Rosecrans takes command from Buell

On today's date in 1862, Union Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell was relieved of command of the Army of the Ohio in Kentucky and Tennessee for allowing Bragg's Confederate army to escape Kentucky. Lincoln authorized Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans to take over. Buell learned of his sacking on the 29th, from a local newspaper.

Rosecrans, the hero of Iuka and Corinth, will head the newly created Department of the Cumberland. He was immediately ordered to Louisville, via Cincinnati, to take charge of Buell’s former command. Almost universally, the men reacted with cheers and joy. Most assumed they would now go into winter quarters. Instead, as soon as he joined his new command, Rosecrans led his army back to Nashville to confront Bragg, who was taking a new a position in nearby Murfreesboro.

Born in Ohio, in 1819, Rosecrans was an 1842 graduate of the United States Military Academy, ranking fifth in a class of 56. Finding promotion slow in the peacetime army, and having no opportunity to gain advancement in the Mexican-American War, Rosecrans resigned his commission in 1854. Life as a businessman and inventor provided little more satisfaction and nearly killed him when a failed experiment severely burned his face. When the Civil War army offered Rosecrans an opportunity to return to the military profession, he seized it eagerly, rising to brigadier general by the summer of 1861. Success in Western Virginia soon brought him a transfer to the West, where he gained a semi-independent command under Ulysses S. Grant. In northern Mississippi Rosecrans fought strongly at the battles of Iuka and Corinth, although he earned Grant's displeasure at the same time. Promoted to major general in September 1862, he lobbied successfully to have the commission backdated to March. Now he commanded one of the nation's 3 largest field armies, centered in Nashville.

Rosecrans was known to be brilliant, articulate, firm in his convictions, and courageous. He was also a man of extraordinary energy, who drove both himself and his subordinates unmercifully. A devout Roman Catholic, he retained a personal chaplain on his staff. Unfortunately, his favorable virtues were offset by characteristics that were less beneficial. In temperament Rosecrans tended to be nervous and excitable. He was often impatient and critical of others, especially his superiors. Neither introspective nor an perceptive judge of others, Rosecrans had a remarkably simple outlook. Once convinced of the correctness of his views, he could be extremely smug. Generally affable with his staff, he often immersed himself in details better left to subordinates. This tendency, coupled with his love of philosophical and theological discussions, led him to remain active well past midnight, to the chagrin of his staff. He was often unable to sleep during campaigns and became increasingly nervous and irritable as operations accelerated around him.

But, despite his shortcomings, Rosecrans will soon amass important victories and fame for his successes at Murfreesboro and the Tullahoma Campaign.

Sources: Official Records, Vol 16, Part 1; The Civil War Almanac, John S. Bowman; National Park Service

Invasion of Kentucky: The Generals

Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell

Don Carlos Buell, an Ohio native, served with distinction in the Mexican War of 1846-48. When the Civil War began, he became a brigadier general in the Army of the Potomac. In November 1861, Gen. George McClellan recommended Buell to replace William T. Sherman as commander of the Department of the Ohio for operations to liberate East Tennessee from the Confederacy. Believing that he didn't have the forces necessary to control all of Tennessee and that Nashville was militarily more important, Buell moved on that capital unopposed, occupying Nashville on Feb. 25, 1862.

By the spring of that same year, as the Confederate Army under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston was retreating to Corinth, Mississippi, Buell was in pursuit. Arriving at Pittsburg Landing on April 7, the second day of the bloody Battle of Shiloh, Buell played a key role that ensured a Union victory, but one that embarrassed the commanding general, U.S. Grant, sparking one of many after-battle controversies.

After Shiloh, Buell served under General Henry W. Halleck in the Union advance on Corinth, after which he was sent to capture Chattanooga, to hold that city and head off a Confederate invasion into Kentucky. That invasion, led by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, began this date 150 years ago today.

Gen. Braxton Bragg

Also by this date, Gen. Bragg had reorganized his 30,000-man Army of Mississippi into 2 wings. The Right Wing is commanded by Maj. Gen. Leonidas Polk, and consists of Cheatham’s and Wither’s infantry divisions and Lay’s Cavalry Brigade. The Left Wing is commanded by Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee, and is made up of Simon Buckner’s and Patton Anderson’s infantry divisions, and Wheeler’s Cavalry Brigade. Wood's Brigade, including the 32 Mississippi Infantry Regiment, is placed in Buckner’s Division. They will begin their invasion today by crossing the Tennessee River. Soon, the Confederates will be marching through Kentucky before Buell or Washington D.C have any idea where they are or what they are up to.

Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith

Bragg departs believing that he has the support of fellow commander, Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith, to join forces in cutting Buell's line of communication by moving from Chattanooga to take Nashville. But he will soon learn that Smith has different plans. Smith will lead his army of 20,000 into Eastern Kentucky with Lexington as his immediate objective. Although Bragg was Smith's senior in rank, he will be compelled to make Kentucky his objective and forced to react both to Smith's movements and the enemy forces he encounters.

Bragg’s invasion of Kentucky will be practically simultaneous with Robert E. Lee’s invasion of Maryland. These 2 movements will cause ominous foreboding and dismay in the North. The war will come very close to the Northern people when Confederate detachments soon appear near Covington, in sight of Cincinnati, and also across the Potomac River into the Maryland.

But on Thursday, August 28, barely 17 years old, my great grandfather, Pvt. Nathan Oakes of the 32nd Mississippi Infantry Regiment along with Great Uncle William Turner, crossed into Tennessee with the Confederate invasion force. They will soon see fighting in Kentucky. The excited soldiers march from Chattanooga singing hymns and, of course, "Dixie." In time, though, their songs will be muted by the arduous trek up from the Tennessee Valley, through the mountains on the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau.

Bragg's Kentucky Campaign, 1862
Source: Civil War Trust

At the peak of the campaign, the Confederate army will battle the Federal army as far north as Perryville in October. Although Buell will check the Confederate advance, unfortunately for him he does not pursue the retreating Confederates quickly enough following that battle on October 8. As a consequence shortly thereafter, Buell will be relieved of his command and replaced by Gen. William Rosecrans.

Sources: Army of the Heartland: The Army of Tennessee, 1861-1862, Thomas Lawrence Connelly; An American Iliad: The Story of the Civil War, Charles P. Roland; Stone's River: The Turning-Point of the Civil War, Wilson J. Vance