Politicians

A political appointee with little military experience prior to the American Civil War, Brigadier General John B. Floyd is most remembered for abandoning Fort Donelson in 1861 to avoid being captured by Federal soldiers.

James Abram Garfield was an American political and military leader who rose to the rank of major general in the Union army during the American Civil War, and who served as a U.S. congressman and senator before being elected as the 20th President of the United States in 1880.

Joshua Giddings was a leader in the founding of the Republican Party and an outspoken opponent of the extension of slavery during his twenty-year career as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Ulysses S. Grant was an American military and political leader who rose from humble beginnings to become general-in-chief of Union forces during the Civil War and, afterward, the eighteenth President of the United States.

A prominent Confederate cavalry officer, Wade Hampton III also served as governor of South Carolina and as a United States Senator from the Palmetto State after the American Civil War.

Grandson of ninth U.S. President William Henry Harrison, Benjamin Harrison was the nation's twenty-third president from March 4, 1889 to March 4, 1893.

The first U.S. President to die in office, 9th President William Henry Harrison also served the shortest tenure of any chief executive, passing away on April 4, 1841, just thirty days after his inauguration.

Robert Hatton was a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee and a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

Civil War general, U.S. Congressman, and Governor of Ohio, Rutherford Birchard Hayes served as the 19th President of the United States from March 3, 1877, to March 4, 1881.

Patrick Henry was a Founding Father, member of the Continental Congress, and five-time Governor of Virginia.

Andrew Jackson was a hero of the War of 1812 and the 7th President of the United States. He served two terms controversial terms as President and oversaw the removal of Native American Indians from the south, which is known as the Trail of Tears.

Born into poverty, Andrew Johnson rose to become the seventeenth President of the United States in 1865. Although acquitted in his trial before the U.S. Senate, Johnson remains one of only three presidents ever impeached by the House of Representatives.

Henry Knox was a General in the Continental Army and a close friend of George Washington. Knox led the expedition to retrieve cannon and artillery from Fort Ticonderoga in 1775 and served as Chief Artillery Officer of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Abraham Lincoln was an American political leader during the 19th century. Rising from humble beginnings, Lincoln was elected as the 16th president of the United States in 1860. Lincoln's election prompted the secession of several Southern states and eventually the beginning of the American Civil War. Lincoln served as president and commander-in-chief throughout most of the conflict before an assassin's bullet tragically cut his life short on April 15, 1865.

John Marshall (1755–1845) was a Founding Father, an officer in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, a congressional representative from Virginia, Secretary of State, and 4th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

John A. McClernand was an American lawyer, Democratic politician, and Union general who Ulysses S. Grant relieved as commander of the Army of Tennessee prior to the surrender of Vicksburg.

William McKinley, Jr., was an officer in the Union army during the Civil War before serving as the 25th President of the United States.

James Monroe served as the fifth President of the United States from March 4, 1817, to March 4, 1825, during the Era of Good Feelings.

George Hunt Pendleton was a Democratic Congressman and Senator from Ohio. A leading Peace Democrat during the American Civil War, Pendleton was also the sponsor of the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883.

Franklin Pierce (1804–1869) was the 14th President of the United States. He was a native of New Hampshire who sympathized with Southern views on slavery based on the wording of the U.S. Constitution. As a result, he alienated anti-slavery groups by signing the Kansas–Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act.