{⋆★⋆} BG McCulloch, Benjamin

Benjamin McCulloch​

Born: November 11, 1811

Birthplace: Rutherford County, Tennessee

Father: Major Alexander McCulloch Sr. 1776 – 1846

Mother: Frances Fisher Lenoir 1780 – 1866

(Buried: Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Texas)​

Occupation before War:

1835 – 1836: Served in the Texas Army​

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1840 – 1845: Served in the Texas Army​

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1840: Served as Scout at Battle of Plum Creek​

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1846 – 1847: Served in the Texas State Militia​

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1852 – 1861: United States Marshal to Eastern District of Texas​

Civil War Career:

1861: Colonel in the Confederate Army, Infantry

1861: Confederate Commander of Indian Territory

1861: Opposed Van Dorn's launch of expedition against St. Louis

1861 – 1862: Brigadier General of Confederate Army, Infantry

1862: Commander of right wing at Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas

1862: Shot in the saddle and died instantly Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas

Died: March 7, 1862

Place of Death: Benton County, Arkansas

Cause of Death: Killed in Battle

Age at time of Death: 50 years old

Burial Place: Texas State Cemetery, Austin, Texas

 

[Luke Freet]

One of the more interesting early war commanders. Fought with distinction during the Texas Revolution.

 

[Pollaco]

Wasn't he wearing a suit of black velvet when he was killed at Pea Ridge?

 

[Pollaco]

I believe it was McCulloch who accepted the surrender by Twiggs' regular army troops at San Antonio.

 

[Luke Freet]

I believe it was McCulloch who accepted the surrender by Twiggs' regular army troops at San Antonio.

I was certain that was Van Dorn.

 

[Luke Freet]

Wasn't he wearing a suit of black velvet when he was killed at Pea Ridge?

Yes. He marched forward to scout Union positions when he was shot by a rifleman from the 34th Illinois. An hour later, after the Confederate division realized their commander was out of action, his replacement, McIntosh, marched forward and he was shot by the same regiment.
One of the dumbest series of events of the entire war.

 

[Pollaco]

You're probably right about Van Dorn being the one Gen. Twiggs surrendered to in San Antonio . But I think McCulloch was there too. And more than likely as a colonel as well. I need to check on that. I do recall that Van Dorn was very active in Texas about this time. This was about the time the "Star of the West" was captured down in Matagorda bay wasn't it? I think Van Dorn had a hand in it's capture as well.

 

[Phil McBride]

For about a dozen years, my reenacting group out of San Antonio did a one-day scripted reenactment of the surrender of Twigg's troops at the Alamo. Ben McCulloch and Sam Maverick always featured as the Texan militia's commanders, while Van Dorn was never a character or mentioned. Here's a couple of old photos of the event.

 

[Pollaco]

Was Philip N. Luckett there as well?

 

[Pollaco]

I read somewhere that he and his brother Henry accompanied Davy Crockett to Texas from Tennessee. Henry returned to Tennesse, Ben got the measles and Crockett went on to the Alamo. But for a case of measles Ben might have been at the Alamo also.

 

[Pollaco]

I'm aware there are several artillery buffs in our membership, so this next little tidbit should interest those. Having arrived too late for the seige of the Alamo, McCulloch joined the Texas Army in an artillery company and commanded one of the "Twin Sisters" cannon. The cannons were named Eleanor and Elizabeth. He chose Elizabeth for Davy Crockett's widow. He was made a 1st Lieutenant for his services at San Jacinto.

 

[Pollaco]

This next one I was not aware of. His right arm was crippled for life due to a rifle duel with a Colonel Rueben Ross in 1840. The next year his brother Henry killed the same man in a pistol duel in 1841.

 

[Pollaco]

There were several other ocupations that McCulloch had before the Civil War. He served a stint with the Rexas Rangers, he was a surveyor, and he even served a term in the Texas House of Representatives.

 

[gentlemanrob]

Happy Birthday Brig. General Benjamin McCulloch! Salutes remembering General McCulloch on his birthday.

 

[Pollaco]

There were several other ocupations that McCulloch had before the Civil War. He served a stint with the Rexas Rangers, he was a surveyor, and he even served a term in the Texas House of Representatives.

He is also in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame in Waco.

 

[Pollaco]

When he received his commission as colonel from Jefferson Davis it also contained this comment "to Texans, a moment's notice is sufficient when their State demands their service."

 

[USS ALASKA]

Anniversary Bump

Birthday

11 Nov 1811

Confederate General Ben McCulloch is born near Rutherford City, Tennessee. Raised in Tennessee, McCulloch followed his friends Davy Crockett and Sam Houston to Texas in 1835. Measles kept him from joining Crockett at the Alamo, where its defenders, including Crockett, were massacred when the Mexican army overran the mission during the Texas War for Independence. McCulloch served with Houston at the decisive Battle of San Jacinto, in which Mexican General Santa Anna's army was defeated and Texas gained its independence. After the war, McCulloch served in the Texas legislature and the Texas Rangers, the primary law enforcement agency in the Republic of Texas. He fought under General Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War and served as a U.S. marshal in the 1850s. When the Civil War broke out, McCulloch became a colonel in command of Texas troops. He rode to San Antonio and forced the surrender of a Federal arsenal there, while his brother, Henry, took control of Federal posts on the Texas frontier. In May 1861, Ben McCulloch became a brigadier general in the Confederate army and was assigned to defend Indian Territory. He formed alliances with several tribes in the area before moving his force to southwestern Missouri, where he played a key role in the Confederate victory at Wilson's Creek on August 10, 1861. McCulloch commanded a wing of the Army of the West as it approached a Union force led by General Samuel Curtis in northwestern Arkansas in March 1862. Curtis took up a defensive position around Elkhorn Tavern and waited for the Confederates to attack. On the night of March 6, McCulloch marched his troops around Curtis's right flank and prepared for an early morning assault on March 7. Curtis discovered the movement, and blocked McCulloch's advance. That day, at the Battle of Pea Ridge, Curtis held off a furious attack by McCulloch's force. McCulloch rode forward to monitor his men's progress when he emerged from some underbrush directly in front of a Union regiment. Identifiable by his trademark black velvet suit (he eschewed uniforms), a volley from the Yankees killed McCulloch instantly. His successor, General James McIntosh, was killed minutes later and the leaderless Confederates retreated. McCulloch's death was the turning point in the battle, and the Confederate defeat ensured Union domination of northern Arkansas for the rest of the war.

November 11

11 November VETERANS DAY Feast Day of St. Martin of Tours, Patron Saint of Chaplains and Logisticians: When Sulpicius Severus first met Martin of Tours he was stunned. Not only did the bishop offer…

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Journal Article
Ben McCulloch: A Big Captain
Jack W. Gunn
The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Vol. 58, No. 1 (Jul., 1954), pp. 1-21
Texas State Historical Association

https://www.jstor.org/stable/30235188

Full article at above link on JSTOR with Google sign-in (In the upper right-hand corner of the linked page, there is a 'Log in' button. If you have a Gmail account, you have a Google sign-in and this will allow for free reading of 100 articles a month).

Cheers,
USS ALASKA