Excluding full beards, I'd nominate two sentimental favorites: Raphael Semmes (CSS Alabama) and Joshua Chamberlain (20th Maine).

For reasons you may deduce, I'm biased toward full beards, in which category Grant and Lee were not too shabby. Jackson, Hood, and J. E. B. Stuart have long been sentimental favorites, with Stuart leading by a nose. then we have A. P. Hill and James Longstreet, two more classic beards! Richard Ewell had a well-cultivated chin growth, if I recall correctly.

Across the field, John F. Reynolds, George Sykes, John Sedgewick, and Oliver Howard are worthy contributors, but John Lorimer Worden and George Crook are outstanding!

Short answer: there are too many world-class beards to choose one. Lee or Longstreet? Stuart or Reynolds? Run in circles, scream and shout.




OK, JEB Stuart, but mostly because this fellow is named for him:

Stuart at rest by arcturus1997, on Flickr