Sunday, February 27, 2011

Rosecrans' New York Times Obituary

I though it would be interesting to see what the NY Times said about Rosecrans after his death. Obituaries are always difficult to gauge historically because they are rarely negative or critical. However, they are important since they show how a figure was viewed immediately after his life.

I went to the New York Times archive website on 2/27 and searched for General Rosecrans' obituary. It was published on March 12, 1898, the day after Rosecrans' death. It can be accessed here.

The obituary is valuable for my research because of its section on Rosecrans' performance at Chickamauga. The author doesn't exactly hold back: "the right wing of the army, which he commanded, was beaten at Chickamauga...Reports adverse to his conduct poured into Washington." He does cite the positive opinion of Gen. Thomas about Rosecrans in the obituary, though.

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