CDV, General Simon B. Buckner

Lieutenant General Confederate States Army

Governor of Kentucky

Extremely rare carte de visite with Louisville, Kentucky back mark

(1823-1914) He was born at Glen Lily, his family's estate near Munfordville, Kentucky. His closest friend in Munfordville was Thomas J. Wood, who would become a Union Army general opposing Buckner at the Battles of Perryville, Ky., and at Chickamauga, Ga. during the Civil War. He graduated from West Point in the class of 1844, and later returned to the Military Academy to serve as an assistant...  

CDV, General Samuel Jones

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1819-87) Born at "Woodfield," his family's plantation in Powhatan County, Va. Graduated in the West Point class of 1841. From 1846-51 Jones held the position of assistant professor of mathematics and instructor of infantry and artillery tactics at the United States Military Academy. He resigned from the U.S. Army...  

CDV, General Thomas L. Rosser

Wounded 3 times during the War Between the States

Commanded the "Laurel Brigade

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1836-1910) Born on a farm called "Catalpa Hill," in Campbell County, Virginia. Appointed to West Point in 1856, at that time a 5 year course, his roommate was John Pelham. Rosser resigned on April 22, 1861, two...  

CDV, General John B. Magruder

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1807-71) Known as "Prince John," a resplendently uniformed man with a theatrical manner, he attained a reputation for his social grace and etiquette. Born at Port Royal, Virginia, he graduated in the West Point class of 1830. He fought gallantry during the Mexican War, while an artillery officer, and at the Battle...  

CDV, General Simon B. Buckner

Confederate Lieutenant General

Governor of Kentucky

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1823-1914) He was born at Glen Lily, his family's estate near Munfordville, Kentucky. His closest friend in Munfordville was Thomas J. Wood, who would become a Union Army general opposing Buckner at the Battles of Perryville, Ky., and at Chickamauga, Ga....  

CDV, General Roger W. Hanson

Colonel of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry

Captured at Fort Donelson, Tennessee in February 1862

Mortally wounded on January 2, 1863 at the Battle of Murfreesboro while leading a charge which cost his brigade 400 casualties

General Hanson's dying words: "I die in a just cause, having done my duty."

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13,...  

CDV, General Sterling Price

United States Congressman from Missouri

Governor of Missouri

Wounded at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas in 1862

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1809-67) Born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, near Farmville, to a moderately wealthy family of planters. His father and older brother both fought in the War of 1812. He was educated at...  

CDV, General Albert Sidney Johnston

Killed at the battle of Shiloh, Tennessee, on April 6, 1862

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1803-62) Born in Washington, Kentucky, he was first educated at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where he met and befriended fellow student Jefferson Davis, who was also born in Kentucky. Both were appointed to the United States Military...  

CDV, General John C. Breckenridge

Vice President of the United States

One of several candidates who ran for president in 1860 against Abraham Lincoln

Confederate Secretary of War

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1821-75) After attending Centre College and Transylvania University, he began practicing law in his home town of Lexington, Ky. in 1845. A member of the...  

CDV, General Stephen D. Lee

From the personal collection of Surgeon & General Bernard John Dowling Irwin. Irwin has the distinct honor of being the first recipient of the Medal of Honor in U.S. military history by date of action, February 13, 1861

(1833-1908) Born in Charleston, South Carolina, he graduated in the West Point class of 1854. He resigned his commission in the U.S. Army on February 20, 1861, and joined the Confederate army with rank of captain, and his early war service was that of aide-de-camp to General P.G.T. Beauregard. Lee participated in the 1862...  

CDV, General Henry Heth

General Heth started the battle of Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, when he marched his troops down the Chambersburg Pike and ran into General John Buford's Cavalry

He was severely wounded during the Battle of Gettysburg

Image by Vannerson & Jones, Richmond, Vairginia

(1825-99) Born in Chesterfield County, Virginia, he was the son of United States Navy Captain John Heth, and Margaret L. Pickett, sister of Robert Pickett, who was the father of Confederate general, George Pickett, Henry Heth's first cousin. He usually went by the...  

CDV, General Bradley T. Johnson

Colonel of the 1st Maryland Infantry, C.S.A.

(1829-1903) Born at Frederick, Maryland, he graduated from Princeton in 1849, studied law, and was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1851 after finishing his law degree at Harvard. During the next ten years, he gained fame as the Maryland State Attorney, Chairman of the Maryland State Democratic Committee, and delegate to the presidential conventions of 1860 at Charleston, and Baltimore where he staunchly supported John C. Breckenridge for president. He aided in the recruitment and organization, and...