Most famous for serving as the vice president of the Confederacy during the Civil War (1861-65), Alexander Hamilton Stephens was a near-constant force in state and national politics for a half-century. Born near Crawfordville, in Taliaferro County, on February 11, 1812, to Margaret Grier and Andrew Baskins Stephens, the young Stephens was orphaned at fourteen, which intensified his already melancholic disposition. He graduated from Franklin College (later the University of Georgia) in 1832 and gained admittance to the bar two years later. There followed a steady and uninterrupted rise to political prominence.
Daniel Smith Donelson (June 23, 1801 – April 17, 1863) was a Tennessee politician and soldier. The historic river port of Fort Donelson was named for him as a Brigadier in the Tennessee militia, early in the American Civil War, in which he went on to serve as a Confederate general, notably at Perryville and…
Alexander Peter Stewart “Old Straight” (October 2, 1821 – August 30, 1908) was a career United States Army officer, college professor, and general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Early life and career Stewart was born in Rogersville, Tennessee. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1842 (12th of 56 cadets) and…
Founder Of Mother’s Day Anna Marie Jarvis is the founder of the Mother’s Day holiday in the United States. Her birthplace, known as the Anna Jarvis House, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. It was built in 1854 and is a two-story, frame dwelling, which is also notable as General…
Summary George Mason was a wealthy planter and an influential lawmaker who served as a member of the Fairfax County Court (1747–1752; 1764–1789), the Truro Parish vestry (1749–1785), the House of Burgesses (1758–1761), and the House of Delegates (1776–1780). In 1769, he helped organize a nonimportation movement to protest British imperial policies, and he later…
American soldier, lawyer, and politician from Paris, Texas, United States. He was a Major General for the Confederacy in the Civil War and later represented Texas in the U.S. Senate. Early life Samuel was born in Tompkinsville, Kentucky, to Rice and Lucy (Bell) Maxey. His father was a lawyer, and in 1834 he moved the…
George Wythe Randolph was a lawyer, Confederate general, and, briefly, Confederate secretary of war during the American Civil War (1861–1865). The grandson of former U.S. president Thomas Jefferson, Randolph hailed from an elite Virginia family but largely shunned public life until John Brown‘s raid on Harpers Ferry in 1859. He supported secession, founded the Richmond…
Moses Jacob Ezekiel was one of the most celebrated sculptors of his day, his works appearing in civic spaces, art museums, and universities across the world. Born in Richmond to a family of Spanish-Jewish origin, Ezekiel was the first Jewish cadet to attend the Virginia Military Institute, and he fought at the Battle of New Market (1864) during the American Civil War (1861–1865). He later considered a career in medicine but studied sculpture instead. In 1869 Ezekiel relocated to Berlin and won admittance to the royal academy there; four years later he became the first non-German to win the school’s prestigious art competition. For the rest of his life, working out of a studio in Rome, Ezekiel created sculpture, often by the commission and for public display. He generally modeled in clay and either sculpted from marble or cast in bronze, creating heroic lifelike portraits that meditated on such themes as religion, religious freedom, and patriotism for both the United States and the Confederacy. He fashioned a bronze of Thomas Jefferson for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, that was replicated for the University of Virginia. He also created a memorial to his fellow cadets who fought at New Market as well as a memorial to the Confederate soldiers buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Ezekiel was buried beneath it after his death in 1917.
Lewis Addison Armistead (February 18, 1817 – July 5, 1863) was a Confederate brigadier general in the American Civil War, who was wounded, captured, and died after Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg.
John Y. Beall was a Confederate navy officer hanged as a spy by Union authorities at the end of the American Civil War (1861–1865). A militiaman who witnessed the execution of John Brown in 1859, Beall joined the Stonewall Brigade, fought with Turner Ashby, and participated in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign (1862), during which he became separated from his unit. He moved to Iowa and then to Canada, where he eventually joined the Confederate navy and planned and sometimes executed various clandestine missions. After capturing a Union merchant ship, Beall himself was captured and imprisoned briefly before being exchanged. He refused a commission in the Confederate secret service, but returned to Canada where he continued his clandestine work. After being captured again at Niagara Falls, this time when he attempted to derail trains carrying Confederate prisoners, Beall was tried for spying. The charges cited a failed attempt to seize a civilian passenger boat and use it to capture a Union gunboat, an aborted mission in which Beall disguised himself as a passenger. Beall was defended by a prominent New York City attorney and ninety-two members of the U.S. Congress signed a petition for his pardon, but he was hanged on February 24, 1865.
