quarters to Fort Union, New Mexico, where
two months later he became the youngest
colonel in the army. In this capacity he con-
ducted several sweeps through Apache lands
in concert with Gen. Benjamin Bonneville.
Two years later he accompanied Col. Albert S.
Johnston on the so-called Mormon Expedi-
tion to Utah. In 1859, Loring acquired a well-
deserved leave of absence and traveled to Eu-
rope and the Middle East to study military
institutions. He returned to New Mexico in
1860 to find himself appointed commander of
the Department of New Mexico. By that time
Southern states had begun the secession
process in anticipation of civil war. Loring did
not wholeheartedly agree with the process,
but he nonetheless concluded 15 years of
army service by resigning his commission in
May 1861. The department was turned over to
another frontier stalwart, Edward R.S. Canby.
Having offered his service to the Confeder-
acy, Loring was named a brigadier general as
of May 1861 at the behest of President Jeffer-
son Davis, a former U.S. secretary of war
who was familiar with Loring’s military repu-
tation. In July 1861, he succeeded Gen. Robert
B. Garnett as commander of the northwestern
army in the Shenandoah Valley. He was soon
joined there by a newcomer, Gen. Robert E.
Lee, who previously held a lesser rank to Lor-
ing in the U.S. Army. The two men worked
haltingly together and botched a small offen-
sive at Cheat Mountain that September. Lee
was transferred out shortly after, and Loring
next came under the command of Gen.
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
During the months of November and De-
cember, Jackson and Loring maneuvered
their men through snow and sleet in an at-
tempt to capture the desolate Union post at
Romney. However, when Jackson withdrew
to comfortable winter quarters, he instructed
Loring to remain behind in Romney, fully ex-
posed to the elements. This move angered
Loring, who decried Jackson’s “utter disre-
gard for human suffering.” He then violated
the closely prescribed chain of command by
appealing directly to Confederate Secretary
of War Judah P. Benjamin for redress. When
Loring’s request was granted and he returned
to Shenandoah for the winter, an angry Jack-
son threatened to resign his commission out-
right. Loring was subsequently transferred
out of the theater to placate Jackson, and he
received command of the Department of Nor-
folk with a rank of major general. Once Nor-
folk fell to Union forces in May 1862, Loring
found himself transferred again to the Depart-
ment of Southwestern Virginia, where on Sep-
tember 6, 1862, he defeated Union forces in
the Kanawha Valley. The following December,
with Confederate fortunes farther west in pre-
cipitous decline, Loring found himself des-
tined for the Department of Mississippi and
East Louisiana.
By January 1863, Loring had reported for
duty under Gen. John C. Pemberton, previ-
ously a captain in the prewar army. As with
Lee, Loring disliked taking orders from an
erstwhile subordinate. The two leaders quar-
reled incessantly over what Loring viewed as
Pemberton’s inept leadership. At this time,
Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was about to
embark upon his famous Vicksburg campaign
down the Tallahatchie River. Anticipating this
move, on March 11, 1863, Loring was posted
at Fort Pemberton (Greenwood, Mississippi)
with several cannons and a 2,000-man garri-
son to obstruct them. During a severe ex-
change of fire, he stood upon the parapet
shouting, “Give them blizzards, boys!” The
Union flotilla was repulsed, and thereafter
Loring became popularly known as “Old Bliz-
zards.” The following month, Loring also de-
feated Col. Benjamin H. Grierson’s attempt to
capture the town of Enterprise, Mississippi.
However, Grant completely outmaneuvered
Pemberton, decisively beating him at Cham-
pion Hill on May 16, 1863, and shutting him
up in Vicksburg. Loring disregarded Pember-
ton’s orders during the retreat and sheared
away, not wishing to be captured when the
city fell. Vicksburg capitulated on July 4,
1863, and Loring marched southward to Jack-
son, Mississippi, joining Confederate forces
gathering there under Gen. Joseph E. John-LORING, WILLIAMWING