Transcript The Generals for the North

Featuring:
Nathaniel Banks,
Ulysses Simpson Grant,
And George Brinton McClellan.
Joseph Hooker,
By Lewis Trujillo
State and territory boundaries, 1864-1865
Union=“North”
Confederate=“South”
•Union States
•Union
Territories, Not
Permitting
Slavery
•Border Union
States,
Permitting
Slavery
•Bleeding
Kansas, Entered
Union
•Confederate
States
•Union
Territories
Permitting
Slavery
In the United States Army, a Major General is a
high-ranking officer who can give commands
to a division of 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers and
is capable of fully independent field
operation.
"Major General" is generally
considered to be a two star
rank
Major General shoulder strap rank
insignia for the United States Army
Born on January 30, 1816, and first child of Nathaniel P. Banks,
Sr., and Rebecca Greenwood Banks, Nathaniel was born and
raised in Waltham, Massachusetts. At the young age of 23,
Nathaniel studied law with political mentor Robert Rantoul and
was admitted to the bar. With his great energy and ability to
captivate his audience, he soon gained recognition and
distinction that jump started his political career. Nathaniel
served as a Democrat in the Massachusetts House of
Representatives from 1849 to 1853, and was speaker in 1851
and 1852; he was president of the state Constitutional
Convention of 1853, and in the same year was elected to the
United States House of Representatives as a coalition
candidate of Democrats and Free-Soilers. After the dissolution
of the Free Soil Party in 1853, Nathaniel joined the KnowNothing Party, where he was reelected to Congress in 1854.
Early on, Nathaniel shared anti-slavery sentiment, and thus he
joined the Republican Party in 1855. Banks made a run for the
presidential nomination in the election of 1860, but lost to the
future President Abraham Lincoln.
As the Civil War became imminent,
President Abraham Lincoln
considered Nathaniel for a cabinet
post, and eventually chose him as one
of the first major generals of
volunteers, appointing him on May
16, 1861. Major General Banks
brought political benefits to the
administration, including the ability
to attract recruits and money for the
Federal cause. General Major Banks
joined forces with General U.S. Grant
at Vicksburg, Mississippi in the
summer of 1863. From here, Banks
led some 30,000 Union troops to
defend Port Hudson, Louisiana;
though the Confederate forces held
off Banks' men for nearly fifty days,
the Union soldiers gained control of
the Mississippi River under his
direction.
In the fall of that year, General
Major Banks organized two
expeditions to Texas in order to
block any aid to the
Confederate troops there.
Major General Banks' final
participation in the Civil War
was in the Red River Campaign
in Louisiana. This campaign was
a failure for the Union forces
and ended Major General
Banks' time service in the Civil
War; Banks spent the
remaining months of the war in
Washington, D.C. preparing
plans for reconstruction in
Louisiana. Nathaniel Prentiss
Banks died on September 1,
1894 at the age of 78.
Ulysses S. Grant, born Hiram Ulysses Grant, was born to Jesse
Root Grant, and Hannah Simpson Grant in Point Pleasant,
Ohio. At the age of 17, Ulysses entered the United States
Military Academy at West Point, New York, after securing a
nomination through his U.S. Congressman, Thomas L.
Hamer, who nominated him as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio“ in
error. Grant adopted the form of his new name with middle
initial only. Because "U.S." also stands for "Uncle Sam,“ his
nickname between him and his fellow army colleagues was
“Sam” for that. He graduated from the United States Military
Academy in 1843, ranking 21st in a class of 39. At the
academy, he established a reputation as a fearless and expert
horseman. Although this made him seem a natural for
cavalry, he was assigned to duty as a regimental
quartermaster, managing supplies and equipment. From
1846 to 1848, Lieutenant Grant served in the MexicanAmerican War. Serving under Generals Zachary Taylor and
Winfield Scott, he got close enough to the front lines to see
action, participating in the battles of Resaca de la Palma,
Palo Alto, Monterrey, and Veracruz. Grant was twice
brevetted for bravery: at Molino del Rey and Chapultepec.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Grant was working in his father's leather
store in Galena, Illinois. He was appointed by the Governor to command an
unruly volunteer regiment. Grant whipped it into shape and by September
1861 he had risen to the rank of brigadier general of volunteers. In
February 1862 he took Fort Henry and attacked Fort Donelson. When the
Confederate commander asked for terms, Grant replied, "No terms except
an unconditional and immediate surrender can be accepted." The
Confederates surrendered, and President Lincoln promoted Grant to
major general of volunteers. At Shiloh in April, Grant fought one of the
bloodiest battles in the West and came out less well. President Lincoln
fended off demands for his removal by saying, "I can't spare this man--he
fights."For his next major objective, Grant maneuvered and fought
skillfully to win Vicksburg, the key city on the Mississippi, and thus cut the
Confederacy in two. Then he broke the Confederate hold on Chattanooga.
Lincoln appointed him General-in-Chief in March 1864. Grant directed
Sherman to drive through the South while he himself, with the Army of
the Potomac, pinned down Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.
Finally, on April 9, 1865, at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered.
Grant wrote out terms of surrender that would prevent treason trials.
Grant was elected the 18th President of the United States in 1868, and was
re-elected to the office in 1872. Grant served as President from March 4,
1869, to March 4, 1877. Ulysses Simpson Grant died July 23, 1885, at the
age of 63 in Mount McGregor, New York.
Joseph Hooker was born on
November 13, 1814 in Hadley,
Massachusetts and grandson of a
captain in the American
Revolutionary War. He graduated
from the United States Military
Academy in 1837, ranked 29th out
of a class of 50, and was
commissioned a second lieutenant
in the 1st U.S. Artillery. He served
in the Mexican-American War in
staff positions in the campaigns of
both Zachary Taylor and Winfield
Scott. He received brevet
promotions for his staff leadership
and gallantry in three battles:
Monterrey, National Bridge , and
Chapultepec. After the war, he
served as assistant adjutant
general of the Pacific Division, but
resigned his commission in 1853;
his military reputation had been
damaged when he testified against
his former commander, General
Scott, in the court-martial for
insubordination of Gideon Pillow.
Hooker settled in Sonoma County
after he resigned. When living in
Sonoma, he stood for election to
represent the region in the
California legislature but was
defeated by James Bennett of
Santa Rosa. In 1858, he wrote to
Secretary of War John B. Floyd to
request that his name "be
presented to the president
Buchanan as a candidate for a
lieutenant colonelcy", but nothing
came of his request. From 1859 to
1861, he held a commission as a
colonel in the California militia.
When the Civil War broke out in 1861, Hooker was made brigadier
general of volunteers and commanded troops defending Washington.
He was assigned command of a division in the Army of the Potomac
during the Peninsula Campaign in early 1862 and promoted to major
general of volunteers in May. In the reorganization of the army at the
beginning of the Maryland Campaign in September, Hooker was
assigned command of the I Corps, which he led in the Battle of
Antietam on 17 September. Soon afterward he was promoted to
brigadier general in the Regular Army. In January 1863 he was
assigned command of the Army of the Potomac and led that force to
defeat at the Battle of Chancellorsville, 1-4 May 1863. In late June,
after the War Department refused his request for additional troops
from the garrison at Harper's Ferry, Hooker asked to be relieved of
the army command-his request was immediately accepted. In
September Hooker was transferred to the Western Theater, where he
commanded the XI and XII Corps. In July 1864, when one of Hooker's
subordinates was promoted over him, Hooker was relieved at his own
request. For the remainder of the war he was assigned various
departmental commands. Hooker remained on active duty until 1868,
when he was retired for disability contracted in the line of duty.
Joseph Hooker died October 31, 1879 in Garden City, New York
George B. McClellan was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on
December 3, 1826. He was the third of five children born to Dr.
George and Elizabeth McClellan. Young George entered school at
the age of 5. He attended private schools and a prep school before
entering the Military Academy at West Point in 1842. At the age of
15, he was the youngest of the West Point arrivals that year to seek a
place as fourth classman. In 1846, he had earned the distinction of
graduating second in his class of 59. Upon graduation, George
McClellan was appointed 2nd Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers.
In the Mexican War, he won brevets of 1st Lieutenant and Captain for
his zeal, gallantry, and ability in constructing roads and bridges over
routes for the marching army. He was also an instructor at West
Point for 3 years. McClellan's other accomplishments include
surveyor of possible transcontinental railroad routes. As a member
of a board of officers, he was sent abroad to study the armies of
Europe and observe the Crimean War. In 1857 McClellan resigned his
army commission to become chief engineer of the Illinois Central
Railroad. Five years later, when the Civil War broke out, he was
president of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad.
McClellan entered the war as a major general of volunteers. He was assigned
command of the army at Washington and in November became general in chief of
the Army. His departure as field commander resulted in his being relieved of
command as general in chief on 11 March. During the Peninsula Campaign
McClellan greatly overestimated the number of Confederates defending their
capital and constantly asked the government for additional men in order to
advance. Unable to provide the thousands of men requested, the War Department
in early August ordered McClellan to withdraw his army from the peninsula. The
Army of the Potomac was to unite with the Army of Virginia under Maj. Gen. John
Pope. In late August, however, before all of McClellan's forces could join with Pope,
the Army of Virginia was defeated at Second Bull Run. In early September Lee
crossed the Potomac River into Maryland, and McClellan was tasked with leading
the reorganized Army of the Potomac north. He confronted the Confederates along
Antietam Creek near Sharpsburg. On 17 September the two armies fought to a draw
in the Battle of Antietam, and two days later Lee withdrew back to Virginia.
McClellan failed to pursue the Confederates and remained on the battlefield until
early November, reorganizing his command and requesting reinforcements. This
delay prompted his dismissal as army commander. After running unsuccessfully for
president in 1864, McClellan and his family sailed to Europe, not returning for threeand-a-half years. McClellan served as governor of New Jersey from 1878-1881.
George Brinton McClellan died October 29, 1885 at the age of 58 in Orange,
New Jersey.
And that’s how the cookie crumbles
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Wikipedia.org
CivilWar.com
ThomasLegion.net
TeacherOz.com
AmericanCivilWar.com