American Civil War
As the American Civil War began in 1861, although his Quaker upbringing made Palmer abhor violence, his passion to see the slaves set free compelled him to enter the war. Palmer took a commission as a colonel in the Union Army. Palmer was an expert scout and effective military recruiter for the Union cause, helping with the formation of the 15th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry.
In 1862, he was captured by the Confederates while scouting after the Battle of Antietam. He was well within Confederate lines, garbed in civilian clothes, while gathering information for General George McClellan. When questioned, Palmer gave his name as "W.J. Peters," and claimed to be a mine owner on an inspection trip. While the Confederates did not know he was a spy, his circumstances were suspicious. He was detained and sent to Richmond, Virginia, and incarcerated at the notorious Castle Thunder prison on Tobacco Row. He was set free in a prisoner exchange and rejoined his regiment in February 1863. Palmer was very vigorous in pursuing Confederate General John B. Hood after the Battle of Nashville in 1864. On March 9, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln nominated Palmer for appointment to the brevet grade of brigadier general of volunteers and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on March 10, 1865. Palmer was mustered out of the Union Army volunteer force on June 21, 1865. On February 24, 1894, Palmer was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions as colonel leading the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry at Red Hill, Alabama, January 14, 1865 where "with less than 200 men, attacked and defeated a superior force of the enemy, captured their fieldpiece and about 100 prisoners without losing a man."
Read more about this topic: William Jackson Palmer
Famous quotes containing the words civil war, american civil, american, civil and/or war:
“The United States is just now the oldest country in the world, there always is an oldest country and she is it, it is she who is the mother of the twentieth century civilization. She began to feel herself as it just after the Civil War. And so it is a country the right age to have been born in and the wrong age to live in.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“The keynote of American civilization is a sort of warm-hearted vulgarity. The Americans have none of the irony of the English, none of their cool poise, none of their manner. But they do have friendliness. Where an Englishman would give you his card, an American would very likely give you his shirt.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)
“No American worth his salt should go around looking for a root. I advance this in all modesty, as a not unreasonable opinion.”
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957)
“...I was confronted with a virile idealism, an awareness of what man must have for manliness, dignity, and inner liberty which, by contrast, made me see how easy living had made my own group into childishly unthinking people. The Negro’s struggles and despairs have been like fertilizer in the fields of his humanity, while we, like protected children with all our basic needs supplied, have given our attention to superficialities.”
—Sarah Patton Boyle, U.S. civil rights activist and author. The Desegregated Heart, part 1, ch. 19 (1962)
“In peace the sons bury their fathers, but in war the fathers bury their sons.”
—Croesus (d. c. 560 B.C.)