Every nation has its heroes, and America's were made on battlefields from the Delaware to the frozen hills of Korea. This guide gathers ten of the most celebrated, generals who won wars and soldiers whose single acts of courage became legend.
Ten American military heroes
George Washington · commander of the Continental Army, who held the Revolution together through its darkest years.
John Paul Jones · the captain who refused to strike his colours and is often called a father of the American navy.
Nathanael Greene · the general whose campaign of exhaustion won back the South.
Francis Marion · the Swamp Fox, a guerrilla leader who harried the British in South Carolina.
Ulysses S. Grant · the general who led the Union armies to victory in the Civil War.
Theodore Roosevelt · the Rough Rider of San Juan Hill, awarded the Medal of Honor in 2001.
Alvin York · the Tennessee marksman who led an attack that captured 132 Germans in 1918.
Chesty Puller · one of the most decorated Marines in American history, with five Navy Crosses.
Audie Murphy · one of the most decorated American soldiers of the Second World War, who held off a German attack from a burning tank destroyer.
Douglas MacArthur · the commander who led the return to the Philippines and the landing at Inchon.
Generals and fighters
The list mixes two kinds of hero. Some, like Washington and Grant, are remembered for leading armies and winning wars. Others, like Alvin York and Audie Murphy, are remembered for extraordinary personal courage under fire, and several were awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration.
Where to go next
For the commanders who shaped American warfare, see the greatest American commanders, and for the battles themselves, American victories against the odds.