Charles William Field

Charles William Field

Charles William Field (born April 6, 1828 in Woodford County , Kentucky , † April 9, 1892 in Washington, DC ) was an officer in the US Army and major general of the Confederate States of America in the Civil War .

Life until civil war

Field spent his childhood on his parents' Airy Mount plantation in Woodford County, Kentucky. His father was a personal friend of Henry Clay , a member of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, and Secretary of State . Through his relationships and the intercession of President Andrew Jackson Field was accepted at the Military Academy at West Point , New York , which he successfully completed in 1849 as the 27th of his class. He then served as a lieutenant in the Dragoons and served in Texas , New Mexico and the Great Plains . In 1855 he was promoted to first lieutenant and transferred to the newly established 2nd US Cavalry Regiment, the command of which was Colonel Albert Sidney Johnston . Here Field learned a. a. also know Robert Edward Lee and other later Confederate generals. In 1856 he returned to West Point as a cavalry tactics instructor and was promoted to captain in January 1861 .

Civil War time

After the outbreak of the Civil War Field resigned on May 30, 1861, left West Point and went to Richmond , Virginia, where he offered his services to the Confederate Army . His first assignment was to set up a cavalry school in Ashland , Virginia. In July 1861 he was promoted to major in the 6th Virginia Cavalry Regiment, of which he became commander in November of the same year. In March 1862, Field was promoted to brigadier general and brigade commander of a Brigade of the Virginia Infantry. He was then placed under General Ambrose Powell Hills Light Division , as part of the Northern Virginia Army , also during Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson's Shenandoah campaign in the spring of 1862.

During the peninsula campaign from March to July 1862 Field demonstrated his military and tactical skills again, as well as in the second battle at Bull Run on August 28th and 30th of the same year, in which he was wounded several times in the leg and only narrowly escaped an amputation. However, the full function of the leg could not be restored. In May 1863 Field resumed his job, still using walking aids, and initially worked as head of the Department of Conscription in the War Department. He was promoted to major general in February 1864 and resumed active service as the commander of a battle-hardened division formerly led by Lieutenant General John Bell Hood . With her he took part in the Battle of the Wilderness and the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House from May 8 to 21, 1864 on May 5 and 6, 1864 . After the wounding of Lieutenant General James Longstreet and his temporary failure, Field also took command of the I. Corps , but was later replaced by Lieutenant General Richard Heron Anderson , who was the senior.

In the following years Field led his division in the Battle of Cold Harbor from May 31 to June 12, 1864, the Siege of Petersburg , Virginia and at the Battle of Deep Bottom from August 14 to 20, 1864. In April 1865 he surrendered with his division at Appomattox Court House , Virginia.

The time after the war

After the war, Field tried his hand at business in Maryland and Georgia . He traveled to Egypt in 1875 and served under Ismail Pasha , the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, and helped build a modern Egyptian army. With the rank of colonel, he first trained the Egyptian officers and supervised several projects. He later took on the duties of an inspector general. In 1877 Field returned to the United States; in March 1879 he took over the post of doorkeeper in the administration of the US House of Representatives . Since he had worked for a foreign head of state, he de facto lost his American citizenship and this post was initially removed. It was only through the intervention of his old friend and Confederate General Eppa Hunton that he was allowed to continue working. From 1881 to 1888 Field worked as an engineer and then as superintendent of an Indian reservation near Hot Springs , Arkansas .

In the 20th century, a notice was placed on Route 62 near Versailles by the Kentucky government indicating General Field and other Civil War generals from Woodford County.

See also

• List of Confederate Generals in the Civil War

literature

• David J. Eicher: The Civil War in Books: An Analytical Bibliography , University of Illinois, 1997, ISBN 0-252-02273-4 .
• Richard N. Current: Encyclopedia of the Confederacy (1993) (4 vol.) ISBN 0-13275991-8 .
• John H. Eicher and David J. Eicher: Civil War High Commands , Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3 .
• Ezra J. Warner: Generals in Gray: Lives of the Confederate Commanders , Louisiana State University Press, 1959, ISBN 0-8071-0823-5 .

Web links

• Charles W. Field in the database of Find a Grave (English)