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Brigadier General Henry Washington Benham
Henry Washington Benham (1813–84) was a Union general in the American Civil War. Born in Connecticut, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1837. Benham served in the...
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Varina Howell Davis
Varina Howell Davis (1826‒1906) was the second wife of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, and thus the only first lady of the Confederacy. Born in rural Louisiana to a...
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Brigadier General Simon Bolivar Buckner, Confederate States of America
Simon Bolivar Buckner (1823−1914) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Born in the border state of Kentucky, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where...
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General Leonidas Polk, Confederate States of America
Leonidas Polk (1806−64) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Born in Raleigh, North Carolina, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1827. He later left...
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Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase
Salmon P. Chase (1808‒73) was secretary of the treasury in the administration of President Abraham Lincoln. Born in New Hampshire, as a child he was sent to live with an uncle in Ohio after the death...
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William H. Seward
William H. Seward (1801‒72) was a prominent New York politician who served as secretary of state to Abraham Lincoln and emerged as Lincoln’s closest cabinet adviser. A graduate of Union College, he...
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Vice President Hannibal Hamlin
Hannibal Hamlin (1809‒91) of Maine served as vice president to President Abraham Lincoln in 1861‒65 and was the first U.S. vice president from the Republican Party. He served in the U.S. Senate as a...
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President Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln (1809‒65) was the 16th president of the United States. He was born in a log cabin near Hodgenville, Kentucky, and grew up in southwestern Indiana. He had little formal schooling....
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President George Washington
George Washington (1732‒99) was the first president of the United States, a founding father and national hero revered by both North and South during the American Civil War. He had limited formal...
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Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, Confederate States of America
Alexander H. Stephens (1812‒83) was vice president of the Confederate States of America. Born on a small farm in the Georgia Piedmont, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and soon was elected to...
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The Photographic Album
The Photographic Album is an album of portraits by the famous American photographer Matthew Brady (circa 1823‒96) that belonged to Emperor Pedro II of Brazil (1825‒91), a collector of photography as...
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Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois
Stephen A. Douglas (1813‒61) was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1843 and to the Senate in 1846, where he emerged as a nationally prominent spokesman for the Democratic Party. He is...
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William H. Prescott
William Hickling Prescott (1796‒1859) was a prominent American historian, best known for his major works History of the Conquest of Mexico (1843) and History of the Conquest of Peru (1847). From a...
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President Millard Fillmore
Millard Fillmore (1800‒74) was the 13th president of the United States. The son of a poor tenant farmer from western New York, Fillmore received only a very limited education. After being apprenticed...
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Postmaster General Montgomery Blair
Montgomery Blair (1813‒83) was postmaster general in the cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln. Born and educated in Kentucky, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1836 but soon...
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Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles
Gideon Welles (1802‒78) was secretary of the navy in the cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln. Born in Glastonbury, Connecticut, the son of a merchant and shipbuilder, Welles studied law but never...
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Secretary of the Interior Caleb B. Smith
Caleb B. Smith (1808‒64) was President Abraham Lincoln’s first secretary of the interior. He was born in Boston but at a young age moved with his parents to Cincinnati. After studying law in Ohio, as...
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Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
Edwin McMasters Stanton (1814‒69) was secretary of war from 1862 to 1868. Born in Steubenville, Ohio, he completed one year at Kenyon College before being forced to leave for financial reasons. He...
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Governor Sam Houston of Texas
Sam Houston (1793‒1863) was born in Virginia. As a teenager he lived for three years among the Cherokee Indians, whose language and culture he learned. He enlisted in the army in 1813 and fought in...
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Washington Irving
Washington Irving (1783‒1859) was one of the most widely read American authors of his day, and one of the first to be recognized in Europe for his works of fiction. Born in New York City of Scottish...
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