Halleck, Henry Wager

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Henry Wager Halleck
    Place of Birth
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    North
    Origins
    Free State
    No. of Spouses
    1
    No. of Children
    1
    Family
    Joseph Halleck (father), Catherine Wager Halleck (mother), Elizabeth Hamilton (wife), Henry Wager Halleck, Jr. (son)
    Education
    West Point (US Military Academy)
    Other
    Other Education
    Union College
    Occupation
    Military
    Attorney or Judge
    Businessman
    Writer or Artist
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Union Army
    US military (Post-Civil War)

    Henry Wager Halleck (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Though much maligned by his contemporaries, who thought him a "cold calculating owl," incapable of cultivating cordial relations, Halleck was nonetheless recognized as a man of great intellect. Nicknamed "Old Brains," he brought professionalism and organization to an army saddled with political appointments and militia mentality. He correctly placed priority on the war in the West, and made every effort to initiate and sustain simultaneous advances across a broad front. His dispatches to the field characteristically were petulant and argumentative, a trait that drew the ire of commanders who faced unforeseen difficulties. Consequently, he was the target of vitriolic outbursts in many postwar memoirs. His abilities are best appreciated when divorced from the personal animosities that clouded his every effort.
    Herman Hattaway and Michael D. Smith, "Halleck, Henry Wager," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00455.html.
    Chicago Style Entry Link
    Yates, John D. "Insurgents on the Baja Peninsula: Henry Halleck's Journal of the War in Lower California, 1847-1848." California Historical Quarterly 54, no. 3 (1975): 221-244. view record
    How to Cite This Page: "Halleck, Henry Wager," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/5813.