American Civil War Generals

Thomas' Legion
Introduction & How to Use this Site
Cherokee Chief William Holland Thomas
Causes and Motives: American Civil War
Organization of Union and Confederate Armies: Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery
American Civil War: Union and Confederate Navies
American Civil War: The Soldier's Life
American Civil War Battles and Battlefields
Civil War's Turning Points
Civil War Casualties, Fatalities & Statistics
Civil War Generals
American Civil War Desertion and Deserters: Union and Confederate
Aftermath and Reconstruction
Civil War Genealogy and Research Tools
American Civil War Pictures - Photographs
African Americans and the American Civil War
North Carolina in the American Civil War
Civil War Battles Fought in North Carolina
North Carolina Civil War Regiments and Battles
NORTH CAROLINA HISTORY
North Carolina Coast: American Civil War
Western North Carolina and the American Civil War
Western North Carolina Regiments and Battalions
HISTORY OF WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA
Cherokee Indians: American Civil War
HISTORY OF THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
History of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indian Nation
Cherokee Indian Heritage, History, Culture, Customs, Ceremonies, and Religion
Cherokee War Rituals, Culture, Festivals, Government, and Beliefs
Researching your Cherokee Heritage
Recommended American Indian History
North Carolina: American Civil War Photos
Thomas' Legion Papers, Diaries, and Memoirs
American Civil War Polls
Recommended Reading
Author's Recommendations: American Civil War
Civil War Video Games

Confederate and Union Generals of the American Civil War

For most of the American Civil War the Union Army assigned only two general ranks: brigadier-general and major-general. In 1864 the rank of lieutenant-general was reactivated and assigned to Ulysses Simpson Grant. The three grades were distinguished by their insignia: one star for brigadier-general, two for major-general, and three for lieutenant-general.
In 1862 there were four general grades in the Confederate Army: brigadier-general, major-general, lieutenant-general, and general being the highest attainable rank. All wore the same insignia making it impossible to identify a general's rank by his insignia. General Robert E. Lee, nevertheless, wore the insignia of colonel. During informal communication, however, each may be addressed as general.
The general grades may also be abbreviated in various forms: major-general, for example, may be abbreviated to Maj. Gen. Jones; Maj. General Jones; Maj-Gen. Jones, etc. Formerly, however, it is Major General Jones or Major-General Jones.

 
27% of North Carolina's generals were killed-in-action; the generals truly led by example and they epitomized the adage and embodied the motto: "I shall never request my men do what I, myself, would not."
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Recommended Reading: Generals in Gray Lives of the Confederate Commander (Hardcover). Description: When Generals in Gray was published in 1959, scholars and critics immediately hailed it as one of the few indispensable books on the American Civil War. Historian Stanley Horn, for example, wrote, "It is difficult for a reviewer to restrain his enthusiasm in recommending a monumental book of this high quality and value." Here at last is the paperback edition of Ezra J. Warner’s magnum opus with its concise, detailed biographical sketches and—in an amazing feat of research—photographs of all 425 Confederate generals. Continued below...

The only exhaustive guide to the South’s command, Generals in Gray belongs on the shelf of anyone interested in the Civil War. RATED 5 STARS!

 

Recommended Reading: Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders (Hardcover). Description: More than forty years after its original publication, Ezra J. Warner’s Generals in Blue is now available in paperback for the first time. Warner’s classic reference work includes intriguing biographical sketches and a rare collection of photos of all 583 men who attained the rank of general in the Union Army. Here are the West Point graduates and the political appointees; the gifted, the mediocre, and the inexcusably bad; those of impeccable virtue and those who abused their position; the northern-born, the foreign-born, and the southerners who remained loyal to the Union. Continued below...

Warner’s valuable introduction discusses the criteria for appointment and compares the civilian careers of both Union and Confederate generals, revealing striking differences in the two groups. Generals in Blue is that rare book—an essential volume for scholars, a prized item for buffs, and a biographical dictionary that the casual reader will find absorbing.
 

Recommended Reading: Civil War High Commands (1040 pages: Hardcover). Description: Based on nearly five decades of research, this magisterial work is a biographical register and analysis of the people who most directly influenced the course of the Civil War, its high commanders. Numbering 3,396, they include the presidents and their cabinet members, state governors, general officers of the Union and Confederate armies (regular, provisional, volunteers, and militia), and admirals and commodores of the two navies. Civil War High Commands will become a cornerstone reference work on these personalities and the meaning of their commands, and on the Civil War itself. Errors of fact and interpretation concerning the high commanders are legion in the Civil War literature, in reference works as well as in narrative accounts. The present work brings together for the first time in one volume the most reliable facts available, drawn from more than 1,000 sources and including the most recent research. The biographical entries include complete names, birthplaces, important relatives, education, vocations, publications, military grades, wartime assignments, wounds, captures, exchanges, paroles, honors, and place of death and interment. Continued below...

In addition to its main component, the biographies, the volume also includes a number of essays, tables, and synopses designed to clarify previously obscure matters such as the definition of grades and ranks; the difference between commissions in regular, provisional, volunteer, and militia services; the chronology of military laws and executive decisions before, during, and after the war; and the geographical breakdown of command structures. The book is illustrated with 84 new diagrams of all the insignias used throughout the war and with 129 portraits of the most important high commanders.

 
Recommended Reading: Rebels and Yankees: Commanders of the Civil War (Hardcover), by William C. Davis (Author), Russ A. Pritchard (Author). Description: Davis and Pritchard have created a wonderful work that is sure to become a hit with anyone who studies the Civil War. This book uses words and a generous amount of pictures and photographs to tell the story of the leaders, both talented and flawed, that held together the two struggling armies in a time of chaos and devastating loss. Continued below...

Although many of the stories have been told in one form or another.... Commanders compiles this study in a single book that makes it very easy to compare and contrast the styles and techniques employed by officers of both armies. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it.

 
Recommended Reading: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Volume 6 (Battles & Leaders of the Civil War) (632 pages) (University of Illinois Press) (May 30, 2007). Description: Sifting carefully through reports from newspapers, magazines, personal memoirs, and letters, Peter Cozzens' Volume 6 brings readers more of the best first-person accounts of marches, encampments, skirmishes, and full-blown battles, as seen by participants on both sides of the conflict. Alongside the experiences of lower-ranking officers and enlisted men are accounts from key personalities including General John Gibbon, General John C. Lee, and seven prominent generals from both sides offering views on "why the Confederacy failed." Continued below...
This volume includes one hundred and twenty illustrations, including sixteen previously uncollected maps of battlefields, troop movements, and fortifications.
 
Recommended Reading: Who Was Who in the Civil War (600 pages: Hardcover), by Stewart Sifakis. Description: It provides biographical sketches of all the major participants of the Civil War: Generals, politicians and even famous - or infamous - characters such as Jesse James and Bloody Bill Anderson. RATED A SOLID 5 STARS. Continued...

 

Recommended Reading: Who Was Who in the Union, by Stewart Sifakis. Description: It provides more than 1500 biographical sketches of all the major Union participants of the Civil War.

 

Recommended Reading: Who Was Who in the Confederacy, by Stewart Sifakis. Description: It provides biographical sketches of all the major Confederate participants of the Civil War.

Civil War Generals List of Union Confederate Generals, Details of American Civil War Generals Photos, Photo, Pictures, Photographs, History, Generals Killed, Wounded, Summary, Facts, General Biography Diary

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