author
John McAllister Schofield
1831–1906
A leading Union general in the Civil War, he later became U.S. Secretary of War and Commanding General of the Army. His career stretched from West Point classrooms to some of the war’s hardest campaigns, and into the highest ranks of national service.
1 Audiobook
Forty-Six Years in the Army
by John McAllister Schofield
About the author
Born in New York in 1831, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1853 and soon returned there as an instructor. During the Civil War, he rose to high command in the Union Army, with important roles in Missouri, the Atlanta campaign, and the Franklin-Nashville campaign.
After the war, he remained one of the most prominent officers in the U.S. Army. He served briefly as Secretary of War under President Andrew Johnson, later became superintendent of West Point, and eventually served as Commanding General of the United States Army from 1888 to 1895.
Schofield also wrote about war and public service, most notably in his memoir Forty-Six Years in the Army. He died in 1906, remembered as a careful, capable military leader whose career connected the Civil War era with the modern professional army that followed.