Frederick Steele
Frederick Steele (January 14, 1819 – January 12, 1868) was a career military officer in the
Early life
Steele, son of Nathaniel & Dameras (Johnson) Steele, was born in
Civil War
On May 14, 1861, Steele was appointed
Steele's division was transferred to the
On August 26, 1863, after the fall of Vicksburg, Steele received a brevet promotion to colonel in the U.S. Army. On July 27, 1863, he was placed in command of the
Fighting at Jenkins Ferry commenced in a downpour the morning of 30 April. Critical mistakes in troop management by both Price and Kirby Smith resulted in the rebel army committing its divisions in a piecemeal fashion, allowing Steele and his subordinates, Brigadier Generals Frederick Salomon and Samuel Rice, to engage and defeat the attacking rebels in turn with light casualties. The Confederates suffered heavily in this defeat; rebel Generals Marmaduke, Mosby Parsons and John Walker were effectively repulsed in three poorly executed rebel assaults. Through a further deception operation (reported independently after the war by a Union officer of the 77th Ohio and a Confederate sergeant in General Jo Shelby's command) General James Fagan's heretofore mentioned task force of 5 cavalry brigades was misdirected away from Jenkins Ferry and did not reach there until the fighting ended. Steele took his army back to Little Rock. In point of fact, Steele sent several messages to Union Army Chief of Staff Henry Halleck, to Sherman and to his Department commander General John Schofield prior to the expedition, warning of a dearth of forage and provisions in southwest Arkansas, and also calling the military competency of political general Nathaniel Banks into question. Steele was finally compelled, against his better judgment, by newly appointed General-in-Chief Ulysses Grant (and Steele's classmate at West Point) to undertake the expedition to cooperate with Banks. Thus, when the intelligence confirmed Bank's failure against Dick Taylor in Louisiana, Steele had already formulated a plan to save the VII Corps.[citation needed]
Steele led a force of
On April 10, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Steele for appointment to the brevet rank of brigadier general in the regular army, for services in the capture of Little Rock, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866.[4] On June 30, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Steele for appointment to the brevet rank of major general in the regular army, for the Siege of Vicksburg and services during the war, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on July 25, 1866.[5]
Postbellum career
Steele was transferred to Texas in June 1865 and placed in command of United States forces along the Rio Grande. He subsequently commanded the Department of the Columbia, overseeing the Snake War. from December 1865 until November 1867. On July 28, 1866, Steele had been appointed to the permanent grade of colonel of the 20th U.S. Infantry Regiment.[3] Meanwhile, he had been mustered out of the volunteer service on March 1, 1867.[2]
In November 1867, Frederick Steele took a leave of absence for health reasons. He died two months later on January 12, 1868, in
A monument to Steele stands on the Vicksburg National Military Park.
See also
Notes
References
- Eicher, John H., and ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Winters, John D. The Civil War in Louisiana. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963. ISBN 0-8071-0834-0.
Attribution
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
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External links
- "Frederick Steele". Find a Grave. Retrieved 2008-10-13.
- Steele monument at Vicksburg
- General Frederick Steele Papers housed at Stanford University Libraries