Small Talk-Trivia

Under a Cloud

By Stephen Davis · Originally published January 2020 · pp. 41–46

The following Northerners and Southerners had their careers derailed or ended by misfortune—a battlefield defeat, or personal misconduct.

Can you name them from the clues below? 1. This Union major general, brought from the west after having captured Island No. 10 and New Madrid, oversaw the defeat of his Army of Virginia at Second Manassas. Who? 2. This Confederate lieutenant general behaved so badly when his lines were overrun at Spotsylvania, May 12, 1864, that General Lee turned his Second Corps over to Jubal Early. Can you name him; and better yet, what was his middle name? 3. When this Union brigadier general, in charge of Kentucky during the fall of 1861, told U.S. Secretary of War Simon Cameron that he needed 200,000 men, Cameron exclaimed, “Great God! Where are they to come from?” Soon afterward, the Cincinnati Commercial headlined an article that the general was “insane.” Who? 4. This son of Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden lost the battle of Mill Springs, Ky., in January 1862. Officers observed that he was “in a beastly state of intoxication” during the engagement. Later, after Maj. Gen. William J. Hardee also found him drunk and Gen. Braxton Bragg deemed him unfit to command, he resigned on Oct. 23, 1862. Which Kentuckian? 5. As a brigadier in 1861 he was relieved of command in northeast Missouri for drunkenness. At Memphis he “resumed his heavy drinking and came under official scrutiny for allegedly accepting bribes from cotton speculators,” according to Jeffrey Lash. Sherman relieved him from command on April 18, 1864, partly for having kept a garrison of troops at Fort Pillow, Tenn. (which Forrest captured on April 12). What Union general? a) Cadwallader C. Washburn b) Stephen A. Hurlbut c) William S. Smith d) Samuel D. Sturgis 6.-7. These two Confederate generals presided over arguably the worst routs of a Southern army during the war: one on Nov. 25, 1863; the other on Dec. 16, 1864. To whom are we referring? 8.-9. These two Union brigadiers, whose divisions charged into the crater after the explosion near Petersburg on the morning of July 30, 1864, were in a bombproof drinking rum while their troops were being mauled by Confederates recovering from the blast. Which drinking/skulking duo? a) Edward Ferrero and James H. Ledlie b) William F. Bartlett and Simon G. Griffin c) Orlando B. Wilcox and Elisha G. Marshall 10. This Confederate lieutenant general surrendered 29,500 men at Vicksburg, July 4, 1863. On April 19, 1864, he resigned his generalship and asked to be reassigned as a lieutenant colonel of artillery. Who?

Answers found on page 46.

Small Talk Trivia Answers 1. John Pope (1822–1892). On September 5, 1862, within a week of the battle, Pope was relieved of command. He was sent to Minnesota to fight the Sioux Indians (Peter Cozzens, General John Pope: A Life for the Nation [2000], pp. 198-201). 2. Richard Stoddert Ewell (1817–1872). “At one point Ewell lost his head and began beating some of his fleeing soldiers over the back with his sword. Lee reined in his enraged lieutenant, saying sharply, ‘General Ewell, you must restrain yourself; how can you expect to control your men when you have lost control of yourself? If you cannot repress your excitement, you had better retire’” (Donald C. Pfanz, Richard S. Ewell: A Soldier’s Life [1998], p. 389). 3. William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891). Under a cloud, Sherman was relieved and assigned to duty as drillmaster at the St. Louis Barracks (Lloyd Lewis, Sherman: Fighting Prophet [1932], 194-201). 4. George Bibb Crittenden (1812–1880). After his removal, he served without rank on the staff of various officers in western Virginia (Lawrence L. Hewitt, “George Bibb Crittenden” in William C. Davis, ed., The Confederate General [6 vols., 1991], vol. 2, p. 43). 5. Stephen Augustus Hurlbut (1815–1882). The quotes are from Lash’s entry on Hurlbut in John T. Hubbell and James W. Geary eds., Biographical Dictionary of the Union: Northern Leaders of the Civil War (1995), p. 269. 6.-7. Braxton Bragg (1817–1876) and John Bell Hood (1831–1879). 8.-9. Edward Ferrero (1831–1899) and James Hewitt Ledlie (1832–1882). Ledlie was accused of cowardice and drunkenness by a court of inquiry. He went on sick leave a week after the battle of the Crater and resigned in January 1865. Ferrero, also criticized by a court of inquiry, was allowed to stay with his division till the end of the war (Jeff Kinard, The Battle of the Crater [1995], p. 39, 41). 10. John Clifford Pemberton (1814–1881) (Michael B. Ballard, Pemberton: A Biography [1991], 181, 185).