{{Short description|Union United States Army general (1830–1890)}} {{for|the Indiana Supreme Court justice|Jeremiah Sullivan}} {{Infobox military person |name = Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan |birth_date = {{birth date|1830|10|1}} |death_date = {{death date and age|1890|10|21|1830|10|1}} |birth_place = [[Madison, Indiana]] |death_place = [[Oakland, California]] |burial_place = [[Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)|Mountain View Cemetery]],<br />Oakland, California |burial_label = Place of burial |image = File:Brigadier General Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan.jpg |caption = Photograph of Brigadier General Jeremiah C. Sullivan |allegiance = United States<br />[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] |branch = [[United States Navy]]<br />[[United States Army]] |service_years = 1848–1854 (Navy)<br>1861–1865 (Army) |rank = [[Midshipman]]<br />[[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]] |commands = [[13th Indiana Infantry Regiment]]<br>2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, [[Army of the Mississippi]]<br />District of Jackson, Tennessee<br>2nd Division, [[Union Army of the Shenandoah|Army of the Shenandoah]] |unit = [[6th Indiana Infantry Regiment]] |battles = [[Mexican–American War]]<br>[[American Civil War]] * [[Battle of Rich Mountain]] * [[First Battle of Kernstown]] * [[Battle of Iuka]] * [[Second Battle of Corinth|Battle of Corinth]] * [[Battle of Parker's Cross Roads]] * [[Vicksburg campaign]] * [[Battle of New Market]] * [[Battle of Piedmont]] * [[Battle of Lynchburg]] |awards = |other_work = }} '''Jeremiah Cutler Sullivan''' (October 1, 1830 – October 21, 1890) was an [[Indiana]] lawyer, [[Antebellum era|antebellum]] [[United States Navy]] officer, and a [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] in the [[Union Army]] during the [[American Civil War]]. He was among a handful of former Navy officers who later served as [[infantry]] generals during the war.
His family's home, [https://sites.google.com/view/historicmadisoninc/hmi-properties/sullivan-house The Judge Jeremiah Sullivan House], in Madison, Indiana stands as one of the oldest in the community.
==Early life and career== Jeremiah C. Sullivan was born in [[Madison, Indiana]]. He was the son of Virginia-born attorney [[Jeremiah Sullivan]], who served as a justice of the [[Indiana Supreme Court]] and coined the name [[Indianapolis, Indiana|"Indianapolis"]] for the new state capital. He was the younger brother of [[Algernon Sydney Sullivan]], New York attorney and founder of the [[Sullivan & Cromwell]] law firm.
Sullivan was appointed to the [[United States Naval Academy]] in [[Annapolis, Maryland]], and graduated in 1848. He was commissioned as a [[midshipman]] and spent the next six years primarily at sea, serving aboard four different vessels, including duty during the [[Mexican–American War]].<ref>Welsh, p. 326.</ref> In April 1854, he resigned from the Navy and returned home to Indiana, where he studied law, passed his bar exam, and opened a private practice.<ref>Warner, p. 487.</ref>
==Civil War== Sullivan helped recruit and organize a three-months' [[infantry]] [[regiment]], the [[6th Regiment Indiana Infantry (3 months)|6th Indiana Volunteers]]. He was elected as a [[Captain (United States)|captain]] and led his troops into combat at the [[Battle of Philippi (West Virginia)|Battle of Philippi]] in [[West Virginia in the American Civil War|western Virginia]]. Following the expiration of his term of enlistment, Sullivan mustered out of the army. However, he soon received an appointment from [[Governor of Indiana|Governor]] [[Oliver P. Morton]] as the [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the [[13th Regiment Indiana Infantry|13th Indiana]], a three-years' regiment. Sullivan returned to western Virginia in the army of [[George B. McClellan]] and fought at [[Battle of Rich Mountain|Rich Mountain]] and [[Battle of Cheat Mountain|Cheat Mountain]] in the summer of 1861.
In the spring of 1862, Sullivan commanded a [[brigade]] of infantry during the [[Valley campaign]] and led it into action at the [[Battle of Kernstown I|First Battle of Kernstown]]. He was commissioned as [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] to date from April 28, 1862. Later in the spring, he was transferred to the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|western theater]] and assigned command of a brigade in the [[Army of the Mississippi]], serving under [[William S. Rosecrans]]. Sullivan again saw combat in the battles of [[Battle of Iuka|Iuka]] and [[Second Battle of Corinth|Corinth]] in [[Mississippi in the American Civil War|Mississippi]]. In the autumn of that same year, Sullivan was given command of the District of Jackson, Tennessee, and its widely scattered garrisons of Union troops. There, his men were often pitted against the raiders of [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] general [[Nathan B. Forrest]], including the [[Battle of Parker's Crossroads]], December 31, 1862..
Late December, Sullivan received General Grant's General Order #11, December 17, 1862, ordering the expulsion of all Jews in his military district. Sullivan refused to execute the order according to Rabbi Isaac Mayer. "He thought he was an officer of the army and not of a church."<ref>''When General Grant Expelled the Jews'', Jonathan Sarna, Schoken Press 2012, pg. 19–20.</ref> Four days later, Sullivan was forced to comply. Abraham Lincoln revoked Grant's General Order January 4, 1863.
During the 1863 [[Vicksburg campaign]], Sullivan served on the field staff of [[Major general (United States)|Maj. Gen.]] [[Ulysses S. Grant]] as the acting [[inspector general]] for his army. Following the surrender of Vickburg on July 4, Sullivan took the position of [[Chief of Staff]] for Maj. Gen. [[James B. McPherson]]. In September, he was reassigned to the Department of West Virginia to serve under his father-in-law, Maj. Gen. [[Benjamin F. Kelley]]. Given command of a [[division (military)|division]], Sullivan was tasked with protecting the vital [[Baltimore and Ohio Railroad]] in [[Western Maryland]]. In mid-October 1863, he led a column from [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harpers Ferry]] that thwarted an attack on [[Charlestown, West Virginia]], by Confederates under [[John D. Imboden]], driving the enemy up the valley.
During the [[Valley campaigns of 1864]], Sullivan drew the ire of his superior, [[David Hunter]], for his lack of initiative and was replaced by Brig. Gen. [[George Crook]] on July 16. Sullivan was never again given a significant command. He resigned from the army on May 11, 1865, and tellingly was not among the scores of Union generals who received [[Brevet (military)|brevet]] promotions to higher rank at the close of hostilities.<ref>Warner, p. 488.</ref>
==Postbellum career== Sullivan moved to [[Oakland, Maryland]], after the war, and then headed west to [[California]] in 1878. Despite his previous training and experience as an attorney, he instead worked at a variety of menial clerical jobs in both states.
Jeremiah C. Sullivan died in [[Oakland, California]], in the fall of 1890 not long after his sixtieth birthday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeremiah C. Sullivan |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/jeremiah-c-sullivan |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=American Battlefield Trust |language=en-US}}</ref> He is buried in [[Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)|Mountain View Cemetery]] in Oakland.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jeremiah C. Sullivan |url=https://www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/jeremiah-c-sullivan |access-date=2024-01-11 |website=American Battlefield Trust |language=en-US}}</ref>
==See also== {{Portal|American Civil War}} * [[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * Warner, Ezra J., ''Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders'', Baton Rouge: [[Louisiana State University Press]], 1964, {{ISBN|0-8071-0822-7}}. * Welsh, Jack D., ''Medical Histories of Union Generals'', Kent, Ohio: [[Kent State University Press]], 1996. {{ISBN|0-87338-853-4}}.
==External links== *{{commons category-inline}} * [http://stonewall.hut.ru/leaders/sullivan.htm Biography of Sullivan]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sullivan, Jeremiah C.}} [[Category:Union army generals]] [[Category:People of Indiana in the American Civil War]] [[Category:United States Naval Academy alumni]] [[Category:United States Navy officers]] [[Category:United States Navy personnel of the Mexican–American War]] [[Category:Lawyers from Oakland, California]] [[Category:1830 births]] [[Category:1890 deaths]] [[Category:People from Madison, Indiana]] [[Category:19th-century American lawyers]] [[Category:Burials at Mountain View Cemetery (Oakland, California)]] [[Category:Military personnel from Oakland, California]]