Unicorn Talk: A Rare Picture of An Obscure Civil War General · 10:02pm Apr 1st, 2020
Authors Note: This blog entry is a cross posting with UnicornTalk, a forum about the American Civil War. Enjoy!
General Faust “Firefly” Laurens is a pretty obscure General of the Civil War, mainly because he was only ever a brevet to that rank and reverted to Colonel post war. Though lesser known, he’s nonetheless significant for being the only Equi-American General of the War. This CDV is pretty much the only good picture of Him, apparently.
Born May 21st, 1835, in Cleveland, Ohio, Faust Laurens was the son of German immigrants. He studied at West Point and joined the 2nd Dragoons shortly before the Civil War. An illness (probably TB), however, led to his resignation from the Army and convalescing in Ohio in 1861. He was a close friend of Sheridan, and soon gained a posting on his staff. He then went on to participate in many of Sheridan's early war exploits. In 1864, he gained command of the 12th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, which served in the Western Theatre. There he gained his nickname, for his daring midnight cavalry raids on enemy supply wagons. On April 1st, 1865 he was made Commander of 23rd Corp, Army of the Ohio after the untimely death of his predecessor in battle. This brevet lasted only briefly, as he reverted to his rank of Colonel at the end of the War. He rejoined the 2nd Cavalry after the War and returned to the West in order to improve his health. Unfortunately, the change in climate did him little good and he passed away on April 14th, 1884.
Oh, and April Fools!
Bluebook: Extra points if you can spot all the references and point out all the flaws in my narrative! And yes, I really did post this on CivilWarTalk too.
Heh. :)
(I'm afraid I don't know enough Civil War details to have much of a chance at the extra points without specific further research I've not time for at the moment, though.)