19th-century American naval officer and Army general
William "Bull" Nelson (September 27, 1824 – September 29, 1862) was a United States naval officer who became a Union general during the American Civil War.
As a Kentuckian, Nelson could have sympathized with the Confederates but, like his state, he remained loyal to the United States of America. Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase believed Nelson's actions had kept Kentucky loyal and promoted him to brigadier general in September 1861. Nelson's 4th Division bore the brunt of heavy fighting at the Battle of Shiloh and took part in the Siege of Corinth; he was the first man to enter the town.
Wounded at the Battle of Richmond, Nelson was forced to retreat to Louisville to plan a new assault. It was there that General Jefferson C. Davis, still officially on sick leave, reported to Nelson, who was dissatisfied with his performance and insulted him in front of witnesses. A few days later, Davis demanded a public apology, however, the situation rapidly escalated into a physical confrontation, which concluded in Davis mortally wounding Nelson with a pistol.
Early life.
William "Bull" Nelson was the third and youngest son of Dr. Thomas W. Nelson (1796–1849) and Frances Doniphan (1795–1845) of Maysville, Kentucky. He attended Maysville Academy (Seminary) and was enrolled in Norwich University at 13.
Two years later, Nelson's preparatory training at the Vermont military school concluded when Representative Garrett Davis secured an appointment for him to become a midshipman in the US Navy. In the spring of 1840, Nelson reported for training aboard the . For the next five years, he sailed the South Pacific. Nelson then joined the first class to attend the newly established Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland. On July 11, 1846, Nelson became a passed midshipman, and the next October, he reported for duty aboard the , the flagship for the Home Squadron in the Gulf of Mexico. At the Siege of Veracruz, he served with Naval Battery No. 5, and on the second Tabasco Expedition, Nelson was a member of the Second Artillery Division. In February 1848, he became acting master of the . At the conclusion of his service, Nelson received a sword for heroism and proficiency as an artillerist. In the summer of 1849, he joined the Mediterranean Squadron, and on September 1, 1851, he was acting lieutenant of the when exiled Hungarian revolutionary Louis Kossuth boarded the vessel to come to the United States. In December, Nelson became an escort for Kossuth's famous tour of the United States. On September 19, 1854, he was promoted to sailing master and on April 18, 1855, he achieved the rank of lieutenant. In September 1858, Nelson joined the for the mission of returning captured slaves to Monrovia, Liberia. Two years later, he was at the Washington Navy Yard as an ordnance officer.
Civil War.
Kentucky.
The second day after the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln, US Navy Lieutenant William Nelson walked into the Executive Mansion with the peculiar manner of Kentuckians that said: "Here I am; if you don't like me, the worse for you." The imposing personality had served at sea for "twelve years and six months. He performed shore and other duty for over four years, and was nearly five years unemployed, making a total of twenty-one years of service" to his nation. A "striking figure" who carried his weight "lightly," he "was endowed with a strong intellect and a memory [,] which enabled him to repeat, verbatim, page after page of his favorite authors." Nelson was a "fluent and captivating talker, and when he wished to please, no man could be more congenial and companionable." Conversely, when he was "irritated or opposed," the veteran of the Old Navy could become disgustingly "dictatorial and dogmatic." He had a natural affinity for the Southern way of life, and Lincoln could see that subversive elements might want to court such a "warm hearted, handsome," and "aristocratic" individual who gave the impression of someone who was apt to "cast his lot" with slaveholders. At the request of Lincoln, Nelson measured the political currents of his native state and returned to the Executive Mansion on May 3, 1861, with "his plan for furnishing arms to the Kentucky Unionists." It was apparent to Lincoln that he had found the right man.
Nelson was to work out details for a distribution of arms in Kentucky with Joshua Fry Speed in Louisville, and as he headed off, Secretary of War Simon Cameron released 5,000 ancient Prussian flintlocks that had been converted into percussion cap rifles to shift the balance of power to the Union Home Guard.
On July 1, 1861, Nelson was detached from the Navy with instructions to organize a force of 10,000 troops for an expedition into East Tennessee. Two weeks later, Nelson spoke with Union leaders from southeastern Kentucky at Lancaster and Crab Orchard. The latter town was conveniently located at the south end of the turnpike in Garrard County and was at the head of the Wilderness Road, 65 mi north of the Cumberland Gap at the old inn at Bryant Springs, the first headquarters, and it was agreed the leaders would raise thirty companies of infantry and five of cavalry. Thomas E. Bramlette had one company in camp on July 20 and another on July 24, 1861. Some seven miles north of Lancaster and twelve miles from the rail depot at Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Richard M. Robinson offered to lease 425 acres of first-class rolling pastureland at Hoskins Crossroads. Nelson considered that to be as a much better site for a camp of instruction, and the new recruits were marched into Camp Dick Robinson, in violation of Kentucky's somewhat duplicitous position of neutrality.
On August 5, 1861, Union men in Kentucky elected 75 men to the House of Representatives who were opposed by the 24 men in the States' Rights movement. In the Senate, the Unionists elected 27 men, who were opposed by 11 States' Rights men. Thus, out of 138 seats, there were now 103 (75 percent of the state legislature) who supported the Union. Colonel Speed S. Fry marched a detachment of the Second Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry (later the Fourth) toward Camp Dick Robinson, and at dusk, the First Regiment Kentucky Cavalry welcomed them with a salute from a mountain howitzer. The next day, US Representative Charles A. Wickliffe informed his colleagues in the House that Kentucky "is wholly for the Union." US Secretary of Treasury Salmon P. Chase believed that Nelson's actions were responsible for keeping Kentucky loyal to the Union and saw that Nelson became a brigadier general on September 16, 1861. He then organized a new brigade at Camp Kenton, three miles below Maysville, and marched them to Olympian Springs, Bath County, Kentucky. Near the end of October, those troops from Ohio and Kentucky routed the Confederates at Hazel Green and West Liberty. On November 8, Confederate troops, under Captain Andrew Jackson May, fought a delaying action against Nelson at the Battle of Ivy Mountain. That night and the following day, Confederates, under Colonel John Stuart Williams, abandoned Piketon (Pikeville, Kentucky). Early the next morning, Nelson's northern prong, under Colonel Joshua W. Sill, arrived at the town, which marked the end of the Big Sandy expedition.
Nashville/Pittsburg Landing/Shiloh.
At the end of November 1861, Nelson joined the Army of the Ohio under the command of Don Carlos Buell at Louisville. Nelson commanded the Fourth Division and that unit became the first to enter Nashville on February 25, 1862. After Union troops recaptured Nashville, the capitol building was held by the 6th Ohio Infantry. It was there that Brigadier General Nelson was approached by William Driver, a sea captain who had retired to Nashville and remained loyal to the Union. Driver had in his possession the U.S. flag nicknamed "Old Glory" which he had hidden from rebel marauders. He requested that this famous flag be flown over the capitol building to signify the state was now held by the Union. Nelson granted the request and the flag, after flying over the capitol for a day, was returned to its loyal owner. The next month, Buell received orders to join Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant at Savannah, Tennessee, and Nelson obtained the lead for that advance when Buell gave him permission to wade his men across the Duck River at Columbia, Tennessee. Nelson arrived at Savannah on Saturday, April 5, 1862, and at dawn the following morning, the enemy assaulted Federal troops below Shiloh Church. That morning, Grant ordered Nelson and Wallace to advance to Pittsburg Landing. By 4:30 p.m., the Confederates had driven the Union army back toward Pittsburg Landing within a mile of the Tennessee River. Fresh troops under Nelson reached the Union line around 5:30 PM, and reinforced Grant's left flank and helped repulse the final two Confederate charges of the day. On Monday morning, Nelson's Fourth Division along with Hurlbut's division led the Union counterattack on Grant's left flank. Late in the afternoon on April 7, 1862, the Confederates withdrew, and the bloodiest fighting that had ever occurred in the Western Hemisphere was over.
Ebenezer Hannaford served in the 6th Ohio Infantry under Nelson and wrote that "no commander during the war enjoyed the confidence of his troops in a greater degree than did Nelson at the head of the Fourth Division Army of the Ohio, which might almost be said to have been his own creation." Those men had no love for the harsh ways of "Big Buster," but they genuinely valued his willingness to chastise officers openly who shirked their responsibilities.
Siege of Corinth.
Nelson's division took a prominent part in the Siege of Corinth. On May 21 Nelson ordered a brigade, under Colonel Thomas D. Sedgewick, to seize the high ground near the Widow Surratt House. On May 28, Nelson captured a Confederate-held crossing over Bridge Creek with Sedgewick's brigade. That was the last significant action of the siege and put Nelson's division in close proximity to Corinth itself. Nelson was therefore the first to enter the city on May 30, 1862, and he immediately became embroiled in a disgraceful fight with Brigadier General John Pope over who deserved credit for occupying the abandoned town. Several weeks later, Nelson was caught up in an ill-fated advance against Chattanooga that put him in the unenviable position of going against enemy cavalry with overburdened infantry. The Confederate invasion of Kentucky then brought him back to Louisville with instructions to reopen the lines of communication with Nashville.
Battle of Richmond (Kentucky).
The Army of the Ohio, commanded by Brigadier General Don Carlos Buell, was taking aim on Chattanooga, Tennessee. Three hundred miles of railway lines lay between Louisville and Chattanooga, and Confederate forces were making constant work in tearing up the tracks. The railroads provided the needed supplies to Union troops on the move. Consequently, Buell was forced to split his forces and to send General William "Bull" Nelson back north to Kentucky to take charge of the area. When Nelson arrived in Louisville, he found Major General Horatio G. Wright had been sent by Lincoln to take control, which put Buell second in command.
In late August, two Confederate armies, under command of Major General Edmund Kirby Smith and General Braxton Bragg, moved into Kentucky and Tennessee on the offensive to drive Union forces from Kentucky. Smith's Army of East Tennessee had approximately 19,000 men, and Bragg's Army of Tennessee had approximately 35,000. Wright ordered Nelson to move to defend Lexington, Kentucky. On August 23, 1862, Confederate cavalry met and defeated Union troops at the Battle of Big Hill. That was only a prelude to the bigger battle ahead: on August 29, 1862, portions of Smith's army met an equal portion of Nelson's force, numbering between 6,000 and 7,000. The two-day Battle of Richmond, ending on August 30, was an overwhelming Confederate victory in all aspects: Union casualties numbered over 5,000, compared to the 750 Confederate casualties, and considerable ground was lost, including the cities of Lexington, Richmond, and Frankfort, the state capital. Further losses at the battle occurred with the capture of Brigadier General Mahlon D. Manson and the wounding of Nelson, injured in the neck, who retreated to Louisville to prepare for the presumed assault. The Confederates were now in a position to take the fight to the North.
Death at Louisville.
In the late summer of 1862, General Jefferson