David Stuart (brigadier general)

David Stuart (March 12, 1816 – September 11, 1868) was a politician and lawyer who served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Born in Brooklyn, Stuart moved with his father to Michigan, where the younger Stuart was a lawyer. After serving for a term in the United States House of Representatives from 1853 to 1855, he moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he practiced law. His reputation was destroyed by a scandal relating to a divorce case. In 1861, Stuart raised two regiments for service in the American Civil War. On October 31 of that year, Stuart became the colonel of the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment. He led a brigade at the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded in the shoulder on April 6, 1862. After commanding a regiment during the Siege of Corinth later that year, Stuart was provisionally appointed brigadier general on November 29. He led first a brigade, and then a division at the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou in December, and also led a division at the Battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863. On March 11, 1863, Stuart's promotion to brigadier general was rejected by the United States Senate for unknown reasons. He resigned from the army in April and returned to the practice of law, dying in 1868.

Early life and education

Stuart was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 12, 1816.Template:Sfn His father was the fur trader Robert Stuart.Template:Sfn He attended Phillips Academy, Oberlin College, and Amherst College,Template:Sfn graduating from the latter in 1838.Template:Sfn Stuart and his father moved to Michigan,Template:Sfn and the younger Stuart passed the bar in 1842. He served for a time as the city attorney for Detroit, Michigan, and became the prosecuting attorney for Wayne County, Michigan in 1844.Template:Sfn

Political career

In 1852,Template:Sfn Stuart was elected to represent Michigan's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat.Template:Sfn While in office, he chaired the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of the Treasury. Stuart stood for re-election two years later but was defeated by William A. Howard. A 1907 work produced by the Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society states that Stuart "had the reputation of being one of the most effective stump speakers in Michigan, and was one of the most popular [D]emocrats of Detroit".Template:Sfn Overall, his congressional term lasted from March 4, 1853, to March 3, 1855. An 1860 article in the New York Times attributed his electoral loss to his stance on the Kansas-Nebraska Act; the 1907 Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society work attributes his defeat to "the changing tide of Michigan politics".Template:Sfn In 1855, he moved to Chicago, Illinois,Template:Sfn as his law practice had been affected by his foray into politics.Template:Sfn There he worked for the Illinois Central Railroad as a solicitorTemplate:Sfn and befriended Stephen Douglas. The historian Larry Tagg states that he became a "high-powered Chicago attorney". However, his reputation was ruined when a scandal broke out over accusations that he had an affair with a client in a divorce case.Template:Sfn The case, which occurred in 1860, involved Isaac Burch, a Chicago banker, accusing his wife, Mary Burch, of adultery with Stuart; Mary denied the affair and accused Isaac of infidelity.Template:Sfn

Military career

In 1861, Stuart raised two regiments for service in the American Civil War, the 42nd Illinois Infantry Regiment and the 55th Illinois Infantry Regiment;Template:Sfn he then paid for the equipping of the two units with his own funds.Template:Sfn The raising of the two regiments was controversial because of Stuart's bad reputation, and the 55th carried poor quality weapons as a result.Template:Sfn Stuart had been denied permission to form the regiments by the Illinois governor due to the public outcry against Stuart, who appealed directly to the United States federal government for permission.Template:Sfn He became lieutenant colonel of the 42nd on July 22 of that year, and then colonel of the 55th on October 31.Template:Sfn As commander of the 55th, Stuart's ignorance of military affairs became obvious, and he had Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Malmborg conduct all regimental training. This decreased the amount of respect his men had for him, and having Malmborg conduct all of the training prevented Stuart himself from learning.Template:Sfn His men also thought that he orated excessively, and Malmborg was unpopular with the men. By February, a soldier in the regiment was reporting that the officers were unhappy with Stuart and Malmborg.Template:Sfn The historian Victor Hicken consideres both Stuart and Malmborg to have been incompetent.Template:Sfn

Stuart was elevated to brigade command in William T. Sherman's division on February 27, 1862.Template:Sfn His brigade was part of Sherman's division when it camped near Pittsburg Landing, Tennessee, in March. Stuart's brigade of slightly less than 2,000 men consisted of three inexperienced regiments, including the 55th Illinois, and was positioned in an area isolated from the rest of Sherman's division.Template:Sfn On the morning of April 6, Stuart's brigade's camp was attacked by Confederate forces during the Battle of Shiloh.Template:Sfn Stuart's men became disordered, but Stuart rallied two of his three regiments. During the fight, he took a shoulder wound and turned over command to Colonel Thomas Kilby Smith.Template:Sfn Malmborg made the tactical error of forming the 55th Illinois into a square formation,Template:Sfn a tactic that Stuart also had a fondness for.Template:Sfn Stuart's two rallied regiments fought until they ran out of ammunition in the afternoon and then were engaged on the second day of the battle as well.Template:Sfn

Stuart had recovered enough to resume command of his regiment in the Siege of Corinth, and was later transferred to the occupation of Memphis, Tennessee.Template:Sfn He led the 4th Brigade of the District of Memphis in the XIII Corps from October 26 to November 12, 1862. From November 12 to December 18 he then commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the District of Memphis in the XIII Corps, which was part of the Army of the Tennessee.Template:Sfn Stuart received an appointment to the rank of brigadier general on November 29, but this could not be finalized because the United States Senate was not in session.Template:Sfn On December 28, Stuart commanded a brigade in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou and took divisional command after the wounding of Morgan L. Smith.Template:Sfn He continued in divisional command at the Battle of Arkansas Post in January 1863;Template:Sfn this was as part of Major General John A. McClernand's Army of the Mississippi.Template:Sfn A reorginazation of the Union forces occurred shortly after the fighting at Arkansas Post; McClernand's army was discontinued and was divided into a new XIII Corps and the XV Corps, the latter of which was commanded by Sherman.Template:Sfn After the reorganization, Stuart commanded the 2nd Division of the XV Corps.Template:Sfn On March 11, Stuart's promotion to brigadier general was rejected by the Senate.Template:Sfn Later in the month, Stuart commanded his division during the Steele's Bayou Expedition.Template:Sfn News of the rejection of Stuart's promotion reached the Army of the Tennessee in early April,Template:Sfn and as a result, Sherman removed him from command. The historian Ezra J. Warner states that it is not known why Stuart's promotion was denied.Template:Sfn He resigned from the military on April 3. Stuart then returned to Detroit where he worked as a lawyer. Following a postwar move to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he also practiced law, Stuart returned to Detroit in 1868 and died there on September 11 of that year.Template:Sfn His cause of death was paralysis. He is buried in Elmwood Cemetery.Template:Sfn

See also

• Bibliography of the American Civil War

External links

• Template:EditAtWikidata