Joshua Hall Bates

Infobox Military Person
name=Joshua Hall Bates
born=birth date|1817|3|5
died= death date and age|1908|7|26|1817|3|5


caption=Joshua H. Bates
nickname=
placeofbirth=Boston, Massachusetts
placeofdeath=Cincinnati, Ohio
placeofburial=
allegiance=United States of America
branch=United States Army
serviceyears=1837 – 1842; 1861
rank=Brigadier General
unit= Ohio state militia
commands=
battles=American Civil War • No combat duty
awards=
relations=

Joshua Hall Bates (March 5, 1817 – July 26, 1908) was a lawyer, politician, and general in the Union Army during the early part of the American Civil War. He was a leading recruiter and organizer of many of the first regiments of Ohio troops who volunteered after President Abraham Lincoln's call to arms in the spring of 1861.

Birth and early years

Bates was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He graduated from the United States Military Academy on July 1, 1837, and was breveted as a second lieutenant in the artillery. He subsequently served five years in the Regular army, including spending time in Florida in 1837-38 during the Seminole Wars. He was assigned to Cleveland, Ohio, during the Canada border disturbances from 1839 to 1841. After resigning his commission, he moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. [ [http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/data/ohio%20in%20the%20war/barnett_forty_for_the_union/barnett_article.html Cincinnati CWRT] ]

Civil War service

Bates joined the Ohio state militia and became a brigadier general. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was assigned to Department of the Sanitary Commission and served as the commander of Camp Harrison near Cincinnati. Along with two other militia generals, he helped establish Camp Dennison, a sprawling military complex north of Cincinnati. He helped organize fifteen regiments of infantry for service in the field. Believing that he was too old at age forty-four to go into combat, Bates resigned his commission as brigadier general of U.S. Volunteers on August 27, 1861, but remained active in the militia.

As president of the Cincinnati Committee of Public Safety, Bates commanded a division when Cincinnati was threatened by Confederates forces in the summer of 1863. [ [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5082 Find-a-Grave] ] One of the earthwork fortifications in northern Kentucky which defended Cincinnati was named Bates Battery in his honor. [ [http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/data/ohio%20in%20the%20war/1862%20Defense%20of%20Cincinnati/iv_defenses.pdf Defense of Cincinnati] ]

Again returning to civilian life, Bates resumed his law practice in Cincinnati. He became a member of the Ohio State Senate in 1864 and served until 1866. He was again a state senator from 1876-78. He was the president of the Cincinnati Bar Association from 1881-82. [ [http://www.cincybar.org/past_presidents.asp Cincinnati Bar Association] ]

Bates died in Cincinnati at the age of ninety-one in 1908. He is among several former Union Army generals who were laid to rest in the city's famed Spring Grove Cemetery.

ee also

*List of American Civil War generals

References

* [http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/data/ohio%20in%20the%20war/barnett_forty_for_the_union/barnett_article.html Cincinnati Civil War Round Table]
* [http://www.cincybar.org/past_presidents.asp Cincinnati Bar Association]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=5082 Find-a-Grave biography of J. H. Bates]
* [http://www.cincinnaticwrt.org/data/ohio%20in%20the%20war/1862%20Defense%20of%20Cincinnati/iv_defenses.pdf Defense of Cincinnati]

Notes

Persondata
NAME= Bates, Joshua Hall
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION= Union Army general
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=