What Ten Union Individuals Were Most Crucial to Ultimate Union Victory?

JeffBrooks

2nd Lieutenant
Joined
Aug 20, 2009
Location
Hutto, TX
If you had to rank the ten most important Union individuals who contributed to the ultimate victory of the North in the Civil War, who would they be?

(Note that I say Union individuals. Yes, I agree that Bragg, Pemberton, Davis, et al, played an important role in winning the war for the North, but that's not what I'm interested in talking about.)

My list would be as follows:

1. Abraham Lincoln
2. Ulysses S. Grant
3. Edwin Stanton
4. Salmon Chase
5. William T. Sherman
6. Montgomery Meigs
7. Gideon Welles
8. George Thomas
9. George Meade
10. Tie between David Farragut and David Dixon Porter

Honorable Mention: Corporal Barton Mitchell, 27th Indiana
 
I feel strongly about these 6, in this order:

Lincoln
Grant
Sherman
Sheridan
Thomas
Chase

**** shoot after that with Joe Hooker as honorable mention ( I think I will alone on that one), but he pulled things together after the Burnside fiasco
 
Vote Here:
**** shoot after that with Joe Hooker as honorable mention ( I think I will alone on that one), but he pulled things together after the Burnside fiasco

Not quite alone. He also made valuable contributions by consolidating the AofP cavalry into its own corps and fostering the Bureau of Military Information.

Not sure if either of them quite makes the top ten, but McClellan also made a significant contribution in organizing the army. That boring administrative stuff is a big part of winning a war.
 
Vote Here:
Lord Palmerston, the British PM during the American Civil War, always built a problem into any movement for mediation.
Since the problems were never solved, there was no mediation. The British stood by and let the United States eliminate slavery.
He was not a Union man, so he does not belong on the list. But he did represent the force that kept the monarchy and the British aristocrats away from the United States during the war.
 
Vote Here:
The second most powerful person in the United States during the Civil War was William H. Seward. His ability to manage New York politics during the war made it possible to keep the country on task.
 
Vote Here:
Halleck as an honorable mention. His genius at logistics far outweighed in failings at a battle General. I often think how he kept Grant supplied. How they kept moving supplies and how they put them in a priority just astounds me.
 
Vote Here:
Halleck as an honorable mention. His genius at logistics far outweighed in failings at a battle General. I often think how he kept Grant supplied. How they kept moving supplies and how they put them in a priority just astounds me.

I think it's very creditable that after being superseded by Grant as general-in-chief he became so supportive in his chief of staff role. Halleck's administrative talents were a major asset to the Union cause.
 
Vote Here:
Back
Top