George Stoneman

George Stoneman Jr. (August 8, 1822 – September 5, 1894) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 15th governor of California from 1883 to 1887. Stoneman trained at West Point, graduating in 1846, and served in the U.S. Army for 36 years. He was involved in multiple conflicts, including the Mexican–American War, the Yuma War, and the American Civil War. In 1861, Stoneman was promoted to Brigadier General, and was later put in command of the Army of the Potomac's 3rd Infantry Corps, and subsequently the newly created cavalry corps. At the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, under the command of Joseph Hooker, Stoneman failed in an ambitious attempt to penetrate behind enemy lines, getting bogged down at an important river crossing. Hooker placed much of the blame for the Union army's defeat on Stoneman. His sharp criticism may have been in part intended to deflect blame placed on himself for the North's defeat. While commanding cavalry under William Tecumseh Sherman in Georgia, Stoneman was captured by Confederate soldiers, but soon exchanged. Shortly after the end of the American Civil War, Stoneman commanded occupying troops at Memphis, Tennessee, who were stationed at Fort Pickering. He had turned over control of law enforcement to the civilian government by May 1866, when the Memphis riots broke out and the major black neighborhoods were destroyed. When the city asked for help, he suppressed the rioting with the use of federal troops. He later moved out to California, where he had an estate in the San Gabriel Valley. He was elected as governor of California, serving between 1883 and 1887. He was not nominated a second time.