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Military Personnel

Confederate States Army

Army of Tennessee Commanders

Click on the down arrow at the bottom of each photo to reveal the soldier's name. Click in the middle of the photo to access his full biography.

Jefferson Finis Davis

Born: June 3, 1808, Fairview, KYDied: December 6, 1889, New Orleans, LA
American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865.
As a member of the Democratic Party, he represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives before the American Civil War. He previously served as the United States Secretary of War from 1853 to 1857 under President Franklin Pierce.
In December 1889, Davis died of acute bronchitis in New Orleans. Some 200,000 people lined that city’s streets for his funeral, held in Metairie Cemetery. In 1893, Davis’ body was relocated and reinterred in Hollywood Cemetery, located in the former Confederate capital of Richmond.

Joseph Eggleston Johnston

Born: February 3, 1807, Farmville, VADied: March 21, 1891, Washington, D.C.
U.S. military officer who served as a Confederate general during the Civil War (1861-65).
A veteran of the Mexican-American War (1846-48), Johnston entered the Civil War as one of the South’s senior officers and was appointed a full general. He won an early victory at the First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas) in July 1861, but was later criticized for being quick to retreat during the early stages of the Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862. Johnston was severely wounded at the Battle of Seven Pines in June 1862, and was subsequently replaced by Robert E. Lee.
He later commanded Confederate forces in the Western Theater, where he clashed with President Jefferson Davis over his cautious strategy during the Vicksburg and Atlanta Campaigns. Johnston surrendered to General William T. Sherman in North Carolina in April 1865.After the war, he worked as a railroad executive and insurance agent, and served a term in the U.S. Congress.
On July 17, 1864, just days before Sherman and the Union Army would cross the Chattahoochee River on their march to Atlanta, Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, replaced Johnston with John Bell Hood as the commander of the Army of Tennessee.
When Sherman died, Johnston served as an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. During the procession in New York City on February 19, 1891, he kept his hat off as a sign of respect, although the weather was cold and rainy. Someone concerned for his health asked him to put on his hat, to which Johnston replied, "If I were in his place, and he were standing here in mine, he would not put on his hat."
He did catch a cold that day, which developed into pneumonia and Johnston died ten days later in Washington, D.C. He was buried next to his wife in Green Mount Cemetery, Baltimore, MD.

John Bell Hood

Born: June 29, 1831, Owingsville, KYDied: August 30, 1879, New Orleans, LA
U.S. military officer who served as a Confederate general during the Civil War.
A graduate of West Point, Hood joined the Confederacy in 1861 and gained a reputation as a talented field commander during the Peninsula Campaign and the Second Battle of Bull Run in 1862. Hood served as a division commander at the Battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and lost a leg and the use of one of his arms after being severely wounded at the Battles of Gettysburg and Chickamauga in 1863.
His classmates at West Point, his classmates included James B. McPherson and John M. Schofield, while he received instruction in artillery from George Henry Thomas. These three men all became Union Army generals who would later oppose Hood in battle during the Civil War.
Promoted to full general in 1864, Hood served in independent command over the Army of Tennessee during the Atlanta Campaign. His aggressive tactics ultimately proved futile against William T. Sherman’s larger Union force, and Hood later suffered a series of bitter defeats during the Franklin-Nashville Campaign in late 1864.
After the Civil War Hood worked as a cotton broker and insurance agent in Louisiana. He died in 1879 at the age of 48.

William Joseph Hardee

Born: October 12, 1815, Camden County, GADied: November 6, 1873, Wytheville, VA
Career U.S. Army and Confederate States Army officer. In the Atlanta campaign, Hardee commanded a corps in the Army of Tennessee, first under Johnston and then under General John Bell Hood.
On July 21, Hood sent Hardee and his four divisions (led by Bates, Cleburne, Maney & Wheeler) on a 15-mile night march designed to attack McPherson's left flank from the rear in a surprise attack.
Hardee later commanded the Confederate forces that unsuccessfully defended Savannah against Union general William T. Sherman in December 1864, after his march to the sea.
After the war, Hardee and his wife and family settled on her plantation. After getting the plantation back to working condition, the family moved to Selma, Alabama, where Hardee worked in the warehouse and insurance businesses. He eventually became president of the Selma and Meridian Railroad. He fell ill at the family’s summer retreat at White Sulfur Springs, West Virginia, and he died in Wytheville, Virginia, in 1873.

Hardee's Division Commanders

William Brimage Bate

Born: October 7, 1826, Castalian Springs, TNDied: March 9, 1905, Washington, D.C.
Confederate officer and politician in Tennessee. After the Reconstruction era, he served as the 23rd governor of Tennessee from 1883 to 1887. He was elected to the United States Senate from Tennessee, serving from 1887 until his death.
During the Civil War, he had fought for the Confederacy, eventually rising to the rank of major general and commanding a division in the Army of Tennessee. Bate saw action in multiple engagements throughout the war, and was seriously wounded on two occasions.
Bate led one of the four divisions that went on "Hardee's Night March" on July 21, 1864.
As a result of his service in the Chattanooga Campaign, Bate was promoted to major general on February 24, 1864. That summer, his division took part in the Atlanta Campaign, and saw action at the battles of Resaca, New Hope Church, Kennesaw Mountain, and Peachtree Creek, as well as the main Battle of Atlanta on July 22. At the Battle of Utoy Creek on August 6, Bate used a deception plan that foiled the main Union attack. He was shot in the knee in a skirmish at Willis' Grist Mill near Atlanta on August 10, and was bedridden in Barnesville, Georgia, for several weeks.

Patrick Ronayne Cleburne

Born: March 16, 1828, Ovens, IrelandDied: November 30, 1864, Franklin, TN
senior officer of the Confederate States Army who commanded infantry in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
Born in Ireland, Cleburne served in the 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot of the British Army after failing to gain entrance into Trinity College of Medicine, Dublin in 1846. He served at Fort Westmorland on Spike Island and was present on the island in 1849 when Queen Victoria visited Cork Harbour. Three years after joining the Army, he immigrated to the United States.
At the beginning of the Civil War, Cleburne sided with the Confederate States. He progressed from being a private soldier in the local militia to a division commander. Cleburne participated in many unsuccessful military campaigns, especially the Battle of Stones River, the Battle of Missionary Ridge and the Battle of Ringgold Gap. He was also present at the Battle of Shiloh. Known as the "Stonewall of the West", he was killed leading his men at the Battle of Franklin.
Cleburne led one of the four divisions that went on "Hardee's Night March" on July 21, 1864.
Prior to the campaigning season of 1864, Cleburne became engaged to Susan Tarleton of Mobile, Alabama. Their marriage was never to be, as Cleburne was killed during an ill-conceived assault (which he opposed) on Union fortifications at the Battle of Franklin, just south of Nashville, Tennessee, on November 30, 1864. He was last seen advancing on foot toward the Union line with his sword raised, after his horse was shot out from under him.
Cleburne's strategic use of terrain, his ability to hold ground where others failed, and his talent in foiling the movements of the enemy earned him fame, and gained him the nickname "Stonewall of the West." Federal troops were quoted as dreading to see the blue flag of Cleburne's Division across the battlefield. General Robert E. Lee referred to him as "a meteor shining from a clouded sky".
William Jospeh Hardee, Cleburne's former corps commander, had this to say when he learned of his loss: "Where this division defended, no odds broke its line; where it attacked, no numbers resisted its onslaught, save only once; and there is the grave of Cleburne."

George Earl Maney

Born: August 24, 1826, Franklin, TNDied: February 9, 1901, Washington, D.C.
Brigadier-General George Earl Maney was an American soldier, politician, railroad executive and diplomat. He was a general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War and a post-bellum U.S. ambassador to Colombia, Bolivia, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
Maney was born in Franklin, TN, to Judge Thomas Maney and his wife. His father was a prominent newspaper editor and circuit judge. Young Maney attended the Nashville Seminary before graduating from the University of Nashville in 1845 at the age of 19.
In 1864, Maney commanded a division in William J. Hardee's corps during the Atlanta Campaign.
Gen. Maney led one of the four divisions that went on "Hardee's Night March" on July 21, 1864.
He was captured in August and later released, but he did not return to active field duty because of problems with his wounded arm. Hardee recommended that Maney be promoted to major general, but the request was not fulfilled. Maney surrendered following the Carolinas Campaign and was paroled on May 1, 1865, at Greensboro, NC.
General George Maney died in Washington, D.C., from a cerebral hemorrhage. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Nashville, TN.

William Henry Talbot Walker

Born: November 26, 1816, Augusta, GADied: July 22, 1864, Atlanta, GA
Career United States Army officer who fought with distinction during the Mexican-American War, and also served as a Confederate general during the American Civil War. Walker was severely wounded many times in combat, and was killed in action during the Battle of Atlanta in what is the Parkview neighborhood of Atlanta.
Gen. Walker led one of the four divisions that went on "Hardee's Night March" on July 21, 1864. He mortally wounded as he and his men emerged from the Sugar Creek Valley after marching all night. You will find a monument marking the location of his death in the 'Glenwood Triangle,' which is located at the intersection of Glenwood Drive and Wilkerson Dr, at the southern end of DeKalb Memorial Park.
Walker is buried in the Walker Cemetery, located at Augusta University in Georgia.

Cheatham's Division Commanders

Benjamin Franklin Cheatham

Born: October 20, 1820, Nashville, TNDied: September 4, 1886, Nashville, TN
Tennessee planter, California gold miner, and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He served in the Army of Tennessee, inflicting many casualties on Gen. Sherman at Kennesaw Mountain, Georgia, but taking the blame for General Schofield's escape at Spring Hill, Tennessee – a major factor in the Confederate defeat at Franklin, Tennessee.
Cheatham joined the Confederate States Army as a brigadier general on May 9, 1861, from Stockton, CA, becoming one of at least four generals from California who served the Confederacy in the war.
In 1864, Cheatham fought well in the Atlanta Campaign under General Joseph E. Johnston, and later Lt. Gen. John Bell Hood, inflicting heavy casualties on William T. Sherman's Union Army at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, and was wounded at the Battle of Ezra Church. He took over command of Hood's corps when Hood was elevated to command the army on July 18, and led his corps in the battles around Atlanta.
During the Battle of Atlanta, two of Cheatham's divisions (Clayton and Brown) launched a late-afternoon attack against the Union Army's XV corps (Logan). This was Phase II of Gen. Hood's plan to repel McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. This fierce fighting, which took place near the present location of the Inman Park MARTA station, is the scene immortalized in the Atlanta Cyclorama.
After the war, Cheatham declined an offer of Federal civil service employment from President Grant. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States House of Representatives in 1872. He served for four years as the appointed superintendent of a Tennessee state prison. He was appointed postmaster of Nashville (1885–1886). He died in Nashville and is buried there in Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Henry DeLamar Clayton, Sr.

Born: March 7, 1827, Pulaski County, GADied: October 3, 1889, Tuscaloosa, AL
Prominent Alabama attorney, politician, Redeemer judge, and college president. He also served as a major general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, commanding a division in the Army of Tennessee in the Western Theater.
During the Battle of Atlanta, Clayton's division, which was part of Cheatham's corps, launched a late-afternoon attack against the Union Army's XV corps (Logan). This was Phase II of Gen. Hood's plan to repel McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. This fierce fighting, which took place near the present location of the Inman Park MARTA station, is the scene immortalized in the Atlanta Cyclorama.
Following the Battle of New Hope Church, Clayton was promoted to major general and assigned command of Stewart's division in the Army of Tennessee, where it participated in the unsuccessful Franklin-Nashville Campaign.
With the fall of the Confederacy, Clayton resumed his law practice. In May 1866, he was elected as a circuit court judge. Like so many other former Confederates, he was removed from his office by the Reconstruction government. He was twice reelected as judge in 1874 and 1880. In 1886, Clayton accepted a position as the president of the University of Alabama, a role he held until his death in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in the fall of 1889. He is buried in Eufaula, AL.

Arthur Middleton Manigault

Born: October 26, 1824, Charleston, SCDied: August 17, 1886, Georgetown County, SC
Brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.
A few days before the outbreak of the Civil War, Manigault participated in the Battle of Fort Sumter. He was colonel of the 10th South Carolina Infantry, and helped construct the batteries for the defense of Winyah Bay in Georgetown County. In March 1862, he was ordered to dismantle the coastal batteries and to ship the guns to Charleston. In April 1862, he was commanded to take his troops and report to General P. G. T. Beauregard with the Army of Mississippi. On April 26, 1863, he was promoted to brigadier general.
During the Battle of Atlanta, Manigault's brigade launched a late-afternoon attack on Martin’s & Lightburn’s brigades (US) which were posted astride the Decatur rd. & the Ga. R.R. cut.
Manigault’s troops broke the Federal line at the cut, thereby forcing the withdrawal of Lightburn & Martin from this sector of the intrenched line of Logan’s 15th corps.
A counter-assault by Lightburn & Martin, together with Mercy’s 16th A.C. brigade (brought up from the battlefield area S. of the R.R.), recovered the Federal line & the DeGress battery which Manigault’s men had seized but had not been able to remove.
After the war, Manigault returned to manage his rice plantation in South Carolina. From 1880 to 1886, he served as the Adjutant and Inspector General of South Carolina. He died in Georgetown County, South Carolina in 1886 and is buried in the Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.

John Calvin Brown

Born: January 6, 1827Giles County, TN, U.S.Died: August 17, 1889, Red Boiling Springs, TN , U.S.
Confederate Army officer and an American politician and businessman. Although he originally opposed secession, Brown fought for the Confederacy during the American Civil War, eventually rising to the rank of major general. He later served as the 19th Governor of Tennessee from 1871 to 1875, and was president of the state's 1870 constitutional convention, which wrote the current Tennessee State Constitution.
A leader of the state's Bourbon Democrats, Brown dedicated much of his time as governor to solving the state's mounting debt issues. Following his gubernatorial tenure, he advocated railroad construction, briefly serving as president of the Texas & Pacific Railroad in 1888, and as president of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company in 1889.
During the Battle of Atlanta, Brown's division, was part of a late-afternoon attack against the Union Army's XV corps (Logan). This was Phase II of Gen. Hood's plan to repel McPherson's Army of the Tennessee. This fierce fighting, which took place near the present location of the Inman Park MARTA station, is the scene immortalized in the Atlanta Cyclorama.
Brown fell ill in the Summer of 1889, and traveled to Red Boiling Springs, a mineral springs resort in north-central Tennessee, in hopes of recovering. On August 17, 1889, however, he suffered a stomach hemorrhage and died.His body was returned to Pulaski and interred in the city's Maplewood Cemetery.

Check out the Battlefield Maps to see where these generals were stationed during the Battle of Atlanta

Union Army

Top Command of Union (Federal) Army

Click on the down arrow at the bottom of each photo to reveal the soldier's name. Click in the middle of the photo to access his full biography.

Abraham Lincoln

Born: February 12, 1809, Larue County, KYAssassinated: April 15, 1865, Petersen House, Washington, D.C.Party: National Union PartyPresidential term: March 4, 1861 – April 15, 1865
American lawyer and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy.
Lincoln was called on to handle both the political and military aspects of the Civil War, facing challenges in both spheres. As commander-in-chief, he ordered the suspension of the constitutionally-protected right to habeas corpus in the state of Maryland in order to suppress Confederate sympathizers. He also became the first president to institute a military draft. As the Union faced several early defeats in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, Lincoln cycled through numerous military commanders during the war, finally settling on General Ulysses S. Grant, who had led the Union to several victories in the Western Theater.
Lincoln's 1863 Emancipation Proclamation freed about 20,000 of slaves in Confederate-held territory, and established emancipation as a Union war goal. In 1865, Lincoln was instrumental in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which made slavery unconstitutional. Lincoln also presided over the passage of important domestic legislation, including the first of the Homestead Acts, the Morrill Land-Grant Act of 1862, and the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862.
He ran for re-election in 1864 on the National Union ticket, which was supported by War Democrats in addition to Republicans. Though Lincoln feared he might lose the contest, he defeated his former subordinate, General George B. McClellan of the Democratic Party, in a landslide. Months after the election, Grant would essentially end the war by defeating the Confederate army led by General Robert E. Lee. Lincoln's assassination in April 1865, five days after the surrender of Lee, left the final challenge of reconstructing the nation to others.
Following his death, Lincoln was portrayed as the liberator of the slaves, the savior of the Union, and a martyr for the cause of freedom. Political historians have long held Lincoln in high regard for his accomplishments and personal characteristics. Alongside George Washington and Franklin D. Roosevelt, he has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as one of the top three greatest presidents, often as number one.

Ulysses Simpson Grant

Born: April 27, 1822, Point Pleasant, OHDied: July 23, 1885, Ulysses S. Grant Cottage National Historic Landmark, Gansevoort, NY
American military officer and politician who served as the 18th President of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Army to victory in the American Civil War in 1865 and thereafter briefly served as Secretary of War. Later, as president, Grant was an effective civil rights executive who created the Justice Department and worked with Radical Republicans to protect African Americans during Reconstruction.
President Lincoln promoted Grant to major general in the regular army (as opposed to the volunteers) and assigned him command of the newly formed Division of the Mississippi on October 16, 1863, comprising the Armies of the Ohio, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland.
On March 2, 1864, Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general, giving him command of all Union Armies. Grant's new rank had only previously been held by George Washington. Grant developed a good working relationship with Lincoln, who allowed Grant to devise his own strategy.
Grant devised a plan of five coordinated Union offensives on five fronts, so Confederate armies could not shift troops along interior lines. Grant and Meade would make a direct frontal attack on Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia, while Sherman—now chief of the western armies—was to destroy Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Tennessee and take Atlanta.

William Tecumseh Sherman

Born: February 8, 1820, Lancaster, OHDied: February 14, 1891, New York, NY
American soldier, businessman, educator, and author. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–1865), achieving recognition for his command of military strategy as well as criticism for the harshness of the scorched-earth policies that he implemented against the Confederate States. British military theorist and historian B. H. Liddell Hart declared that Sherman was "the first modern general".
When Lincoln called Grant east in the spring of 1864 to take command of all the Union armies, Grant appointed Sherman (by then known to his soldiers as "Uncle Billy") to succeed him as head of the Military Division of the Mississippi, which entailed command of Union troops in the Western Theater of the war.
Sherman proceeded to invade the state of Georgia with three armies: the 60,000-strong Army of the Cumberland under Thomas, the 25,000-strong Army of the Tennessee under James B. McPherson, and the 13,000-strong Army of the Ohio under John M. Schofield.
Sherman's Atlanta campaign concluded successfully on September 2, 1864, with the capture of the city, which Hood had been forced to abandon. After ordering almost all civilians to abandon the city in September, Sherman gave instructions that all military and government buildings in Atlanta be burned, although many private homes and shops were burned as well.
The capture of Atlanta made Sherman a household name and was decisive in ensuring Lincoln's re-election in November

James Birdseye McPherson

Born: November 14, 1828, Clyde, OHDied: July 22, 1864, Atlanta, GA
Career United States Army officer who served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. McPherson was on the General's staff of Henry Halleck and later, of Ulysses S. Grant and was with Grant at the Battle of Shiloh. He was killed at the Battle of Atlanta, facing the army of his old West Point classmate John Bell Hood, who paid a warm tribute to his character. He was the second-highest-ranking Union officer killed in action during the war.
On March 12, 1864, he was given command of the Army of the Tennessee, after its former commander, Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, was promoted to command of all armies in the West. He then requested leave to go home and marry his fiancé Emily Hoffman in Baltimore, MD. His leave was initially granted, but quickly revoked by Sherman, who explained McPherson was needed for his upcoming Atlanta Campaign. McPherson's army was the Right Wing of Sherman's army, alongside the Army of the Cumberland and the Army of the Ohio.

Shortly after the Battle of Atlanta began, McPherson rode his toward his XVII Corps, which was situated near modern-day East Atlanta Village. He unexpectedly encountered a line of Confederate pickets who ordered him to "halt." McPherson raised his hand to his head as if to remove his hat, but suddenly wheeled his horse, attempting to escape. The Confederates opened fire and mortally wounded the major general in the back.
When the Confederate troops approached and asked his orderly who the downed officer was, the aide replied, "Sir, it is General McPherson. You have killed the best man in our army." This was early in the one-day Battle of Atlanta, part of the Atlanta Campaign that led to the surrender of Atlanta a month later. General Otis Howard succeeded him as commander of the Army and Department of the Tennessee.
His adversary, John Bell Hood, wrote,
"I will record the death of my classmate and boyhood friend, General James B. McPherson, the announcement of which caused me sincere sorrow. Since we had graduated in 1853, and had each been ordered off on duty in different directions, it has not been our fortune to meet. Neither the years nor the difference of sentiment that had led us to range ourselves on opposite sides in the war had lessened my friendship; indeed, the attachment formed in early youth was strengthened by my admiration and gratitude for his conduct toward our people in the vicinity of Vicksburg. His considerate and kind treatment of them stood in bright contrast to the course pursued by many Federal officers."

McPherson's Corps Commanders

John Alexander Logan

Born: February 9, 1826, Murphysboro, ILDied: December 26, 1886, Washington, D.C.
American soldier and politician. He served in the Mexican–American War and was a general in the Union Army in the American Civil War. He served the state of Illinois as a state Representative, a Congressman, and a U.S. Senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for Vice President of the United States with James G. Blaine in the election of 1884. As the 3rd Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, he is regarded as the most important figure in the movement to recognize Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) as an official holiday.
He was known by his soldiers as "Black Jack" because of his black eyes and hair and swarthy complexion, and was regarded as one of the most able officers to enter the army from civilian life. In a time when political generals usually performed poorly in battle, Logan was an exception.
In November 1863 he succeeded William Tecumseh Sherman in command of the XV Corps; and at the Battle of Atlanta (July 22, 1864), after the death of James B. McPherson during the day, he assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee.
When Sherman learned of McPherson's death, he sent off an urgent dispatch to his new field-promoted commander: “Tell General Logan to fight ’em, fight ’em, fight ’em like hell”
During the Battle of Atlanta, when the Confederates briefly created a gap late in the afternoon, Logan led a successful five-brigade counter-attack, driving out the Confederates and returning the 15th to its original line. This scene was immortalized in the Atlanta Cyclorama (see photo below).
LEGACY: The State of Illinois commissioned an equestrian statue of the general that now stands in Chicago's Grant Park. Another equestrian statue stands in Logan Circle in Washington, D.C., which gives its name to the surrounding neighborhood.
Logan is one of only three individuals mentioned by name in the Illinois state song:
On the record of thy years,Abraham Lincoln's name appears,Grant and Logan, and our tears,Illinois, Illinois,Grant and Logan, and our tears,Illinois.

Grenville Mellen Dodge

Born: April 12, 1831, Danvers, MADied: January 3, 1916, Council Bluffs, IA
Union Army officer on the frontier and a pioneering figure in military intelligence during the Civil War, who served as Ulysses S. Grant's intelligence chief in the Western Theater. He served in several notable assignments, including command of the XVI Corps during the Atlanta Campaign.
He later served as a U.S. Congressman, businessman, and railroad executive who helped direct the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Historian Stanley P. Hirshon suggested that Dodge, "by virtue of the range of his abilities and activities," could be considered "more important in the national life after the Civil War than his more famous colleagues and friends, Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan."
Dodge was appointed by General Grant as commander of a Division in the Army of the Tennessee, where his troops aided Grant and William T. Sherman by "rapidly repairing and rebuilding the railroads, bridges, and telegraph lines destroyed by the Confederates," and defeating or capturing the Confederate guerrillas, who had been ripping up the track and destroying railroad bridges, by employing techniques such as building two-story blockhouses near the bridges.
In 1863, he was summoned to Washington DC by President Abraham Lincoln, and although Dodge thought he was being called before a court of inquiry for his aggressive recruitment of black soldiers, the President was instead interested in Dodge's railroad expertise, and asked him to divine a location along the Missouri River where the Union Pacific Railroad's transcontinental railroad should have its initial point.
He was promoted to major general in June 1864 and commanded the XVI Corps during William T. Sherman's Atlanta campaign. At the Battle of Atlanta, the XVI Corps was held in reserve, but it happened to be placed in a position which directly intercepted John B. Hood's flank attack. During the fighting Dodge rode to the front and personally led Thomas W. Sweeny's division into battle.
Dodge died in Council Bluffs, IA in 1916. He is buried there in Walnut Hill Cemetery. His home, the Grenville M. Dodge House, is a National Historic Landmark.
Fort Dodge in Kansas, an important army base during the settlement of the western frontier, was named in his honor, as was Dodge City.

Francis Preston Blair Jr.

Born: February 19, 1821, Lexington, KYDied: July 8, 1875, St. Louis, MO
United States Senator, a United States Congressman and a Union Major General during the Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and was active in preventing the State of Missouri from being absorbed into the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War.
Blair was appointed a colonel of Missouri volunteers in July 1862. He was promoted brigadier general of volunteers in August 1862 and then to major general in November. After winning re-election to the House of Representatives, Blair resigned his commission, but he retracted it at a request/order from Lincoln dated in April 1864.
In Missouri, Blair commanded a brigade consisting of the 13th Illinois Infantry, the 29th, 30th, 31st, and 32nd Missouri Infantry, the 58th Ohio Infantry, 4th Company, Ohio Light Artillery, and Company C, 10th Missouri Cavalry.
Blair subsequently commanded a division in the Vicksburg campaign and in the fighting about Chattanooga, and was one of William T. Sherman's corps commanders in the final campaigns in Georgia and the Carolinas. His XVII Corps was engaged protecting the rear areas of Sherman's army until later in the Atlanta Campaign. Before it left on the March to the Sea, XVII Corps absorbed part of the detachment of XVI Corps that had served with Sherman.
Blair's consuming interest in politics kept him active, and he served as Missouri's state superintendent of insurance until his death from head injuries after a fall on July 8, 1875. He is interred in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
William T. Sherman after hearing about Blair's death said:
"I always regarded him as one of the truest patriots, most honest and honorable men, and one of the most courageous soldiers this country ever produced."[18] Ulysses S. Grant wrote about Frank Blair in his memoir that, "There was no man braver than he, nor was there any who obeyed all orders of his superior in rank with more unquestioning alacrity. He was one man as a soldier, another as a politician."

Mortimer Dormer Leggett

Born: April 19, 1821, Ithaca, NYDied: January 6, 1896, Cleveland, OH
Lawyer, school administrator, professor, and a general of the Union Army during the American Civil War.
In November 1862, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and participated in the Vicksburg Campaign, suffering a painful wound. After he recovered, Leggett commanded the 3rd Division of (Blair's) XVII Corps during the Atlanta Campaign and Sherman's March to the Sea. He was brevetted major general of volunteers in July 1864, and was commissioned as a major general a year later.
During the Battle of Atlanta, Gen. Leggett's brigade defended the highest area on the battlefield, known as "Bald Hill." After the battle, the hill became known as Leggett's Hill.
At the end of the war, Leggett returned to Zanesville and resumed his law practice. President Ulysses S. Grant appointed him as United States Commissioner of Patents in 1871; Leggett held that position until 1881, when he resigned to resume his private practice. In 1884, he founded a successful company that would become a part of General Electric.
Leggett died in Cleveland, Ohio, aged 74, and was buried in Lake View Cemetery.

General John Alexander Logan was immortalized in the Atlanta Cyclorama. Logan (in full gallop with hat in the air) is seen here leading his XV corps on a successful counter-attack against Cheatham's. Logan's late-afternoon counter-attack would prove to be the final turning point of the pivotal battle.

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