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Henry Wager Halleck (1815-1872)
1860-1900
E. & H. T. Anthony
USA: New York, New York City
Photograph on paper mounted on board
overall: 4 x 2 6/16 in.; 10.16 x 6.0325 cm
Gift of Mrs. Doris Hudson May
78.14.12.8

Carte-de-visite photograph; portrait of Henry Wager Halleck in Civil War uniform facing right of photograph; printed on back "Published by / E. & H. T. ANTHONY, / 501 Broadway, / New York. / EA. / FROM / PHOTOGRAPHIC NEGATIVE / in / BRADY'S / National Portrait Gallery"; written above photographic information in pencil "Haleck."


Henry Wager Halleck was born in Oneida County, New York on January 16, 1815. He graduated third in the 1839 class at West Point and entered the Army Corps of Engineers. After traveling to Grance to study European fortifications, he delivred then published a lecture series on his findings in 1846 entitled, "Elements of Military Art and Science." This earned Halleck the nickname "Old Brains" and an academic reputation that followed him throughout his career. Halleck served in California during the Mexican-American war, performing administrative tasks and seeing combat only at Mazatlan in 1847. After the war he remained in California, where he established a law firm in San Francisco. In 1861 Halleck joined Union cause and quickly became a major general, replacing John C. Fremont as commander of the Department of the Missouri, aiding in victories at Pea Ridge, Island #10, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh. Leading troops in Corinth, Mississippi Halleck was criticized for his slow movement, which allowed Confederate troops to retreat unscathed. Halleck served briefly as General-in-Chief of the Union forces from 1862-1864 when he was replaced by Grant. He was then named chief of staff and finished the war in his strength, as an administrator. Halleck was assigned to the Military division of the Pacific in San Francisco after the war, then transferred in 1869 to the Division of the South in Louisville, Kentucky where he died in 1872.



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