McCulloch, Benjamin

Life Span
to
    Full name
    Benjamin McCulloch
    Place of Birth
    Burial Place
    Birth Date Certainty
    Exact
    Death Date Certainty
    Exact
    Gender
    Male
    Race
    White
    Sectional choice
    South
    Origins
    Slave State
    No. of Siblings
    1
    No. of Spouses
    0
    Family
    Alexander McCulloch (father), Frances F. LeNoir McCulloch (mother), Henry Eustace McCulloch (younger brother)
    Occupation
    Politician
    Military
    Other
    Other Occupation
    Texas Ranger, Surveyor
    Political Parties
    Democratic
    Other Affiliations
    Fire-Eaters (Secessionists)
    Government
    Pierce Administration (1853-57)
    Buchanan Administration (1857-61)
    Local government
    Military
    US military (Pre-Civil War)
    Confederate Army
    Foreign military

    Benjamin McCulloch (American National Biography)

    Scholarship
    Following the war he joined the gold rush to California, but like so many others he failed in the quest for great wealth and returned to Texas in 1852. In 1853 President Franklin Pierce appointed him a federal marshal for Texas, a post he held until the spring of 1859. The year before, President James Buchanan had sent him to Utah to assist in settling problems related to the Mormons.

    McCulloch achieved his greatest stature as soldier during the Civil War. He supported the secession movement in Texas despite his long association and friendship with Governor Sam Houston, a staunch Unionist. As ranking officer in the soon-to-be Confederate army of Texas, he accepted the surrender of Federal troops in San Antonio in February 1861. The following May, Confederate president Jefferson Davis appointed him brigadier general to command regiments recruited from Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. His charge was to defend his base in Arkansas and the Indian Territory to the west and to assist Confederate forces in Missouri as they fought to control that pivotal border state.
    Kenneth B. Shover, "McCulloch, Ben," American National Biography Online, February 2000, http://www.anb.org/articles/04/04-00681.html.
    How to Cite This Page: "McCulloch, Benjamin," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/6214.