Benjamin McCulloch

Benjamin McCulloch (November 11, 1811 - March 7, 1862) was a soldier in the Texas Revolution, a Texas Ranger, a Major general in the Texas militia and thereafter a major in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War. He was afterwards a U.S. marshal, and a Brigadier general in the army of the Confederate States during the American Civil War. Unlike most generals in the Civil War, he was not a West Point graduate.
Early life
McCulloch was born November 11, 1811 in Rutherford County, Tennessee. He was one of thirteen children and the fourth son of Alexander McCulloch and Frances Fisher LeNoir. His father was an officer on Brigadier general John Coffee's staff in 1813 during the Creek War. His mother was a daughter of a prominent Virginian planter. After moving several times the family settled at Dyersburg, where one of their closest neighbors was Davy Crockett. Ben assumed the duties of "man of the house" and probably ended his formal education. This was at about age 14, although his father's library of books added to his continuing education. He helped with running the farm and also joined the local militia. He learned to be a great woodsman under his mentor Davy Crockett. He also learned something else from Crockett, that a military academy education was not necessary to command men in battle.
In 1832, McCulloch headed west. He reached Independence, Missouri too late to join the fur trappers headed for the mountains for the season. He moved on to Galena, Illinois to the lead mines for a time. In the fall of 1832, he returned to Tennessee. He and his brother floated cypress logs down the Obion and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez, Mississippi and New Orleans to market twice a year until 1835.
Texas career
When Davy Crockett went to Texas in 1835 McCulloch along with his brother Henry decided to go with him. They planned to meet Crockett at Nacogdoches on Christmas Day. The brothers arrived too late, however. McCulloch sent his brother Henry back home and went on to join Crockett at the Alamo in San Antonio. However, before reaching the Alamo, he came down with the measles. By the time he recovered, it was too late and the Alamo had fallen. McCulloch joined the Texas army under Sam Houston in its retreat to East Texas. At the Battle of San Jacinto (April 21, 1836) he commanded one of the cannons nicknamed the "Twin Sisters". At the end of the battle Houston found him and immediately promoted him to first lieutenant.
In 1837, he worked as a surveyor in the area around Gonzales, Texas. There he met and joined Jack Hays' company of Texas Rangers. He became an experienced Indian fighter. He fought in the Battle of Plum Creek in 1840. In 1841 he was part of the expedition against Indians along the tributaries of the Guadalupe River. In 1842 he was elected a first lieutenant in Captain Jack Hays' company of Rangers.
Mexican War
At the start of the Mexican War, McCulloch raised a company of volunteers that became Company A of Colonel Jack Hays' First Regiment, Texas Mounted volunteers. With his skills in tracking and scouting, he was soon named General Zachary Taylor's chief of scouts. He fought at the Battles of Monterey and Buena Vista. When the war ended, he held the rank of major.
McCulloch then scouted for Major General David E. Twiggs but joined the rush to the California gold fields in 1849. He never struck gold, but he was elected sheriff of Sacramento. (His old commander, Colonel Hays, had been elected sheriff of San Francisco on the same day.) His old friends Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk, both now in the U.S. Senate, tried to arrange for his appointment to command a frontier army regiment, but his lack of formal education was against him and so the appointment never went through. In 1852, President Franklin Pierce promised him command of the U.S. Second Cavalry, but U.S. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis gave it to Albert Sidney Johnston.
McCulloch was appointed U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Texas in 1852. He served during the [[Franklin Pierce,
|Pierce]] and the Buchanan administrations. However, conscious of his lack of formal military education, he actually spent much of his term studying military science in libraries in Washington, DC. In the aftermath of the 1858 Utah War, he was one of the peace commissioners who was sent to negotiate with Brigham Young in Utah (the other being former Governor Lazarus W. Powell of Kentucky).
Civil War
Texas seceded from the union on February 1, 1861, and on February 14, McCulloch received a colonel's commission. He was authorized to demand the surrender of all federal military posts in the state. U.S. Army General Twiggs turned over to McCulloch all federal property in San Antonio. In return, Twigg's troops were to be allowed to leave the state unharmed. On May 11, Davis appointed McCulloch a brigadier general.
McCulloch was placed in command of the Confederate troops in Arkansas. On August 10, 1861, McCulloch's poorly-armed troops defeated the army of General Nathaniel Lyon at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri.
Afterwards, he was put under the command of Major-Heneral Earl Van Dorn. At the battle of Battle of Pea Ridge, McCulloch was killed by a Union sharpshooter.
McCulloch's body was buried on the field at Pea Ridge. He was later removed to a cemetery in Little Rock. Finally, his body was later moved to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
Notes
References
1811 births
1862 deaths
American Civil War generals
Military people killed in action
Military people from Tennessee