Napoleon B. McLaughlen

Last updated
Napoleon Bonaparte McLaughlen
Gen. N.B. McLaughlen, Col. of 57th Mass. Inf., U.S.A. LOC cwpb.06970.jpg
Civil Warera portrait of McLaughlen.
BornDecember 8, 1823
Chelsea, Vermont
DiedJanuary 27, 1887(1887-01-27) (aged 63)
Middletown, New York
Place of burial
Maple Grove Cemetery,
Worcester, New York
Allegiance United States of America
Union
Service/branch United States Army
Union Army
Years of service1850–1859
1861–1882
Rank Union Army colonel rank insignia.png Colonel
Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg Brevet Brigadier General
Unit 2nd U.S. Dragoons
1st U.S. Cavalry
4th U.S. Cavalry
10th U.S. Cavalry
Commands held 1st Massachusetts Infantry
57th Massachusetts Infantry
Battles/wars American Civil War

Napoleon Bonaparte McLaughlen (a.k.a. McLaughlin) was a career United States army officer. He served throughout the American Civil War, winning brevet promotions to Brigadier General of both the U.S. Volunteers and the Regular Army.

Contents

Biography

McLaughlen was born in Chelsea, Vermont in 1823. He began his military career as a Private in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons. In 1850 he became a Sergeant in that regiment, serving in that capacity before his discharge in 1859.

Early Civil War Service

In May 1861 he returned to U.S. military service as 1st Lieutenant in the 1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment. He was part of the regular Cavalry service until he was appointed Colonel of the 1st Massachusetts Volunteers Infantry Regiment. In this capacity he fought at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, Mine Run, Wilderness and Spotsylvania. He won brevet promotions to major in the U.S. Army for Chancellorsville and to lieutenant colonel for Gettysburg. [1] He was mustered out of the volunteers service on May 28, 1864. [2]

Siege of Petersburg

On September 14, 1864 he was appointed Colonel of the 57th Massachusetts Infantry [2] returning to the front lines during the Siege of Petersburg. The following day McLaughlen assumed command of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, IX Corps. He led it at the Battle of Poplar Springs Church for which he was given a brevet promotion to brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers, and also fought at the Battle of Boydton Plank Road. During the Winter of 1864-1865 McLaughlen was occasionally in command of the 1st Division, IX Corps. [3]

Fort Stedman

McLaughlen returned to command of the 3rd Brigade which manned the line of trenches constituting Fort Stedman. On March 25, 1865 Confederate General John B. Gordon launched a surprise attack against Fort Stedman, overrunning its defenses. McLaughlen moved to the front to rally his brigade. He first inspected Fort Haskell, another defense in his sector. Approving of the situation at Fort Haskell he rode on to Fort Stedman not realizing this position was now occupied by Confederate soldiers, who took him prisoner. Despite his capture he was given a brevet promotion in the U.S. Army to colonel for Fort Stedman, then brigadier general. He was briefly held prisoner in Libby Prison [1] until his release on April 2, 1865. He returned to command his old brigade which was now manning the defenses of Washington, DC before he was mustered out of the volunteer service on August 10, 1865.[ citation needed ]

Post Civil War Service

McLaughlen continued serving in the U.S. Army after the Civil War. He was promoted to Major of the 10th U.S. Cavalry in 1876. He retired from active duty in 1882. McLaughlen died in 1887 in Middletown, NY.

Sources

  1. 1 2 Appleton's p.140
  2. 1 2 Eicher p.381
  3. Civil War Reference

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Gamble (general)</span> United States Army general

William Gamble was a civil engineer and a United States Army cavalry officer. He served during the Second Seminole War, and fought for the Union during the American Civil War. He commanded one of two brigades in Brigadier General John Buford's Division of Cavalry, in which he played an important role in defending Union positions during the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wesley Merritt</span> American politician and general (1836–1910)

Wesley Merritt was an American major general who served in the cavalry of the United States Army during the American Civil War, American Indian Wars, and Spanish–American War. Following the latter war, he became the first American Military Governor of the Philippines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John C. Robinson</span> American politician

John Cleveland Robinson had a long and distinguished career in the United States Army, fighting in numerous wars and culminating his career as a Union Army brigadier general of volunteers and brevet major general of volunteers in the American Civil War. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated and the U.S. Senate confirmed Robinson's appointment to the brevet grade of major general in the regular army. He was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for valor in action in 1864 near Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia, where he lost a leg. When he retired from the U.S. Army on May 6, 1869, he was placed on the retired list as a full rank major general, USA. After his army service, he was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1873 to 1874 and served two terms as the president of the Grand Army of the Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas H. Ruger</span> American politician

Thomas Howard Ruger was an American soldier and lawyer who served as a Union general in the American Civil War. After the war, he was a superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Devin</span> United States Army officer (1822–1878)

Thomas Casimer Devin was a United States Army officer and general. He commanded Union cavalry during the American Civil War and during the Indian Wars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Bradford Carr</span> Union Army general

Joseph Bradford Carr was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Irvin Gregg</span> United States Army officer (1826–1892)

John Irvin Gregg was a career U.S. Army officer. He fought in the Mexican–American War and during the American Civil War as a colonel and near the end of the war as a brevet general in the Union army. In 1866, he was nominated and confirmed as a brevet major general of volunteers and a brevet brigadier general in the Regular Army, both to rank from March 13, 1865.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Cummings McWhorter Pennington Jr.</span> United States Army general

Alexander Cummings McWhorter Pennington Jr. was an artillery officer and brigadier general in the United States Army and a veteran of both the American Civil War and Spanish–American War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles K. Graham</span> American general

Charles Kinnaird Graham was a sailor in the antebellum United States Navy, attorney, and later a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. As a civil engineer, he helped plan and lay out Central Park in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Clair Augustine Mulholland</span>

St. Clair Augustine Mulholland was a colonel in the Union Army in the American Civil War who later received the brevets of brigadier general of volunteers and major general of volunteers and the Medal of Honor for gallantry in action at the Battle of Chancellorsville.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas W. Hyde</span> American politician

Thomas Worcester Hyde was an American Union Army colonel, a state senator from Maine, and the founder of the Bath Iron Works, one of the major shipyards in the United States. He wrote two books about his experiences during the American Civil War and at the Battle of Gettysburg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Baillie McIntosh</span> Union Army officer in the American Civil War

John Baillie McIntosh was a Union Army brigadier general during the American Civil War. His brother, James M. McIntosh, served as a Confederate general until he was killed in the Battle of Pea Ridge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William S. Tilton</span> Union Army officer in the American Civil War

William Stowell Tilton was an American businessman and soldier who led a regiment, and occasionally a brigade, in the Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War. He and his men were heavily engaged in the Battle of Gettysburg, where Tilton's performance created controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert O. Tyler</span> United States Army brigadier general (1831–1874)

Robert Ogden Tyler was an American military officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1853 and fought in the Yakima War and the Utah War. He commanded the Artillery Reserve in the Army of the Potomac at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, where his artillery batteries played an important role in the Union victory. Tyler also led a division of heavy artillery turned infantry during the Overland Campaign in 1864. He was severely wounded at the Battle of Cold Harbor and served in administrative duties for the remainder of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horatio G. Sickel</span> American Union Army officer

Horatio Gates Sickel was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War. He served in the Pennsylvania Reserves during the first part of the war and later commanded brigades in western Virginia and at Petersburg, where a serious wound ended his military career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James A. Cunningham</span>

James Adams Cunningham was a volunteer officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Edwards</span> American major general in the Union Army

Oliver Edwards was a machine company executive, an inventor, and a volunteer officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Adrian Rowe Root was an American commission merchant, warehouse executive, newspaper editor and military officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served as brigade commander for much of the war but his highest actual substantive grade was colonel. His March 2, 1865 nomination for appointment as brevet brigadier general of volunteers to rank from March 2, 1865, was confirmed by the United States Senate on March 9, 1865. His January 13, 1866 nomination for appointment as a brevet major general of volunteers, to rank from March 13, 1865, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 12, 1866.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William H. Penrose</span> United States Army general (1832–1903)

William Henry Penrose was a United States Army officer who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Penrose commanded the First New Jersey Brigade and ended the war with the rank of brigadier general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Monroe Williams</span>

James Monroe Williams was an American lawyer, soldier, and merchant. He served both as a cavalry and as an infantry officer in the Union Army within the Trans-Mississippi Theater during the American Civil War, and was breveted a brigadier general near the end of the conflict.