefield. He played pivotal roles at Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, the Overland Campaign, and Petersburg, rising to the rank of major general of volunteers and becoming one of the Union’s most celebrated military leaders.

• Hay, John, Lincoln's Secretary.

• Hayes, Lucy Webb, First Lady of the United States.  Wife of Rutherford B. Hayes.

• Hayes, Rutherford B., 19th President of the United States.  Entered the war as a Major in the 23rd Ohio Infantry; by the time the war ended he was a Brevet Major-General.

• Hayes, Sophia (Birchard), Mother of Rutherford B. Hayes.

• Haynes, Lemuel, formerly enslaved African American soldier of the American Revolution, ordained minister, and abolitionist whose writings and sermons challenged slavery and advocated for racial equality during the early republic and antebellum era.

• Herndon, William, longtime law partner and close friend of Abraham Lincoln who remained in Springfield, Illinois, during the Civil War while continuing his legal practice and supporting the Union cause. Although he held no military command, Herndon preserved valuable recollections of Lincoln's early life and character that later formed the basis of one of the most important biographies of the sixteenth president.

• Hooker, Joseph, Union major general during the American Civil War who commanded the Army of the Potomac during the 1863 Chancellorsville Campaign, where his defeat by Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia ended his hopes of advancing toward Richmond. Known as "Fighting Joe" for his aggressive style and personal bravery, Hooker later served with distinction in the Western Theater, including the Battles of Lookout Mountain and Atlanta, before resigning from field command in 1864.

• Hudson, Silas A., 1st Cousin of Ulysses S. Grant. United States Ambassador to Guatamala.

• Huston, Felix, lawyer, soldier, military opportunist and the first commanding general of the Army of the Republic of Texas under the Constitution of 1836.

• Johnston, Adam S., 79th Pennsylvania Infantry.

• Johnson, Bushrod Rust, educator, engineer, and former U.S. Army officer who served in the Mexican–American War before becoming a professor at the Western Military Institute in Kentucky during the antebellum period. During the Civil War, he served as a Confederate major general, distinguishing himself in the Army of Tennessee at battles including Battle of Perryville, Battle of Chickamauga, and the defense of Battle of Fort Sanders before being wounded and captured at the Battle of Nashville.

• Jones, John Beauchamp, Civil War Diarist. He was a popular novelist, literary editor, and political journalist during the mid 19th Century.  During the war he worked as a clerk in the Confederate Department of War.

• Leon, Louis, Private, 53rd North Carolina Infantry. Civil War Diarist.

• Lincoln, Abraham, 16th President of the United States.Husband of Mary Todd Lincoln.

• Lincoln, Mary Todd, First Lady of the United States. Wife of Abraham Lincoln.

• Lowell, Charles Russell, railroad executive, foundryman, and Brigadier-General in the Union Army He was mortally wounded October 19, 1864 at the Battle of Cedar Creek and died the next day.  Husband of Josephine Shaw Lowell.

• Lowell, Josephine Shaw, Civil War Diarist.  Wife of Captain Charles Russell Lowell and Brother of Robert Gould Shaw.

• Lynch, Charles H., Corporal, 18th Connecticut Infantry.  Civil War Diarist.

• Lyman, Theodore, Aide-de-Camp of Major-General George G. Meade. He later became a United States Congressman representing Massachusetts' 9th District.

• McClellan, George Brinton, Union major general during the American Civil War who organized and trained the Army of the Potomac and briefly served as general-in-chief of the Union Army, earning the loyalty of his soldiers through his administrative skills and attention to military preparation. He led the Peninsula Campaign of 1862, which failed to capture Richmond, and was later defeated by Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam despite successfully stopping the Confederate invasion of Maryland. McClellan was removed from command by President Abraham Lincoln in November 1862 and later ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for president against Lincoln in the 1864 election.

• McDowell, Irvin, Union major general during the American Civil War who commanded Federal forces at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861, where his defeat ended hopes for a quick suppression of the Confederacy. Although later given important commands in Virginia, McDowell’s reputation suffered from his wartime setbacks, including his inability to support John Pope during the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862.

• McGuire, Judith White Brockenbrough, Civil War Diarist who wound up as a refugee in Richmond, Virginia during the war.

• Malone, Bartlett Yancey, Private, 6th North Carolina Infantry. Civil War Diarist.

• Markland, Absalom H., childhood friend of Ulysses S. Grant. Special Agent of the U. S. Post Office Department during the war.

• Meade, George Gordon, Union major general during the American Civil War who commanded the Army of the Potomac and achieved his greatest victory by defeating Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, a turning point in the war. He continued to lead the Army of the Potomac through the Overland Campaign, the Siege of Petersburg, and the final campaigns of 1864–1865 while serving under General Ulysses S. Grant.

• Miller, Elizabeth (Smith), Daughter of Gerrit & Ann Carroll (Fitzhugh) Smith. She was an advocate and financial supporter of the women’s rights movement.

• Morse, Charles Fessenden, Lieutenant Colonel in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. afterward, an influential businessman and civic leader in Kansas City, Missouri.

• Motley, John Lothrop, American historian, diplomat, and author whose writings during the Civil War era supported the Union cause by portraying the struggle against slavery and secession within the broader tradition of democratic liberty, while he later served as U.S. minister to Austria and Great Britain.

• Northrop, John Worell, 76th New York Infantry. Civil War Diarist. Author of “Chronicles from the Diary of a War Prisoner in Andersonville and Other Military Prisons of the South in 1864."
• 
  
• Norton, Charles Eliot, leading American author, social critic, and professor of art. He was a progressive social reformer and a liberal activist whom many of his contemporaries considered the most cultivated man in the United States.

• Parker, Ely S., Commissioned a Lieutenant Colonel. He served as adjutant to General Ulysses S. Grant. He wrote the final draft of the Confederate surrender terms at Appomattox. Later in his career, Parker rose to the rank of Brevet Brigadier General, one of only two Native Americans to earn a general's rank during the war (the other being Stand Watie, who fought for the Confederacy). President Grant appointed him as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, the first Native American to hold that post.

• Paxson, Lewis C., was born October 25, 1836, in Solebury, Bucks County, Penn. ceived his education at the Millersville Normal School near Lancaster) and at Lewisburg University, Penn. He came west to Minnesota in April, 1862, and taught a few months in a select school at Lake City, Minn. From there he enlisted in Co. G, 8th Minn. Inf., Aug. 20, 1862, under John T. Averill and Joseph E. Faverow, though he was not mustered in until Nov. 17 at Fort Abercrombie. In May 1865 he was promoted to the position of Serg. Major of the 8th Minn, and on June 28, 1865, he was promoted to 1st Lieut. and Adjutant of the regiment. Aug. 3, 1865, he was mustered out of service. Until 1871 Mr. Paxson engaged in mercantile business and since 1872 he has been living on a small dairy farm at Stockton, N. J.

• Pearson, Benjamin F., Union Officer in the 36th Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment whose Civil War diary provides a valuable firsthand account of the regiment's service in the Trans-Mississippi Theater, documenting military campaigns, camp life, and the experiences of an Iowa volunteer.

• Pillow, Gideon Johnson, Tennessee lawyer, planter, and Democratic politician who served as a brigadier general in the Mexican–American War and became a close associate of President James K. Polk during the antebellum period. During the Civil War, he served as a Confederate major general but was criticized for his performance at the Battle of Fort Donelson, after which he was relieved of field command and spent the remainder of the war primarily in administrative and recruiting roles.

• Porter, Horace, Union brigadier general during the American Civil War who served as a trusted aide-de-camp to General Ulysses S. Grant, earning the Medal of Honor for his gallantry at the Battle of Chickamauga and later becoming a distinguished diplomat and author.

• Quitman, John A., a lawyer, politician, and soldier. As president of the Mississippi Senate, he was the acting governor of Mississippi for one month (from December 3, 1835 to January 7, 1836) as a Whig. He was elected governor in 1849 as a Democrat, and served from January 10, 1850, until his resignation on February 3, 1851, shortly after his arrest for violating U.S. neutrality laws and he served in the United States House of Representatives from March 4, 1855 to July 17, 1858. He was strongly pro-slavery and a leading Fire-Eater.

• Ransom, John L., 1st Sergeant, 9th Michigan Cavalry, author of Andersonville Diary.

• Rawlins, John Aaron, served on Grant's staff throughout the war, rising to the rank of brevet major general, and was Grant's chief defender against allegations of insobriety. After the war, he was appointed Secretary of War when Grant was elected President of the United States, but died of advanced tuberculosis five months into his term.

• Reichardt, Theodore, Private, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery. Civil War Diarist.

• Rogers, Nathaniel Peabody. American abolitionist writer who, from June 1838 until June 1846, served as editor of the New England anti-slavery newspaper Herald of Freedom.

• Rogers, Seth Rogers, Surgeon, 1st South Carolina Colored Infantry.

• Russell, William Howard, An Irish Reporter with the London Times.

• Scott, Winfield, the Union Army's general-in-chief at the outbreak of the Civil War, developing the strategic "Anaconda Plan," which called for blockading the Confederacy and gaining control of the Mississippi River to divide and weaken the rebellion. Although age and declining health forced his retirement in November 1861, his long-term strategy became the foundation of the Union's eventual victory.

• Senior, Nassau William, English lawyer known as an economist.

• Shannon, Wilson, 14th Governor of Ohio 1838-1840; 16th Governor of Ohio1842-1844; United States Congressman from Ohio 1853-1855; 2nd Territorial Governor of Kansas 1855-1856.

• Sherman, John, United States Senator from Ohio, brother of William Tecumseh Sherman.

• Sherman, William Tecumseh, General in the United States Army, brother of John Sherman.

• Shaw, Robert Gould, Colonel of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.  Brother-in-law of George William Curtis, Captain Charles Russell Lowell III, and Brevet Major-General Francis Channing Barlow.  His sister Josephine Shaw Lowell (wife of the above mentioned Charles Russell Lowell) was a Civil War diarist.

• Smith, George G., 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Louisiana Infantry (USA), previously served in the 13th Connecticut Infantry.  Author of  Leaves from a Soldier's Diary.

• Smith, Ann Carroll (Fitzhugh), Abolitionist Wife of Gerrit Smith (below). Her older brother was Henry Fitzhugh (above).

• Smith, Gerrit, a leading United States social reformer, abolitionist, politician, and philanthropist. Spouse to Ann Carroll Fitzhugh (above), Smith was a candidate for President of the United States in 1848, 1856, and 1860, but only served 18 months in the federal government—in Congress as a Free Soil Party Representative, in 1853–4.

• Stanton, Edwin M., Lincoln's 2nd Secretary of War.

• Stockton, Joseph, Brevet Brigadier General in the Union Army.

• Tappan, James C., Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War who commanded Arkansas troops in the Trans-Mississippi Department, participating in campaigns including the Battle of Helena and the Camden Expedition before continuing his military and legal career after the war.

• Tenney, Luman Harris, 2nd Ohio Cavalry.

• Thompson, George, British antislavery orator and activist who worked towards the abolition of slavery through lecture tours and legislation while serving as a Member of Parliament. He was arguably one of the most important abolitionists and human rights lecturers in the United Kingdom and the United States.

• Trobriand, Régis de, French aristocrat, author, and Union brigadier general during the American Civil War who commanded brigades in the Army of the Potomac, distinguishing himself at Gettysburg, the Wilderness, and Petersburg before later publishing respected memoirs of his wartime service.

• Tyler, John, 10th President of the United States. Delegate from Virginia to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, but died before he could take his seat.

• Tyler, Julia Gardner, First Lady of the United States, 2nd wife of John Tyler (above).

• Upton, Emory, Union Army officer whose tactical skill and aggressive leadership earned him rapid promotion from captain in 1861 to brevet major general by the end of the Civil War. He is best remembered for leading the innovative May 10, 1864, assault at Spotsylvania Court House, a precursor to later infantry tactics, and for his distinguished service during the Overland Campaign, Shenandoah Valley Campaign, and Appomattox Campaign.

• Van Alstyne, Lawrence, an officer in the 128th New York Infantry & the 90th U.S. Colored Infantry.

• Walker, Amasa Francis, He began the war as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 15th Massachusetts Infantry.  By the war's end he was Brevet Brigadier-General. He went on to become economist, statistician, journalist, educator, academic administrator.

• Walker, David, free African American abolitionist, writer, and activist best known for publishing Walker’s Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World in 1829, a powerful antislavery pamphlet that condemned slavery and called for resistance against racial oppression. Although he died decades before the Civil War, his writings influenced later abolitionists and helped shape the antislavery movement that contributed to the conflicts leading to the war.

• Waring, Malvina S., diarist from Columbia, South Carolina; daughter of John Blair Black & Elizabeth Ann Shepherd; wife of Clark Waring.

• Warren, Fitz Henry, prominent Iowa politician and Republican leader who was appointed a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War, serving primarily in the Department of the Missouri and the Department of the Northwest. Although his active military service was limited, he contributed to the Union war effort through administrative duties, political influence, and his efforts to support recruitment and military organization in Iowa.

• Washburn, Cadwallader C., Union major general, Wisconsin congressman, and industrialist who commanded Federal forces in the Western Theater during the Civil War and later became governor of Wisconsin and a founder of the flour-milling company that evolved into General Mills.

• Webster, Daniel, 14th & 19th United States Secretary of State, United States Senator & Congressman from Massachusetts.

• Welch, Spencer Glasgow, Surgeon, 13th South Carolina Infantry.

• Welles, Gideon, Lincoln's Secretary of the Navy. Civil War Diarist.

• Wing, Henry E., Union soldier turned newspaper correspondent whose daring dispatches from the front and personal mission to deliver General Ulysses S. Grant's message to President Abraham Lincoln during the Wilderness Campaign made him one of the Civil War's most remarkable war reporters.