President and U.S. Civil War General James Abram Garfield (1831 - 1881)

Question

Hi Wikitreers,

The 20th President of the United States James Abram Garfield (1831 - 1881) is a Notable. The profile is wonderful but it is lacking his Military history and service. I’d like to have input and collaboration from the projects as it’s a Presidential Project Notable profile. Is there anything more we can do to make his military service shine?

Thank you

Edit: How many U.S. Presidents were also U.S. Civil War Generals? If the South had won it’s likely General Robert E. Lee would of been as well just a interesting twist on fate.

Comments

Jeff Davis would have served as first President. It is doubtful if Lee would have served as president as he died in 1870.  It is likely one of his descendants, who were also Generals would have though.

Answer 1

Presidents who served in the Civil War:

Ulysses Grant, Benj. Harrison, Rutherford Hayes (wounded four times), James Garfield, Chester Arthur, and Wm. McKinley. Grant, Garfield, Hayes, and Arthur were Generals.

Comments

Thank you Natalie

Fascinating! I didn’t realize so many became Presidents after their military service in the U.S. Civil War!!   

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I forgot Andrew Johnson, apparently.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_by_military_service

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Good link! It’s really interesting considering the time frame how many served to go to be a President  

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It really is interesting, isn't it? I knew some of these but not all. I love to learn these types of things. Thank you, Natalie!

Answer 2

Throughout the history of this nation, we have had military Generals serve as President. Starting of course, with Washington. Andy Jackson, Zachary Taylor, then all the Civil War Generals, all the way up to Eisenhauer. It is just that we had so many Generals during the Civil War, so there was a greater population from which to draw Presidents.

As for the comment about Lee. I believe he would have followed Davis after the war becoming the second President of the Confederate States.