Important People of the Civil War
Harriet Beecher Stowe, born in Litchfield, Connecticut was a well known anti-slavery author. Her most most famous work, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, hastened the division of the United States. The book was widely acclaimed in the abolitionist North, but was absolutely hated in the South. In 1836, Harriet Beecher was married to Calvin Ellis Stowe; they had seven children together.
A senator of Massachusetts and abolitionist, Charles Sumner worked to free slaves, keep pro-slavery politicians out of power, and provide civil rights for African Americans his entire career. After delivering an especially harsh speech against slavery in 1856, he was attacked and beaten by Preston Brooks, because of an insult against the latter’s pro-slavery uncle. Sumner died of a heart attack at his home in Washington, D.C.
John Brown gathered abolitionist volunteers and attempted to start the liberation of slaves by force. He and his men attempted to seize weapons from the armory of Harper’s Ferry, but were unsuccessful. Brown was captured and convicted of treason, and later hanged. His actions helped fuel the fire that started the Civil War.
Stephen Douglas ran against Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election. He authored the Kansas-Nebraska act that instituted popular sovereignty, nullifying the Missouri Compromise. Douglas’ attitude towards slavery was rather indifferent.
Abraham Lincoln, in office as the sixteenth president of the United States from March 4, 1861 until his assassination, was undoubtedly the most influential person of the Civil War era. He kept the southern states from seceding from the Union, and issued the Emancipation Proclamation, ending slavery permanently. He gave his most famous speech, the Gettysburg Address, in 1863.
Jefferson Davis was the president of the Confederacy throughout the war, although he was not a very competent leader. His ineffective methods and practices only debilitated the Confederate cause. Even among Southerners, he was not especially popular. He was imprisoned for two years after the war, but was eventually released.
Ulysses S. Grant was the commanding general of the Union army, and later the eighteenth president of the United States. During the war, he oversaw the battles of Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and others, and eventually secured the defeat of the Confederate army.
General Robert E. Lee was the commander of the Confederate army during the war. Southerners often thought of him as their leader rather than Jefferson Davis. General Lee led the Confederates to many victories in the early years of the war, but eventually, the Union began to retaliate. After his failure at the Battle of Gettysburg, the outcome of the war was clear. General Lee surrendered to General Grant after the battle at Appomattox Court House on April 9, 1865.
William Tecumseh Sherman was a Union general and an exceptional strategist. He is known for his success in the Savannah Campaign, in which he captured Atlanta and marched through Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina. He is also notorious for his scorched earth approach, completely obliterating everything in his armies’ path.