William S. Rosecrans

William S. Rosecrans

William Starke Rosecrans was born on September 6, 1819 in Delaware County, Ohio, the son of a veteran of the War of 1812. Rosecrans attended the US Military Academy at West Point, graduating fifth in his class in 1842. Commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Engineers in the US Army Engineering Corps, Rosecrans spent only a year in the Engineering Corps before he was transferred to West Point to teach cadets as an assistant professor. Because of poor health, Rosecrans resigned his commission in 1853 and began a career in civil engineering. When the American Civil War began, Rosecrans volunteered for service and was appointed Chief Engineer for the Ohio Volunteers with a rank of Major. Then in May Rosecrans received an appointment as Brig. Gen. of Volunteers from the War Department.

Later that month McClellan was recalled to Washington to become US Army General-in-Chief. On July 25, 1862 Rosecrans replaced Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan as commander of the Department of the Ohio. After McClellan was removed as General-in-Chief in a major reorganization, Rosecrans found himself without a command. In the summer of 1862, Rosecrans was transferred out west to serve in Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck’s Department of the Mississippi. In another reorganization, Rosecrans found himself under the command of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. In September 1862 during the Battle of Iuka Rosecrans was supposed to attack Sterling Price and be supported by Grant, which for some reason did not happen. The issue went public, damaging the relationship between Rosecrans and Grant.

In October 1862, Lincoln promoted Rosecrans to Maj. Gen. and placed him in command of the Department of the Cumberland. In the Battle of Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, Rosecrans attacked the rebel forces commanded by General Braxton Bragg. Rosecrans continued campaigning against Bragg during the Tullahoma Campaign. But on September 19, 1863, Rosecrans was badly beaten during the Battle of Chickamauga Creek and retreated into Chattanooga where he was besieged by Bragg’s army. During the siege, President Abraham Lincoln reorganized the western theater. He combined three departments into the Department of the Mississippi and placed Grant in command of it all. Two days later, Grant relieved Rosecrans from command of the Army of the Cumberland and ordered him to “proceed to Cincinnati, Ohio, and report to the Adjutant-General of the Army by letter for orders.” As it turned out, Rosecrans only sat on the sidelines for a couple of months. In January 1864, President Lincoln decided he needed a change in Missouri, and so appointed Rosecrans to take command in Missouri. As the commander in Missouri, Rosecrans was not expected to have to fight major battles. But that all changed when Maj. Gen. Sterling Price invaded Missouri in the fall of 1864.