Our People

President Lincoln's leadership of the United States of America through the cataclysm of the Civil War ranks as one of the finest presidencies in American history.

As president of the Confederacy, Davis proved unable to find a strategy to defeat the better organized and more industrially developed North. Perhaps his most successful military move came in June 1862, with the appointment of Robert E. Lee to lead the Army of Northern Virginia.

Ulysses S. Grant was one of the most important figures of 19th century America. He was a quiet family man who had worked as a farmer in St. Louis, Missouri, and as a store clerk in Galena, Illinois, before the Civil War. He rose to become President Lincoln's trusted general in charge of the entire U.S. Army during the war and later a two-term president.

After stopping McClellan's push toward Richmond and sending the Army of the Potomac retreating toward Washington, Lee turned his attention to John Pope's total war on the people of Northern Virginia, which had devastated the region between Culpepper and the railroad junction at Manassas.

Joseph E. Johnston was the highest-ranking officer to resign his commission in the U.S. Army and accept a position with the Confederate Army. After successfully directing an army of Confederate troops at the First Battle of Manassas, and again on the Virginia Peninsula, Johnston was severely wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines and replaced with Robert E. Lee.

John Bell Hood holds the distinction of being one of the most rapidly promoted leaders in the Confederate military forces during the Civil War.

George Thomas was a southerner who remained loyal to the United States during the Civil War. He earned the nickname "The Rock of Chickamauga" for his stand in that battle, and later commanded the Union Army of the Cumberland.

Rising from a captain in the Corps of Engineers to commander of the Army of the Tennessee during the war, . Killed during the Battle of Atlant, McPherson was the only army commander killed in combat during the war, James B. McPherson was the only Union army commander killed in battle during the Civil War.

Simultaneously Episcopal bishop of Louisiana and Confederate general, Leonidas Polk was not a particularly effective commander, but was a personal friend of President Davis. He was also popular with his men, who mourned him greatly when he was killed by a shell in June of 1864.

Joseph Wheeler was a U.S. and later senior Confederate army officer who provided invaluable service to the Confederacy during the American Civil War. After the war, Wheeler served eight terms as a United States Congressman from Alabama and then rejoined the U.S. Army in 1898 to fight in the Spanish-American War.

Alfred R. Waud was an accomplished artist during the Civil War and in the post-war years. Waud served as an artist correspondent, first for the "New York Illustrated News" and later for "Harper's Weekly," following largely the Army of the Potomac. His sketches are some of the best examples of battlefield documentation of the American Civil War.

John and Andrew Carlin were brothers who grew up in the 1800s. As artists, they captured people and landscapes during the Civil War. Despite humble beginnings, these Deaf brothers created prominent careers as oil painters.

Miss Lucinda Hardage was the last direct link to the Civil War's Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. She was 13 years old when the war began. Her home became quarters for several Confederate officers. She gave a wealth of first-hand information to historians and other National Park officials.

Minerva Leah Rowles McClatchey was a wife, mother, author, and farmer who decided to stay in her Marietta, Georgia, home during the Civil War's Atlanta Campaign. Her diary entries give first-hand accounts of the horrors of war and the characters of men from the Union and Confederate Armies.

Emma Stephenson, formerly enslaved in the state of Kentucky, served as a nurse with the 17th Army Corps during the American Civil War. Stephenson passed away following the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain and is buried in Marietta National Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia.