Biography of JOHN E. POPE
Pope, John E., soldier, born in Louisville, Kentucky, 16 March 1822, was
graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1842, and made brevet 2nd
Lieutenant of engineers. He served in Florida in 1842-1844, and assisted in the
survey of the northeast boundary-line between the United States and the
British provinces. He was made 2nd Lieutenant, 9 May 1846, and took part in
the Mexican War, being brevetted 1st Lieutenant for gallantry at Monterey, and
captain for his services in the Battle of Buena Vista. In 1849 he conducted
the Minnesota exploring expedition, which demonstrated the practicability of
the navigation of the Red river of the north by steamers, and in 1851-1853 he
was engaged in topographical engineering service in New Mexico. The six years
following he had charge of the survey of the route for the Pacific railroad,
near the 32nd parallel, and in making experiments to procure water on the Llano
Estacado, or "Staked Plain," stretching between Texas and New Mexico, by means
of artesian wells. On 1 July 1856, he was commissioned Captain for fourteen
years' continuous service. In the political campaign of 1860 Captain Pope
sympathized with the Republicans, and in an address on the subject of
"Fortifications," read before a literary society at Cincinnati, he criticised
the policy of President Buchanan in unsparing terms. For this he was
court-martialed, but, upon the recommendation of Postmaster-General Joseph
Holt, further proceedings were dropped, he was still a captain of engineers
when Sumter was fired upon, and he was one of the officers detailed by the war
department to escort Abraham Lincoln to Washington. He was made
Brigadier-General of volunteers, 17 May 1861, and placed in command first of
the district of northern, and afterward of southwestern and central,
Missouri. General Pope's operations in that state in protecting railway
communication and driving out guerillas were highly successful. His most
important engagement was that of the Black-Water, 18 December 1861, where he
captured 1,300 prisoners, 1,000 stand of arms, 1,000 horses, 65 wagons, two
tons of gunpowder, and a large quantity of tents, baggage, and supplies. This
victory forced General Sterling Price to retreat below the Osage river, which
he never again crossed. He was next intrusted by General Henry W. Halleck
with the command of the land forces that co-operated with Admiral Andrew H.
Foote's flotilla in the expedition against New Madrid and Island No. 10. He
succeeded in occupying the former place, 14 March 1862, while the latter
surrendered on the 8th of the following month, when 6,500 prisoners, 125
cannon, and 7,000 small arms, fell into his hands. He was rewarded for the
capture of New Madrid by a commission as Major-General of volunteers. As
commander of the Army of the Mississippi, he advanced from Pittsburg landing
upon Corinth, the operations against that place occupying the period from 22
April until 30 May. After its evacuation he pursued the enemy to Baldwin, Lee
County, Mississippi. At the end of June he was summoned to Washington, and
assigned to the command of the Army of Virginia, comprised of Fremont's
(afterward Sigel's), Banks's, and McDowell's corps. On 14 July he was
commissioned Brigadier-General in the regular army, on 9 August a division of
his army, under General Nathaniel P. Banks, had a severe engagement with the
Confederates, commanded by General Thomas J. Jackson, at Cedar Mountain. For
the next fifteen days General Pope, who had been re-enforced by a portion of
the Army of the Potomac, fought continuously a greatly superior force of the
enemy under General Robert E. Lee, on the line of the Rappahannock, at
Bristow station, at Groveton, at Manassas junction, at Gainesville, and at
Germantown, near Chantilly. General Pope then withdrew his force behind
Difficult Creek, between Flint Hill and the Warrenton Turnpike, whence he fell
back within the fortifications of Washington, and on 3 September was, at his
own request, relieved of the command of the Army of Virginia, and was assigned
to that of the Department of the Northwest, where in a short time he
completely checked the outrages of the Minnesota Indians. He retained this
command until 30 January 1865, when he was given charge of the military
division of the Missouri, which, in June following, was made the Department of
the Missouri, including all the northwestern states and territories. From
this he was relieved 6 January 1866. He has since had command successively
of the 3rd military district, comprising Georgia, Alabama, and Florida, under
the first Reconstruction Act, 1867-1868; the Department of the Lakes, 1868-1870;
the Department of the Missouri, headquarters at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
1870-1884; and the Military Department of the Pacific from 1884 until he was
retired, 16 March 1886. In Washington, in December, 1862, he testified
before a court-martial, called for the trial of General Fitz-John Porter,
who had been accused by him of misconduct before the enemy at the Second
Battle of Manassas or Bull Run. General Pope was brevetted Major-General, 13
March 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services" in the capture of Island
No. 10, and advanced to the full rank, 26 October 1882. The fullest account
of his northern Virginia campaign is to be found in the report of the
congressional committee on the conduct of the war (Supplement, part xi.,
1865). General Pope is the author of "Explorations from the Red River to the
Rio Grande," in "Pacific Railroad Reports," vol. iii., and the "Campaign of
Virginia, of July and August, 1862" (Washington, 1865).
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