Adam Jacoby Slemmer
He won the first battle of the Civil War (it was not at Fort Sumter as is classically an erroneously reported) as a Union Lieutenant at Fort Pickens near Pensacola, and was quickly promoted to 2-star General for the winning side, the North! His courage, decisiveness and meticulous strategy resulted in outthinking the Southerners, and controlling the coastal panhandle waters, effectively blockading the Florida Southern troops and supplies.
There were no telegraph lines to the Pensacola area, so the news of the battle at Fort Sumter reached the northern news first, and was reported as the start of the war. We now know it was at Fort Pickens and the North won the battle.
The Fort is still intact; you can visit it most days. See here for more information: http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/38pickens/38facts1.htm
There is a monument to Adam Slemmer at one of the entrances to Fairmont Park in Philadelphia.
You can read more about Adam Jacoby Slemmer at Tulane University's web site at http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/Slemmer.html
Other sources:
- From Tulene Univ: http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/Slemmer.html and http://www.tulane.edu/~latner/Background/BackgroundForts.html
- http://dhr.dos.state.fl.us/museum/civwar/03.html and
- here for photos: http://www.civilwaralbum.com/misc/pickens1.htm
- http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/florida/photos/military/picken/picken.htm
History is a bit vague about what happened to him, some say he had no children, some records say he did - he is apparently my direct ancestor, the brother of my great, great grandfather.
The resemblance is eerie, even to me - eyes, nose, mouth.
The funny thing is, I thought nothing of it until I moved to Atlanta in the 1980's. In the north and west, the Civil War is mere history. It is sad, but true that in the late 1980''s many Southerner's were pathetically "still fighting the war", clinging to old prejudices and hatred, and a zealous xenophobia to anyone who fails to slur their words in a southern drawl. Thankfully, this is changing over the years since. Anmd, of course, not all, indeed, not even most, natives are like this. I'm just surprised that there are ANY of these attitudes still around, 150 years after my ancestor fought to preserve the United States and free the slaves.