Browse all Entries in the Antebellum Time Period.
William Clarke Quantrill
July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865 William C. Quantrill was a Confederate irregular whose band of raiders employed guerrilla tactics in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War to harass Union troops and terrorize Northern sympathizers. William Clarke Quantrill was born in Canal Dover (now Dover), Ohio, on October 11, 1837. He was the…
William Dennison, Jr.
November 23, 1815 – June 15, 1882 William Dennison, Jr., was the twenty-fourth Governor of Ohio, serving from January 9, 1860, through January 13, 1862. Dennison also served as Postmaster General of the United States from 1864 to 1866. William Dennison, Jr., was born at Cincinnati, Ohio on November 23, 1815. He was the son…
William F. “Baldy” Smith
February 17, 1824–February 28, 1903 Commonly known as “Baldy,” Major General William F. Smith was a prominent officer in both theaters of the American Civil War. William Farrar Smith was born in St. Albans, Vermont on February 17, 1824. He was the son of Ashbel and Sarah (Butler) Smith. During his youth, Smith was educated…
William H. Dupree
March 13, 1839–June 22, 1934 William H. Dupree was an African-American Ohioan who served in the 55th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment during the American Civil War. Sources disagree regarding his birth date and birthplace, with some claiming that Dupree was born in 1838 in Chillicothe, in Ross County, Ohio, with other sources contending that he was…
William H. French
January 13, 1815–May 20, 1881 A career military officer, Major General William French commanded the 3rd Army Corps during the Civil War from July 1863 to March 1864 William Henry French was born, Jan. 13, 1815, at Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of William and Anna Rosetta French, natives of New Hampshire, who had…
William H. SewardSenate “Higher Law” Speech on the Compromise of 1850 (Transcript)
March 11, 1850 Transcript of William H. Seward's "Higher Law" speech on the Compromise of 1850, delivered on the U.S. Senate floor on March 11, 1850. I mean to say that Congress can hereafter decide whether any states, slave or free, can be framed out of Texas. If they should never be framed out of…
William Henry Fitzhugh Lee
May 31, 1837–October 15, 1891 The second son of Robert E. Lee, W.H.F. "Rooney" Lee was a cavalry commander in the Army of Northern Virginia who later served in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 50th to the 52nd Congresses from March 4, 1887, until his death on October 15, 1891. Early Life and…
William Henry Seward
May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872 William Henry Seward was Governor of New York and a United States Senator. He also served as Secretary of State during the administration of Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. During his tenure as Secretary of State, Seward brokered a deal with Russia for the United States to…
William Joseph Hardee
October 12, 1815 – November 6, 1873 William J. Hardee was a prominent Confederate corps commander in the Western Theater of the American Civil War, who briefly commanded the Army of Tennessee on two occasions. William Joseph Hardee was born on October 12, 1815 at his family's plantation, "Rural Felicity," in Camden County, Georgia, between…
William Mahone
December 1, 1826 – October 8, 1895 A prominent Confederate officer, Major General William Mahone served in nearly all of the major campaigns and battles in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. William Mahone was born on December 1, 1826, at Brown's Ferry, near Courtland, in extreme southeastern Virginia. He was the only…