American Civil War Heroes

American Civil War heroes...

Sounds pretty straight forward, right? This page must be about people from the Civil War who performed great, heroic, and noble deeds...

It is that, but I hope to eventually make it much more than just that. There will be stories about great individuals - generals and leaders - who come up in every civil war discussion. Names like Lee, Grant, Lincoln, Davis, Jackson, Meade, etc. These should come up due to their large impacts in this war...

However, I want this to be even more than that...

Most importantly, I won't be doing biographical pages about those well known names listed above. If I cover someone like Lincoln it will be a collection of interesting, under-the-radar stories about him rather than the story of his life. The aim is to provide you with a collection of stories about Civil War people you won't find on every site out there...

Civil War Hero Quick Links:

John Stith Pemberton

Francis Barlow

John Brown Gordon

Rutherford B. Hayes

Civil War People

There are many interesting and exciting stories to be told about various individuals throughout the Civil War. There are stories of daring heroism and there are stories of vile treachery. Also, there are stories that are just fun to tell.

For example, there is the story of Wilmer McLean (right)...

In 1861 the first skirmish of what would become the First Battle of Bull Run was fought on McLean's farm, and a Union cannon ball even came down the chimney of his kitchen fireplace.

Thinking that he should move his family to a safer location, he bought a house in the community of Appomattox Court House, Virginia...

...and in 1865 Generals Grant and Lee came to McLean's parlor to negotiate and sign the final surrender effectively bringing the Civil War to an end.

It is said that McLean was fond of saying that, "The war began in my front yard and ended in my front parlor."

Is Wilmer McLean one of the heroes of the American Civil War? Well, maybe not really a hero...

But he definitely had a story worth remembering, and there are many more people just like him that played a small part in the story that is the American Civil War. Some just had accidental parts - like McLean - while others performed true acts of forgotten heroism.

Here I will try to bring together as many of their stories as I can...

Civil War Heroes

There are many different kinds of American Civil War heroes. There are famous generals and politicians, there are also largely unknown heroes and heroines. Hopefully, we will - over time- be able to bring their stories together here for the enjoyment of all...

We have special pages dealing with the adventures of Civil War spies and Civil War women. If you want to read some stories about those particular heroes, please check out those pages.

This list is not intended to be exhaustive. As I add more pages the list will grow. Feel free to contact me with American Civil War heroes you would like me to write about.

American Civil War Story-Home