William Rosecrans
Historical Figure
Nationality:	United States
Religion:	Catholicism
Date of Birth:	1819
Date of Death:	1898
Cause of Death:	Natural Causes
Occupation:	Soldier, Politician
Affiliations:	United States Army Democratic Party
Turtledove Appearances:

William Starke Rosecrans (1819–1898) was an inventor, coal-oil company executive, diplomat, politician, and United States Army officer. He gained fame for his role as a Union general during the American Civil War. He was the victor at prominent Western Theater battles such as Second Corinth, Stones River, and the Tullahoma Campaign, but his military career was effectively ended following his disastrous defeat at the Battle of Chickamauga in 1863.

After the war, Rosecrans served as ambassador to Mexico (1868-1869) and Congressman from California (1881-1885). In between these political stints, he was a private businessman.

William Rosecrans in Southern VictoryEdit

William Rosecrans was a general in the United States Army in the nineteenth century. In the War of Secession, he quickly rose through the ranks, getting promoted to Brigadier General and served under George McClellan in West Virginia. During the campaign his decisions allowed the Union army to defeat Robert E. Lee's forces and secure control of the state, though McClellan stole the credit and became commander of the Army of the Potomac--with disastrous results. After the war ended, Rosecarns' position in the army rose due to coming out of the debacle with less disgrace than more prominent generals.

By 1881 Rosecrans, now a Major General served as General-in-Chief of the United States Army. Though popular and competent as a field commander, Rosecrans' leadership in this position was uninspired. The US Army was a paper tiger after years of neglect and Rosecrans had done little to improve this. When the crises of Sonora and Chihuahua erupted into the Second Mexican War, Rosecrans was more than wiling to fight. However, his grand over-arching strategy lacked serious thought. Rosecrans knew that the CSA's main problem was manpower and his goal was to attack along the entire frontier, until the enormous reservoir of men simply overwhelmed the Confederacy. Another major flaw in his strategy was failing to create any plans for dealing with England and France; A mistake that would prove deadly.

As the war began, Rosecrans' lack of strategic thinking became more evident because of his failure to coordinate strategy among the various field armies and other elements of the army under his command. Rosecrans did show some promise during the war by invading Kentucky in order to get the strategically important state back onto the Union's side. However, the commander in charge of that campaign, Brigadier General Willcox proved just as inept as Rosecrans, and the campaign quickly bogged down and floundered.

As the war progressed and quickly turned sour, Rosecrans could only watch helplessly as the great majority of his field commanders were bested at every turn by their Confederate counter-parts. After England began ratcheting up the pressure by invading the US and blockading the country by sea, Rosecrans became increasingly reclusive, and even started drinking heavily. He also deliberately began ignoring US President Blaine, blaming faulty communications.

However, at the end of the war, he recognized these shortcomings, both in himself and in the structural nature of his position. On the advice of Alfred von Schlieffen, he pushed for the reorganization of the US Army's overall command structure, adopting the Prussian-style general staff system.  Sadly, in the war's aftermath, Rosecrans would be remembered only for his failings in the Second Mexican War, rather than his army reforms. Reforms which would later lead to the USA's success in the Great War.

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