Buell

On March 23, 1818, Don Carlos Buell - who served as major general of the Army of the Ohio during the Civil War - was born in Lowell, Ohio.

Buell grew up in Lawrenceburg and was appointed to West Point from Indiana. He graduated in 1841 and served in the Seminole War in Florida and the Mexican War. A lieutenant colonel in San Francisco at the outbreak of the Civil War, he was promoted to brigadier general and ordered to Washington. There, he helped Gen. George McClellan organize Union forces. He was promoted to major general and given command of the Army of the Ohio.

Buell's army saved the day at the Battle of Shiloh, Tenn., helping Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, another Ohio native, beat the Confederates. After a battle at Corinth, Miss., Buell was ordered to march on Chattanooga. He pursued the enemy into Kentucky, where he occupied Louisville. While he repulsed the Confederates at the Battle of Perryville in 1862, Buell was criticized because the rebels escaped.

A political outcry resulted in his removal from command. Apparently, his friendship with Gen. McClellan, who was also removed, and his marriage to a Southern woman hurt his cause. Buell resigned from the Army in 1864 and spent the rest of his days as president of a Kentucky coal mine. He died in Paradise, Ky., in 1898.

Rebecca Goodman

E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361.