Eleven Union Generals

[War Horse]

View attachment 40111
Left to right:
William Farrar "Baldy" Smith
William Buel Franklin
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Andrew Porter
Irvin McDowell
George Brinton McClellan
George Archibald McCall
Don Carlos Buell
Louis Blenker
Silas Casey
Fitz John Porter

Great photo, Thanks for sharing. Little Mac seems to be the only one posing and when I look at William Buel Franklin I am amazed how much he looks like John Reynolds. IMO

 

[E_just_E]

Interesting Chronology for this picture:

Buell became a Brig. Gen. on May 17, 1861 and left the AOP and reported West on November 1861.
William Farrar "Baldy" Smith became a Brig. Gen. on August 13, 1861. Left the AOP March 4, 1863.
Silas Casey became a Brig. Gen on August 31, 1861

This can probably place this picture between early September and late October 1861.

Yes, Casey was the only one that was left with the AOP until the end of the war. And other than Casey, McCall and Blenker, certainly that was not a squad that their replacements felt that they were All-Star level...

 

[D Serrano]

Just got back from a road trip to DC and Richmond. Went to the National Portrait Gallery were they are showing a great Civil War exhibit and guess what, there is an almost identical print of these generals standing hat-less same pose. Caption says Yorktown 1862. They could be wrong. Great exhibit of Brady photos, go see it if you can.

 

[D Serrano]

Here it is. Was able to pull it off their site

 

[generallou1]

Here is what I put together all autographs are original and I own, I scanned them and mounted this temporary piece due to size. Since a few were extremely hard to come by I thought it best to keep them locked away!

 

[James N.]

Here is what I put together all autographs are original and I own, I scanned them and mounted this temporary piece due to size. Since a few were extremely hard to come by I thought it best to keep them locked away!

Very nice! The only autographs I own are by Union General John Newton who commanded the I Corps at Gettysburg on July 2 & 3; and Confederate cavalry Gen. Joe Wheeler. Both of mine are from the postwar period in the 1880's or '90's.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[generallou1]

Thanks could have framed it easier if they were all just signatures, but the Blenker and McCall were hard to come by. The Andrew Porter letter is great mentions several other generals and the Gettysburg affair and was sent to general fanklin.

 

[Robert Gray]

Hats off for a better look.

 

[Nytram01]

View attachment 40111
Left to right:
William Farrar "Baldy" Smith
William Buel Franklin
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Andrew Porter
Irvin McDowell
George Brinton McClellan
George Archibald McCall
Don Carlos Buell
Louis Blenker
Silas Casey
Fitz John Porter

And from this picture we can deduce that Samuel P. Heintzelman couldn't stand still for a few minutes. In modern day equivilent he's basically the guy who ruins a serious group photo by doing rabbit ears and a silly face.

 

[MRB1863]

Is that the same Baldy Smith that "protected" Carlisle from the infamous Confederate Shelling June '63?

 

[WJC]

View attachment 40111
Left to right:
William Farrar "Baldy" Smith
William Buel Franklin
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Andrew Porter
Irvin McDowell
George Brinton McClellan
George Archibald McCall
Don Carlos Buell
Louis Blenker
Silas Casey
Fitz John Porter

Thanks for posting.
At least in this group, Little Mac doesn't appear to be the shortest....

 

[Arioch]

I don't think this is from the Peninsula....McCall's Pa reserves did not get down to the theater of operations until mid to late June of '62....they had been held in reserve on the Rappahanock while everybody else was already in the field..

Could McCall have preceded his troops arrival?....quite possible (and I forget off the top of my head if he did).

McCall was then captured on June 30th (Glendale / White Oak Swamp / Charles city Crossroads....pick your name).

I'm thinking it's more likely late '61....maybe Camp Pierpont

 

[rpkennedy]

Is that the same Baldy Smith that "protected" Carlisle from the infamous Confederate Shelling June '63?

It is. In the autumn of 1863, he was the chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland where he oversaw the Cracker Line at Chattanooga then became the Eighteenth Corps commander until he was relieved of command in July 1864.

Ryan

 

[War Horse]

View attachment 40111
Left to right:
William Farrar "Baldy" Smith
William Buel Franklin
Samuel Peter Heintzelman
Andrew Porter
Irvin McDowell
George Brinton McClellan
George Archibald McCall
Don Carlos Buell
Louis Blenker
Silas Casey
Fitz John Porter

Now that's an all star lineup.

 

[Aussie Billy Sherman]

Pretty amazing how nearly all of them didn't last to the end of the war

 

[PeterT]

Altogether now .....

Eleven Union Generals standing in a row
Eleven Union Generals standing in a row
If one Union General should accidentally fall ....
There would be ten Union Generals standing in a row

 

[RochesterBill]

What strikes me is that it's mostly a photo of a bunch of guys who - well, I don't want to call them "losers" exactly, that seems unkind. Maybe "ineffective" or possibly "undistinguished".

A couple of them were more or less disastrous, most ended the war either out of the army, on "special duty" or commanding garrison troops someplace. One spent most of the war in Libby prison, and another was responsible for blowing Grant's golden opportunity at Petersburg when he, to be blunt, chickened out.

It took the Union a long time to weed out those guys.

 

[James N.]

I don't think this is from the Peninsula....McCall's Pa reserves did not get down to the theater of operations until mid to late June of '62....they had been held in reserve on the Rappahanock while everybody else was already in the field..

Could McCall have preceded his troops arrival?....quite possible (and I forget off the top of my head if he did).

McCall was then captured on June 30th (Glendale / White Oak Swamp / Charles city Crossroads....pick your name).

I'm thinking it's more likely late '61....maybe Camp Pierpont

It's definitely before Buell went west to compete with the Confederates for the loyalty of Kentucky, making it sometime in 1861. Buell is still only a brigadier general here, so it's well before he took command of the Army of the Ohio, occupied Nashville at the end of Feb., 1862 and came to Grant's assistance at Shiloh in April.

 

[NH Civil War Gal]

Could someone explain why/how the fashion for unbuttoning and sticking a hand in their jacket? I saw a painting from the last 1700s and it was being done there too.

 

[Arioch]

Could someone explain why/how the fashion for unbuttoning and sticking a hand in their jacket? I saw a painting from the last 1700s and it was being done there too.

Napoleon.....he set the fashion trend....I believe it was already going on during his (Napoleon's) time...but afterwards, it became the fashion.