William Starke Rosecrans (1819-1898) commanded the Army of the Cumberland during the Tullahoma campaign and at the battles of Stone's river and Chickamauga during the U.S. Civil War. After the war, he moved to Los Angeles, California and became an advocate for railroad building and Mexican trade in the West before being appointed as the U.S. Minister to Mexico (1868). He later served in the U.S. Congress (1881-85), and as the Register of the U.S. Treasury (1885-93). The collection consists of correspondence, papers, diaries, accounts, photographs, maps, realia, and related printed material of Major General William S. Rosecrans and his family. The papers cover nearly a century of American history and are comprised of materials from three generations of the Rosecrans family.

It is a privilege to respond to the invitation of the University Librarian, Lawrence Clark Powell, to write a brief foreword for the Guide to the Papers of General William Starke Rosecrans.William Starke Rosecrans was born in Kingston, Ohio, in 1819; graduated from West Point, 1842; resigned from U.S. army, 1854; organized Preston Coal Oil Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1857; commissioned Brigadier General in 1861 after outbreak of Civil War; commanded the Army of the Cumberland during the Tullahoma campaign and at the battles of Stone's river and Chickamauga; resigned from U.S. Army, 1867; moved to Los Angeles, California and became advocate for railroad building and Mexican trade in the West; appointed U.S. Minister to Mexico, 1868; during 1870s developed mines in Nevada, the Southwest, and Sonora, Mexico; Democrat, U.S. Congress, 1881-85; Register of the U.S. Treasury, 1885-93; retired to ranch near Los Angeles in 1893 and died on March 11, 1898; interment at Arlington National Cemetary, Arlington, Virginia.The Rosecrans Papers span nearly a century of America's past and comprise correspondence and papers of three generations of the family. There are sources in the papers for biographies of General Rosecrans; of his son, Adrian Louis, who was a member of the pioneer congregation of American Catholic missionaries, the Paulist Fathers; and of his brother, Sylvester H. Rosecrans, who rose in the Catholic hierarchy to become Bishop of Columbus, Ohio.

118 boxes (59 linear ft.) 5 oversize folders 8 oversize boxes

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