Gen. T.L. Crittendent
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"America has no north, no south, no east, no west. The sun rises over the hills and sets over the mountains, the compass just points up and down, and we can laugh now at the absurd notion of there being a north and a south. We are one and undivided."
Pvt. Sam Watkins, 1st Tennessee, Co. H.
When authors write about the Civil War, the phrase "brother versus brother" is often used.
That concept was especially true with the tragedy-stricken Crittenden family of Kentucky.
John C. Crittenden was a U.S. senator from the Bluegrass state. One son was a successful Union general who played an important role in the Army of the Cumberland's victory at Stones River. A second son was a Confederate general sacked for drunkenness.
Their cousin, a Union general, was disgraced by Nathan Bedford Forrest's raid on Murfreesboro. Another cousin rose to the governorship of Missouri and helped bring an end to outlaw Jesse James.
The senior Crittenden was educated in Kentucky and at William and Mary College in Virginia. After hanging his shingle in 1807, he quickly became the best-known lawyer in the western part of the state.
Turning his attention to politics, he was elected to the state legislature for six straight terms.
His stature is enhanced by his experience during the War of 1812. Crittenden fought in the Battle of Thames River during which Kentucky volunteers under the command of Col. Richard M. Johnson killed Tecumseh, the leader of the First Nations. Crittenden received special commendations for his actions.
After the War of 1812, Crittenden was elected to the U.S. Senate where he served two terms before "retiring" to resume his law practice. A state house squabble over the court system precipitated his return to politics, again serving as speaker of the Kentucky house. On the national political scene, he was an ally of Henry Clay and opponent of Andrew Jackson.
In 1835, he returned to the U.S. Senate where he became a major Whig opponent of both the Jackson and Van Buren administrations and played an active role in the presidential campaign of his former military compatriot William Henry Harrison.
Except for stints as attorney general with Harrison and Millard Fillmore's administrations, Crittenden remained active in the Senate where he opposed the annexation of Texas.
Conservative, with a border-state outlook, Crittenden was a supporter of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, which prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30' north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. The Compromise of 1850, written to resolve issues raised by the Mexican War, helped maintain sectional peace. When the Kansas-Nebraska act reopened the slavery issue in Congress, Crittenden took steps to maintain the peace between the North and South.
The Kentucky senator proposed the Crittenden Compromise in December of 1860, which called for the reestablishment of the Missouri Compromise and banned Congress from interfering with the slave trade. Congress rejected Crittenden's measures as too pro-South, which were tabled and never reintroduced.
With his compromise failed, Crittenden returned to Kentucky where he spent his efforts to keep his home state from seceding from the Union. When Kentucky sided with the Union, Crittenden was again elected to Congress.
However, his son's actions reflected the divided nature of the border state. Both George Bibb Crittenden and Thomas Leonidas Crittenden followed a similar career to that of their father.
George was the eldest and pursued a military career with the U.S. Army. He graduated from West Point in 1832 and fought in the Black Hawk War. Resigning his commission, he attended Transylvania University where he studied law.
After moving to Texas in 1842, he joined the Army of the Republic of Texas. In 1846, he rejoined the U.S. Army reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1856.
Just before the start of the Civil War, G.B. Crittenden accepted a commission as a colonel with the Confederate Army. He was promoted to major general in 1861, accepting command of the District of East Tennessee.
On Jan. 18, 1862, Crittenden and Maj. Gen. Felix Zollicoffer were defeated by Union Gen. George H. Thomas at the Battle of Mill Springs, breaking the Confederate hold on eastern Kentucky.
G.B. Crittenden was then briefly assigned to Army of Central Kentucky in command of a division, but was relieved from that post on March 31. The following day he was arrested for drunkenness by the order of Gen. William J. Hardee. He was restored to duty on April 18, 1862.
In July of that year, Gen. Braxton Bragg ordered a court of inquiry and Crittenden resigned as a general officer. Following the war, he served as Kentucky state librarian from 1867 to 1871.
G.B. Crittenden's younger brother, Thomas Leonidas, remained loyal to the Union.
A lawyer by training, T.L. served as an aide to Gen. Zachary Taylor during the Mexican War. After that conflict he served as U.S. consul in Liverpool, England.
Appointed a major general in the Kentucky militia in 1860, T.L. was made a brigadier general of volunteers and placed in command of the fifth division of the Army of Ohio. Serving with distinction at Shiloh, he was promoted to major general of volunteers and commanded the II Corps of the Army of Ohio during the Perryville campaign. His brother, George, was more actively involved in that campaign as a Confederate.
When Maj. Gen. William S. Rosecrans was placed in command of the army, he reorganized it into the Army of the Cumberland. Crittenden commanded the Left Wing of the army at the Battle of Stones River. His leadership at Murfreesboro earned him another promotion, but he began to run afoul of Rosecrans political and publicity machinations.
When Rosecrans blundered at Chickamauga, he placed the blame squarely on Crittenden and Alexander McDowell McCook. Both generals were relieved from command. Later both men were exonerated with the blame for the costly defeat being placed on Rosecrans shoulders. "Old Rosy" was relieved from command of the Army of the Cumberland.
With his name cleared, Crittenden returned to duty in the Eastern Theater, leading the First Division, IX Corps, which was assigned to the Army of the Potomac. Crittenden led the division at the bloody Battle of Spotsylvania followed by the nightmarish Cold Harbor, which was Gen. Robert E. Lee's final victory.
Crittenden asked to be relieved from duty after Cold Harbor. His request was granted. He had fought in at least four of the 10 bloodiest battles of the Civil War.
After the war, Crittenden returned to Kentucky where he served as state treasurer.
His son, John C. Crittenden, followed in the family's military tradition. He died, along with Col. George Armstrong Custer, at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.
Two more Crittenden cousins served the Union as ranking officers during the Civil War.
Thomas Turpin Crittenden grew up in Texas, but attended Transylvania College in Kentucky. He practiced law in Missouri until 1846, when he was named a second lieutenant in a Missouri volunteer regiment, which served in the Mexican-American War. After that war, he relocated to Indiana.
Five days after the attack on Fort Sumter, T.T. Crittenden volunteered and was commissioned captain of a company in the Sixth Indiana Infantry. Thomas Turpin Crittenden fought with his first cousin Thomas Leonidas at Shiloh with his troops arriving in time for the second day of the battle.
He won a promotion and an assignment.
Thomas Turpin Crittenden was placed in command of the federal detachment holding Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Shortly after assuming the post, Crittenden and his entire command were captured by Nathan Bedford Forrest on July 13, 1862. Forrest took the town chiefly by bluff. It was the first major independent victory by the Confederate cavalry leader. It also marked the end of Thomas Turpin Crittenden's military career.
His similarly named cousin Thomas Theodore Crittenden fared better, parlaying his service as colonel with the 7th Missouri Cavalry into a political career.
It was Thomas Theodore Crittenden, who as governor of Missouri offered a $10,000 reward for the capture of Jesse James either dead or alive.
In the spring of 1882, Robert Ford, a member of James's gang, shot Jesse in the back of the head. He only collected a small percentage of the reward.
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