Medal of Honor Recipient for conspicuous gallantry at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri in 1861
United States Secretary of War
Commanding General of the U.S. Army
(1831-1906) Born in Gerry, Chautauqua County, New York, he graduated in the West Point class of 1853, and was commissioned brevet second lieutenant in the artillery. Schofield returned to West Point as assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy from 1855-60. At the start of the Civil War, he was major of the 1st Missouri Infantry, and chief of staff to General Nathaniel Lyon at the battle of Wilson's Creek, where he served gallantly, and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions. On November 21, 1861, he was appointed brigadier general of volunteers and charged with the command of all Union militia regiments in the state of Missouri. From October 1862, to April 1863, he commanded the Army of the Frontier. He commanded a division of the 14th Corps in Tennessee from May 1863 until January 1864, and fought in the Atlanta campaign in command of the Army of the Ohio. He inflicted a bloody and crippling repulse of General John Bell Hood at Franklin, Tennessee, and again virtually destroyed General Hood at Nashville. He then participated with General William T. Sherman in the 1865 Carolina's campaign which terminated with the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston. After the war, President Andrew Johnson sent General Schofield on a special diplomatic mission to France, urging withdrawal of French troops in Mexico. During Reconstruction, President Johnson appointed Schofield to serve as military governor of Virginia and of the First Military District. Thus, he oversaw the elections, in which blacks and whites voted, which resulted in the Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1868. Schofield served as U.S. Secretary of War, 1868-69. He was promoted to major General in the Regular Army on March 4, 1869, the same day General Ulysses S. Grant was sworn in as president of the United States. He then served for a year as head of the Department of Missouri, the Army's second largest military department, and after the death of General George H. Thomas, he succeeded him in commanding the Military Division of the Pacific, the country's largest department. Schofield served as the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, 1876-81. He was the Commanding General of the United States Army, 1888-95. General Schofield died at St. Augustine, Florida on March 4, 1906, at the age of 74. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Card Signature With Rank: 4 x 2 1/2, in ink, J.M. Schofield, Lieut. Genl., U.S.A. Beautiful, bold and large. Very desirable Medal of Honor autograph. |