Today I learned something interesting while reading “The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant“. In chapter 50, Grant is discussing the push towards General Lee’s army after the capture of Atlanta and he is describing the force array of the Army of the Potomac. Under the Ninth Army Corps led by Major General Burnside, Grant mentioned Brigadier General Edward Ferrero, commander of the Fourth Division. For some reason, I decided to research that General, and I found out that General Ferrero was born in Granada, Spain. His parents were natives of Italy and had just arrived in Spain when their son was born. Thirteen months later, the family moved to the United States and settled in New York City.1 Amazing to find out that an immigrant from Spain reached the rank of general and fought during the American Civil War.
General Ferrero served this country well. According to the same Wikipedia source, “with the outbreak of the Civil War in early 1861, Ferrero raised a regiment at his own expense, the 51st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (the ‘Shepard Rifles’).” He was commissioned as its first colonel and drilled the regiment in military procedures. He led a brigade of three regiments in Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s expedition to Roanoke Island, where his regiment seized the first fortified Confederate redoubt captured in the war. On December 2, 1864, Ferrero was breveted major general for “bravery and meritorious services.” He served throughout the Appomattox Campaign in early 1865.
The Appomattox campaign was a series of American Civil War battles fought from March 29 to April 9, 1865, in Virginia. It concluded with the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to the forces of the Union Army (Army of the Potomac, Army of the James, and Army of the Shenandoah) under the overall command of Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. This surrender marked the effective end of the war.2
What a great find and this is the main reason I like to read history books. You learn things that are not taught in school and it helps you grow as a person.
Thoughts about leadership, history, and more 