Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant, April 27, 1822 - July 23, 1885) was an American general and the eighteenth President of the United States (1869-1877). He achieved international fame as the leading Union general in the American Civil War, capturing Vicksburg in 1863 and Richmond in 1865. He accepted the surrender of his Confederate opponent Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House.

Philip Henry Sheridan (March 6, 1831 - August 5, 1888) was a career U.S. Army officer and a Union general in the American Civil War. His career was noted for his rapid rise to major general and his close association with Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, who transferred Sheridan from command of an infantry division in the Western Theater to lead the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Potomac in the East.

Wilmer McLean (May 3, 1814 - June 5, 1882) was a wholesale grocer from Virginia. It is said that the American Civil War started in Wilmer McLean's back yard and ended in his front parlor. The initial enagagements on July 18, 1861, in what would become the First Battle of Bull Run, fought on July 21, took place on McLean's farm, the Yorkshire Plantation, in Manassas, Prince William County, Virginia.

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (September 8 1828 - February 24 1914) was a college professor from Maine who volunteered to join the Union Army without the benefit of any formal military education, and became a highly respected and decorated Union officer during the American Civil War, reaching the rank of brigadier general (and brevet major general). For his gallantry at Gettysburg, he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

Cincinnati (ca. 1860 - 1878) was General Ulysses S. Grant's most famous horse during the American Civil War. He was the son of Lexington, the fastest four-mile thoroughbred in the United States (time 7:19.75 minutes) and of the greatest sires. Cincinnati was also the grandson of the great Boston, who sired Lexington. At an early age, Grant emotionally bonded to horses. A shy, quiet child, he found joy in working with and riding them.

Edmund Ruffin (January 5, 1794 - June 18, 1865) was born in Prince George County, Virginia. He was a descendant of William Randolph, the progenitor of the Randolph family. Ruffin was a farmer and slaveholder, a Confederate soldier, and an 1850s political activist. He advocated states' rights, secession, and slavery and was described by opponents as one of the fire-eaters.

Orville Elias Babcock (December 25, 1835 - June 2, 1884) was an American Civil War general in the Union Army. Born in Franklin, Vermont, Babcock graduated third in a class of forty-five from West Point in 1861. During the Civil War, he served as Nathaniel P. Banks' aide-de-camp until August 1861. He then was assigned to help construct the defenses around Washington D.C.. On November 17, 1861, …

Major General George Washington Custis Lee (also known as Custis Lee) (September 16, 1832 - February 18, 1913) was the eldest son of Robert E. Lee and Mary Anna Custis Lee. From 1850-54 he attended West Point, graduating first in his class. His father was the superintendent at the time of his graduation.

Ellis Spear (October 15, 1834 - April 3, 1917) was an officer in the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment who rose to the rank of general during the American Civil War. Spear was born in Warren, Maine, in 1834 and was educated at Bowdoin College, graduating in 1858. Eventually Spear studied law, but when the Civil War erupted he became a recruiter and formed Company G of the 20th Maine. Spear enlisted as a captain, but was quickly promoted to the rank of major, …

William Nelson Pendleton (December 26, 1809 - January 15, 1883) was an Episcopal priest and a Confederate general in the American Civil War, serving as Robert E. Lee's chief of artillery. Pendleton was born in Richmond, Virginia. He attended private schools, and was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He graduated fifth in the class of 1830. In 1833 he resigned from the military to take up teaching.

Timothy H. O'Sullivan (c. 1840 - January 14 1882) was a photographer prominent for his work on subjects in the American Civil War and the Western United States. O'Sullivan was born in either Ireland or New York City. As a teenager, he was employed by Mathew Brady. When the Civil War began in early 1861, he was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Union Army and, over the next year, fought in Beaufort, Port Royal, Fort Walker, and Fort Pulaski.

Henry Alexander Wise (December 3, 1806 - September 12, 1876) was an American statesman from Virginia. Gen. Wise was born in Drummondtown, Accomack County, Va., to a family of wealthy planters; was privately tutored until his twelfth year and then entered Margaret Academy, near Pungoteague, in Accomack County and graduated from Washington College, Pa., now Washington and Lee University, in 1825. He was admitted to the bar in 1828, and settled in Nashville, Tenn., …

Edward Lloyd Thomas (March 23, 1825 - March 8, 1898) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War from the state of Georgia. Born in Clarke County, Georgia, Thomas, a graduate of Emory College, served in the Mexican War and as a plantation farmer in Georgia prior to the outbreak of the War. When the War broke out, Thomas became colonel of the 35th Georgia Infantry in October 1861.

Samuel McGowan (October 19, 1819 - August 9, 1897) was a general from South Carolina in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He commanded a brigade in A.P. Hill's famous "Light Division" and was wounded several times. Ezra Warner's book, "Generals in Gray", claims that "McGowan's career and reputation were not excelled by any other brigade commander in the Army of Northern Virginia." Born in the Laurens District of South Carolina, …

Thomas Alfred Smyth (December 25, 1832 - April 9, 1865) was a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He was the last Federal general killed in the war. Smyth was born in Ballyhooly in Cork County, Ireland, and worked on his father's farm as a youth. He immigrated to the United States in 1854, settling in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was employed as a wood carver and coach and carriage maker. In 1858, he moved to Wilmington, Delaware.

William Henry Seward, Jr. (June 18, 1839 - April 29, 1920) was born in Auburn, New York, the son of United States Secretary of State William Henry Seward, Sr. and Frances Adeline Seward; and younger brother of United States Assistant Secretary of State Frederick William Seward. Educated at home, Seward became interested in finance and later started a partnership with Clinton McDougall and opened a private bank in Auburn, New York in 1861.

James William Denny (November 20, 1838 - April 12, 1923) was a U.S. Representative from Maryland. Born in Frederick County, Virginia, Denny attended the academy of the Rev. William Johnson, Berryville, Virginia, and graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He served as principal of the Osage Seminary of Osceola, Missouri. During the Civil War, he returned to his native State and enlisted in Company A, Thirty-ninth Virginia Battalion of Cavalry, …

James Warren English (October 28,1837 - February, 1925) was an American politician born in Orleans Parish,Louisiana. His father died when he was 12 and his mother followed two years later. At the age of 15 he became an apprentice carriage-maker and worked at it undustriously for four years while attending night school when he moved to Griffin, Georgia. He enlisted in the Confederate Army on April 20,1861 and served in Virginia.