Important Civil War Figures
Harriet Beecher Stowe 1881-1896 - Harriet Beecher Stowe was an important woman who was against slavery during the civil war. She is most well known for her novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which tells the story of the difficult life and the struggles that black people had as slaves. The novel is said to have “Helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War".
Charles Sumner 1811-1874 - Charles Sumner was a senator from Massachusetts and was a leader for a group called the Radical Republicans. He worked to abolish slavery, reduce the power slave owners had in the federal government, and fought to keep Europe from interfering in the war. He is best well known for his anti-slavery speech called, “The Crime Against Kansas”. Sumner also criticized the government for being “too moderate” on the south.
John Brown 1800-1859 - John Brown was a man who believed that the only way to get rid of slavery in America was by force. He commanded forces in the Battle of Black Jack, the Battle of Osawatomie. He is most well known for leading a raid on an armory in Harper's Ferry in an attempt to arm slaves, which ultimately led to his capture and death by hanging. He is also known for the Pottawatomie Massacre, where he and his followers killed five pro-slavery supporters. Historians believe that Brown was a major cause for the war.
Stephen Douglas 1813-1861 - Stephen Douglas was a senator and well known politician from Illinois that was a strong believer in the principle of popular sovereignty. Douglas is was most well known for drafting the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which was to open up thousands of farms and create a Midwestern transcontinental railroad. Because of a popular sovereignty clause in the act, Kansas had lots of violent political arguments in attempts to make Kansas a free or slave state. Because of the violence and how the north and south couldn’t agree, historians believe it foreshadowed the war.
Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865 - Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer, Whig Party leader, and the president during the Civil war. Lincoln believed in modernization of the economy, a united union, and later, equal rights. He is most famous for the Gettysburg Address, which was a speech about rights for everybody and the preservation of the union given that was given in 1863. The election of Lincoln caused the south to succeed and the formation of the Confederate States of America. Lincoln also issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 to free enslaved people, and outlawed slavery through the thirteenth amendment. In 1865, after the war had ended, Lincoln was assassinated.
Jefferson Davis 1808-1889 - Jefferson Davis was a representative and senator from Mississippi before the war, and was the first and last president of the Confederate States of America during the war. As president, Davis never got any sort of recognition from foreign countries and because of the war expenses, his government suffered from inflation. Davis served 6 years in the U.S military as the Secretary of War in 1853. Historians believe that the downfall of the confederacy was do to the poor and indecisive leadership of Davis, but he also played a large role in rebuilding. Davis was originally actually against succeeding, and after the war, he encouraged southerners to rejoin the union.
Ulysses S. Grant 1822-1885 - Ulysses S. Grant was the Commanding General of the United States Army during the war, and the 18th President years afterwards. Grant was a extremely intelligent strategist, defeating the Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, in the Siege of Petersburg and the Battle of Appomattox Court House, ending the war. Grant played a major part in reconstruction in protecting african american rights and citizenship as well as using the Army to enforce civil and voting rights when he got elected into presidency in 1872.
Robert E. Lee 1807-1870 - Robert E. Lee was the General of the Confederate Army during the war. He served for over 30 years in the U.S Army and proved himself to be a strong leader. Even though he wanted the union to remain whole, he followed Virginia when it succeeded from the union. Although he was a great general, he didn't win many offensive battles and surrendered to the larger union army. After the war, Robert E. Lee encouraged reconstruction of the union rather than resistance for the south.
William Tecumseh Sherman 1820-1891 - William Tecumseh Sherman was a major general in the union army during the civil war. He was recognized for having fantastic battle strategy, but also criticized for his policy of destroying anything that could be an asset to the enemy while going through an area. He served under Ulysses S. Grant until he succeeded him in 1863 for the western theater of the war. He accepted confederate surrender in Georgia North and South Carolina, and Florida at the end of the war. When General Grant was elected as the 18th President, Sherman was promoted to Commanding General of the United States Army.