Tag: Ferrero (Edward)

Wikipedia says: Edward Ferrero (January 18, 1831 – December 11, 1899) was one of the leading dance instructors, choreographers, and ballroom operators in the United States. He also served as a Union Army general in the American Civil War, most remembered for his dishonourable conduct in the Battle of the Crater (July 1864), reported drinking with another general behind the lines, while both their units were virtually destroyed.

…With the outbreak of the Civil War in early 1861, Ferrero raised a regiment at his own expense, the 51st New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment (the “Shepard Rifles”). He was commissioned as its first colonel and drilled the regiment in military procedures. He led a brigade of three regiments in Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside’s expedition to Roanoke Island, where his regiment seized the first fortified Confederate redoubt captured in the war. He also commanded a brigade at New Bern under Brig. Gen. Jesse L. Reno.

Transferred northward with his brigade to Virginia in the summer of 1862, he served in the army of Maj. Gen. John Pope during the Northern Virginia Campaign, including the Second Battle of Bull Run. In September, he served at the battles of South Mountain and Antietam, where his brigade was a part of the Union IX Corps and stormed Burnside’s Bridge. For his personal bravery at Antietam, the dancer-turned-warrior was promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on September 19, 1862. (This commission expired in March 1863, but he was reappointed to rank from May 6. The latter appointment was revoked on July 21, 1864). His first action as a general was at Fredericksburg.

Sent to the Western Theater along with the IX Corps in early 1863, Ferrero led his brigade with distinction during the Siege of Vicksburg. He subsequently commanded a division during the Knoxville Campaign, and was in command of the defenses of Fort Sanders. Transferred eastward again in 1864 with the corps, he served in the Siege of Petersburg, commanding a division of black troops. His men were involved in the ill-fated July 30 charge on the Crater, where they suffered significant losses supporting the initial attack of Brig. Gen. James H. Ledlie’s division. Both Ferrero and Ledlie received criticism for remaining in a shelter behind the lines through most of the battle, passing a bottle of rum between them. A court of inquiry headed by Maj. Gen. Winfield S. Hancock cited Ferrero for “being in a bomb-proof habitually, where he could not see the operation of his troops [nor know] the position of two brigades of his division or whether they had taken Cemetery Hill or not.”

On December 2, 1864, Ferrero was breveted major general for “bravery and meritorious services.” He served throughout the Appomattox Campaign in early 1865.