PRESIDENT LINCOLN, the Commander-In-Chief of the Union Army, had four brothers-in-law in the Confederate Army, and three of his sisters-in-law were married to Confederate officers.
JEFFERSON DAVIS, Commander-in-Chief of the Confederate Army, served the U.S. Army as a colonel during the Mexican War and held the post of Secretary of War in President Pierce's cabinet. Previously, as a senior United States Senator, he had been Chairman of the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Lincoln and Davis were born in Kentucky, the only state that has ever had two of its sons serve as President at the same time.
JOHN TYLER, 10th President of the United States, was elected to the Confederate States Congress in 1862, but died before it convened. On March 4, 1861, Tyler's granddaughter unfurled the first flag of the Confederacy when it was raised over the Confederate Capitol at Montgomery, Alabama.
The Battle of Lynchburg, Virginia, in June 1864 brought together two future Presidents of the United States—General RUTHERFORD B. HAYES and Major WILLIAM McKINLEY, U.S.A.—and a former Vice-President—General JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE, C.S.A. Five other Union generals later rose to the Presidency: ANDREW JOHNSON, U.S. GRANT, JAMES A. GARFIELD, CHESTER A. ARTHUR, and BENJAMIN HARRISON.
The four Secretaries of War during the eleven years prior to the Civil War were all from the South. All four later held office in the Confederate government.
Fourteen of the 26 Confederate Senators had previously served in the United States Congress. In the Confederate House of Representatives, 33 members were former U.S. Congressmen.
Confederate Generals ROBERT E. LEE and P.G.T. BEAUREGARD both ranked second in their graduating classes at West Point, and both officers later returned to hold the position of Superintendent of the Academy. Lee's appointment to the rank of full colonel in the United States Army was signed by President Lincoln.
In 1859 WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN was appointed the first president of what is today the Louisiana State University. Although his chief claim to fame was the destructive "March to the Sea", a portrait of the Union general occupies a prominent place in the Memorial Tower of this Southern university.
Over one-fourth of the West Point graduates who fought during the Civil War were in the Confederate Army. Half of the 304 who served in Gray were on active duty in the United States Army when war broke out. Of the total number of West Pointers who went South, 148 were promoted to the rank of general officer. In all, 313 of the 1,098 officers in the United States Army joined the Confederacy.
One fourth of the officers in the United States Navy resigned to cast their lot with the Confederate Navy. Of the 322 who resigned, 243 were line officers.