Civil War Leaders

Union Generals
Ulysses S. Grant • Commanding
General

• Given top
command by
Lincoln after 4
others failed
• Uses the Union’s
advantage in
men & resources
• Future 18th
president
William T. Sherman
• Uses a “scorched
Earth” and “total
war” strategy in
the South

• Infamously known
for his “March to
Atlanta” and the
burning of Atlanta

• Second in
command to Grant
Ambrose Burnside
• Replaces
McClellan as the
top general

• Went after
Richmond
through
Fredericksburg
• Failed and
replaced after 3
months
George McClellan
• Briefly the top
general
• Brilliant
organizer but
overly cautious
in battle
Political Leaders
Abraham Lincoln
• 16th president

• Signed the
Emancipation
Proclamation

• Gettysburg
Address

• Highly involved
through
telegrams with
day to day war
efforts
• West Point Jefferson Davis
graduate

• Former US Senator
from Mississippi

• Elected President
of the Confederacy
in 1861

• Mostly focuses on
building the
Confederate
government
Confederate Generals
• Led the Army of
Northern Virginia
Robert E. Lee
• Originally opposed the
South’s secession-
offered top general in
the Union Army
• Considered the best
general in the war

• Married George
Washington’s great-
granddaughter
• Gains fame at the
First Battle of Bull
Run
J.E.B. Stuart
• Lost contact with
Lee at Gettysburg
possibly costing the
south a major
victory

• Dies after the Battle

of Yellow Tavern;
Lee considers him
irreplaceable
Stonewall Jackson • “The Hero of
Bull Run”

• Master
strategist

• Dies May
1863

• Lee’s most
trusted
general