Civil War-Historical Figures 1) Harriet Beecher Stowe Background-Stowe achieved national fame for her anti- slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, which fanned the flames of sectionalism before the Civil War. 2) Clara Barton Background-She became a teacher, worked in the U.S. Patent Office and was an independent nurse during the Civil War. While visiting Europe, she worked with a relief organization known as the International Red Cross, and lobbied for an American branch when she returned home. The American Red Cross was founded in 1881, and Barton served as its first president.

Civil War-Historical Figures 3) Harriet Tubman Background-Harriet Tubman was an American bondwoman who escaped from slavery in the South to become a leading abolitionist before the American Civil War. She was born in Maryland in 1820, and successfully escaped in Yet she returned many times to rescue both family members and non-relatives from the plantation system. She led hundreds to freedom in the North as the most famous "conductor" on the Underground Railroad, an elaborate secret network of safe houses organized for that purpose. 4) Dred Scott Background-Dred Scott was born into slavery sometime in 1795, in Southampton County, Virginia. He made history by launching a legal battle to gain his freedom. After his first owner died, Scott spent time in two free states working for several subsequent owners. Shortly after he married, he tried to buy freedom for himself and his family but failed, so he took his case to the Missouri courts, where he won only to have the decision overturned at the Supreme Court level, an event so controversial it was harbinger for Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and inevitably of the Civil War.

Civil War-Historical Figures 5) Frederick Douglass Background-Abolitionist leader Frederick Douglass was born into slavery in Talbot County, Maryland. He became one of the most famous intellectuals of his time, advising presidents and lecturing to thousands on a range of causes, including women’s rights and Irish home rule. Among Douglass’ writings are several autobiographies eloquently describing his experiences in slavery and his life after the Civil War. 6) Eli Whitney Background-Eli Whitney studied at Yale before going on to invent the cotton gin, a device that highly streamlined the process of extracting fiber from cotton seeds. With the patent for his device being widely pirated, Whitney struggled to earn any recompense for his invention. He later went on to pioneer “interchangeable parts” systems of production.

Civil War-Historical Figures 7) Jefferson Davis Background-After a distinguished military career, Davis served as a U.S. senator and as Secretary of War under Franklin Pierce before his election as the president of the secessionist Confederate States of America. He was later indicted for treason, though never tried, and remained a symbol of Southern pride until his death in ) Ulysses S. Grant Background-served as U.S. general and commander of the Union armies during the late years of the American Civil War, later becoming the 18th U.S. president.

Civil War-Historical Figures 9) Robert E. Lee Background-the leading Confederate General during the U.S. Civil War and has been venerated as a heroic figure in the South. 10) William Tecumseh Sherman Background-early military career was a near disaster, having to be temporarily relieved of command. He returned at the Battle of Shiloh to victory and then gathered 100,000 troops destroying Atlanta and devastating Georgia in his March to the Sea. Often credited with the saying, "war is hell," he was a major architect of modern total war.