Joining the regular army in 1818, he fought in the Seminole War, the Mexican War, and in the west against the Indians. A southern sympathizer, he was appointed Brigadier General U.S.A. in 1858. Rather than engage in the Civil War, he decided to resign and was on his way to Washington to resign his commission when he was captured. He was made a prisoner and sent to Richmond, and then was allowed to proceed on his errand. He decided not to resign and was sent to Missouri to command the Department of the West with headquarters in Saint Louis.
Married to a wealthy woman from St. Louis, he subscribed to the convictions of his slave-holding friends and was an embarrassment to Blair and Lyons, if not actually a threat to their plans to consolidate the state's Union sympathizers. His conciliatory method of dealing with the enemy, together with his uncertain loyalty, caused him to be relived very soon. He was relieved from his command on May 29, 1861, retired August, 1863, and breveted Major General U.S.A. on March 13, 1865.
Back to The Zouave Vol XI No. 2 Table of Contents
Back to The Zouave List of Issues
Back to Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1996 The American Civil War Society
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com