Don Carlos Buell: Most Promising of AllMajor General Don Carlos Buell stood among the senior Northern commanders early in the Civil War, led the Army of the Ohio in the critical Kentucky theater in 1861-62, and helped shape the direction of the conflict during its first years. Only a handful of Northern generals loomed as large on the military landscape during this period, and Buell is the only one of them who has not been the subject of a full-scale biography. A conservative Democrat, Buell viewed the Civil War as a contest to restore the antebellum Union rather than a struggle to bring significant social change to the slaveholding South. Stephen Engle explores the effects that this attitude--one shared by a number of other Union officers early in the war--had on the Northern high command and on political-military relations. In addition, he examines the ramifications within the Army of the Ohio of Buell's proslavery leanings. A personally brave, intelligent, and talented officer, Buell nonetheless failed as a theater and army commander, and in late 1862 he was removed from command. But as Engle notes, Buell's attitude and campaigns provided the Union with a valuable lesson: that the Confederacy would not yield to halfhearted campaigns with limited goals. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 19 | |
3 The War in Mexico | 31 |
4 A Career Man during Peacetime | 43 |
5 A Soldier Is a Gentleman and Honor Is His Name | 64 |
6 Napoleon Buell | 79 |
7 East Tennessee | 99 |
8 The Politics of Command | 114 |
12 Nashville Occupied | 182 |
13 American Waterloo | 209 |
14 The Northern Mississippi Blues | 240 |
15 The Chattanooga Campaign | 257 |
16 The Hell March and Battle for the Bluegrass | 286 |
17 Too Thorough a Soldier to Command One of Our Armies | 321 |
Epilogue | 345 |
Notes | 365 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Adjutant advance Ambrose April arrived Battles and Leaders Bowling Green Bragg brigade Buell Family Buell Papers Buell to Halleck Buell to McClellan Buell wrote Buell's army cadets camp campaign Chattanooga Cincinnati Daily Enquirer command Confederates considered Corinth Cumberland Cumberland River December Department Diary discipline division Don Carlos Buell Donelson East Tennessee enemy February February 21 Federal Fifteenth Ohio fight force Fort Henry governor Grant Halleck Halleck to Buell Henry Ibid Indiana James January John Johnson and Buel July June Kentucky knew Lawrenceburg letter Lincoln Louisville March Marszalek McClellan to Buell McCook Memoirs Mexican Mitchel Morton move Munfordville Nashville Nelson nessee November November 12 numbers October officers ordered Perryville political president Prokopowicz railroad Regiment Scott September Sherman Shiloh slavery slaves soldiers summer Tennessee River Thomas tion troops U.S. Military Academy Union Union army victory Villard Wallace wanted Washington West Point William York Daily Tribune Zollicoffer