Don Carlos Buell

Don Carlos Buell was a maligned figure in the United States Civil War. He was removed from his command following the Battle of Perryville in October 1862. A Buell Commission lingered for more than a year debating the merits of the general's removal. Even now Civil War buffs debate the issue. Buell maintained that his slowness of action in moving his troops was based on a lack of supplies. Like General McClellan, who commanded the Army of the Potomac in the eastern theater of the Civil War, Buell was vilified largely because of his inaction. The Marietta, Ohio native later gave his own thoughts concerning the Battle of Shiloh in Shiloh Reviewed. Succinctly this paper reveals Buell's opinion that Ulysses Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman, actually invented some of the events that occurred at Shiloh. Buell's words were that they were alien to his experience of what happened there. Yet Americans believed the two better known generals to a large extent because of their reputation for success in winning battles and defeating the Confederacy.