BUELL, Don Carlos, American military officer: b. Lowell, Ohio, 23 March 1818; d. near Rockport, Ky., 19 Nov. 1898. He was gradu ated at West Point in 1841 and served with distinction in the Mexican War under Generals Taylor and Scott, being severely wounded and promoted twice for gallant and meritorious con duct. When the Civil War broke out he was adjutant-general in the regular army, having been promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the adjutant-general's department, 11 May 1861. On 17 May 1861, he was appointed briga dier-general of volunteers; from 20 May to 9 August was on duty in California, and from 14 September to 9 November assisted in pre paring the army at Washington. On 15 Nov. 1861, he succeeded Gen. W. T. Sherman in command of the Department of the Ohio, which was then enlarged so as to include the States of Ohio, Indiana Michigan. For two months he was occupied in organizing his de partment and accomplished little in a military way until February 1862. Grant, following Buell's plans, had captured forts Henry and Donelson, thus causing the Confederates to abandon Bowling Green and Columbus and to evacuate Nashville, Tenn., and on 24 February Buell formally received the surrender of the latter city. On 21 March he was made major general of volunteers, his department at the same time being merged into the Department of the Mississippi, then in charge of Gen. H. W. Halleck. Meanwhile Grant had begun his operations at Shiloh or Pittsburgh Landing (q.v.), expecting that Buell would join him at his leisure, but the Confederates had planned to surprise Grant before Buell's arrival and accordingly marched from Corinth on 3 April and attacked early on the morning of 6 April. Grant's troops were being driven back gradu ally to the landing when, toward evening, part of Buell's army, which had marched through the swamps from Savannah, appeared on the field and checked the Confederate onslaught. The next day, the remainder of his army hav ing arrived, Buell aided Grant to force the exhausted Confederates in full retreat back to Corinth, thereby saving Grant from a disastrous defeat. On 11 April, General Halleck arrived and took supreme command of the Union forces, then numbering 100,000 effective troops, and placed Buell in command of the centre wing of the reorganized army. In this capacity
he participated in Halleck's campaign against Corinth (q.v.), which was captured 30 May and where he remained until 10 June, when, as com mander of the Army of the Ohio, he moved northward to checkmate Bragg's designs on Kentucky. Early in September Bragg started for Louisville and, closely pursued by Buell, reached that city first, but owing to lack of provisions was compelled to relinquish the city to Buell, who arrived 25 September. There Buell was reinforced by 30,000 raw soldiers, raising his army to nearly 100,000 troops. Ac cordingly on 1 October, taking 58,000 troops, he left Louisville to pursue Bragg, and on the 8th overtook and defeated his army of 16,000 troops at Perryville (q.v.), compelling him to retreat from Kentucky by way of Cumberland Gap. Some assert that Buell should have pushed the pursuit with more vigor and that his dilatory tactics permitted Bragg to reach safety. However that may be, on 24 October, by Halleck's order, Buell was relieved of com mand and on the 30th was superseded by Gen eral Rosecrans, the army then being designated as the Army of the Cumberland. In November a military commission was appointed to inves tigate his conduct of the campaign in Kentucky and Tennessee, the hearings continuing until May 1863. The commission rendered a report adverse to Buell and in reply the latter subse quently published his 'Statement of Major General Buell, in Review of the Evidence be fore the Military Commission Appointed by the War Department in November Though Grant endeavored to entice him into active service again, Buell refused all further assignments, on 23 May 1864 resigning from the volunteer service and on 1 June also re signing his commission in the regular army. From 1865 to 1870 he was president of the Green River (Ky.) Ironworks, afterward en gaging in coal mining, and from 1885 to 1889 served as United States pension agent at Louis ville. Consult 'Battles and Leaders of the Civil Wary (New York 1884-88) ; Cist, H. M., 'The Army of the Cumberland) (New York 1882) ; Fry, J. B., 'Operations of the Army under Buell) (New York 1884).