Colonel Benjamin Grierson
| Benjamin Henry Grierson | |
|---|---|
Benjamin H. Grierson
|
|
| Born |
July 8, 1826 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| Died | August 31, 1911 (aged 85) Omena, Michigan |
| Place of burial | Jacksonville East Cemetery, Morgan County, Illinois |
| Allegiance |
United States of America Union |
| Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1861–1890 |
| Rank |
 Brigadier General Brevet Major General
|
| Commands held |
6th Illinois Cavalry 10th U.S. Cavalry Department of Arizona |
| Battles/wars |
American Civil War Indian Wars |
Benjamin Henry Grierson (July 8, 1826 – August 31, 1911) was a music teacher, then a career officer in the United States Army. He was a cavalry general in the volunteer Union Army during the Civil War and later led troops in the American Old West. He is most noted for an 1863 expedition through Confederate-held territory that severed enemy communication lines between Vicksburg, Mississippi and Confederate commanders in the Eastern Theater. After the war he organized and led the Buffalo Soldiers of the 10th Cavalry Regiment from 1866 to 1890.
Grierson was born in the borough of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, today a section of Pittsburgh. He was the youngest of five siblings. Grierson became afraid of horses when at age eight he was kicked and nearly killed by a horse, after which he hated horses - ironically, he would become a great cavalry commander.
In 1851, he became a music teacher and band leader in Jacksonville, Illinois.
He married Alice Kirk of Youngstown, Ohio on September 24, 1854. The couple had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Grierson enlisted as a volunteer aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. Benjamin M. Prentiss. Promoted to major on October 24, 1861, he joined the 6th Illinois Cavalry and was promoted to colonel of that regiment on April 13, 1862. His regiment was engaged in a number of small skirmishes and raids on railroads and facilities in Tennessee and Mississippi that spring and summer. In November, he became a brigade commander in the Cavalry Division of the Army of the Tennessee. In December, he participated in the pursuit of Confederate Earl Van Dorn after his Holly Springs raid against the supply lines of General Ulysses S. Grant.
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Wikipedia