FOR THE RECORD: PRESIDENTS IN UNIFORM, PART III
position of brigade judge advocate to quartermaster general. In January 1861, he was appointed engineer in chief with the rank of brigadier general. In February 1862, he became inspector general of the New York State militia, and five months later quartermaster general. New York Governor Edwin D. Morgan said of Arthur’s service, “He was my chief reliance in the duties of equipping and transporting troops and munitions of war. In the position of Quarter Master General he displayed not only great executive ability and unbending integrity, but great knowledge of Army Regulations. He can say No (which is important) without giving offense.” In the state elections, the Democratic Party won control of the state, and Arthur was replaced by the new governor with a Democratic appointee. For the rest of his life, until he became President, he preferred to be called by the title of “General.”
Grover Cleveland, who served as both the 22nd and 24th President never served in the military. Cleveland was drafted during the Civil War but took advantage of the legal option of purchasing a substitute. He paid $150.00 to George Brinske (or Benninsky), a 32-year-old Polish immigrant, to serve in his place.
Benjamin Harrison, who served in the four years between the two terms of Grover Cleveland, served with the 70th Indiana Infantry Regiment from July 1862 to June 1865. He started as a second lieutenant and ended the war as a brigadier general. Although not happy with military life, Harrison performed very well on the battlefield. As a brigade commander under General Hooker in the Atlanta campaign, Colonel Harrison distinguished himself at the Battle of Peach Tree Creek. For his part in the Atlanta Campaign, General Hooker recommended Harrison for promotion to brigadier general, citing his foresight, discipline and fighting spirit. Harrison once wrote of himself, “I am not a Julius Caesar, nor a Napoleon, but a plain Hoosier colonel, with no more relish for a fight than for a good breakfast and hardly so much.”
The last President to have served in the Civil War was William McKinley. Serving as a private in the 23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry from June 1861 to July 1865, he rose from private to brevet major. Enlisting at the age of 18, he took part in actions at Carnifex Ferry, Clark’s Hollow and Princeton, all in West Virginia. He fought at the Battles of South Mountain and Antietam in September 1862. For his
Latest Articles