Favourite American Civil War: General?

[Gokiller]

Names say's it all.

Mine would be obviously General, Stonewall Jackson,

Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia. He entered West Point in July 1842 and, in spite of his poor childhood education, worked hard to graduate seventeenth in his class in 1846. Upon graduation, Jackson was sent on military duty to Mexico, and continued his service in the United States Army in positions in New York and Florida. In 1851, Jackson became professor of artillery tactics and natural philosophy at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia. He resigned from the army as of February 29, 1852.

Jackson's summer vacations from teaching were often spent vacationing in the North and in Europe where his interests were aroused in art and culture rather than military or political aspects. This somewhat calm, domestic period in his life came to a close on April 21, 1861 when he was ordered to go to Richmond as part of the cadet corps. Since military aspirations had faded from his life, he was virtually unknown in this sphere.

It was during the Battle of Bull Run in the Civil War when Jackson assumed his nickname. Amidst the tumult of battle, Brigadeer-General Barnard E. Bee stated, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall." As the war continued, Jackson continually impressed his Confederate compatriots with his skill on the battlefield and in planning conferences. He distinguished himself in the Valley campaign of early 1862, the Battle of second Manassas in August 1862, and the Battle of Fredericksburg in December 1862. Jackson was a Southern hero, and in spite of his eccentricities, he was loved and respected by his soldiers. He strictly observed the Sabbath, and his religiousity was constant in all facets of his life.

On May 2, 1863, in his last march of the Civil War, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire. He died of pneumonia several days later on May 10 at Guiney's Station, Virginia. His body was carried to Richmond and then to Lexington where it was buried. It is said that The Army of Northern Virginia never fully recovered from the loss of Stonewall Jackson's leadership in battle. General Robert E. Lee believed Jackson was irreplacable.

And from you guy's?

[Svensson]

Winfield Scott Hancock, of course.

<3

[Tali]

Whilst Not technically a General, Lt Col Rufus Dawes is my vote.

[Pinball Wizard]

General Pickett, lowest in his class at college 

[Furrnox]

Lee.

[Friedrich]

Major General John F. Reynolds

One of the most highly esteemed of Union corps commanders, John F. Reynolds was destined to fall in the defense of his native state. The Pennsylvanian West Pointer (1841) had been posted to the artillery with which he won two Mexican War brevets. In the interwar period he was an instructor and commandant of cadets at his alma mater and upon the outbreak of the Civil War was made second in command of one of the newly authorized regular army infantry regiments.
       His assignments included: captain, 3rd Artillery (since March 3, 1855); lieutenant colonel, 14th Infantry (May 14, 186 1); brigadier general, USV (August 20, 1861); commanding lst Brigade, McCall's Division, Army of the Potomac (October 3, 186 1-March 13, 1862); commanding 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, lst Corps, Army of the Potomac (March 13-April 4, 1862); commanding 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Department of the Rappahannock (April 4-June 12, 1862); commanding 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 5th Corps, Army of the Potomac (June 18-27, 1862); commanding 3rd Division, 3rd Corps, Army of Virginia (August 26-September 12, 1862); commanding Pennsylvania Militia (September 13-ca. 29, 1862); commanding lst Corps, Army of the Potomac (September 29, 1862-January 2, 1863, January 4-March 1, and March 9-July 1, 1863); major general, USV (November 29, 1862); colonel, 5th Infantry (June 1, 1863); and commanding Left Wing (lst, 3rd, and 11th Corps), Army of the Potomac (June 30-July 1, 1863).
       He was assigned to the command of a brigade of the Pennsylvania Reserves which he trained in the Washington area. After service in northern Virginia, the division was moved to the Peninsula where during the Seven Days it made a stout defense at Beaver Dam Creek. The next day the command was again engaged at Gaines' Mill and following the close of the action Reynolds fell asleep after being cut off from his troops. Captured the next morning, he was exchanged on August 13, 1862, in time to command the Pennsylvania Reserves in the defeat at 2nd Bull Run.
       At the request of Pennsylvania's Governor Andrew G. Curtin,Reynolds was detached and assigned to organize the state militia during the panic occasioned by Lee's invasion of Maryland. He thus missed the fighting at Antietam but returned to command the corps at Fredericksburg where one of his divisions, under George G. Meade, made the only breach in the Confederate lines, albeit temporary.
       His corps played only a minor role at Chancellorsville, and he became disgusted with Hooker's leadership. By now a major general and senior corps commander, he heard rumors of his pending appointment to command of the Army of the Potomac. He rushed to Washington and in a meeting with Lincoln declared that he would not accept the post unless the usual strings from the capital were severed. Thus Meade ended up in command of the army and Reynolds was in charge of three corps on the first day at Gettysburg.
       With his command heavily outnumbered on the field, he realized that he had to reinforce the position being held by John Buford's troopers. While placing the first of his infantry in line he was instantly killed by a Confederate shot. Accounts vary as to whether it was a stray bullet or one from a sharpshooter. As the ambulance carrying his body passed by the troops advancing to the victory-which he had done so much to make possible it cast a pall of sadness over the regiments. (Roland, Charles P., Toward Gettysburg: A Biography of John F. Riynolds No. 186)

But there are many others as well! 

[JD]

John Hunt Morgan

Civil War Confederate Brigadier General. Born in Alabama, he first joined the military as 1st Lieutenant with the 1st Kentucky Volunteer Infantry during the Mexican War. After serving and seeing combat (unlike large numbers of volunteer commissioned officers) he became a merchant in Lexington, Kentucky, raised the Lexington Rifles Militia unit in 1857. While Kentucky did not officially secede during the Civil War he paved his way into war history by being a fierce fighter and war hero for the Confederacy, even though it was noted that he had some disdain for the advice of superior officers and frequently charged his own raids as he saw fit. After throwing his lot in with the Confederacy, he was assigned first as Captain of Morgan's Kentucky Cavalry Squadron in 1861. His command was led through central Kentucky raids and he was promoted to Colonel and commander of the 2nd Kentucky (CSA) Cavalry after the Battle of Shiloh (his rank to date from April 4, 1862). By November 1862 he was placed in command of a brigade of cavalry in the Army of Tennessee. He raided further and at one time coincided with the efforts of General Nathan Bedford Forrest which kept Union forces led by Major General Don Carlos Buell from advancing in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Having been promoted to Brigadier General, PACS on December 11, 1862, he further spent the spring of 1863 raiding in Kentucky. From that point until his end, he led brigades (and one time a division) in several Confederate Departments (ultimately commanding the Departments of East Tennessee and Southwest Virgina from June 22 to August 30, 1864). He was lauded by the Confederate Congress for his exploits and success. He continued his raiding and in violation of a direct order not to cross the Ohio River took his troops into Indiana and moved further into Ohio causing widespread Union Concern. Morgan was captured by the Union army near New Lisbon, Ohio and taken prisoner on July 26, 1863 after a 25 day raid. Nearly all under his command had been taken prisoner as well. He was held in the Ohio State Penitentiary until his escape in late November of 1863 only to resume his position and be placed in command in the Eastern Tennessee region. In a surprise attack on September 4, 1864, he was killed at Greeneville, Tennessee in the garden of the house where he was sleeping the night before by a detachment of Union cavalry.

I actually live near where he died at, and have driven past the church that he was shot under dozens (if not hundreds) of times.

[Doctor Scherzando]

Longstreet. Not a perfect General, but a cautious one when at Gettysburg.

[Hekko]

Hancock for obvious reasons

[Lamarr]

Brigadier General William E. Starke

A Virginian, Starke commanded his Brigade along with the force under Stonewall Jackson as they marched to Sharpsburg, Maryland. After the bloody fighting in the infamous cornfield, a Union Brigade began advancing, pushing aside Jackson's men. They were halted by a charge of 1,150 men from Starke's Brigade. The confederates had to withdraw after taking heavy return fire, and Starke was shot 3 times, dying within the hour. On that fateful morning of September 17, 1862, a man with a severe lack of military education who achieved greatness by commanding the famed "Stonewall Division" was killed in action during the Battle of Antietam. Starke was buried in Richmond, Virginia next to his son who was killed two months earlier at the Battle of Seven Pines.

I cannot forbear doing but scant justice to a gallant soldier now no more. It was my fortune during the two days of battle, during which he commanded the division, to be thrown constantly in contact with Brigadier-General Starke. The buoyant dash with which he led his brigade into the most withering fire on Friday, though then in command of the division; the force he showed in the handling of this command; the coolness and judgment which distinguished him in action, made him to me a marked man, and I regretted his early death as a great loss to the army and the cause.

His name deserves lasting remembrance in association with the Stonewall division.

[Frederickson]

John Hunt Morgan.

[darthrobocop]

Gouverneur K. Warren

At the start of the war, Warren was a first lieutenant and mathematics instructor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, across the Hudson River from his hometown. He helped raise a local regiment for service in the Union Army and was appointed lieutenant colonel of the 5th New York Infantry on May 14, 1861. Warren and his regiment saw their first combat at the Battle of Big Bethel in Virginia on June 10, arguably the first major land engagement of the war. He was promoted to colonel and regimental commander on September 10.
In the 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Warren commanded his regiment at the Siege of Yorktown and also assisted the chief topographical engineer of the Army of the Potomac, Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys, by leading reconnaissance missions and drawing detailed maps of appropriate routes for the army in its advance up the Virginia Peninsula. He commanded a brigade (3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, V Corps) during the Seven Days Battles and was wounded in the knee at the Battle of Gaines' Mill, although he refused to be taken from the field. At the Battle of Malvern Hill, his brigade stopped the attack of a Confederate division. He continued to lead the brigade at the Second Battle of Bull Run, suffering heavy casualties in a heroic stand against an overwhelming enemy assault, and at Antietam, where V Corps was in reserve and saw no combat.

Commanders of the Army of the Potomac, Gouverneur K. Warren, William H. French, George G. Meade, Henry J. Hunt, Andrew A. Humphreys and George Sykes in September 1863.
Warren was promoted to brigadier general on September 26, 1862, and he and his brigade fought in the Battle of Fredericksburg in December. When Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker reorganized the Army of the Potomac in February 1863, he named Warren his chief topographical engineer and then chief engineer. As chief engineer, Warren was commended for his service in the Battle of Chancellorsville.

[Winfield S. Hancock]

I think it is more than obvious. Just look at my profile name. Anyway...



"Hancock stands the most conspicuous figure of all the general officers who did not exercise a separate command. He commanded a corps longer than any other one, and his name was never mentioned as having committed in battle a blunder for which he was responsible. He was a man of very conspicuous personal appearance.... His genial disposition made him friends, and his personal courage and his presence with his command in the thickest of the fight won for him the confidence of troops serving under him. No matter how hard the fight, the II corps always felt that their commander was looking after them."
—Ulysses S. Grant, Personal Memoirs

[Duuring]

I kinda like Stuart, with his dashing cavalry look and behavior.   

[Pinball Wizard]

I kinda like Stuart, with his dashing cavalry look and behavior.   

He screwed over the confederates at Gettsyburg though. Other then that mainly he was a very good general.