Gen. George B. McClellan, “Stonewall” Jackson and Gen. George Pickett were graduated in the same class at West Point. Pickett received his appointment to the Academy through John Todd Stuart, Lincoln’s law partner.
Commodore Franklin Buchanan, first Superintendent of the U. S. Naval Academy and Commander of the Washington Navy Yard when the Civil War began, cast his lot with the South. Later, in command of the C. S. S. Virginia (ex Merrimack), he destroyed the U. S. S. Congress on which his brother was an officer.
Gen. John B. Magruder commanded the 1st United States Artillery which was sent to Washington in 1861 to defend the Capital, but he resigned his commission and joined the Confederacy.
Chatham Roberdeau Wheat, a soldier of fortune and commander of the Louisiana Tigers, had fought in the Mexican War, with Lopez in Cuba, with William Walker in Nicaragua, and under Garibaldi in Italy. He was shot through both lungs at First Bull Run and the following year at Gaines’ Mill, was mortally wounded.
Until his death early in 1862, ex-President of the United States John Tyler was a member of the Confederate Provisional Congress.
Three of Henry Clay’s grandsons were in the Union Army, while four joined the Confederate Army.
David Glasgow Farragut, hero of New Orleans and Mobile Bay, was the first Admiral in the U. S. Navy.
Matthew Fontaine Maury, world famous “pathfinder of the sea,” resigned from the U. S. Navy and played a leading part in the development of underwater mines by the Confederate Navy.
James D. Bulloch, secret agent of the South overseas in the purchase of ships for blockade runners and commerce raiders, was Theodore Roosevelt’s uncle.
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