Roberts, Benjamin S.

Born: 1810-11-18 Manchester, Vermont

Died: 1875-01-29 Washington, DC

Roberts graduated from the United States Military Academy, class of 1835, ranked fifty-third in a class of fifty-five cadets. He received a commission as second lieutenant in the First U.S. Dragoons. In 1835 he also married Elizabeth Sperry, with whom he had three children. After four years of garrison duty on the frontier, Roberts resigned his commission, moved to New York, and commenced a career as a civil engineer in the railroad business. In 1841, he received appointment as geologist of the State of New York. He resigned from this position in 1842 to move to Russia, where he helped construct a railroad line from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Returning to the United States in 1843, he moved to Des Moines, Iowa, read law, and joined the state militia. Upon the commencement of the Mexican War, Roberts re-entered the U.S. Army. In May 1846, he received a commission as a first lieutenant in the newly created Mounted Riflemen. In February 1847, he received promotion to captain of Company C, Mounted Rifleman, under the command of Persifor F. Smith. Roberts and his company participated in General Winfield Scott's expedition from Veracruz to Mexico City. He distinguished himself in several engagements, most notably at Chapultepec, Matamoros, and Galaxara Pass . He was breveted major for gallant and meritorious service at Chapultepec and lieutenant colonel for his service at Matamoros and Galaxara Pass. After the war, Roberts remained with the Mounted Rifleman, serving in Washington, DC and in various outposts in the American Southwest, where he engaged in combat against various Native American tribes. At the beginning of the Civil War, Roberts was serving in the New Mexico Territory. Promoted to major in May 1861, Roberts and his regiment (redesignated the Third U.S. Cavalry in August 1861) joined in repelling a Confederate invasion of New Mexico in 1861 and 1862. He was breveted to colonel for his service at the Battle of Valverde (February 20-21, 1862). Transferring to the eastern theater in the spring of 1862, Roberts became chief of cavalry, with a rank of brigadier general of volunteers, in John Pope's Army of Virginia. In the aftermath of debacle at the Battle of Second Bull Run, Pope charged Major General Fitz John Porter with insubordinate and misconduct, and at the latter's court martial, Roberts received the odious duty of preferring charges against the accused. Transferred along with Pope's command to the Department of the Northwest in Minnesota, Roberts spent the remainder of 1862 fighting the Sioux, Chippewas, and other Native American nations. Recalled to Washington DC in February 1863, he briefly commanded defenses on the Upper Potomac River. Roberts next moved to West Virginia, where his failure to defend the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad against Confederate raiders cost him his field command. The War Department transferred him back to the Department of the Northwest, where he held a desk job at department headquarters in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1864, the War Department recalled him to field command, sending him to Louisiana to command a division in the XIX Corps. He later served as chief of cavalry in the Department of the Gulf. He closed the war as commander of the District of West Tennessee. In recognition of his services at the battles of Cedar Mountain and Second Bull Run, in March 1865, Roberts was breveted brigadier general in the regular army and major general of the volunteers.

Gravestone, Dellwood Cemetery, Manchester, VT; Wm. Hugh Robarts, Mexican War Veterans: A Complete Roster of the Regular and Volunteer Troops in the War Between the United States and Mexico, From 1846 to 1848 (Washington, DC: Brentano's, 1887), 13; Francis B. Heitman, Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1903), 1:835; Edward G. Longacre, "Roberts, Benjamin Stone," American National Biography, ed. by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 18:593-94.