Legacy
David Birney was one of the more successful "political generals" of the Civil War. Many of his colleagues resented his swift rise in the ranks and he was not a beloved figure with them or his soldiers. Theodore Lyman of Meade's staff wrote of Birney:
He was a pale, Puritanical figure, with a demeanor of unmoveable coldness; only he would smile politely when you spoke to him. He was spare in person, with a thin face, light-blue eye, and sandy hair. As a General he took very good care of his Staff and saw they got due promotion. He was a man, too, who looked out for his own interests sharply and knew the mainspring of military advancement. His unpopularity among some persons arose partly from his own promotion, which, however, he deserved, and partly from his cold covert manner.
— Theodore Lyman
The Gen. David B. Birney School was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Read more about this topic: David B. Birney
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“What is popularly called fame is nothing but an empty name and a legacy from paganism.”
—Desiderius Erasmus (c. 1466–1536)