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Gil R. -> RE: Brig.-Gen. Charles P. Stone (10/14/2007 10:00:54 PM)
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Here's Stone's bio, which is certainly interesting. In addition to some rephrasing, I took out the following sentence because it can apply to so many of the generals: “A man of many accomplishments, he is little known outside the small circle of Civil War historians and buffs.” I took out the fact that he was part of the surrender commission at Port Hudson, since there doesn’t seem to have been anything especially interesting about that particular surrender (as there was, for example, at Fort Sumter). And I reordered the events of spring/summer 1861, since I don’t think he served in the Shenandoah before Rockville (which was in mid-June: http://home.comcast.net/~hilld1/CWExhibit/ ), while his promotion would have been before. Also, while Wikipedia says he was made a colonel of the 14th U.S. Infantry Regiment on May 14, 1861 and then a brigadier general that August (to date to May 17), Heidler says he was made a brigadier general just after Fort Sumter – I’ll go with that, unless someone has information to the contrary, since while Heidler does have mistakes, Wikipedia tends to have more (and also, the Wikipedia page on the 14th Infantry says it was organized in Connecticut on May 3). Otherwise, no significant changes were made that aren’t in bold.
By the way, based on General Quarters’ comment, I added one rating point per category, but I’m open to further discussion. Also, Bill, any particular reason for his teaching "independent" and "wild"?
Brig. Gen. Charles Pomeroy Stone (b. 1824, d. 1887). Born on September 30, 1824 in Greenfield, Massachusetts, Stone graduated from West Point in 1845. He was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant of ordnance and served in the Mexican War, where he earned two brevets for distinguished conduct; in 1856, he resigned his commission. As the secession crisis flared, Stone became inspector general of the District of Columbia Militia at the rank of colonel (dating to January 1, 1861), making him the first volunteer officer mustered into the U.S. Army before the war. In this role, he secured the capital for the arrival of President-elect Abraham Lincoln, and was responsible for security at the new president’s inauguration. Stone was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers that May, and a month later engaged in the Rockville Expedition, one of the first offensive movements by Union forces, which established a garrison, “Camp Lincoln,” in this (at the time) small Maryland town to protect Washington from the northwest. During the First Bull Run Campaign, he commanded a brigade in the Department of Pennsylvania, the force which failed to prevent the Confederate Army of the Shenandoah from reinforcing Manassas, and then in the new Department of the Shenandoah under Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks. He next commanded a division in the Army of the Potomac, the Corps of Observation, guarding the upper Potomac River. In mid-October, Gen. George B. McClellan ordered Gen. George A. McCall to intimidate Confederate Gen. Nathan “Shanks” Evans into abandoning Leesburg, Virginia, which led Evans to leave the city and take up defensive positions on the Leesburg Turnpike. Uncertain of the situation, McClellan ordered Stone to stage a “demonstration” at Edwards’ Ferry to distract the Confederates and learn about their positions and intentions. Stone oversaw the crossing of the river at Edwards’ Ferry, while on his own initiative he also sent a second “demonstration” two miles upriver, assigning that expedition to Col. Edward D. Baker, a U.S. Senator and close personal friend of Lincoln who had been offered a generalship. The senator, who had not formally accepted the brigadier’s star because to do so would require giving up his seat, was a novice at warfare. He believed the words “demonstration” and “battle” were synonymous and so he and his troops were soundly defeated on October 21 at the ensuing Battle of Ball’s Bluff, and Baker himself, who was primarily at fault for walking into a trap without proper reconnaissance, was killed. However, Stone, a Democrat, bore the brunt of much public criticism and anger. Suspected of disloyalty and treason, he was arrested on February 9, 1862. Contrary to Army regulations, no charges were ever filed against Stone, but he was imprisoned for 189 days, until his release on August 16. Without assignment until May 1863, Stone was ordered to the Department of the Gulf, where he served as the controversial chief of staff to Banks beginning with the Siege of Port Hudson. During the Red River Campaign the following spring, he was unfairly blamed for the Union’s lack of success (HEIDLER’S ENCYCLOPEDIA SAYS HE WAS REMOVED “WITHOUT ANY APPARENT REASON”; WIKIPEDIA SAYS THAT SEC. OF WAR STANTON ORDERED HIS REMOVAL. I’LL KEEP THIS AS IS UNLESS THERE’S MORE INFO WORTH INCLUDING.), and in April 1864 Stone was mustered out of his volunteer commission as a brigadier general and he reverted to his rank of colonel in the regular army. He briefly commanded a brigade during the Siege of Petersburg, but finally resigned from the army in September. After the war, Stone was chief engineer of a mining company in Virginia from 1865 to 1870, and then entered the military service of the khedive of Egypt, becoming chief of staff and general aide-de-camp, with the rank of lieutenant general and the accompanying honorary title of “Ferik Pasha.” He returned to the United States in 1883, and resumed his engineering work. He died on January 24, 1887 in New York City and is buried at West Point. (Bio by Bill Hawthorne)
Ratings:
Leadership: 3
Tactics: 3
Initiative: 4
Command: 4
Cavalry: 0
Start date: 8 or 9
“Death” date: 78
Teaches: Independent, Wild
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