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Civil War Soldiers - Buell
| Buell, Don Carlos, major-general, U.S. Army, was born
near Marietta, Ohio, March 23, 1818. He was graduated at West Point in
1841, and assigned to the 3d infantry, being raised to 1st lieutenant
June 18, 1846. He served in the war with Mexico, being brevetted
captain for gallant action at Monterey, and major after Contreras and
Churubusco, having received a severe wound in the latter engagement,
and was then, from 1848 to 1861, on duty as assistant adjutant-general
at Washington and at various department headquarters. He received a
staff appointment as lieutenant-colonel, May 11, 1861, was
commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers on May 17, being employed
at first in organizing the troops at Washington, and in Aug., 1861,
was given command of a division of the Army of the Potomac. In Nov.,
1861, he superseded Gen. W. T. Sherman as commander of the Department
of the Cumberland, which was reorganized as the Department of the
Ohio, and the campaign in Kentucky was opened on Dec. 17, 1861, when
an attack was begun upon his pickets at Rowlett station, near
Munfordville. Gen. Buell occupied Bowling Green, Feb. 14, 1862, took
possession with a small force of Gallatin, Tenn., on the 23d, and
entered Nashville two days later. On March 21, 1862, he was made
major-general of volunteers, his department becoming a part of the
Department of the Mississippi under Gen. Halleck, and on the 6th of
April following, his opportune arrival at Shiloh saved Gen. Grant from
disastrous defeat. On June 12, 1862, he took command of the Department
of the Ohio, and, upon the advance of Bragg into Kentucky, he was
forced to evacuate Central Tennessee, and make a rapid retreat to
Louisville, in order to save that city, and Cincinnati, which also was
threatened by the Confederates. He arrived at Louisville at midnight,
Sept. 24, amid great excitement, as the inhabitants had feared that
Bragg would get there first. Buell was ordered to give over his
command to Thomas, Sept. 30, but was re-instated the next day and
began a pursuit of the Confederates. After a week's chase, Bragg
halted to give battle at Perryville, and there the two armies fought
an indecisive battle which lasted from early in the afternoon of Oct.
8 until dark, with great loss on both sides. On the next day Bragg
retired to Harrodsburg, and thence slowly to Cumberland gap. Buell's
management of this command has been pronounced masterful by military
authorities, but he was censured by the war department for not
pursuing the Confederates swiftly enough to bring them into action
again, and on Oct. 24, 1862, was ordered to turn over his command to
Gen. Rosecrans. A military committee made a report which was never
published. Gen. Buell was mustered out of the volunteer service, May
23, 1864, and resigned his commission in the regular army June 1,
1864. After the war he became extensively engaged in the iron business
in Muhlenburg county, Ky., and in 1885 was appointed by President
Cleveland pension agent in Kentucky. He died near Rockport, Ky., Nov.
19, 1898.
Source: The Union Army: A History of Military Affairs in the Loyal
States 1861-1865, Volume 8 Biographical, 1908
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