Important Historical Civil War Era Figures

Abraham Lincoln
Born: February 12, 1809
Death: April 1865 (assassinated)
Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer from Illinois who became the sixteenth president of the United States in the election of 1860. His election lead to South Carolina seceding from the Union because Lincoln was a Republican and was associated with the abolitionist cause. Lincoln, who believed that the states had never truly left the Union legally, fought the war until the South surrendered unconditionally. During the war, in 1863, Lincoln issued the largely symbolic Emancipation Proclamation to free all slaves in the South. At the war’s end, in April 1865, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, D.C.

Jefferson Davis

On February 9, 1861, Davis was appointed to the President of the Confederacy and was officially elected President in November 1861. Davis was not an effective leader, and so the Confederacy suffered as a result. His war strategies did not disrupt the Union's plans, and Davis picked his generals not through merit, but through favoritism. He tried to centralize the Confederate Government at the expense of state governments, which caused tensions between the two entities, since one of the reasons the Southern states seceded was to gain more state autonomy—states rights.

Stephen Douglas

Stephen A. Douglas was a  U.S. politician, leader of the Democratic Party, and public speaker who supported  popular sovereignty in relation to the issue of slavery in  the territories before the American Civil War. He was  re-elected senator from Illinois in 1858 after a series of difficult debates with the Republican candidate, Abraham Lincoln, who defeated him  in the presidential race two years later.

Frederick Douglass

Frederick Douglass was an escaped slave who became an important leader of the abolitionist movement. Douglass was a skilled speaker and the publisher of an anti-slavery newspaper, the North Star. Douglass used his powerful speeches and sharp writing to contribute greatly to the abolitionist cause.

John Brown

John Brown was a radical abolitionist who believed himself to be God's tool for eradicating slavery.In 1859, Brown led a now infamous raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Brown and his band of men attacked a federal armory with the hopes that they could start a war to end slavery. However, Brown was captured and sentenced to death for committing treason. Northerners tended to support Brown and there's even a song about him!

George McClellan

McClellan was a U.S. Army general who commanded the Union army against the Confederates during the Civil War. Unfortunately, McClellan was overly cautious and was always reluctant to engage Confederate forces. At the time  Abraham Lincoln was angered by McClellan because he badly needed Union victories to satisfy Northern public opinion. McClellan's greatest victory was when he to defeated Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam in 1862, which gave Lincoln the opportunity to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln eventually fired McClellan, however, after the general began to criticize publicly the president’s ability to command. In 1864, McClellan ran for president as a Peace Democrat on a platform for peace against Lincoln but was defeated.

Robert E. Lee

General Robert E. Lee was the legendary Confederate army leader who lead battles such as Antietam, Chancellorsville, Vicksburg and Gettysburg.  He finally surrendered his army at Appomattox courthouse on April 9th, 1865, after Sherman's march. For more information visit:http://www.history.com/topics/robert-e-lee 

Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson

Jackson was a confederate general who was known for his fearlessness in leading rapid marches bold flanking movements and furious assaults.He earned his nickname at the battle of first bull run for standing courageously against union fire. During the battle of Chancellorsville his own men accidentally mortally wounded him. During his time he was one of the most crucial components of the Confederates offense.

P.G.T Beauregard
Beauregard was the Commander of the Confederate forces at Charleston, he was ordered by the new Confederate govt. to take Fort Sumter. When Anderson refused to give up, the Confederates attacked for two days straight until Anderson surrendered. 

William Tecumseh Sherman

A close friend of Ulysses S. Grant who served as a general in the Union army during the Civil War. Sherman, like Grant, understood that the war would only truly be won when the Union forces had broken the will of the Southern public to fight. Sherman is best known for the total war he and his expedition force waged on the South during his March to the Sea.

Ulysses S. Grant

Grant was the leading commander of the Union's army during the Civil War. He was also became the 18th president of the United States. In 1863, Grant won the Battle of Vicksburg and his strategic mind has been rated pretty well. 

Thaddeus Stevens

Thaddeus Stevens was an influential anti-slavery Radical Republican of the Reconstruction era. He was the type of radical Republican who believed in harsh punishments for the South including such ideas of the south being put under military rule before readmission. Stevens also suggested to divide plantation land and distribute it evenly to freedmen. In Congress, Stevens introduced both the Military Reconstruction Act and the Tenure of Office Act. In addition, Stevens strongly supported the impeachment of President Andrew Johnson.

Rutherford B. Hayes

Hayes became the 19th President of the United States. Came into office following the Compromise of 1877. He was a Republican president who oversaw the Reconstruction era following the Civil War and the second industrial revolution.

Benjamin Wade
Benjamin Wade was one of the most influential members of the Civil War and Reconstruction-era Senate. Wade supported the abolition of slavery and called for civil rights for freedmen. He was very critical of Lincoln and Johnson after Lincoln's passing. Because Wade was the President of the Senate, he was supposed to be next in line for presidency. But, because Johnson was not impeached, Wade did not become the 18th President.

John Wilkes Booth

John Wilkes Booth was the assassin who killed President Lincoln

Ku Klux Klan

Organized in 1866 in Tennessee, this secret organization in the southern U.S. aimed to suppress the newly acquired powers of blacks and to oppose carpetbaggers from the North, and which was responsible for many lawless and violent proceedings.