Matrix Games Forums

Maj Gen William Starke Rosecrans (b.1819 - d.1898) Rosecrans was born in Little Taylor Run in Kingston Township, Ohio. Upon graduating from West Point in 1842, the army assigned him to duty as an engineer, working on the fortifications at Hampton Roads, Virginia. Later he served as an instructor at West Point. Rosecrans resigned from the Army in 1854, moving into civil fields. He took over a mining business in Western Virginia and ran it extremely successfully, making many inventions, including a more effective method of manufacturing soap. When the war broke out, he volunteered as an aide-de-camp to McClellan. Promoted to the rank of colonel, Rosecrans took up the command of the 23rd Ohio Infantry regiment. Soon, he received promotion to brigadier general. His plans and decisions proved extremely effective in the West Virginia Campaign, including the Union victory at Rich Mountain. When McClellan took the lion’s share of the credit, Rosecrans refused to go east with him, instead requesting a transfer to the West. Rosecrans received the command of the Right Wing of the Army of the Mississippi in May 1862 and took an active part in the siege of Corinth under Halleck. He received command of the entire army in June. In this role, he was the effective subordinate of Grant from whom he received direction in the Iuka-Corinth campaign (Fall 1862). In the Battle of Iuka, Rosecrans was supposed to be part of a dual-pronged offensive against the Confederate army of Price, but he was late in arriving at the battlefield and Grant ordered his other commander, Ord, to wait until he heard the sounds of Rosecrans in battle south of Iuka before he attacked from the north. The direction of the wind kept Ord and Grant from hearing the battle noise, and Rosecrans's army fought alone and won. Defeated, Price retreated from Iuka and Grant criticized Rosecrans for failing to pursue his opponent aggressively. Rosecrans then faced Van Dorn’s forces at the Battle of Corinth, a bloody two-day affair in which Van Dorn suffered heavy casualties assaulting Rosecrans's entrenched positions. During the battle, rumors swirled that Rosecrans had been killed and when the firing stopped, he toured his line on horseback to thank his men and assure them that he had survived. But once again, his pursuit of a defeated foe was lackluster, waiting until morning to begin, despite orders from Grant that he move immediately. Van Dorn was able to evade pursuit and an opportunity to complete the destruction of his army was lost. Grant, among others, would later repeatedly fault Rosecrans for being too conservative. His next assignment was commander of the XIV Corps (renamed the Army of the Cumberland). He caught up with Bragg at The Battle of Stones River. This was the bloodiest battle of the war, in terms of percentages of casualties. It was tactically inconclusive, although Bragg was the first to withdraw his army . This “victory” nullified the Confederate threat to Tennessee. Rosecrans tended to micromanage his troops, which led to great problems at Chickamauga (fall 1863). Rosecrans gave an order to Brig Gen Woods "to close up and support Reynolds“. However, this caused a gaping hole to form in Union line, and it was only because of Thomas's heroics in holding the center of the line that the Union Army managed to escape disaster. Following this defeat , Rosecrans retreated to Chattanooga, where his army came under siege by Bragg. When Grant was placed in command of all armies in the West, he relieved Rosecrans of his command , replacing him with Thomas. Rosecrans went to Cincinnati to await further orders, but would play no major part in the rest of the war. In 1865, he was given a brevet promotion to major general in gratitude for his actions at Stones River. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Rosecrans was appointed to command in Missouri after his failure at Chickamauga and in that post he defeated Price's invasion in 1864. He was dismissed by Grant for allowing Price's force to remain so long in the state and for allowing its escape; a somewhat unfair decision that probably stemmed in part from Grant's personal prejudice following their much earlier mutual recriminations over the Iuka/Corinth campaign.

Thanks for this, too.

It's a good thing that Bragg withdrew when he did, as approximately 2 Divisions worth of USA troops had arrived or were on their way to Murfreesboro, and I do believe Rosevrans was going to attack again after they had all arrived. There was also a 3rd USA Division on its way I do believe. These troops had mainly been detached from Thoma's Corps, guarding supply lines and chasing Morgan etc. In fact, Spear's reinforced USA Tennessee Infantry Brigade, reinforced with parts of two Inf. regiments and at least 2 Sections of a Battery from the Nashville garrison had arrived on Jan. 1, 1863 I think it was. Bragg was in trouble.
 
Chris
 

If "engineering" is ever adopted as an attribute, Rosecrans should have a high rating in this area.