When J.E.B. STUART raided Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in 1862, he was pursued by Federal cavalry under the command of his father-in-law, Brig. Gen. PHILIP ST. GEORGE COOKE, whose name is frequently confused with that of Confederate General PHILIP ST. GEORGE COCKE, both West Pointers. As if that weren't bad enough, there was a Union general by the name of JEFFERSON DAVIS.
WILLIAM T. MAGRUDER (U.S.M.A. 1850) commanded a squadron of the 1st United States Cavalry at First Manassas and during the Peninsula Campaign. In August 1862 he was granted leave of absence, and two months later he switched loyalties to join the Confederate Army. On July 3, 1863, he fell during the famous charge at Gettysburg.
The Virginia Military Institute graduated WILLIAM H. GILLESPIE in the special war class of 1862. While awaiting his appointment as an officer on "Stonewall" Jackson's staff, he deserted to the Union Army and became Adjutant of the 14th West Virginia Cavalry.
If Blue and Gray didn't meet again at Gettysburg during the annual reunions, they at least met on the banks of the Nile. No less than 50 former Union and Confederate officers held the rank of colonel or above in the Army of the Khedive during the 1870's. Two ex-Confederate generals and three former Union officers attained the rank of general in the Egyptian Army, holding such positions as Chief of Staff, Chief of Engineers, and Chief Ordnance Officer.
Only three Confederates ever held the rank of general in the United States Army following the Civil War—MATTHEW C. BUTLER, FITZHUGH LEE, and JOE WHEELER. Lee and Wheeler, though they served as generals in the Confederate Army as well as in the United States Army during the Spanish American War, both graduated at the bottom of their West Point classes. When Lee and Wheeler were promoted to major general in 1901, their commissions were signed by a former Yankee officer—President William McKinley.
General GEORGE PICKETT, a native Virginian, was appointed to the United States Military Academy from the State of Illinois. John Todd Stuart obtained the appointment at the request of his law partner, Abraham Lincoln.
The senior general in the Confederate Army, SAMUEL COOPER, hailed from New York. Before the war, he had been Adjutant General of the United States Army. From 1861 to 1865 he was the Adjutant and Inspector General of the Confederate Army.
Fort Sumter was surrendered in 1861 by a Kentucky-born Union officer, Major ROBERT ANDERSON. Confederate General JOHN C. PEMBERTON, a Pennsylvanian by birth, surrendered Vicksburg in 1863. There was no collusion in either surrender; both men were loyal supporters of their respective causes.
The first Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, Commodore FRANKLIN BUCHANAN, commanded the C.S.S. Virginia (Merrimac) in its first engagement. On the first ship to surrender under the Virginia's guns was Buchanan's brother, an officer of the U.S. Navy.
Major CLIFTON PRENTISS of the 6th Maryland Infantry (Union) and his younger brother WILLIAM, of the 2nd Maryland Infantry (Confederate), were both mortally wounded when their regiments clashed at Petersburg on April 2, 1865—just seven days before hostilities ceased. Both were removed from the battlefield and after a separation of four years, they were taken to the same hospital in Washington. Each fought and each died for his cause.