James G. Spears

James Gallant Spears (March 29, 1816 – July 22, 1869) was an American general who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. Leading a unit composed primarily of Tennessee loyalists, he participated in early battles in the Cumberland Gap area before marching with the Army of the Cumberland at Stones River and Chickamauga. He later provided support for the Knoxville Campaign.

An ardent Southern Unionist, Spears was appointed vice president of the 1861 East Tennessee Convention, which sought to form a separate, Union-aligned state in East Tennessee. He opposed the abolition of slavery, however, and was dismissed from the Army in 1864 for speaking out against the Emancipation Proclamation.

Early life

Spears was born in Bledsoe County, Tennessee, the eldest of five children of John Holliday Spears, a doctor, and his wife, Sarah (Gallant) Spears. As a child, his family struggled financially after his father lost much of the family's estate through speculation. Fond of reading, Spears managed to educate himself, and eventually studied law. On the eve of the Civil War, Spears opposed secession. A Democrat, he supported the Northern Democratic candidate Stephen Douglas in the 1860 presidential election.

Spears was promoted to brigadier general on March 5, 1862. but Union generals were concerned that the hot-tempered Spears would seek violent retribution against East Tennessee Confederates. General Morgan wrote that Spears had "great energy and courage, but has an idea that war means extermination."

In October 1862, Spears and the 25th Brigade were placed under the newly organized Army of the Cumberland, which was commanded by General William S. Rosecrans. Rosecrans marched south to Nashville before turning eastward in pursuit of Braxton Bragg's Army of Tennessee. In late December, the two armies met at the Battle of Stones River near Murfreesboro. As the two armies fought, Spears guided 303 wagons packed with badly needed provisions over muddy roads from Nashville to the frontline, and afterward helped capture a strategic patch of woods known as the "Round Forest" to aid the Union Army's victory.

By the spring of 1863, a number of officers under Spears had grown tired of his "tyranny and ungentlemanly conduct," and accused him of incompetence. Upon his return to his unit in August, he ruthlessly reasserted his authority, and threatened to arrest any officer who attempted to resign. In September, twenty-seven officers under his command signed a petition to Rosecrans demanding Spears's removal.

At the opening of the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, Spears's unit occupied Lookout Mountain, overlooking Chattanooga. He was attacked by a Confederate force led by Nathan B. Forrest, but was ordered by Rosecrans to abandon the mountain rather than risk capture.

Spears staunchly opposed President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, and angrily spoke out against it. He allegedly stated, "God damn the Government; let her go to hell, and I'll be found in the ranks fighting her." He was arrested for these statements in February 1864, and subsequently court-martialed. While Spears admitted he disagreed with the Proclamation, he denied making disloyal statements. He was nevertheless found guilty, and ordered removed from command. He was offered an opportunity to resign his commission, but he refused, and was thus dismissed on August 30, 1864. Another son, Napoleon Bonaparte Spears, served in the Tennessee state legislature and the Alabama Legislature, and was a delegate to Alabama's 1901 constitutional convention.