author
Orlando B. Willcox
1823–1907
A Union general, career army officer, and later Medal of Honor recipient, he lived through the Mexican-American War, the Civil War, and the postwar frontier army. His surviving memoirs and letters offer a firsthand view of nineteenth-century military life.
1 Audiobook
Famous Adventures and Prison Escapes of the Civil War
by Basil Wilson Duke, Thomas Henry Hines, Frank E. Moran, William Pittenger, A. E. (Adolphus Edwards) Richards, W. H. (William Henry) Shelton, Orlando B. Willcox, John Taylor Wood
About the author
Born in Detroit in 1823, Orlando B. Willcox graduated from West Point in 1847 and began his army career in the era of the Mexican-American War. He remained a professional soldier for decades, building a reputation that would eventually carry him through some of the most turbulent years in American history.
During the Civil War, he served as a Union general and was wounded and captured at the First Battle of Bull Run. He later returned to active command and became an important officer in the Army of the Potomac, especially with the Ninth Corps. After the war, he stayed in the regular army, served in the American West, led the Department of the Missouri shortly before retiring in 1887, and later worked as governor of the Soldiers' Home in Washington, D.C.
Willcox is remembered not only for his military service but also for the personal writings he left behind. His memoirs, journals, and Civil War letters were published long after his death, giving modern readers a direct and human account of the army, war, and the long career of a nineteenth-century officer.