The 1864 United States presidential election was the 20th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 8, 1864. Near the end of the American Civil War, incumbent President Abraham Lincoln of the National Union Party easily defeated the Democratic nominee, former General George B. McClellan, by a wide margin of 212–21 in the electoral college, with 55% of the popular vote. For the election, the Republican Party and some Democrats created the National Union Party, especially to attract War Democrats.
Simon Cameron was an American businessman and politician who represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate and served as United States Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln at the start of the American Civil War.
William Starke Rosecrans was an American inventor, coal-oil company executive, diplomat, politician, and U.S. Army officer. He gained fame for his role as a Union general during the American Civil War. He was the victor at prominent Western Theater battles, but his military career was effectively ended following his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.
Francis Preston Blair Jr. was a United States Senator, a United States Congressman and a Union Major General during the Civil War. He represented Missouri in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and was active in preventing the State of Missouri from being absorbed into the Confederacy at the beginning of the Civil War.
Thomas John Wood was a career United States Army officer. He served in the Mexican–American War and as a Union general during the American Civil War.
The Chickamauga campaign of the American Civil War was a series of battles fought in northwestern Georgia from August 21 to September 20, 1863, between the Union Army of the Cumberland and Confederate Army of Tennessee. The campaign started successfully for Union commander William S. Rosecrans, with the Union army occupying the vital city of Chattanooga and forcing the Confederates to retreat into northern Georgia. But a Confederate attack at the Battle of Chickamauga forced Rosecrans to retreat back into Chattanooga and allowed the Confederates to lay siege to the Union forces.
Andrew Jackson Smith was a United States Army general during the American Civil War, rising to the command of a corps. He was most noted for his victory over Confederate General Stephen D. Lee at the Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, on July 14, 1864.
James William Forsyth was a U.S. Army officer and general. He was primarily a Union staff officer during the American Civil War and cavalry regimental commander during the Indian Wars. Forsyth is best known for having commanded the 7th Cavalry at the Wounded Knee Massacre on December 29, 1890 during which more than 250 men, women, and children of the Lakota were killed and more than 50 were wounded.
John Thomas Wilder was an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War, noted principally for capturing the critical mountain pass of Hoover's Gap during the Tullahoma Campaign in Central Tennessee in June 1863. Wilder had personally ensured that his "Lightning Brigade" of mounted infantry was equipped with the new Spencer repeating rifle. However, Wilder initially had to appeal to his men to pay for these weapons themselves before the government agreed to carry the cost. The victory at Hoover's Gap was attributed largely to Wilder's persistence in procuring the new rifles, which disoriented the enemy.
Franklin Archibald Dick was an American lawyer, politician and military officer during the American Civil War. He served as a Republican member of the Missouri state legislature and worked with Francis P. Blair Jr. to oppose slavery in Missouri. He served as volunteer assistant adjutant general to Brigadier General Nathaniel Lyon in the struggle to prevent Missouri secession to the Confederacy that resulted in the Camp Jackson Affair. He also served as Missouri provost marshal general and lieutenant colonel under Major General Samuel Curtis. After the war, he worked as a law partner with Montgomery Blair at the Blair House in Washington, D.C.
George Day Wagner was an Indiana politician, farmer, and soldier, serving as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. His controversial actions at the Battle of Franklin in 1864 overshadowed his positive performance earlier in the war.
John Dunlap Stevenson was an American attorney, politician, and soldier in the U.S. Army in two wars. He was a brigadier general of volunteers during the American Civil War. In 1866 he was nominated and confirmed for appointment as brevet major general of volunteers.
The 2nd Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment, formed from a voluntary regiment using the same name, that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
James St. Clair Morton was an American soldier, engineer and writer. He served as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, primarily serving in the Western Theater.
William J. Carson was a United States Army soldier and recipient of the United States' highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Chickamauga in the American Civil War.
War Democrats in American politics of the 1860s were members of the Democratic Party who supported the Union and rejected the policies of the Copperheads. The War Democrats demanded a more aggressive policy toward the Confederacy and supported the policies of Republican President Abraham Lincoln when the American Civil War broke out a few months after his victory in the 1860 presidential election.
Joseph Wampler Vance was an American soldier from Illinois. Educated at the United States Military Academy, Vance was named a tactical instructor of Union troops upon the outbreak of the Civil War. He served alongside William Rosecrans as Acting Assistant Adjutant General, then as Aide-de-Camp to William Carlin. Vance participated in the battles of Fredericktown, Farmington, Liberty Gap, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Resaca, and Kennesaw Mountain. Following the war, Vance helped to found the Illinois National Guard, eventually rising to become Adjutant General of Illinois (1884–1891).
The Ford's Arkansas Cavalry Battalion was a Confederate Army cavalry battalion during the American Civil War.
John Armstrong Bross was a Colonel in the Union Army during the United States Civil War who died while leading the 29th Colored Infantry, part of the 88th Illinois Infantry, against Confederate troops. This occurred during the Battle of the Crater at the siege of Petersburg in Virginia. As he departed to fight in his final battle, Bross said: “If it is the will of Providence that I do not return, I ask no nobler epitaph than that I fell for my country at the head of this black and blue regiment.”.
Chattanooga, Tennessee, was a major rail center and a strategic vantage-point, with high ground competed-for by both sides. When Union forces were besieged in the town, General Ulysses S. Grant forced a supply-route, earning him Lincoln's particular gratitude.
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