General Gordon Granger

The first full-length biography of the Union general who performed heroically at the Civil War battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Mobile. By coming to the aid of Maj. Gen. Thomasâagainst ordersâat the Battle of Chickamauga, Union Gen. Gordon ... Read more

The first full-length biography of the Union general who performed heroically at the Civil War battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Mobile. By coming to the aid of Maj. Gen. Thomasâagainst ordersâat the Battle of Chickamauga, Union Gen. Gordon Granger saved the Federal army from catastrophic defeat. Later, he played major roles in the Chattanooga and Mobile campaigns. Immediately after the war, as commander of US troops in Texas, his actions sparked the âJuneteenthâ celebrations of slaveryâs end, which continue to this day. After his first battle at Wilsonâs Creek, Missouri, Granger rose through the ranks to contend with the Confederates Earl Van Dorn and Nathan Bedford Forrest for control of central Tennessee. The artillery platform he erected at Franklin, dubbed Fort Granger, would soon sound the death knell of the main Confederate army in the west. Granger eventually took command of a full infantry corps, but proved too odd of a fellow to promote further. This long-overdue biography sheds fascinating new light on a colorful commander who fought through the war in the West from its first major battles to its last, and even left his impact on the Reconstruction. Less