Tag: Stanley (David S.)

Wikipedia says: David Sloane Stanley (June 1, 1828 – March 13, 1902) was a Union Army general during the American Civil War. Stanley took part in the Second Battle of Corinth and the Battle of Stones River as a division commander. He was later made a corps commander under William Tecumseh Sherman and sent to Tennessee to oppose John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee. At a critical moment in the Battle of Franklin (November 1864), he saved part of George D. Wagner’s division from destruction, earning America’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor. Later he explored the Yellowstone River, and his favorable reports encouraged settlement of this region.

Civil War

He fought at several battles in Missouri, including the Battle of Wilson’s Creek, where he guarded the supply trains. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Stanley as brigadier general September 28, 1861, although the U.S. Senate did not confirm the appointment until March 7, 1862. Fighting in the Western Theater, he participated in the operations against New Madrid, Missouri and the Battle of Island Number Ten. He was involved in numerous major battles, including the Second Battle of Corinth, where he commanded a division of infantry of the Army of the Mississippi, and the Battle of Stones River, in which he led the cavalry of the Army of the Cumberland. On March 11, 1863, Stanley was appointed major general to rank from November 29, 1862. Stanley also led the Union cavalry in the Tullahoma Campaign. He fell ill late in 1863 and missed the Battle of Chickamauga. In 1864, he fought under William Tecumseh Sherman as a division commander in the IV Corps of the Army of the Cumberland during the Atlanta Campaign, and he was promoted to command of the corps when Maj. Gen. Oliver O. Howard was named commander of the Army of the Tennessee. After the capture of the city, instead of employing him marching to the sea, Sherman dispatched Stanley and his IV Corps to Tennessee to help protect the state from invasion by John Bell Hood’s Army of Tennessee.

For leading one of his brigades in a successful counterattack during a critical moment in the fighting at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, 1864, the President of the United States on behalf of the United States Congress presented him with the Medal of Honor on March 29, 1893. Two of his divisions having been reassigned to the defensive lines of the XXIII Corps before the battle, Stanley had no actual command. Two brigades of the remaining division, under Brig. Gen. George D. Wagner, were overwhelmed by the initial Confederate assault, having been left in an exposed position. It was for his role in the counterattack by the 3rd Brigade of Wagner’s division that Stanley was awarded the medal. He was wounded in the neck at the same time and had his horse shot out from under him. Maj. Gen. Jacob Cox, commanding the defenses, provided Stanley a remount with which to seek medical attention, and Stanley did not participate further in the battle. He returned to corps command only after the Battle of Nashville.