325 USA George Stoneman ldr_USA_Stoneman2 $Cavalryman NULL NULL NULL 2 2 2 37 General 1 NULL 3 3 3
328 USA George Stoneman ldr_USA_Stoneman $Cavalryman NULL NULL NULL 2 2 1 26 General 1 NULL 3 3 3
At the start of the Civil War Stoneman was in command of Fort Brown, Texas, and refused the order of Maj. Gen. David E. Twiggs to surrender to the newly established Confederate authorities there, escaping to the north with most of his command. Returning east, he served as a major of the 1st U.S. Cavalry and then adjutant to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan in western Virginia. As the cavalry was being organized in the Army of the Potomac, he commanded the Cavalry Reserve and then the Cavalry Division, with the title Chief of Cavalry.
After the Peninsula, Stoneman was an infantry commander, commanding a division in the II Corps and the III Corps. At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Stoneman commanded the III Corps. He was promoted to major general of volunteers on November 29, 1862. However, following Fredericksburg, Gen. Hooker reorganized the Cavalry Corps and named Stoneman to lead it.
The plan for the Battle of Chancellorsville was strategically daring. Hooker assigned Stoneman a key role in which his Cavalry Corps would raid deeply into Robert E. Lee's rear areas and destroy vital railroad lines and supplies, distracting Lee from Hooker's main assaults. However, Stoneman was a disappointment in this strategic role. The Cavalry Corps got off to a good start in May, 1863, but quickly bogged down after crossing the Rapidan River. During the entire battle, Stoneman accomplished little and Hooker considered him one of the principal reasons for the Union defeat at Chancellorsville. Hooker needed to deflect criticism from himself and relieved Stoneman from his cavalry command, sending him back to Washington, D.C., for medical treatment (chronic hemorrhoids, exacerbated by cavalry service...gee thanks wikipedia
), where in July he became a Chief of the U.S. Cavalry Bureau, a desk job. A large cavalry supply and training depot on the Potomac River was named Camp Stoneman in his honor.
In early 1864, Stoneman was impatient with garrison duty in Washington and requested another field command from his old friend general John Schofield, who was in command of the Department of the Ohio. Although originally slated for an infantry corps, Stoneman assumed command of the Cavalry Corps of what would be known as the Army of the Ohio. As the army fought in the Atlanta Campaign under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, Stoneman and his aide were humiliated to be captured by Confederate soldiers outside Macon, Georgia, becoming the highest ranking Union prisoner of war. He was a prisoner for three months.
Stoneman was exchanged relatively quickly based on the personal request of Sherman to the Confederates and he returned to duty. In December 1864, he led a raid from East Tennessee into southwestern Virginia. He led raids into Virginia and North Carolina in 1865, took Salem and other towns, and at Salisbury freed about 1,400 prisoners. In recognition of his service, he was brevetted major general in the regular army. His command nearly captured Confederate president Jefferson Davis during his flight from Richmond, Virginia. In June 1865, he was appointed commander of the Department of Tennessee and administered occupied Memphis. There, riots broke out among the still rebellious citizens who were angry at the presence of black Federal soldiers in the military government. Stoneman was criticized for inaction and was investigated by a congressional committee, although he was exonerated.
Performed poorly at Chancellorsville, but overall....seems to have been about average.
325 USA George Stoneman ldr_USA_Stoneman2 $Cavalryman NULL NULL NULL 2 2 2 37 General 1 NULL 3 2 1
328 USA George Stoneman ldr_USA_Stoneman $Cavalryman NULL NULL NULL 2 2 1 26 General 1 NULL 3 2 2