Gods and Generals - Jeff Shaara [254]
President Jefferson Davis
Continues to deteriorate mentally as the war goes on, pulls all available troops close around Richmond, and so, around himself. When Richmond falls, he moves the Confederate government to Charlotte, North Carolina, and finally is captured in May 1865 at Irwinsville, Georgia. He is imprisoned for two years, but never stands trial, is released by a government anxious to move beyond the lingering taste of the war. P.G.T. Beauregard later writes that the Confederacy “needed for President either a military man of high order, or a politician of the first-class without military pretensions.” Regrettably for the Great Cause, Davis proved to be neither. He survives until 1889.
Those Who Wore Blue
General in Chief Winfield Scott
He is given no significant role in the war after the first appointment of McClellan in 1861, and thus the grand old man of the army spends much of the war years writing his memoirs. He dies in 1866, at the age of eighty, and is buried at West Point. For his extraordinary abilities as both a strategist and a leader of men, he is still regarded as one of the greatest soldiers this nation has ever produced.
Commanding General George B. McClellan
Runs unsuccessfully for President against Lincoln in 1864, later becomes Governor of New Jersey. He writes an autobiography, defending his military decision-making and emphasizing his success in organizing the army. But even his staunchest supporters concede that his genius as an administrator was never carried forward to the battlefield. He survives until 1885.
Major General Ambrose E. Burnside
Reassigned to the Army of the Ohio, he performs adequately through several engagements, though at Petersburg is again blamed for poor command decisions. After the war, he becomes a successful railroad administrator. In 1866 he is elected Governor of Rhode Island, and after two terms is elected United States Senator, serving until his death in 1881.
Ulysses Grant describes him as “an officer who was generally liked and respected, he was not, however, fitted to command an army. No one knew this better than himself.”
Major General Darius N. Couch
On May 22, 1863, he requests a leave of absence, tells the War Department he can no longer “lead his men to senseless slaughter” under Joe Hooker. When he is turned down, he tenders his resignation. His service to the army is considered too valuable to allow him to retire into civilian life, and so in June 1863 he is appointed commander of the new Department of the Susquehanna, and given the duty of organizing local militia to defend Pennsylvania against the threatened Confederate invasion. After Gettysburg he goes west, commands a division in Tennessee. Following the war, he resigns from the army, runs unsuccessfully for governor in Massachusetts, and later enters private business, though he still serves in the volunteer army until his death in 1897.
After Chancellorsville, Couch is replaced as commander of the Second Corps by Winfield Scott Hancock.
Colonel Nelson A. Miles
Surviving his wounds at Chancellorsville, he is eventually promoted to brigade and then division command under Hancock. He receives the Congressional Medal of Honor for his brilliant stand against Lee’s continuous attacks at Chancellorsville. He is promoted to Brigadier General in the spring of 1864, then after the war, to Major General. He is appointed custodian of the prisoner Jefferson Davis, and afterward moves to the West to continue building his solid reputation as a fighter in the Indian wars. Named General in Chief of the Army in 1895, he commands the victorious U.S. forces during the Spanish-American War. He retires from the army in 1903, one of this country’s most decorated soldiers, lives the peaceful life of the dignified hero until 1925. He is one of four pallbearers at the funeral of General Hancock.
Major General Joseph Hooker
Relieved of command in June 1863, he is reassigned