George Stoneman Jr. (August 8, 1822 – September 5, 1894) was a United States Army cavalry officer, trained at West Point, where his roommate was Stonewall Jackson. In the Civil War he became Adjutant to George B. McClellan, who did not appreciate the use of centralized cavalry, and was therefore outperformed by the Confederates, who did.
At Chancellorsville, under Joseph Hooker, Stoneman failed in an ambitious attempt to penetrate behind enemy lines, getting bogged down at an important river crossing. Hooker’s sharp criticism of Stoneman may have been partly aimed at deflecting the heavy blame being directed at himself for the loss of this major battle that most generals believed to be winnable.
While commanding cavalry under William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia, Stoneman was captured, but soon exchanged. During the early years after the American Civil War, Stoneman commanded occupying troops at Memphis, Tennessee, who were stationed at Fort Pickering. He had turned over control of law enforcement to the civilian government by May 1866, when the Memphis riots broke out and the major black neighborhoods were destroyed. When the city asked for help, he suppressed the white rioting with use of federal troops. He later moved out to California, where he had an estate in the San Gabriel Valley. He was elected as governor of California, serving between 1883 and 1887. He was not nominated a second time.
Civil War service
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 was reassigned to the 1st US Cavalry and promoted to major on May 9, 1861. Stoneman then served as adjutant to General George McClellan during his campaign in Western Virginia during the summer. After McClellan became commander of the newly-formed Army of the Potomac, he assigned Stoneman as his chief of cavalry; Stoneman was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 13.[1] Stoneman had a difficult relationship with McClellan as he desired to use the cavalry as a raiding and combat force, while McClellan merely envisioned it as an extension of the army signal corps. The Army of the Potomac’s cavalry performed poorly in the Eastern Theater during the spring and summer of 1862, being soundly out-generaled and out-fought by Confederate cavalry.
On November 22, 1861, Stoneman married Mary Oliver Hardisty of Baltimore. They would have four children.
Stoneman was reassigned to the infantry and received command of the 1st Division of the III Corps on September 10 after its former commander, Maj. Gen Phil Kearny, had been killed a week earlier. The III Corps remained in Washington, D.C. during the Maryland Campaign. On October 30, Stoneman gained command of the corps. At Fredericksburg, it formed part of Maj. Gen Joe Hooker’s Center Grand Division and helped drive back a Confederate assault during the battle. Following Fredericksburg, Joe Hooker became commander of the Army of the Potomac and decided to organize the cavalry into a single corps with Stoneman at its head.
Stoneman’s Raids
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.[2] 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),[3] 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 Maj. Gen. 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. On March 30, he was also promoted to lieutenant colonel in the regular army. As the army fought in the Atlanta Campaign under Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman, Stoneman and his aide, Myles Keogh, were captured by Confederate soldiers on July 31, 1864, outside Macon, Georgia.[4] However, the 5th Indiana Cavalry Regiment under Col. Thomas Butler made a valiant stand, allowing the rest of his forces to retreat. They were surrendered as well, despite protest by Col. Butler.[5] Stoneman became the highest ranking Union prisoner of war, and he remained 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, Martinsville, and other towns, destroyed Moratock Iron Furnace (a Confederate foundry), and at Salisbury attempted to free about 1,400 prisoners, but the prisoners had been dispersed by the time he arrived in Salisbury. 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. The Memphis riots broke out among the still rebellious citizens who were angry at the presence of African-American Federal soldiers in the military government. Stoneman was criticized for inaction and was investigated by a congressional committee, although he was exonerated.
Content retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stoneman.