In the 19th century, one of the surest ways to rise to prominence in American society was to be a war hero, like Andrew Jackson and William Henry Harrison. But few would have predicted such a destiny for Hiram Ulysses Grant, who had been a career soldier with little experience in combat and a failed businessman when the Civil War broke out in 1861.
However, while all eyes were fixed on the Eastern theater at places like Manassas, Richmond, the Shenandoah Valley and Antietam, Grant went about a steady rise up the ranks through a series of successes in the West. His victory at Fort Donelson, in which his terms to the doomed Confederate garrison earned him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant, could be considered the first major Union victory of the war, and Grant’s fame and rank only grew after that at battlefields like Shiloh and Vicksburg. Along the way, Grant nearly fell prey to military politics and the belief that he was at fault for the near defeat at Shiloh, but President Lincoln famously defended him, remarking, “I can’t spare this man. He fights.” Lincoln’s steadfastness ensured that Grant’s victories out West continued to pile up, and after Vicksburg and Chattanooga, Grant had effectively ensured Union control of the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, as well as the entire Mississippi River. At the beginning of 1864, Lincoln put him in charge of all federal armies, and he led the Army of the Potomac against Robert E. Lee in the Overland campaign, the siege of Petersburg, and famously, the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox.
Sherman spent a majority of the war out west, although it is often forgotten that he was a brigade commander at the First Battle of Bull Run, and that the Civil War actually finished with General Joseph E. Johnston surrendering to Sherman weeks after Appomattox. By 1865, Sherman was the second most popular general in the North behind Grant, and history has accorded him a strong Civil War legacy.
Nevertheless, Sherman remains controversial across much of the United States today. He was unquestionably instrumental at battles like Shiloh, his victory in the Atlanta Campaign reassured Lincoln’s reelection, and his March to the Sea revolutionized total warfare. At the same time, the South considered him akin to a terrorist, violating the norms of warfare by targeting civilians, and accuse him of needlessly burning Atlanta and Columbia. In many ways, Sherman is still the scourge of the South, nearly 160 years after he vowed to make Georgia howl.
One of the most unique and effective generals of the Civil War also happens to be one of the most overlooked. While there is a never ending stream of acclaim going to generals like Grant, Lee, and Sherman, General George H. Thomas has managed to fly under the radar, despite having an unusual background as a Southerner fighting for the Union and scoring almost inconceivable successes at Missionary Ridge, Franklin, and Nashville. Thomas also skillfully fought at Perryville, Stones River, and in Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.
Despite all of those successes, however, Thomas is best remembered as “The Rock of Chickamauga”. On September 19, 1863, a Union gaffe created a quarter-mile gap in the Union center, directly in the path of an eight-brigade (15,000 man) force led by Confederate General James Longstreet, which subsequently drove a third of the Union army from the field. While commanding general William Rosecrans retreated with those men, Thomas rallied the remaining parts of the army and formed an impromptu defensive stand on Horseshoe Ridge, holding off a series of well-executed (albeit costly) assaults until nightfall. Thomas’s heroics prevented the destruction of the Union army and allowed it to successfully retreat to Chattanooga.
