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Just one day after creating a Continental Army, Congress turned to the problem of who should lead it and selected George Washington of Virginia as commander in chief. Washington had experience from the French and Indian War, a reputation for personal courage, and the political advantage of coming from a southern colony at a moment when most fighting was in New England. His appointment helped weld together regional in
On February 12th, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in a Kentucky log cabin, long before he would become the wartime president who guided the Union through the Civil War. For military history, Lincoln’s significance lies in the way he grew into the role of commander in chief of an enormous citizen army. During four years of brutal fighting, he wrestled with strategy, replaced generals, and learned to balance political p
In the early months of the Revolution, the Continental Congress moved from ad-hoc privateers to something closer to a real navy by appointing Esek Hopkins as commander in chief of the Continental Navy.
Two years later, another turning point arrived when Ulysses S. Grant began work in his new role as general-in-chief of all Union armies. Having made his reputation at places like Fort Donelson, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga, Grant now carried the rank of lieutenant general, a grade not held since George Washington. From this position he could coordinate the Army of the Potomac in Virginia with campaigns in the West, aim
Four years after the war’s outbreak, the nation seemed on the brink of healing when a final shock struck. On the evening of April 14th, 1865, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington City, only days after Confederate forces in Virginia had surrendered a major army. An assassin slipped into the presidential box and fired a pistol shot at close range, mortally wounding the commander in chief.
On this day, George Washington formally accepted the appointment that Congress had offered him to serve as commander in chief of the Continental Army. The colonies had already seen bloodshed at Lexington, Concord, and around Boston, but until this point there had been no single figure responsible for coordinating their military effort. Washington’s acceptance signaled that the rebellion would not be a loose collectio
With the Revolutionary War effectively over and peace in sight, George Washington appeared before Congress in Annapolis on December 23rd, 1783 to resign his commission as commander in chief.
A story of an urban raid that turned into a street-by-street survival fight and how it reshaped American intervention abroad.