William Mahone

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William Mahone

William Mahone (born December 1, 1826 in Southampton County , Virginia , † October 8, 1895 in Washington, DC ) was a civil engineer, major general in the Confederate Army during the Civil War and US Senator for the state of Virginia.

Life

Mahone studied civil engineering at the Virginia Military Institute . In 1847 he completed his training. He then taught at the Rappahanock Military Academy. From 1853 he built the Norfolk and Petersburg railway line as chief engineer and became president of this railway company after its completion.

As commander of the 6th Virginia Regiment, Mahone was involved in the capture of the Norfolk Navy Shipyard at the beginning of the Civil War . On November 16, he was promoted to brigadier general and commanded the area around Norfolk , Virginia until its evacuation. Mahone then remained as a brigade commander in the Northern Virginia Army . A serious wound in the Second Battle of Bull Run forced him to rest. Upon his return he was promoted to major general for his services in the crater battle on July 30, 1864. After the surrender of the South, Robert E. Lee named Mahone as the surviving junior commander with the highest contribution to organization and army command.

William Mahone returned to the railroad and built the core network of what would later become the Norfolk and Western Railway . In addition, he resumed his political career, which had begun during the war with the brief membership in the Virginia House of Representatives . He was elected to the US Senate for the Readjuster Party in December 1879 , to which he was a member from March 4, 1881 to March 3, 1887. The re-election attempt in 1887 failed. Mahone also ran as a Republican candidate for governor of Virginia in 1889 , but was defeated by the Democrat Philip W. McKinney .

literature

  • Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray - Lives of the Confederate Commanders ; Louisiana State University Press; Baton Rouge, LA 1959
  • James Spencer: Civil War Generals , Greenwood Press Inc .; Westport, Co 1986

See also

Web links

  • William Mahone in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray - Lives of the Confederate Commanders ; Louisiana State University Press; Baton Rouge, LA 1959, p. 208
  2. ↑ www.ourcampaigns.com
personal data
SURNAME Mahone, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Major General of the Army of the Confederate States of America in the Civil War
DATE OF BIRTH December 1, 1826
PLACE OF BIRTH Southampton County , Virginia
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1895
Place of death Washington, DC