Image shows Rosecrans posed with one arm by his side and the other thrust into his coat al la Napoleon. He wears a dark double-breasted frock coat with major general’s shoulder straps and black felt collar and cuffs. He also wears matching dark trousers and a cape draped over his shoulder.

Image has good clarity and contrast. Mount and paper are very clean.

Reverse has a photographer’s imprint for E. & H. T. ANTHONY…NEW YORK. FROM A BRADY NEGATIVE. Top edge reads “ROSECRANS” in pencil.

William Starke Rosecrans was born on September 16, 1819 in Delaware County, Ohio. Despite coming from a modest background Rosecrans entered West Point in 1838. During his time there he earned the nickname “Rosy,” which would stick with him for the rest of his life.

After assisting with the construction of coastal defenses in Virginia, he was transferred back to West Point, where he taught multiple subjects from 1843 to 1847 and missed serving in Mexico. After leaving West Point, he served on multiple engineering projects throughout the United States.

Rosecrans resigned from the army in 1854 with the rank of First Lieutenant. Rosecrans earned several patents before the war. An 1859 accident with an experimental oil lamp left severe facial burns. Though covered by his beard the scars caused him to look as if he was constantly smirking.

When the Civil War began Rosecrans joined the staff of George B. McClellan. In June 1861 he was appointed Colonel of the 23rd Ohio Infantry and promoted to Brigadier General in the Regular Army. In the summer of 1861 Rosecrans served in McClellan’s successful western Virginia campaign. After McClellan took command of the Army of the Potomac, Rosecrans replaced him.

In May 1862 Rosecrans was transferred to the Western Theater and put in charge of a wing of John Pope’s Army of the Mississippi during the Siege of Corinth. He replaced Pope after the latter was brought east in the summer of 1862. Rosecrans led his troops at Corinth and Iuka, Mississippi. His failure to aggressively pursue the retreating Confederates after the Battle of Corinth earned the ire of General Grant.

Following his victories Rosecrans was sent to Kentucky to replace Don Carlos Buell as the commander of the Army of the Cumberland. He fought Braxton Bragg’s Army of Tennessee to a standstill at the Battle of Stones River from December 31, 1862 to January 2, 1863 and gained a sorely needed victory.

Rosecrans refrained from advancing for the next six months. Finally, in late June, he began a well-executed offensive that forced the Confederates to abandon the vital city of Chattanooga, Tennessee and retreat into Georgia. Rosecrans eventually followed and on September 19 and 20, Bragg struck near Chickamauga Creek sending Rosecrans fleeing back to Chattanooga, where federal forces were quickly besieged.

After the disaster at Chickamauga, Grant chose to relieve Rosecrans of command, replacing him with Major General George Thomas. Rosecrans remained bitter towards Grant for the rest of his life, blaming him for his fall from grace.

Rosecrans did not play a significant role in Union operations for the remainder of the war. In 1867 he resigned his commission in the Army. A year later he was appointed by President Andrew Johnson as the United States Minister to Mexico and served in the position for a year.

Rosecrans spent much of his postwar life in California. In 1880 he was elected to Congress as a Democrat serving from 1881 to 1885. During his time in the House of Representatives, Rosecrans opposed a bill to provide a pension to his old rival, Ulysses S. Grant, who at the time was almost destitute and dying of throat cancer. The legislation passed it over Rosecrans’s objections.

Rosecrans died on March 11, 1898. He was initially buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. In 1902 his body was reinterred in Arlington National Cemetery.  [AD][ph:L]

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