William Rosecrans - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Rosecrans was born on a farm near Little Taylor Run in Kingston Township, Delaware County, Ohio, the second of five sons of Crandall Rosecrans and Jemima Hopkins. (The first child, Chauncey, died in infancy.) Crandall was a veteran of the War of 1812, in which he served as adjutant to General William Henry Harrison and then subsequently ran a tavern and store as well as a family farm. One of Crandall's heroes, General John Stark, was the inspiration for William's middle name. Rosecrans descended from Harmon Henrik Rosenkrantz, who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1651, but the family name changed spelling during the American Revolutionary War. His mother was the former widow of Timothy Hopkins, a relative of Stephen Hopkins, the Colonial Governor of Rhode Island and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

William had little formal education in his early years, relying heavily on reading books. At the age of 13 he left home to work as a store clerk in Utica, and later Mansfield, Ohio. Unable to afford college, Rosecrans decided to try for an appointment to the United States Military Academy. He interviewed with Congressman Alexander Harper, who had been reserving his appointment for his own son, but was so impressed by Rosecrans that he nominated him instead.

Despite his lack of formal education, Rosecrans excelled academically at West Point, particularly in mathematics, but also in French, drawing, and English grammar. It was at the academy that he received his nickname, "Rosy," or more often, "Old Rosy." He graduated from West Point in 1842, fifth in his class of 56 cadets, which included notable future generals, such as James Longstreet, D.H. Hill, Don Carlos Buell, and Earl Van Dorn. He was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant in the prestigious Corps of Engineers, reflecting his high academic achievement. At his graduation, he met Anna Elizabeth (or Eliza) Hegeman (1823–1883) of New York City and immediately fell in love. They were married on August 24, 1843. Their marriage lasted until her death on December 25, 1883. They had eight children.

Rosecrans was assigned to duty at Fort Monroe, Virginia, engineering sea walls. After a year, he requested assignment as a professor at West Point, where he taught engineering and served as post commissary and quartermaster. Although West Point was a strong bastion of Episcopalianism, during this assignment he converted to Catholicism in 1845. He wrote about this decision to his family, who had raised him in the Methodist faith, which inspired the youngest of his brothers, Sylvester Horton Rosecrans, to convert as well. Sylvester would become the first bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Columbus.

Although most of the officers in his graduating class fought in the Mexican-American War, the War Department retained Rosecrans at West Point. From 1847 through 1853 he served on engineering assignments in Newport, Rhode Island, Bedford, Massachusetts, and (on temporary assignment to the United States Navy) at the Washington Navy Yard. During this period, Rosecrans sought several civilian jobs as an alternative way to support his growing family, now with four children. He applied for a professorship at the Virginia Military Institute in 1851, losing the position to fellow West Pointer Thomas J. Jackson.

Rosecrans suffered a period of failing health and resigned from the army in 1854, moving into civil fields. He took over a mining business in Western Virginia (today West Virginia) and ran it extremely successfully. He designed and installed one of the first complete lock and dam systems in Western Virginia on the Coal River; today recognized as the Coal River Locks, Dams, and Log Booms Archeological District. In Cincinnati, he and two partners built one of the first oil refineries west of the Allegheny Mountains. He obtaining patents for many inventions, including the first kerosene lamp successfully to burn a round wick, and a more effective method of manufacturing soap. While Rosecrans was president of the Preston Coal Oil Company, in 1859, he was burned severely when an experimental "safety" oil lamp exploded, setting the refinery on fire. It took him 18 months to recover, and the resulting facial scars gave him the appearance of having a perpetual smirk. As he concluded recovering from those burns, the Civil War began.