★ ★ Mower, Joseph A.

Joseph Anthony Mower​

Born: August 22, 1827

Birthplace: Woodstock, Vermont

Father: Nathaniel Mower 1783 – 1865

Mother: Sophia Ann Holmes 1788 – 1852

Wife: Betsey A. Bailey 1836 – 1913

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

Married: June 6, 1851

Children:

Josephine B. "Josie" Mower 1853 – 1917​

(Buried: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia)​

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Charles Edward Mower 1859 – 1920​

(Buried: Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.)​

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Catherine E. Mower McComas 1866 – 1904​

(Buried: Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C.)​

Occupation before War:

1847 – 1848: Served as a Private in Mexican – American War​

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1855 – 1861: 2nd​ Lt. in United States Army, 1st​ Infantry Regiment​

Civil War Career:

1861: Captain, United States Army, 1st​ Infantry Regiment​

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1861: Served in the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Missouri​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Island No. 10​

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1862: Colonel of 11th​ Missouri Infantry Regiment​

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1862: Served in the Siege of Corinth, Mississippi​

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1862: Wounded in neck and captured at Battle of Corinth Miss.​

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1862 – 1864: Brigadier General of Union Army Infantry​

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1863: Served in the Vicksburg Campaign and Battle of Vicksburg​

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1864: Division Commander during the Red River Campaign​

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1864: Won a Brevet at the Battle of Fort De Russy, Louisiana​

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1864: Won a Brevet at the Battle of Yellow Bayou, Louisiana​

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1864: Division Commander at the Battle of Tupelo, Mississippi​

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1864 – 1866: Major General of Union Army, Volunteers​

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1864: Served in the Atlanta, Georgia Campaign​

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1864: Served in Sherman's March to the Sea​

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1865: Served in the Carolina's Campaign​

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1865 – 1866: Union Army Commander, District of Eastern Texas​

Occupation after War:

1866 – 1870: Colonel in United States Army, 39th​ and 25th​ Infantry​

Died: January 6, 1870

Place of Death: New Orleans, Louisiana

Cause of Death: Cerebral embolism and chronic endocarditis

Age at time of Death: 42 years old

Burial Place: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

 

[Louisiana Jayhawker]

Please allow me to give General Joseph Mower a Happy Birthday greeting. He is one of my most favorite Federal Generals of the Civil War. I must confess this is due mostly to his outstanding service in Louisiana and all within his overall brilliant service in the entire War. I am behooved to request that the above post please add a few more achievements not listed above in that Civil War Career.

First is the Battle of Pleasant Hill in the Red River Campaign 1864 in which in the latter part of the battle the Confederate forces were driving back the Federal left flank. Unfortunately, for the Confederates their assault force rolled upon the 16th​ Corp, in command at that point under Mower, who release a massive counterattack. The entire Confederate Army of Richard Taylor were routed from the field and did not stop running for many miles. It is one of the most effective Federal attacks in the War.

Second is the much smaller battle of Henderson Hill also in the Red River Campaign 1864. I can understand overlooking it. Early in the campaign, Richard Taylor only cavalry force was Vincent 2nd​ Louisiana and one battery of light battery. About 25 miles from Alexandria, Mower took a small Federal force, guided by some local southern Jayhawkers, and surprised Vincent's stronghold and effectively destroyed the entire force. He bagged 200 prisoners, 200 horses, and the battery of guns.

 

[Pollaco]

His wounding was in the neck at Corinth and he was captured, he made good his escape when tne Confederates retreated

William T. Sherman said of Mower, "He's the boldest young officer we have".

He sailed to Texas with General Gordon Granger after the war. Was he with Granger when he issued his proclamation (General Order No. 3) at Galveston on June 19, 1865 ?

 

[Luke Freet]

Mower's initiative on the 3rd day of Bentonville almost surrounded Joe Johnston's army. Sadly, since it was unsupported, as it was done against orders, the attack was repulsed.

 

[TomP]

Mower was an amazing man and an exceptional soldier.
The following are a couple of excerpts from my book Work for Giants: The Campaign and Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg.

The New York Times claimed he was brave to a fault, "absolutely without any sense of danger, he seemed to relish above everything else the tumult of battle." Cloyd Byner, the historian of the 47th Illinois Infantry agreed, saying that there was "no lover more impatient for his mistress than Mower for war's troubles." He had a dangerous tendency of riding far forward to observe the fighting, "an almost uncontrollable impulse to mingle with the skirmish line." Not only was he a hard fighter, he was an equally hard drinker, often combining the two activities. On the morning of October 4, 1862, at the Battle of Corinth, he was drunk when he led a patrol that skirmished with the enemy and ended up with a nasty neck wound and a few hours as a prisoner. A month later he was a brigadier general. Capt. Theodore Carter of the 7th Minnesota made a canny observation of his division commander when he said, "Gen. Mower was a good military man, when he was sober. But he could not stand success. If he accomplished his designs one day, the next he was quite sure to be full."

[The next took place on July 15, 1864. The man making the comments, and who also made the sketch, was Chaplain Elijah Edwards of the 7th Minnesota Infantry. The activity Edwards observed was at the start of a saber charge.]

Mower was also awfully drunk. At first Edwards was awed by the sight of the brigadier swinging his sword over his head and calling out to his men. He was so impressed he stopped to make a rather dashing sketch of a knightly Mower brandishing his sword over his head while his horse reared up on its hind legs. Under the mistake belief that Mower was making "brave speeches," Edwards approached and discovered the commander was swaying in the saddle hollering, "Give 'em hell boys! Give 'em hell boys!" The encouragement was so laced with drunken profanities, Edwards was led to record, "Mower was using the King's English in a very free and rather reprehensible manner."

During the course of researching the book, and then writing it, I became very impressed with the man who was Joe Mower. The two anecdotes are a bit humorous and this should not detract from what an amazing soldier he was.

 

[gentlemanrob]

 

[Josh The Lighthouse Guy]

On the morning of October 4, 1862, at the Battle of Corinth, he was drunk when he led a patrol that skirmished with the enemy and ended up with a nasty neck wound and a few hours as a prisoner.

Is that how "shot in the neck" became a euphemism for being drunk?