Political general A political general is a general officer or other military leader without significant military experience who is given a high position in command for political reasons , such as his own connections or to appease certain political blocs . This concept was most prominent during the American Civil War . Reasons for promotions . Appeasement of political groups . The most important reason for appointing political generals was to appease important blocs of voters . President Abraham Lincoln used such appointments as a way to get the support of moderate Democrats for the war and for his administration ( " War Democrats " ) . The first three volunteer generals Lincoln appointed , ( John Adams Dix , Nathaniel Prentice Banks and Benjamin F . Butler ) were all Democrats , and therefore these three officers were the most senior major generals in the Union Army . Republicans were also appointed including Richard James Oglesby of Illinois . Geopolitical . Other promotions were used to gain the support of the specific group they represented , especially in cases of foreign immigrants . One of the largest ethnic groups in the U . S . at the time was German immigrants . Prominent German civilian leaders such as Franz Sigel and Carl Schurz , both of whose last military experience prior to the Civil War was fighting on the losing side of the 1848 upheavals in Germany , were appointed to high rank for their usefulness in rallying fellow immigrants to the cause . Two prominent Irish immigrants were given promotions : Thomas F . Meagher and Michael Corcoran , who prior to the war had been a captain and a colonel , respectively , in the New York State Militia . Meagher attempted to resign in December 1863 . Corcoran died and Meagher ' s resignation was revoked to keep at least one Irishman in command . Other officers were highly successful in their attempts to rally large numbers of troops , whether they were native born or foreign born , as was the case with Daniel Sickles , who raised large numbers of New York troops . Border states . The Confederacy also used a large number of political generals , for largely the same reasons , although many such appointments were used to influence the Confederate sympathizers in the border states . Former John C . Breckinridge was used largely because of hopes that he would inspire the citizens of Kentucky to join the Confederate Army . Former Governor Sterling Price served a similar function with regards to Missouri . Other . Another reason for the rise of political generals during the Civil War was the large number of volunteer soldiers in each army . Men who were prominent civilian leaders such as businessmen , lawyers and politicians became easy choices to place in command of a volunteer regiment . Evaluation . A large number of political generals , including Sigel and Banks for the North and Breckinridge for the South , were undoubtedly popular with their men , largely because of their ties to the specific groups they represented . However , the vast majority were considered incompetent due to their being essentially amateur soldiers with no prior training or knowledge . This was a particularly large problem in the North , where such generals were typically given fairly important commands . List of prominent political generals . The following is a partial list of some of the more prominent political generals on both sides , and a brief sketch of their war service .