“Awarding of battlefield commissions to NCOs for leadership under fire is common in wartime, rare is the commanding general, admiral or field marshal who began his military career among the rank-and-file.”
THE U.S. MILITARY CALLS THEM “mustangs” – ordinary soldiers who’ve risen from the ranks of the enlisted to join the officer corps. Seen as something of a left-handed complement, the very term suggests that unlike those born and bred for positions of leadership, grunts that come up from the barracks hall somehow lack the poise and pedigree of typical officers — they’re rough around the edges, kind of like wild horses. And while the awarding of battlefield commissions to NCOs for exceptional leadership under fire is commonplace in wartime, rare is the commanding general, admiral or field marshal who began his military career among the rank-and-file. Yet some of the most famous figures in military history did just that. Consider these:
The ‘Grand Old Man of the Army’
America’s ‘Boy General’
The Devil Forrest Galusha Pennypacker shot up through the ranks even faster than Winfield Scott. In fact, the Valley Forge-native still holds the record for being the youngest general in the history of the U.S. Army. After joining the 9th Pennsylvania Infantry Regimentin 1861, the 16-year-old quartermaster’s clerk earned a captain’s commission for his organizational acumen. He later fought as a 19-year old major at Cold Harbor and then as a colonel at the Siege of Petersburg. After being wounded while leading an assault at the Second Battle of Fort Fisher in early 1865, Pennypacker, 20, was awarded the Medal of Honor and raised to brigadier general – an unheard of achievement that made him a national sensation. He retired from the military in 1883 and died in Philadelphia in 1916 at the age of 72.
The Devil Forrest
The upwardly mobile were hardly limited to the Union army during the Civil War – some Confederate generals also began their careers in the ranks. Case in point: The controversial Rebel general Nathan Bedford Forrest began his military career as a 40-year-old Tennessee cavalry volunteer and private. Shortly after enlisting, Forrest used the proceeds from his own sizable slave-trade fortune to outfit his own elite regiment of which he was given command as a lieutenant colonel. He ended the war as a three-star general and was instrumental in the formation of the Klu Klux Klan.
The South’s Fighting Irishman
And let’s not forget Confederate general Patrick Cleburne. A native of County Cork and a Trinity College med school washout, he joined British army in 1846 at the age of 18. After leaving the 41stRegiment of Foot as a lance corporal, Cleburne moved to the United States and settled in Arkansas where he became a pharmacist and newspaper magnate. When war broke out between North and South, the prosperous 33-year-old volunteered as a private for a local regiment. He was promptly elected captain by his comrades and from there advanced to major general. Cleburne was killed in action at the Battle of Franklin on Nov. 30, 1864.
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