homeward journey. Two years later he was able to seize
Barcelona, but on his way back to England he took the
opportunity to capture Gibraltar, which fell on 23–24
July 1704. Rooke successfully defended his conquest
three weeks later when he fought the French fleet at the
battle of Velez Malaga [13 August 1704], and it has re-
mained in English hands ever since.”
Rooke’s career then came to a sudden end. The
Whig government in London was attacked by Tories
in the House of Commons who compared Rooke’s
military record to that of the Whig favorite, John
churchill, the first duke of Marlborough. In order
to make Marlborough look better, the government de-
cided to retire Rooke from any further service in Feb-
ruary 1705. He never saw any further military action
and died in London on 24 January 1709 at the age of
approximately 59.
Historian John Hattendorf writes of Rooke’s im-
pact on history: “Rooke was a man who seemed to want
to avoid the public limelight and political controversy in
attending to his duty. Writers such as Daniel Defoe were
unwilling to accept this and created quite another image
of him. Rooke’s death in quiet retirement on 24 Janu-
ary 1709 led to no great public notice, and, indeed, the
political attempts of the Tories during Rooke’s lifetime
to turn him into a popular hero during his active career
failed miserably... .”
References: Hattendorf, John B., “Sir George Rooke and
Sir Cloudsley Shovell, c.1650–1709 and 1650–1707,”
in Precursors of Nelson: British Admirals of the Eighteenth
Century, edited by Peter Le Fevre, and Richard Harding
(London: Chatham Publishing, 2000), 43–77; Charnock,
John, “Rooke, Sir George,” in Biographia Navalis; or, Im-
partial Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of Officers of
the Navy of Great Britain, From the Year 1660 to the Pres-
ent Time;... , 4 vols. (London: Printed for R. Faulder,
1794–98), I:402–430; Browning, Oscar, ed., The Journal
of Sir George Rooke, Admiral of the Fleet, 1700–1702 (Lon-
don: Printed for the Navy Records Society, 1897); Bruce,
Anthony, and William Cogar, “Rooke, Sir George,” in
An Encyclopedia of Naval History (New York: Checkmark
Books, 1999), 311; An Account of Sir George Rook’s Arrival
in the Channel with the Fleet under His Command (Lon-
don: Edw. Jones, 1696); A Narrative of Sir George Rooke’s
Late Voyage to the Mediterranean, Where He Commanded as
Admiral of the Confederate Fleet... (London: Printed for
Benj. Tooke, 1704).
Rosecrans, William Starke (1819–1898)
American general
Born in Kingston, Ohio, on 6 September 1819, Wil-
liam Rosecrans received a local education and then
entered the United States Military Academy at West
Point, New York, in 1838. He graduated in 1842 and
joined the American army that same year as a second
lieutenant of engineers. Two years later, he returned to
West Point, where he was an assistant professor of engi-
neering. After three years of teaching, Rosecrans served
as superintendent of the repair of harbors along the
eastern coast of the United States, specifically in Vir-
ginia, a position he held until 1854. However, not see-
ing any further advancement in the army, he resigned
his commission and retired to private life in Cincin-
nati, Ohio, where he went to work as an engineering
consultant.
The onset of the American Civil War in 1861 saw
Rosecrans reenter the military, and in May 1861 he was
made a brigadier general and given a command under
Generals George B. mcclellan and John Pope. At
first, Rosecrans was given the task of raising troops
in Ohio, but in June he was given command of three
brigades in the fight for Virginia. He oversaw several
Union victories, most notably at Rich Mountain (11
July 1861) and Carnifax Ferry, West Virginia (10 Sep-
tember 1861). Following these victories, he succeeded
Pope as commander of the Army of the Mississippi. In
1862, Rosecrans led the Union forces under his com-
mand to victory at Iuka (September 1862) and Corinth
(October 1862), both in Mississippi. He then took
command of the Army of the Cumberland, succeed-
ing Don Carlos Buell, and won an important victory at
Stones River, also known as Murfreesboro (31 Decem-
ber 1862–2 January 1863), defeating the Confederate
general Braxton Bragg. In this, known as the Chat-
tanooga campaign, Rosecrans deftly outmaneuvered
Bragg and pursued him with part of his army, leading
to the most crucial battle of his career.
The battle of Chickamauga Creek (19–20 Sep-
tember 1863) was a classic engagement between two
armies: Approximately 55,000 Union forces, led by
Rosecrans, took on a much-larger army of some 70,000
led by Bragg. Historian George Bruce writes: “On the
19th the Confederates attacked along the whole line
and drove back their opponents, cutting them off from
the river, and forcing them to bivouac for the night in a
waterless country. On the 20th the attack was renewed, RoSecRAnS, williAm StARke