1. Charles Griffin was a career officer in the United States Army and a Union general in the American Civil War.
20 Facts About Charles Griffin
1. 2.
Charles Griffin rose to command a corps in the Army of the Potomac and fought in many of the key campaigns in the Eastern Theater.
3.
Charles Griffin was an ardent supporter of the Congressional policies of the Radical Republicans and of freedmen's rights, and controversially disqualified a number of state officeholders in Texas who had supported the Confederate States of America, replacing them with loyal Unionists.
4.
Charles Griffin attended the nearby Kenyon College in Gambier, and graduated from the US Military Academy in West Point, New York, placing 23rd out of 38 in the Class of 1847.
5.
Charles Griffin was promoted to first lieutenant in 1849 and served in the New Mexico Territory against Navajo Indians until 1854, when he left the Southwest frontier and then taught artillery tactics at West Point, forming an artillery battery from the academy's enlisted men shortly after the Southern states began seceding from the Union.
6.
Charles Griffin was promoted to captain in April 1861 and led the "West Point Battery" at the First Battle of Bull Run in July.
7.
Charles Griffin commanded his battery during the early part of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign but the unit was not heavily engaged during this time.
8.
Charles Griffin was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on June 12,1862, to rank from June 9 and transferred to the infantry where he got command of a brigade in the V Corps.
9.
Charles Griffin served with distinction at Gaines's Mill and Malvern Hill.
10.
Charles Griffin's men were lightly engaged at the Battle of Antietam.
11.
Charles Griffin participated in most of the major battles of the Army of the Potomac in 1864, including the Overland Campaign and Siege of Petersburg.
12.
On July 12,1865, Charles Griffin was appointed major general of volunteers to rank from April 2,1865.
13.
Charles Griffin mustered out of the volunteer service in January 1866 and was given the regular army rank of colonel in command of the 35th US Infantry.
14.
Charles Griffin briefly commanded the Department of Maine before being sent west to Galveston, Texas.
15.
Charles Griffin served as assistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau for Texas in 1867, serving under Philip H Sheridan.
16.
Charles Griffin became entangled in political issues and registered both black and white voters under the Reconstruction Acts in the spring of that year.
17.
Charles Griffin strictly enforced the ironclad oath of allegiance as the basis for jury selection.
18.
Dissatisfied with the performance of appointed Governor James W Throckmorton, Griffin persuaded General Sheridan to remove him from office and replace him with a Republican and loyal Unionist, Elisha M Pease.
19.
Charles Griffin was assigned command of the Fifth Military District, replacing Sheridan, and was ordered to report to New Orleans.
20.
Charles Griffin is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, DC.