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Kentucky's Crittendens
Many headaches later, loyalties divided
John Jordan Crittenden served four separate terms as a U.S. Senator from Kentucky, was U.S. attorney general on two occasions, was elected Kentucky governor and completed two terms as a state representative.
That amounts to enough political headaches for a lifetime.
But, with the coming of the Civil War, the Versailles native had one more in the offing. One son, Thomas, joined the Union army and the other, George, cast his lot with the Confederacy.
Torn by loyalties, John Jordan Crittenden died before seeing both sons become generals and survive the War-Between-the-States.
The elder son, George Bibb Crittenden - who was born in Russellville - was a career U.S. Army officer who served in Black Hawk War, the Army of the Republic of Texas and in the Mexican-American War.
Just prior to the Civil War, George accepted a commission as colonel in the CSA infantry and was promoted to major general in 1861 and commanded the District of East Tennessee.
On Jan. 18 of that year, he and Confederate Major Gen. Felix Zollicoffer were defeated by Union Gen. George H. Thomas at the Battle of Mill Springs.
George, a U.S. Military Academy graduate, also attended Transylvania University where he earned a law degree. He served as the state librarian of Kentucky from 1867-71 and died in Danville nine years later.
Thomas Leonidas Crittenden also was born in Russellville and was admitted to the bar and served in the U.S. Army during the Mexican-American War. After that war, he served as a U.S. consul in Liverpool.
With the outbreak of the Civil War, Thomas and his father maintained their loyalty to the Union. Thomas was appointed brigadier general of volunteers in 1861 and placed in command of the Fifth Division in the Army of Ohio. He led that division at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862 and, later, at Perryville, was major general of volunteers of the II Corps in the Army of Ohio.
Thomas Crittenden also led troops in Tennessee in the Battle of Stones River and the Tullahoma Campaign and in Georgia at the Battle of Chicamauga. Later, he was involved in the Virginia Battles of Spotsylvania Court House and Cold Harbor.
Thomas’s son, John J. Crittenden, also served in the U.S. Army and died with Lt. Col. George Amstrong Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.
Following the Civil War, Thomas Crittenden served as Kentucky state treasurer and died in 1893 at Annandale, Staten Island, N.Y.
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