Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/350

dent of the Coal river navigation company, and in 1857 he organized the Preston coal-oil company, manufacturing kerosene. At the beginning of the civil war he volunteered as aide to Gen. George B. McClellan. who was then commanding the De- partment of the Ohio, and assisted in organizing and equipping home-guards. He was appointed chief engineer of Ohio, with the rank of colonel, on 9 June, 1861, and on 10 June v;iv niiidi' colonel of the 23d Ohio volun- teers. Soon after organizing Camp Chase, at Columbus, Ohio, he received a commission as brig- adier-general in the regular army, to date from 16 May, 18(51 ; he took the field with command of a pro- visional brigade un- der Gen. McClellan in western Virginia.

His first important

action was that of Rich Mountain, which he won on 11 July. 18(51. After Gen. McClellan's call to higher command, Rosecrans succeeded him, on 25 July, in the Department of the Ohio, which con- sisted of western Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and Indiana. He had command of the National forces, and defeated Gen. John B. Floyd at Carnifex Fer- ry, 10 Sept., 1861, and thwarted all Lee's attempts to gain a footing in western Virginia. These ser- vices were recognized by unanimous votes of thanks nf tin' legislatures of Ohio and West Virginia, and in May In- was ordered to report to Gen. Henry V. Halleok, before Corinth, and given command H|' Urn. Klr.-izar A. Paine's and Gen. David Stan- ley's divisions in the Army of the Mississippi, with which he participated in the siege of Corinth. He succeeded Gen. John Pope in the command of the Army of the Mississippi, and with four brigades fungiit the battle of luka on 19 Sept., where he defeated Gen. Sterling Price, after which he re- turned to Corinth, where, anticipating an attack, he fortified the town, and on 3 and 4 Oct. defeated the Confederate army under Gen. Earl Van Dorn and Gen. Sterling Price, which he pursued for forty miles when he was recalled. On 25 Oct. he was sent to Cincinnati, where he found orders awaiting him to supersede Gen. Don Carlos Buell. and was made commander of the Department of the Cumberland, which was to consist uf whatever territory south of the Cumberland he should wrest from the enemy. This command he hold from 27 Oct., 1862, till 19 Oct., 1863, and during that time conducted a campaign remarkable for brilliant movements and heavy fighting. After reorgan- izing his army and providing twenty days' rations at Nashville, he advanced on the Confederate forces iindrr Gen. Uraxton Bragg, on Stone river, 30 Dec., ]W(i','. On the following morning the Confederates aitaeked the right wing of the National army and drove it bark, while the left wing engaged the Con- federate right. Meanwhile Rosecrans was obliged to re-en force his right, and personally directed the re- formation of the wing, thereby saving it from rout, although not without very hard fighting, in which both sides lo-t heavily. Two days later the baitle was renewed by a furious assault on the National lines, but after a sharp contest the enemy was driven back with heavy loss. Unwilling to engage in a general action, the Confederate army retreated to the line of Duck river, and the Army of the Cumberland occupied Murfreesboro'. This battle was one of the bloodiest in the war, and resulted in a loss of 9,511 by the National forces and 9,236 by the Confederates. As soon as Vicksburg was beyond the reach of possible succor from Bragg, by a brilliant flank movement Rosecrans dislodged him from his intrenched camps at Shelliyville and Tullahoma. and in fifteen days, 24 June to 7 July, 1863, drove him out of middle Tennessee. As soon as the railway was repaired, he occupied Bridgeport and Stevenson. From 7 July till 14 Aug. railway bridges and trestles were rebuilt, the road and rolling-stock put in order, supplies pushed forward, and demonstrations made to con- ceal the point of crossing Tennessee river. From 14 Aug. till 1 Sept. he crossed the Cumberland mountains and the Tennessee river, and, threatening Bragg's communications, compelled him to with- draw from impregnable Chattanooga. 9 Sept.. and retire behind the Chii-kiinuuiga until Gen. James Longstreet's arrival with his corps. Rosecrans concentrated his forces with the utmost despatch to meet the inevitable combat. The battle was opened on the 19th by an attempt to gain possession of the road to Chattanooga, continued through the day, and resulted in Rosecrans defeating the attempt and planting Gen. George H. Thomas's cnrps. re-enforced by Gen. Richard W. Johnson's and Gen. John M. Palmer's divisions, firmly upon that road ; but during the night Longstreet came up. and was immediately given command of the Confederate left. On the following morning the contest was renewed by a determined attack on the National left and centre. At this moment, by the misinterpretation of an order. Gen. Thomas J. Wood's division was withdrawn, leaving a gap in the centre, into which Gen. Longstreet pressed his troops, forced Jefferson C. Davis's two brigades out of the line, and cut off Philip H. Sheridan's three brigades of the right, all of which, after a gallant but unsuccessful effort to stem this charge, were ordered to re-form on the Dry Valley mad at the first good standing-ground in rear of the position they had lost. The two divisions of Horatio P. Van Cleve and Davis, going to succor the right centre, were partly shattered by this break, and four or five regiments were scattered through the woods, but most of the stragglers stopped with Sheridan's and Davis's commands. The remainder, nearly seven divisions, were unbroken, and continued the fight. The gallant Gen. George H. Thomas, whose orders the night before, reiterated a few moments before this disaster, were to hold his position at all hazards, continued the fight with seven divisions, while Gen. Rosecrans undertook to make such dispositions as would most effectually avert disaster in case the enemy should turn the position by advancing on the Dry Valley road, and capture the remaining commissary stores, then in a valley two or three miles to the west. Fortunately, this advance was not made. the commissary-train was pushed into Chattanoo- ga, the cavalry, ordered down, closed the ways behind the National right, and Gen. Thomas, after the most desperate fighting, drew back at night to Rossville in pursuance of orders from Gen. Rosecrans. On the 22d the army was concentrated at Chattanooga. The battle was a victory to the Confederates only in name; for Chattanooga, the objective point of the campaign, remained in the possession of the National forces. The total National loss, in killed, wounded, and missing, was 16.179: the Confederate loss, 17.KU4. Gen. Rose-