Browse all Entries, Images, Videos, and Audio Files in the Civil War Politics topic.
Hugh Judge Jewett
On July 1, 1817, Jewett was born in Deer Creek, Maryland. As a child, his parents enrolled Jewett in the Hopewell Academy, a preparatory school in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Upon completing the Hopewell Academy’s coursework, Jewett moved to Elkton, Maryland, where he studied to become an attorney. During the American Civil War, Hugh Jewett ran…
Jacob Dolson Cox
October 27, 1828 – August 4, 1900 Jacob Cox was a nineteenth century American political and military leader who served as a brigadier general in the U.S. volunteer army during the American Civil War. Jacob Cox was born in Montreal, Canada, on January 8, 1866. Although his family lived in New York, Cox's father was…
James Mitchell Ashley
November 14, 1824 – September 16, 1896 James M. Ashley was a five-term Ohio Congressman and Radical Republican leader who introduced the House proposal that would become the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. James Mitchell Ashley was born on November 14, 1824, in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh. He was the…
James Monroe Trotter
February 7, 1842–February 26, 1892 Born on February 7, 1842 (some sources state that he was born on November 8, 1842 or on February 8, 1842) in Grand Gulf, Mississippi, James Monroe Trotter was born a slave. His mother was Letitia, a slave, and his father was Richard S. Trotter, a white man and his…
John Brough
September 17, 1811–August 29, 1865 Born on September 17, 1811, in Marietta, Ohio, John Brough had a difficult childhood. His father died when Brough was only eleven years of age. Born on September 17, 1811, in Marietta, Ohio, John Brough had a difficult childhood. His father died when Brough was only eleven years of age.…
John Cabell Breckinridge
January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875 U.S. Vice-president John C. Breckinridge was an American political leader who represented Kentucky in the U.S. House and Senate before serving as a general officer in the Confederate Army and as the fifth, and final, Confederate Secretary of War. John Cabell Breckinridge was born on January 16, 1821,…
John Crafts Wright
Born on August 17, 1783, Wright spent most of his youth in Wethersfield, Connecticut, his birth community. He earned a living as a printer and eventually became the editor of the Troy Gazette in Troy, New York. Born on August 17, 1783, Wright spent most of his youth in Wethersfield, Connecticut, his birth community. He…
John R. Bowles
June 13, 1826–September 3, 1864 Born on June 13, 1826, in Lynchburg, Virginia, John R. Bowles eventually moved to Ohio, settling in the vicinity of Chillicothe in Ross County. Here, Bowles married Sarah Jane Bryant in 1848. Born on June 13, 1826, in Lynchburg, Virginia, John R. Bowles eventually moved to Ohio, settling in the…
Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War
December 10, 1861 – May 22, 1865 The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War was a Congressional committee established in 1861 to "inquire into the conduct" of the American Civil War. After Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, touching off the American Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a…
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),…