Abel D. Streight

author

Abel D. Streight

1829–1892

A Union officer turned businessman and politician, he is remembered most for the bold Civil War raid that still bears his name. His life moved from frontier America to the battlefields of the 1860s and then back into public service in Indiana.

1 Audiobook

The Crisis of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One in the Government of the United States.

The Crisis of Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One in the Government of the United States.

by Abel D. Streight

About the author

Born in 1829 in Kentucky, he grew up in Indiana and spent part of his early life working as a farmer and in business before the Civil War. When the war began, he entered the Union Army and rose to command the 51st Indiana Infantry.

He became best known for Streight's Raid in 1863, an ambitious cavalry-style expedition through Alabama aimed at damaging Confederate rail lines and industry. The raid ended with his capture by Confederate forces under Nathan Bedford Forrest, but the episode made his name a lasting part of Civil War history.

After the war, he returned to Indiana, where he worked in business and served in public life, including in the Indiana Senate. He died in 1892 and is chiefly remembered today as a determined and colorful figure of the Union war effort.