Benjamin Prentiss

Benjamin Prentiss
Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss (November 23, 1819 – February 8, 1901) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the Mexican–American War and on the Union side of the American Civil War, rising to the rank of major general. He commanded a division at the Battle of Shiloh, which suffered heavy casualties while defending what became known as the Hornet's Nest from continued Confederate assaults, and he eventually surrendered his division. He was criticized by some for his conduct in that battle. After his exchange, he continued to serve in the army until his resignation in 1863. He spent much of his remaining life practicing as a lawyer and as a politician in the Republican Party.
Early life, marriages and family
Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss was born in Belleville, Virginia. He was a direct descendant of Valentine Prentice, who immigrated from England in 1631. His early childhood was spent in Virginia until his family joined the migration and moved near Hannibal, Missouri. They then moved to Quincy, Illinois, where Prentiss made his home until 1879. He then moved to Missouri.
In his early life, Benjamin Prentiss was a rope-maker and served as an auctioneer. On March 29, 1838, he married Margaret Ann Sodowsky; they had seven children before she died in 1860. In 1862, he married Mary Worthington Whitney, who bore him five more children.
Civil War
Prentiss ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1860. At the beginning of the American Civil War he was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers on May 17, 1861. Ulysses S. Grant was given command of Southeast Missouri in September, Prentiss was sent to northern Missouri.
That August, President Lincoln nominated 34 men for brigadier general's commissions in the volunteer army, which had to be confirmed by the Senate to be made binding. These appointments were apportioned out among the states according to population, and Illinois would get four generals--Grant, Prentiss, Stephen A. Hurlbut, and John A. McClernand (of these four men, only Grant was a West Pointer, the other three being political appointments).
In the middle of September, Major General John C. Fremont, who commanded the Department of Missouri, had sent Prentiss to command in the southeast of the state, temporarily putting Grant out of a job. The latter had been promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 9, back-dated to May 17, the same day Prentiss received his brigadier's commission. Since Grant was still a civilian in Illinois back in May, it was assumed Prentiss outranked him. In fact this wasn't true because army regulations stipulated that if two officers had a commission of the same date, seniority would be determined by previous rank. Prentiss had been a volunteer captain in the Mexican War but Grant had been a regular army captain, thus the latter outranked the former. After this mix-up was corrected, Grant regained his command.
Grant recalls in his Personal Memoirs:
Shiloh
Early in the morning, an officer under his command, Colonel Everett Peabody, sent out a 250-man patrol which made contact with the advancing Confederate army, providing the Union army with critical early warning of the impending attack. Prentiss was initially outraged with Peabody for sending out a patrol without his authorization, but soon realized he was facing an on oncoming attack by an entire Confederate army and rushed to prepare his men for defense. His division was the first one attacked at the Battle of Shiloh and suffered greatly during the opening hours of that battle. Brigadier General Prentiss reformed his command with reinforcements under the command General W. H. L. Wallace and put up a spirited fight in the "Hornet's Nest".
Prentiss took full command of the position after Wallace was fatally wounded and eventually surrendered the Hornet's Nest along with 2,200 other Union soldiers. He surrendered his sword to Lt. Colonel Francis Marion Walker of the 19th Tennessee Infantry. After the battle he was considered a hero, having held off the Confederate States Army long enough to allow General Grant to organize a counterattack and win the battle. Grant later played down Prentiss's role in the victory, possibly because of mutual dislike between the two generals. However, Grant said in his memoirs "Prentiss' command was gone as a division, many of its members having been killed, wounded or captured; but it had rendered valiant services before its final dispersal, and had contributed a good share to the defense of Shiloh". Prentiss's own after-action report did not mention the aid of Wallace's troops, and barely made any mention of Peabody, who was also killed in action during the battle.
After being released as part of a prisoner exchange in October of the same year, Prentiss was promoted to major general and served on the court-martial board that convicted Fitz John Porter. His dissenting voice in the final vote damaged his political clout. Prentiss was sent to Arkansas and won the Battle of Helena on July 4, 1863. In 1863, he resigned to tend to his family. Historian Ezra J. Warner speculated that Prentiss felt that he was being shelved after having proved his abilities at Shiloh and Helena.
Post-Civil War career
Prentiss became a lawyer after the war. He was later appointed as postmaster of Bethany, Missouri, by President Benjamin Harrison and was re-appointed by President William McKinley. He was a leader in the Republican Party of Missouri.
He died on February 8, 1901, in Bethany at age 81. He is buried there in Miriam Cemetery, Harrison County, Missouri.
See also
List of American Civil War generals (Union)
Notes
References
Daniel, Larry J. Shiloh: The Battle That Changed the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. .
Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher. Civil War High Commands. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001. .
Warner, Ezra J. Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. .
The History & Genealogy of the Prentice, Prentis & Prentiss Families in New England from 1631–1883, Linus Joseph Dewald, based on the 1883 Edition by CJF Binney
Further reading
Smith, Timothy B. Rethinking Shiloh: Myth and Memory (2013), chapter on Prentiss emphasizes his key role
External links
1819 births
1901 deaths
Politicians from Suffolk, Virginia
American people of English descent
Union Army generals
American military personnel of the Mexican–American War
People of Illinois in the American Civil War
People of Missouri in the American Civil War
People from Hannibal, Missouri
People from Quincy, Illinois
American Civil War prisoners of war
People from Bethany, Missouri
Missouri postmasters
Missouri lawyers