The Best Political General of the Civil War: John A. Logan – Through the Merits of his Performance

Who was the best political general of the Civil War?
John Alexander Logan

By Bob Pence
The Cleveland Civil War Roundtable
Copyright © 2023, All Rights Reserved

Editor’s note: The subject of the annual Dick Crews Memorial Debate at the February 2023 Roundtable meeting was: “Who was the best political general of the Civil War?” Four members made presentations on the topic; the article below was one of those four presentations.


What is a political general?

A political general is a general officer or other military leader without significant military experience who is given a high position in command for political reasons, through political connections, or to appease certain political blocs and factions.

The most important reason for appointing political generals was to appease important blocs of voters. President Lincoln used such appointments as a way to get the support of moderate Democrats for the war and for his administration (“War Democrats”). The first three volunteer generals whom Lincoln appointed, John Adams Dix, Nathaniel Prentice Banks, and Benjamin F. Butler, were all Democrats.

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