JOSEPH JONES REYNOLDS
Name: Joseph Jones Reynolds
Born: 4 January 1822
Died: 25 February 1899
Joseph Jones Reynolds (January 4, 1822 - February 25, 1899) was an American
engineer, educator, and military officer who fought in the American Civil War
and the postbellum Indian Wars.
Born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, Reynolds briefly attended Wabash College before
he received an appointment in 1839 to the United States Military Academy at West
Point, New York. After graduating tenth of thirty-nine cadets in the Class of
1843, Reynolds was brevetted as a second lieutenant and initially assigned to
the 4th U.S. Artillery.
He successively served at Fort Monroe in Virginia, Carlisle Barracks in central
Pennsylvania, and then in Zachary Taylor's occupation army in Texas in 1845
before returning to the academy as assistant professor in 1846. On December 3 of
that same year, he married Mary Elizabeth Bainbridge.
He resigned from West Point in 1857 and subsequently returned to frontier duty,
this time in the Indian Territory. He resigned his army commission and taught
engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, for a time.
In 1860, he moved to the state of Indiana, where he owned a grocery business
with one of his brothers.
When war came in 1861, Reynolds accepted a colonel's commission from Governor
Oliver P. Morton and was placed in command Indiana's Camp Morton, the wartime
state's militia muster encampment at Indianapolis. Reynolds's 10th Indiana
Volunteer regiment was sent to western Virginia, where it played a decisive role
repulsing Confederates under Robert E. Lee at Cheat Mountain.
Although promoted to brigadier general, Reynolds resigned in January 1862 and
resumed training Indiana regiments at Camp Morton until November 1862 without a
commission. Retroactively appointed colonel of the 75th Indiana volunteers,
brigadier general and then major general of U.S. volunteers, Reynolds commanded
a division of XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland at Hoover's Gap and Chickamauga.
After serving as the army's chief of staff before Chattanooga, Reynolds was
transferred to the Gulf, where he led a division of XIX Corps that garrisoned
New Orleans, Louisiana. He was later promoted to the command of the XIX Corps,
and led it effectively at the Battle of Mobile Bay in southern Alabama.
After the war, Reynolds remained in the Regular Army as colonel of the 26th U.S.
Infantry and was assigned command of the Department of Arkansas. He later was
transferred to duty in Texas during Reconstruction, replacing Charles Griffin in
charge of the Department of Texas. When military rule in Texas ceased in 1870,
Reynolds again returned to frontier garrison duty.
In the early and mid-1870s, Reynolds fought hostile Indians on the Great Plains.
During the Black Hills War of 1876, he led an attack on Sioux warriors under the
chief He Dog in the Powder River country. However, the campaign ended in failure,
and Reynolds was subsequently court-martialed. He was found guilty of the
charges and given a suspended sentence, and he resigned from the army in 1877.
Reynolds died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 77.
Name: Joseph Jones Reynolds
Born: 4 January 1822
Died: 25 February 1899
Joseph Jones Reynolds (January 4, 1822 - February 25, 1899) was an American
engineer, educator, and military officer who fought in the American Civil War
and the postbellum Indian Wars.
Born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky, Reynolds briefly attended Wabash College before
he received an appointment in 1839 to the United States Military Academy at West
Point, New York. After graduating tenth of thirty-nine cadets in the Class of
1843, Reynolds was brevetted as a second lieutenant and initially assigned to
the 4th U.S. Artillery.
He successively served at Fort Monroe in Virginia, Carlisle Barracks in central
Pennsylvania, and then in Zachary Taylor's occupation army in Texas in 1845
before returning to the academy as assistant professor in 1846. On December 3 of
that same year, he married Mary Elizabeth Bainbridge.
He resigned from West Point in 1857 and subsequently returned to frontier duty,
this time in the Indian Territory. He resigned his army commission and taught
engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, for a time.
In 1860, he moved to the state of Indiana, where he owned a grocery business
with one of his brothers.
When war came in 1861, Reynolds accepted a colonel's commission from Governor
Oliver P. Morton and was placed in command Indiana's Camp Morton, the wartime
state's militia muster encampment at Indianapolis. Reynolds's 10th Indiana
Volunteer regiment was sent to western Virginia, where it played a decisive role
repulsing Confederates under Robert E. Lee at Cheat Mountain.
Although promoted to brigadier general, Reynolds resigned in January 1862 and
resumed training Indiana regiments at Camp Morton until November 1862 without a
commission. Retroactively appointed colonel of the 75th Indiana volunteers,
brigadier general and then major general of U.S. volunteers, Reynolds commanded
a division of XIV Corps, Army of the Cumberland at Hoover's Gap and Chickamauga.
After serving as the army's chief of staff before Chattanooga, Reynolds was
transferred to the Gulf, where he led a division of XIX Corps that garrisoned
New Orleans, Louisiana. He was later promoted to the command of the XIX Corps,
and led it effectively at the Battle of Mobile Bay in southern Alabama.
After the war, Reynolds remained in the Regular Army as colonel of the 26th U.S.
Infantry and was assigned command of the Department of Arkansas. He later was
transferred to duty in Texas during Reconstruction, replacing Charles Griffin in
charge of the Department of Texas. When military rule in Texas ceased in 1870,
Reynolds again returned to frontier garrison duty.
In the early and mid-1870s, Reynolds fought hostile Indians on the Great Plains.
During the Black Hills War of 1876, he led an attack on Sioux warriors under the
chief He Dog in the Powder River country. However, the campaign ended in failure,
and Reynolds was subsequently court-martialed. He was found guilty of the
charges and given a suspended sentence, and he resigned from the army in 1877.
Reynolds died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 77.