Browse all Entries in the Antebellum Time Period.
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
September 8, 1828 – February 24, 1914 Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was a Union military commander during the American Civil War, earning a Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroics at the Battle of Gettysburg. He also served as Governor of Maine and as a professor and a president of Bowdoin College. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was…
Joshua Reed Giddings
October 6, 1795 – May 27, 1864 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. Joshua Reed Giddings was born on October 6, 1795, in Tioga Point (later Athens),…
Latimer A. McCook
April 26, 1820 – August 23, 1869 A member of the famed "Fighting McCooks," Major Latimer A. McCook served as a surgeon with the Army of the Tennessee during the Civil War. Latimer A. McCook was born at Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, on April 26, 1820. He was the eldest son of Daniel McCook and Martha Latimer…
Leonidas Polk
April 10, 1806 – June 14, 1864 An ordained Episcopal bishop, Confederate Lieutenant General Leonidas Polk was killed by a Union artillery shell at Pine Mountain, near Marietta, Georgia, on June 14, 1864. Leonidas Polk was born in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 10, 1806. He was the second son and third of eleven children…
Lew Wallace
April 10, 1827 – February 15, 1905 Lew Wallace served as a general officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and he was the author of the highly-acclaimed novel, <i>Ben Hur, A Tale of the Christ</i>. Lewis Wallace was born in Brookville, Indiana on April 10, 1827. He was the second of…
Lewis Addison Armistead
February 18, 1817 – July 5, 1863 Lewis Addison Armistead was a Confederate general during the American Civil War. He was mortally wounded during Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Lewis Addison Armistead was born on February 18, 1817, in New Bern, North Carolina. His parents were Walker Keith Armistead and Elizabeth Stanly Armistead.…
Lyman Trumbull
October 12, 1813 – June 25, 1896 Lyman Trumbull served as a United States Senator from Illinois for nearly three decades. During his tenure, he spearheaded the enactment of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution and the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Lyman Trumbull was born on October 12, 1813, in Colchester, Connecticut. He was…
Manning Marius Kimmel
October 25, 1832 – February 27, 1916 Manning M. Kimmel was one of four West Point graduates to fight initially for the Union during the American Civil War before switching sides. Manning Marius Kimmel (also known as Marius Manning Kimmel) was born in Perry County, Missouri, on October 25, 1832. He was the second of…
Mexican-American War
April 25, 1846 – February 2, 1848 Lasting from April 25, 1846-February 2, 1848, the Mexican-American War polarized sectional differences over the extension of slavery in the United States, and it served as a training ground for numerous general officers who fought on both sides during the American Civil War. The roots of the Mexican-American…
Missouri Compromise
March 6, 1820 In addition to paving the way for the admission of Missouri and Maine to the Union, the Missouri Compromise established the tenet that Congress could regulate slavery in the territories even though the Constitution did not address the issue. When delegates to the Constitutional Convention assembled in Philadelphia in 1787, one of…