568 



OBITUARIES, AMERICAN. (ROSECRAXS SAGE.) 



May 16, 1861; resigned. March 28, 1867; reap- 

 pointed brigadier general, Feb. 27, 1889 ; and was 

 retired from the service March 2, 1889. In the vol- 

 unteer service he was commissioned colonel of the 

 23d Ohio Infantry, June 12, 1861 ; honorably mus- 

 tered out, June 10, 1861 ; appointed major general, 

 March 21, 1862 ; and honorably mustered out of the 

 service Jan. 15, 1866. After his graduation in 1842, 

 he was employed in engineering work at Hampton 

 Roads for a year; re- 

 turned to the Military 

 Academy as instructor 

 in engineering for a year, 

 and as Assistant Pro- 

 fessor of Natural and 

 Experimental Philoso- 

 phy for another year. 

 For seven years he served 

 as engineer in harbor and 

 river improvements and 

 at the Washington Navy 

 Yard. He resigned in 

 1854, and established 

 himself as an architect 

 and civil engineer in Cin- 

 cinnati; also becoming 

 superintendent and president of the Cannel Coal 

 Company, and later took charge of the Preston 

 Coal Oil Company. He began his career in the 

 civil war by organizing and drilling the home guard 

 in Ohio; and in June, 1861, was placed in charge 

 of Camp Chase. He was appointed colonel of the 

 23d Ohio volunteers, and soon afterward was pro- 

 moted to brigadier general in the regular army. 

 He was second in command to Gen. McClellan in 

 the operations in West Virginia, and fought and 

 won the action at Rich Mountain, July 11, 1861. 

 He commanded the National forces at Carnifex 

 Ferry, W. Va., Sept. 10, 1861, and then went into 

 winter quarters at Wheeling. During the winter 

 of 1861-62 Gen. Rosecrans was much in Washing- 

 ton. Having plans and opinions of his own for the 

 prosecution of the war, he succeeded in obtaining 

 hearings from both President Lincoln and Gen. 

 McClellan, but his suggestions were not acted upon. 

 In May, 1862, he commanded the right wing of the 

 Army of the Mississippi under Gen. Halleck during 

 the siege of Corinth; June 11, 1862, he was put in 

 command of the Army of the Mississippi ; and Sept. 

 19, 1862, fought the battle of luka. On Oct. 3, 1862, 

 he successfully defended Corinth ; defeated the 

 Confederates under his classmate Gen. Van Dorn, 

 and repelled them after two days of hard fighting. 

 On Oct. 26, 1862, Gen. Rosecrans relieved Gen. Buell 

 of the command of the Army of the Cumberland. 

 He established bases and lines of communication, 

 and organized inspector general's and topograph- 

 ical departments, and engineer and pioneer corps. 

 On Oct. 30 he began his memorable march to Nash- 

 ville, and Nov. 5 defeated a Confederate attack on 

 that city ; and on Dec. 31 the two days' fight at 

 Stone River or Murfreesboro began, which resulted 

 in the defeat of the Confederates under Gen. Bragg. 

 By this time Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Clarks- 

 ville had been added to Gen. Rosecrans'sdepartment, 

 and he was in command of three army corps. Dur- 

 ing the spring of 1863 the army was busy with the 

 advance on Tullahoma, which consisted of a series 

 of intricate flank movements to dislodge the Con- 

 federates from the mountain passes ; and the cap- 

 ture of Tullahoma, July 1, resulted from these 

 operations. During the delay at Nashville and the 

 subsequent movements Gen. Rosecrans had been 

 steadily losing favor at Washington. He was urged 

 forward daily, but protested that he was acting for 

 tin- best, and stoutly defended his course. Kiirht 

 months after he had received the thanks of Con- 



gress military misfortune overtook him. On Sept. 

 19 and 20 the right wing of the army which he 

 commanded was defeated at Chickamauga and 

 forced back to Chattanooga, where it was besieged 

 by Gen. Bragg. On Oct. 23, 1863. Rosecrans was 

 superseded in command by Gen. Thomas, and three 

 months later was assigned to the Department of 

 Missouri, succeeding Gen. Schofield. He was de- 

 prived of his command without explanation, Dec. 

 9, 1864, and, retiring to Cincinnjiti, remained in- 

 active till the close of the war. In 1865 he was 

 offered and refused the Union nomination for Gov- 

 ernor of Ohio; and he declined a similar Demo- 

 cratic nomination in 1869. He was appointed min- 

 ister to Mexico July 27, 1868, and served nine 

 months. From 1869 till 1881 he devoted himself 

 to railway and industrial enterprises, mainly in 

 Mexico. In 1871 he was made president of the Sau 

 Jose Mining Company, and in 1878 became presi- 

 dent of the Safety Powder Company of San Fran- 

 cisco. He was elected as a Democrat to the House 

 of Representatives in 1880, re-elected in 1882. and 

 served as chairman of the Committee on Military 

 Affairs. In June, 1885, he was appointed Register 

 of the Treasury, and he held the office till May 31, 

 1893. An act was passed in February, 1889, restor- 

 ing him to the rank and pay of a brigadier general 

 and placing him on the retired list of the army. 



Ross, Lawrence Sullivan, military officer, born 

 in Beritonsport, Iowa, Sept, 27, 1838; died in Col- 

 lege Station, Texas, Jan. 4, 1898. His father was a 

 noted Indian fighter, who removed his family to 

 Waco, Texas, a few months after the son's birth. 

 Lawrence was graduated at the University of North- 

 ern Alabama in 1858. and returned home just as a 

 United States military force under Major Earl Van 

 Dorn was about to set out on an expedition 

 against the Comanche Indians. He hurriedly raised 

 a company of friendly Indians, reported to Major 

 Van Dorn for service, and in October of that year 

 greatly distinguished himself in the battle if 

 Wichita and also rescued a little white girl who had 

 been an Indian captive from. infancy. In 185!) he 

 was commissioned by Gov. Houston a major in the 

 State militia, and placed in command of the Texas 

 Frontier Battalion, with which he did much toward 

 breaking up the Comanche confederation. At the 

 beginning of the civil war Major Ross resigned his 

 commission and entered the Confederate army as a 

 private, soon becoming major of the 6th Texas ( 'av- 

 alry, and in May, 1862, its colonel. For his skill in 

 covering the retreat of Gen. Earl Van Dorn from 

 Corinth, Miss., Col. Ross was promoted to brigadier 

 general. He commanded the Texas cavalry in t lie 

 Army of the West, and was credited with having par- 

 ticipated in 135 actions of all kinds and having 7 

 horses killed under him, without receivinga scratch. 

 His only wounds were received in his fights with 

 Indians. After the war he engaged in farming. I nit 

 soon became interested in politics. He was elected 

 sheriff of McLennan County in 1873, member of 

 the State Constitutional Convention in 1875. Stale 

 Senator in 1881, and Governor of Texas in 1886 and 

 1888. At the time of his death he was president of 

 the Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College. 



Sagre, (Jeorg'e R., jurist, born in Erie. Pa., in I 

 died in Lebanon, Ohio, Nov. 19, 1898. He was 

 graduated at Granville College (now Denison Uni- 

 versity) in 1849, and admitted to practice law at 

 Frankfort, Ky.. in 1852. In 1852 he was admitted 

 in Ohio; in 1853 became a member of the la\v 



firm of King, Anderson & Sage, and so continued 

 till 1857, when he entered into partnership with 

 Thomas Corwin. The firm removed to Lebanon. 



Ohio, in 1858, where he practiced till Gov.Corwin'a 

 death, in December, 1805. He went back to Cin- 

 cinnati in January, 1866, and, as a ineml>cr of 



