The Complete List of Old West Soldiers

Soldiers in American History

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Ulysses S. Grant in 1866.

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Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885) - Born Hiram Ulysses Grant at Point Pleasant, Ohio, on April 27, 1822, he was the oldest of six children born to Jesse and Hannah Simpson Grant. At the age of 17, Grant entered the United States Military Academy at West Point graduating in 1842. He served in the Mexican War and served at a number of different posts in the West before resigning on July 31, 1854. He then worked as a farmer, a real estate agent, a bill collector in St. Louis, Missouri before moving to Galena, Illinois. There he worked for his father and brother in a leather shop.

When the Civil War broke out, he sought a command and was offered a position by the Illinois Governor to recruit volunteers.

He was soon appointed as a Colonel in June, 1861 and on August 7, was appointed as a brigadier general of volunteers. Sent to the front, he had a number of successes in the Western Theater, culminating in the capture of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863. Grant personally supervised the 1864 Overland Campaign against General Robert E. Lee's army in Virginia. Grants tactics of dividing and destroying the Confederate armies finally help to bring the war to an end in 1865.

Grant's success and war-hero status propelled him to the White House in 1868, when he was elected as the 18th President. However, his two terms were some of the rockiest in American history. Politically inexperience, he first had problems dealing with Congress; however remained popular with the people and was re-elected in 1872. His second term was plagued by corruption and scandal, and was harshly criticized for the way he dealt with the situation.

After his second term of Presidency was complete, Grant became a partner in a financial firm, which went bankrupt. About the same time he learned that he had cancer of the throat and began writing his recollections to pay off his debts and provide for his family, racing against death to produce a memoir that ultimately earned nearly $450,000. Soon after completing the last page, he died on April 23, 1885.

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (1824-1863) - Thomas Jonathan Jackson was born at Clarksburg, [West] Virginia, on January 21, 1824, the third child of Jonathan Jackson and Julia Beckwith Neal Jackson. When he was just two, his father died and five years later, he was orphaned when his mother died as well. Sent to live with a paternal uncle near present-day Weston, West Virginia, Thomas helped around the farm and his uncle's mill. Much of his education was self-taught, but as the boy learned, he studied hard and later, actually taught school at Jackson's Mill. In 1842, he was barely accepted into the Military Academy at West Point, as he had difficulty with the entrance examinations. After graduating in 1846, he served in the Mexican War, then taught at the Virginia Military Institute.

Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson.

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Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he was commissioned as a colonel in the Confederate forces of Virginia and dispatched to Harpers Ferry where he was active in organizing the raw recruits.

During his service, Jackson was quickly recognized for his innovation, leadership skills, and bravery and receiving several quick promotions, he was made a Brigadier General on June 17, 1861.

He led a number of campaigns and battles during the Civil War, including the Valley Campaign, first and second battles of Bull Run, Antietam and Fredericksburg. It was during the Battle of Bull Run when Jackson assumed his nickname, when Brigadier-General Barnard E. Bee stated, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall."

He died on May 10, 1863 after being shot by "friendly fire" at the Battle of Chancellorsville. A Southern hero, military historians consider him to be one of the most gifted tactical commanders in U.S. history.

Robert E. Lee

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Robert E. Lee (1807-1870) - Lee was born on a plantation in Westmoreland County, Virginia on January 19, 1807, the fifth child of Revolutionary War hero Henry "Lighthorse Harry" Lee and Anne Hill Carter Lee. He attended the Alexandria Academy before entering the U.S. Military Academy in 1825. When he graduated second in his class in 1829, he was commissioned as a brevet second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. Lee served in the Corps in various capacities and started a family for the next 17 years. He then served in the Mexican War from 1846 to 1848. Afterwards, he became the superintendent of West Point for three years, before becoming a Lieutenant Colonel of the 2nd U.S. Cavalry and working in Texas .

When talk of secession began, Lee first denounced it as a "revolution" and the commanding general of the Union Army, Winfield Scott, wanted to promote Lee to a top command post. Lee said he was willing as long as his native state of Virginia stayed in the Union.

However, when Fort Sumter fell on April 14, 1861 and it seemed apparent that Virginia would secede, Lee turned down the offer of a top command and resigned from the U.S. Army on April 20. Three days later he took charge of the Virginia state forces. Upon the formation of the Confederate States Army, he was one if its first five full generals. His first field assignment was as loss when he led his men to defeat in the Battle of Cheat Mountain. He then was working to organize the coastal defenses, but hampered by the lack of an effective Confederate Navy, he became a military adviser to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

In the spring of 1862, commanding the Army of Northern Virginia, he led his men in the battles of the Peninsula Campaign. By August, he had defeated the Union Army at the Second Battle of Bull Run (Manassas II), before invading Maryland and fighting in the Battle of Antietam. In May, 1863, Lee, along with General Stonewall Jackson, made news with their dramatic victory over a larger force at Chancellorsville, Virginia.

Lee continued to lead his troop in a number of battles throughout the war. He was promoted to General-in-Chief of the Confederate forces on January 31, 1865. But for the the South, it was too late, as its army was devastated by casualties, disease and desertion. When the Union attack on Petersburg, Virginia was successful on April 2, 1865, Lee abandoned Richmond and retreated west. A week later, his forces were surrounded, and he surrendered them to Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, at the Appomattox Court House.

After the war, Lee moved to a friend's plantation in Cartersville, Virginia, as his own had been seized by Union forces. In October, 1865, he became the president of the Washington College (later renamed the Washington and Lee University) in Lexington, Virginia, a job he retained until his death. In late September, 1870, he suffered a stroke and on October 12th he died. He was buried beneath the Lee Chapel at the University, where his body remains today.

The most celebrated general of the South during the Civil War, he became even respected after his surrender, for his character, devotion to duty, and brilliant battle successes. Today, a number of monuments attest to this fact, and his birthday is commemorated as a holiday in five southern states.

Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) - Explorer, soldier, and public administrator, Lewis was best known for his role as the leader of the Corps of Discovery, whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. More ...

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