The Class of 1846: From West Point to Appomattox : Stonewall Jackson, George McClellan and Their Brothers

No single class of West Point--or possibly any academy--has been so indelibly written into history as the one that graduated form the US Military Academy at West Point in 1846. It fought in three wars, produced 20 generals, and left the nation a lasting legacy of bravery, brilliance, and bloodshed. THE CLASS OF 1846 is the fascinating chronicle of this singular group of men, their training their personalities, and the events in which they made their name and met their fate. In this book, we come to know the Class of 1846 intimately, not only as individuals but as members of a brotherhood linked inseparably by a shared history. From the day they arrive at West Point to their baptism as soldiers in the Mexican War and in the Indian campaigns of the West...to the day they turn their guns against one another in the bloodiest of all American wars, you will meet: George B. McClellan. Bright, confident, and affable, aristocratic Philadelphian shines as the star of the class. Great things are expected of him; only later would the disappointments set in. Thomas Stonewall Jackson. Taciturn, eccentric, and unprepossessing, western Virginia mountain boy. Tom Jackson is accepted at the last minute only after another candidate drops out. In the first year, he passes by the skin of his teeth. No one expects much at all of Old Jack. But he would surprise them at the Point, and he would surprise them even more 20 years later--with deadly consequences. A. P. Hill. At school, George McClellan and A. P. Hill are roommates for a time and best friends always. Even their rivalry for the hand of the lovely Miss Ellen Marcy (who first became engaged to Hill, but married McClellan) could not tear them apart. At Antietam, McClellan and his Union soldiers would bear the brunt of his Confederate roommate's pounding attack. We'll also meet: George Pickett, George Henry Gordon, John Gibbon and many more who shaped our nation's history