Even On Crutches He Led

Confederate Brigadier General George Doherty Johnston died December 8th 1910.

George Doherty Johnston was born May 30th 1832 in Hillsborough, North Carolina. His family moved to Greensboro, Alabama in 1834, were his father died a year latter. Johnston had his early education from tutors, and then attended Howard College. He then attended Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee where he studied law. Johnston returned home after graduation and opened a law practice, but he quickly became involved in politics being elected mayor in 1856, and to the State Legislature in 1857.

When the Civil War started Johnston joined the Confederate Army, becoming a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Alabama Infantry. His unit saw its first action at First Manassas. Johnston was promoted to Major in the 25th Alabama in January 1862, and Colonel in September 1863. At the Battle of Ezra Church, Johnston was wounded in the leg. He received a promotion shortly after to Brigadier General. He was still on crutches, and leading his men during the Franklin Nashville Campaign. When surrender came Johnston was on his way to join up with Confederate General Richard A Taylor.

Following the war Johnston was the commandant of cadets at the University of Alabama. Latter he took the job as superintendent of the South Carolina Military Academy. President Grover Cleveland appointed Johnston to be the United State Civil Service Commissioner. He settle in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he would be elected State Senator. Johnston died in Tuscaloosa December 8th 1910, and in buried in the Greenwood Cemetery.

He Moved To Slow

Major General George Brinton McClellan died October 29th 1885.

George B McClellan was born December 3rd 1826 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. He was the son of Dr George McClellan and Elizabeth Steinmetz (Brinton) McClellan. McClellan began at the University of Pennsylvania in 1840, to study the law, but two years latter he decided on military service. His father got President John Tyler to write a letter to West Point and McClellan was admitted there in 1842. McClellan closest friends while at West Point were James Stuart and A P Hill. He graduated second in his class of 59. He created the Army of the Potomac at the beginning of the Civil War, but moved to slowly battle for Abraham Lincoln and was replaced early in the war. He ran for President against Lincoln in 1864.

After the Civil War was over McClellan took his family for a long trip to Europe. Upon his return to the United States the Democratic Party showed interest in his running for president again. He went on to be the Chief Engineer of the New York City deptartment of Docks, and the President of the Atlantic and Great Western Railroad. In 1877 McClellan was nominated for the Governorship of New Jersey, and he served from 1878 to 1881. He worked hard to get Grover Cleveland elected President, hoping to be named Secretary of War in Cleveland’s cabinet.

His final years were spent traveling and writing about his military career. He died at the age of 58 after having had chest pains for several weeks at his home in Orange New Jersey. At 3am on the October 29th 1885 he spoke his final words, saying “I feel easy now. Thank you.” He is buried in the Riverview Cemetery in Trenton New Jersey.

The Power Of One Vote

On May 8th 1907 Edmund Gibson Ross, whose vote kept Andrew Johnson from being impeachment, died in New Mexico.

Edmund Gibson Ross was born December 7th 1826 in Ashland Ohio. He went to work in the newspaper business first in Sandusky Ohio, Milwaukee Wisconsin and Topeka Kansas. While in Kansas he was the editor of the “Tribune” which was the only Free-State paper in the territory. He enlisted in the United Sstates Army as a private in 1862, and was made a major by 1865. After Senator James H Lane committed suicide in 1866, Ross was appointed to fill his term and than was elected to the position as a member of the Republican Party. Ross became the seventh of the seven Republicans to break with the party, and he cast the vote which acquitted President Andrew Johnson in 1868. Ross loss his re-election bid in 1870.

After leaving the Senate, Ross returned to the newspaper business, starting a publication in Coffeyville Kansas. Unfortunately on April 23rd 1872 a tornado that went through Coffeyville destroyed the newspaper office. He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland in 1885 to the position of Governor of the New Mexico Territory, a position he held until 1889. He died May 8th 1907.

President John F Kennedy [at this time a senator] included Edmund Gibson Ross in his 1956 book “Profiles in Courage”.

Fitz

Fitzhugh Lee; Robert E Lee’s nephew, died on April 28th 1905.

Fitzhugh Lee was born November 19th 1835 at Clermont in Fairfax County Virginia the son of Sydney Smith Lee.  He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he came close to being expelled by his famous uncle.  He graduated in 1856.

In 1861 Lee was serving as an instructor at West Point, but with the start of the Civil War he resigned his United States commision and became a First Lieutenant in the Confederate Army, serving as a staff officer in the Peninsula campaign. He would become one of the youngest cavalry commanders at 27 during the war serving as General Robert E Lee’s chief of cavalry corp.

After the Civil War was over Fitzhugh became a farmer in Stafford Co, Virginia, elected governor of Virginia, and accepted an appointment from President Grover Cleveland as consul general in Havana, Cuba. He was one of only three ex-Confederate generals to serve as a Major General with the United States Volunteer Army during the Spanish-American War.

He died in Washington, DC on April 28th 1905.

The Lawyer of the Vermont Brigade

On January 17th 1828 Medal of Honor holder, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Addison Grant was born.

Lewis Grant was born in Winhall, Vermont the son of James and Elizabeth [Wyman] Grant. He went to local schools, and than taught school in Vermont, New Jersey, and Boston while reading for the bar. In 1855 he was admitted to the bar and began a law practice in Bellows Falls,Vermont.

He was mustered in as a Major of the 5th Vermont Infantry in September 1861. He was promoted several times, was wounded at the Battle of Fredericksburg, and he took over command of the Vermont Brigade and was leading them in 1863 at the Battle of Gettysburg. He was the acting commander of the 2nd Division 6th Corp during the Battle of Cedar Creek.

When the war ended General Ulysses S Grant recommended Lewis for an appointment in the regular army. He was appointed in August 1866 as a Lieutenant Colonel in the 36th Regiment of the United States Infantry, but he turned down the appointment. He lived in Illinois, Iowa and finally settled Minnesota. During President Benjamin Harrison’s administration he was the Assistant United States Secretary of War. He also served in President Grover Cleveland’s cabinet.  Grant was awarded the Medal of Honor in May 1893 for "Personal gallantry and intrepidity displayed in the management of his brigade and in leading it in the assault in which he was wounded.”  He died at Minneapolis March 20th 1918, and is buried in Lakewood Cemetery. He was 90.