SHERIDAN Philip Henry 183188
Philip Sheridan (see Plate G3) was bom ill Albany, New York, on 6 March 1831, but his family soon moved to Somerset, Ohio, There Sheridan acquired his basic education and clerked in a general store, before being appointed to the West Point class of 1852. While at the Academy he was suspended for a year for lighting with a fellow cadet, hence graduating in 1853, in the bottom third of his class. He was appointed to the 4th US Infantry, and served thereafter on the frontier.
Coming East at the outbreak of the Civil War, lie served on Gen. Henry Ilalleck's staff, before being appointed chief quartermaster and commissary of the Army of Southwest Missouri. Although Sheridan's hard work kept that army weli maintained, he and his army commander
Philip Sheridan, an infantry officer before the war. earned command of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry Jn the West; he did so weN In that and higher commands that Grant brought him East to command the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. Seen here toward the end of the war, Sheridan was supremely seJf-confident, and with reason. Energetic and ruthless, he would eventually become the US Army's generalIn-chief In 1883, living just long enough to receive the rank of full general five years later.
did not see eye to eye. Halleck transferred him back to his own headquarters just before he was court-martialed. There Sheridan caught the eye of some superiors, including William T.Sherman, who saw that he was given command of the 2nd Michigan Cavalry. From this point on Sheridan conducted himself so well that he became one of the bright lights of the Union army.
I le was made a brigadier-general of volunteers on IS September 186*J, and saw hard fighting at Perryville (8 October) and Murfreesboro (31 December 18(52-3 January 1863). On 16 March 1863 Sheridan was promoted major-general, ranking from the date of Murfreesboro, l ie commanded a division of XX Corps ai Chickamauga (19-20 September 1863), losing some 1,500 men out of the 4,000 under his command. \fter being besieged in Chattanooga, it was Sheridan's men who stormed Missionary Ridge and hurled the Confederates south (25 November 1863). ITysscs S.Grant, now on the scene in Tennessee, was suitably impressed. When Grant came East he brought in Sheridan to take over the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, whose previous commanders had lackluster records.
Colonel J. U.Kidd, 6th Michigan Cavalry, described Sheridan as he saw him first when the newcomer assumed this command: "There was nothing about Sheridan's appearance at first glance to mark him as the principal figure in the scene... He was well mounted and sat his horse like a real cavalryman. Though short in stature he did not appear so on horseback, 1 lis stirrups were high up, the shortness being of leg and not of trunk. He wore a peculiar style hat not like that of any other officer. I le was square of shoulder and there was plenty of room for the display of a major-general's buttons on his broad chest, I lis face was strong, with a firm jaw, a keen eye, and extraordinary firmness in every lineament. In his manner there was an alertness, evinced rather in look than in movement. Nothing escaped his eye, which was brilliant and searching and at the same time emitted flashes of kindly good nature. When riding among or past his troopers, he had away of casting quick, comprehensive glances to the right and left and in all directions. He overlooked nothing. One had a feeling that lie was under close and critical observation, that Sheridan had his eye on him was mentally taking his measure and would remember and recognizee him the next time,"
Sheridan's vastly stronger cavalry manhandled the smaller and less well supplied Confederate cavalry in the 1864 campaign, striking deep into the enemy's rear areas. As a result, Grant gave him command til' the army sent against Jubal Early in the Shenandoah Valley after Early's "Washington Raid". Sheridan, given orders to clear the Valley once and for all, defeated Early in bank- after battle between August 1864 and March 1865. Earlv struck at Cedar Creek (19 October) while
Sheridan was recognized by his men by the odd little black hat that he wore. On 19 October 1664 he rode along the lines of troops driven from their positions at Cedar Creek by Jubal Early, rallying them to hold and then leading them back into the attack that eventually gained one of the most overwhelming victories of the war.
Sheridan was away in Washington, but the latter returned in the nick of time to rally his troops and virtually destroy the Confederate force.
With the Valley essentially Union, Sheridan was made a major-general in the regular army on 14 November I8b4, and rejoined the Army of the Potomac at Petersburg, In command of both the cavalry and an infantry corps, he continued pressing Lee s battered Army of Northern Virginia in the Appomattox campaign of April 1865, preventing the Confederates from joining forces in North Carolina and thus forcing Lee's surrender.
After the war Sheridan was given command of ihe Fifth Military District in the southwest, where he treated the defeated Southerners so harshly that he was recalled after only six months. Thereafter he held a number of commands, and success in the Cheyenne and Pawnee campaign of 1868-69 brought him promotion to Lieutenant-general. In 1870-71 he followed the Franco-Prussian War as an observe)'. In November 1883 he became general-in-chief of the US Army; named a full general on 1 June 1888, he died only two months later on 5 August at Nonquitt, Massachusetts. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
SICKLES, Daniel Edgar {1819-1914)
Daniel Sickles (see Plate E3) was born on 20 October I819 in New York City, lie attended New York University and studied law thereafter. Advancing through Democratic Party politics, he served as the city's corporation counsel, first secretary of the London legation, New York state senator, and US Representative, In 1859 Sickles discovered that his wife was having an affair with Philip Barton Key {son of the author of The Star Spangled Banner), whereupon he shot Key dead in broad daylight within yards of the White House. In one of the most sensational trials of the century his counsel, Edwin M,Stanton (later Secretary of War), had Sickles plead temporary insanity, the first time such a defense had ever been offered in the United States. Sickles was acquitted; but it was his defiance of the conventions of the time in taking his tarnished wife back that led to his being ostracized by polite society. In an open letter to the press Sickles declared that he was unaware "of any statute or code of morals which makes it infamous to forgive a woman."
Sickles would never escape his notoriety. Charles Hay don, an officer in the 2nd Michigan, recalled in his diary on 28 February 1862 a conversation with a local civilian near the picket line. "He wanted to know last night if 1 had heard abt thai
Daniel Sickles, a shady New York lawyer and politician who dabbled in militia affairs, was given a general's commission to prove that Democrats supported the Republican administration in the Civil War. Not a professional soldier, he wears here a comfortable, informal version of the general's uniform. Sickles was certainly no coward (he smoked a cigar while being carried from the fietd with a smashed leg at Gettysburg), and seems to have been an effective leader at a junior level, but he was unfitted to command a corps.
murder in Washington. 1 asked him what one. 'Why abt thai -Uiat whats his name - Sickles, who shot a man (Keys) the other day". I le overheard some of the pickets talking abt it & having never heard of it before concluded it must be a new thing."
At the outbreak of war Sickles, who had earlier served in the New York militia, resigned from Congress to return to New York and raise the Excelsior Brigade. He was named a brigadiergeneral of volunteers from 3 September 1861, and was given command of the brigade, tlitis demonstrating Democratic Party support for the war. Showing great personal bravery and some aptitude for command, he was named a majorgeneral ranking from 29 November 1862. He had command of a division on llie Peninsula, at Antietam and Fredericksburg in 1862, and of III Corps at Frederic ksburg and Gettysburg.
Very few of his fellow generals thought much of Sickles, however. The waspish Marsena Patrick noted in April 1863: "Sickles & the most of his crew, are poor —very poor concerns in my opinion." Staff officer Frank Haskell, writing about Gettysburg, said that he thought thai there "General Sickles supposed he was doing for the best; but he was neither born nor bred a soldier. But one can scarcely tell what may have been the motives of such a man - a politician, and some other things, exclusive of the Barton Key affair - a man after show and notoriety, and newspaper fame, and the adulation oi the moh!"
At Gettysburg (2 July 1863), dissatisfied with the spot in the line where he had been placed, Sickles advanced his corps to what he saw as better ground. Hardly had he done so when his line was struck by the main Confederate attack. While attempting to rally his men he was shot in the right leg and carried away, nonchalantly smoking a cigar. His leg was amputated, and he never returned to command, although he stayed in the regular army as a major-general until retiring in I860.
Sickles was later appointed minister to Spain, where lie apparently tried to get the two countries into a war over the Spanish capture of an American boat, the Virgimns, which was running guns into Cuba in 1873. Cooler heads prevailed and a compromise was worked out over his head, lie then served in Congress in 1893-95, and was chairman of the New York State Monuments Commission, In 1912 he was removed from the commission for alleged peculation. Slipping into mental illness in his final years, he died at last on 3 May 1914 in New York, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Although his bungling threatened the integrity of the Union line on the second day of Gettysburg, Sickles was probably most notorious for his private life. He had shot his wife's lover dead in broad daylight, successfully pleaded temporary insanity as a defense at the subsequent trial, and publically forgave his wife thereafter.
Although his bungling threatened the integrity of the Union line on the second day of Gettysburg, Sickles was probably most notorious for his private life. He had shot his wife's lover dead in broad daylight, successfully pleaded temporary insanity as a defense at the subsequent trial, and publically forgave his wife thereafter.
STONEMAN, George (1822-94)
George Stoneman {see Plate Gl) was bom in Busti, New York, on Tl August 1822. Educated at Jamestown Academy, he went on to West Point where he was graduated in 1846 - George McClellan was a classmate - and was commissioned into the 1st Dragoons. During die Mexican War he was the quartermaster foi the Mormon Battalion on its
George Stoneman, standing center wearing from left shoulder to right hip the sash which indicates that he was serving as general officer of the day. He and his staff pose here in Aprtl 1863; a month later he would lead the Army of the Potomac's cavalry off on a fruitless raid during the ChanceltorsvHIe campaign.
George Stoneman, standing center wearing from left shoulder to right hip the sash which indicates that he was serving as general officer of the day. He and his staff pose here in Aprtl 1863; a month later he would lead the Army of the Potomac's cavalry off on a fruitless raid during the ChanceltorsvHIe campaign.
march from Leaven won h, Kansas, to San Diego, California. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was a captain in the 2nd Cavalry-suffering, as a result of years in the saddle, from a chronic case of hemorrhoids.
Stoneman was quickly placed on McClellan's staff as a major. Commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers on 13 August 1861, he was named chief of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac (essentially a staff post with no real command functions) when McClellan became army commander. During the Peninsula campaign he actually commanded an infantry division in III Corps, but during much of the campaign he was unable to ride because of sickness, which limited his activities. Even so, made a major-general of volunteers dating from 29 November 1862, he commanded III Corps at Fredericksburg (13 December).
When I looker took over the Army of the Potomac, Stoneman was made chief of cavalry in a reorganization that made the army's cavalry an effective, independent organization -something he had unsuccessfully urged upon McClellan, lie was sent with the Cavalry Corps to raid the rear of the Army of Northern Virginia during the Chancellorsville campaign of May 1863. One fellow general, while awaiting news of the results of a Stoneman raid, said, llI know Stoneman like a book. He will go to the proper spot like a cannon-ball, but when he gets there, like a shell he'll burst." Indeed, the only practical effect of this raid was to deprive the main army of its intelligence-gathering capacities when it needed them most.
After Chancellorsville, and as a result of litis poor performance, Stoneman was replaced on 22 May by Alfred Pleasonton. After a time as chief of the Cavalry Bureau in Washington he was returned to a combat command in the winter of 1864. Given XXIII Corps, he actually commanded the Cavalry Corps of the Army of the Ohio during the Atlanta campaign. There his performance was again lackluster. MajorGeneral David Stanley, who had earlier been chief of cavalry of the Army of ilie Cumberland, told a US Christian Commission delegate that Stoneman was "not competent to command a company."
Stoneman was captured on 31 July 1864 during a raid aimed at freeing prisoners kept at Camp Sumter near Andersonville, Georgia, at the head of two brigades serving as a rear guard to cover the escape of the rest of his command. That October he was exchanged, and commanded troops in eastern Tennessee, northwestern North Carolina, and southwestern Virginia during the last days of the war.
After the war Stoneman was breveted a major-general but assigned as colonel commanding the 21st US Infantry. Me commanded the Department of Arizona until retirement in 1871. lie then moved to an estate at San Marino, California, serving as railroad commissioner and a term as governor of California in 1882. He died in Buffalo, New York, on 5 September 1894, and was buried at Lakewood, New York.
SUMNER, Edwin Vose (1797-1863)
Edwin Stunner (see Plate B3) was bora on 30 January 1797 in Boston. Commissioned directly as a lieutenant in the 2nd US Infantry in 1819. he was made a captain of dragoons in 1833, and served largely on the frontier. In 1846 he was promoted to major and saw service in Mexico, winning two brevets and promotion to lieutenant-colonel in 1N48. Named colonel of the 1st Cavalry in 1855, he saw service as commander of Fort Leavenworth during the Kansas troubles.
hi 1861 he was named a brigadier-general to replace David Twigg, who had gone south. On the creation of corps ill the Army of the Potomac, Sumner was given command of II Corps, which he led in the Peninsula campaign despite receiving two wounds. At first he was not especially effective, McClellan privately writing after die battle of Williamsburg (5 May 1862), "Sumner had proved that lie was even a greater fool than I had supposed & had come within an ace of having us defeated* However, after the action at Fair Oaks (31 May-1 June), McClellan wrote to Secretary of War Edwin Stanton that Sumner "displayed the utmost energy in bringing his troops into action, & handled them with the utmost courage in action. He repulsed even-attack of the enemy, & drove him wherever he could get at him."
Sumner was breveted a major-general for his service at Fair Oaks on 31 May 18fi2. and named a major-general of volunteers on 16 July, In August, however, Charles Wainwright recorded a rumor in the army that "General Sumner is said to be very feeble, and failing fast; he has never got over the severe fall from his horse he had last winter." This was not true, as Sumner went on to serve at Aniietam (17 September), where tilt-re was some complaint that he led his head division like a cavalry colonel rather than a corps commander, who should have been in the rear to supervise. Nevertheless, he was given command of the Left Grand Division, consisting of II and IX Corps, at Fredericksburg in December.
When Hooker was given command of the Army of the Potomac, Sumner asked to be relieved. On his way to his new command, the Department < if the Missouri, he died at Syracuse, New York, on 21 March
Edwrn Vose Sumner, a veteran professional soldier, was known as "Old Bull" or "Bull Head" after a battle Irt the Mexican War when a musket ball struck him in the forehead and bounced off, leaving him unhurt. He was no military genius, and his promotion to a corps command was a serious mistake; but the old man's courage at Fair Oaks in May 1862 earned him ungrudging affection. In the words of Cot. Charles Wainwright: "He was one of those whom every one must hate to find fault with; yet whose removal from the command of a corps was generally looked on as a relief...
1863, He is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery there. Writing after Iiis death, Marsena Patrick noted that Sumner "was a mere soldier - a man of the world & nothing hut a man of the world.., Wainwright was harsher, writing on hearing of Sumner's death: "Owing to his incompetence to fill so large a post as corps commander, we lost the chance to destroy Johnston's army at Williamsburg last May, Andetam was but half a victory; and the heights of Fredericksburg were not secured in December when we first came here.
"But the old soldier was as honest as the day, and simple as a child. I'he fault was not so much his, as of those who put him and kept him in such a place, while the glorious way in which he pushed across the half-gone bridges to the relief of Keyes at Fair Oaks suffices to cover all his faults."
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