This is an image of Lincoln, Grant, Lee, and Davis.

Civil War Leaders

Learn more about the Union and Confederate leaders who defined the Civil War era.

John G. Walker

John George Walker was born in Missouri on July 22, 1821. His mother was the niece of Rachel Jackson, the wife of U. S. President Andrew Jackson, and...

George S. James

Not unlike the American Revolution’s “shot heard ’round the world” on Lexington Green, the first fire aimed at Fort Sumter took the Civil War past the...

Joseph B. Kershaw

Confederate General Joseph Brevard Kershaw commanded a brigade in Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia for the duration of the war. Born in Camden, South...

Frederick Douglass

National Park Service Ranger Mark Malloy of the Frederick Douglass National Historic Site answers questions about the life of America's premiere black...