1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Stoneman, George

STONEMAN, GEORGE (1822–1894), American soldier, was born at Busti, in Chautauqua county, New York, on the 8th of August 1822. He graduated at West Point in 1846, served as second lieutenant with the Mormon battalion in California during the Mexican War, and became a captain in 1855. In February 1861, while in command of Fort Brown, Texas, he disregarded the orders of his superior officer, Major-General D. E. Twiggs, to surrender to the Confederate forces, and escaped with the garrison. He served on McClellan’s staff during the West Virginia campaign, and was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers and appointed chief of cavalry of the Army of the Potomac in August 1861, in which capacity he took part in the Peninsula campaign and the Seven Days’ Battle. He commanded the III. corps in the Fredericksburg campaign; and was promoted, in November 1862, to be major-general of volunteers. During the Chancellorsville campaign he . made an unsuccessful cavalry raid toward Richmond. In the early months of 1864 he commanded the XXIII. corps, and then, as commander of the cavalry of the department of the Ohio, took part in the Atlanta campaign. While attempting to seize the Confederate prison at Andersonville (July 31, 1864), he was captured at Clinton, Georgia. After his release in October he commanded cavalry in East Tennessee, making successful raids into Virginia and North Carolina, and on the 12th of April 1865 defeated a Confederate force near Salisbury, North Carolina, and captured a large number of prisoners. Afterward he held commands in Tennessee and Virginia until 1868. He was mustered out of the volunteer service in September 1866, but served in the regular army as colonel and brevet-major-general till 1871. He then removed to California, was elected governor by the Democrats, and served from 1883 to 1887. In February 1891 he was made a colonel on the retired list, U.S. Army, and on the 5th of September 1894 died at Buffalo, New York.