347:, who commanded the Department of Missouri, had sent Prentiss to command in the southeast of the state, temporarily putting Grant out of a job. The latter had been promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on August 9, back-dated to May 17, the same day Prentiss received his brigadier's commission. Since Grant was still a civilian in Illinois back in May, it was assumed Prentiss outranked him. In fact this wasn't true because army regulations stipulated that if two officers had a commission of the same date, seniority would be determined by previous rank. Prentiss had been a volunteer captain in the Mexican War but Grant had been a regular army captain, thus the latter outranked the former. After this mix-up was corrected, Grant regained his command.
358:, word came that General Prentiss was approaching that place (Jackson). I started at once to meet him there and to give him his orders. As I turned the first corner of a street after starting, I saw a column of cavalry passing the next street in front of me. I turned and rode around the block the other way, so as to meet the head of the column. I found there General Prentiss himself, with a large escort. He had halted his troops at Jackson for the night, and had come on himself to Cape Girardeau, leaving orders for his command to follow him in the morning. I gave the General his orders — which stopped him at Jackson-but he was very much aggrieved at being placed under another brigadier-general, particularly as he believed himself to be the senior.
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Prentiss failed to get orders to his troops to remain at
Jackson, and the next morning early they were reported as approaching Cape Girardeau. I then ordered the General very peremptorily to countermarch his command and take it back to Jackson. He obeyed the order, but bade his command adieu when he got them to Jackson, and went to St. Louis and reported himself. This broke up the expedition. But little harm was done, as Jeff. Thompson moved light and had no fixed place for even nominal headquarters. He was as much at home in Arkansas as he was in Missouri and would keep out of the way of a superior force. Prentiss was sent to another part of the State.
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received promotion while he was where none could be obtained. He would have been next to myself in rank in the district of south-east
Missouri, by virtue of his services in the Mexican war. He was a brave and very earnest soldier. No man in the service was more sincere in his devotion to the cause for which we were battling; none more ready to make sacrifices or risk life in it.
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having been killed, wounded or captured; but it had rendered valiant services before its final dispersal, and had contributed a good share to the defense of Shiloh". Prentiss's own after-action report did not mention the aid of
Wallace's troops, and barely made any mention of Peabody, who was also killed in action during the battle.
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General
Prentiss made a great mistake on the above occasion, one that he would not have committed later in the war. When I came to know him better, I regretted it much. In consequence of this occurrence he was off duty in the field when the principal campaign at the West was going on, and his juniors
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long enough to allow
General Grant to organize a counterattack and win the battle. Grant later played down Prentiss's role in the victory, possibly because of mutual dislike between the two generals. However, Grant said in his memoirs "Prentiss' command was gone as a division, many of its members
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He had been a brigadier, in command at Cairo, while I was mustering officer at
Springfield without any rank. But we were nominated at the same time for the United States service, and both our commissions bore date May 17, 1861. By virtue of my former army rank I was, by law, the senior. General
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That August, President
Lincoln nominated 34 men for brigadier general's commissions in the volunteer army, which had to be confirmed by the Senate to be made binding. These appointments were apportioned out among the states according to population, and Illinois would get four generals--Grant,
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from continued
Confederate assaults, and he eventually surrendered his division. He was criticized by some for his conduct in that battle. After his exchange, he continued to serve in the army until his resignation in 1863. He spent much of his remaining life practicing as a lawyer and as a
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In his early life, Benjamin
Prentiss was a rope-maker and served as an auctioneer. On March 29, 1838, he married Margaret Ann Sodowsky; they had seven children before she died in 1860. In 1862, he married Mary Worthington Whitney, who bore him five more children.
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on July 4, 1863. In 1863, he resigned to tend to his family. Historian Ezra J. Warner speculated that
Prentiss felt that he was being shelved after having proved his abilities at Shiloh and Helena.
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The History & Genealogy of the Prentice, Prentis & Prentiss Families in New England from 1631 - 1883, Linus Joseph Dewald, based on the 1883 Edition by CJF Binney
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After being released as part of a prisoner exchange in October of the same year, Prentiss was promoted to
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he was commissioned a brigadier general of volunteers on May 17, 1861.
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and suffered greatly during the opening hours of that battle.
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Early in the morning, an officer under his command, Colonel
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