John Mendenhall

John Ross Mendenhall (July 29, 1829 – July 1, 1892) was an officer in the United States Army. As a Union Army artillery officer in the American Civil War, his performance was notable at the Battle of Stones River, where his concentration of guns broke the last Confederate attack. Before the Civil War Mendenhall was born in Vevay, Indiana, son of Miles and Nancy Mendenhall. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1847, graduating on July 1, 1851. Mendenhall's first assignment was as a brevet second lieutenant of cavalry at the barracks in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Transferring to the 4th Artillery on February 20, 1852, he served at Fort Mifflin, Pennsylvania, 1852–1853. On frontier duty at Ringgold Barracks, Texas, he was promoted to second lieutenant on October 8, 1853. After serving in the garrison of Fort Hamilton, New York, 1854–1855, he was on frontier duty at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, 1855. He was engaged in two skirmishes in 1855. Mendenhall was at Fort Laramie in Dakota Territory 1855–1856. Promoted to first lieutenant in 1856, he served in Florida during hostilities with the Seminoles. Lt. Mendenhall was back at Fort Leavenworth during the Bleeding Kansas disturbances of 1857–1858, and once more at Fort Laramie in 1858. He was in the garrison of Fort Columbus, New York, in 1859, followed by recruiting service in the same year. He was assigned to the Artillery School for Practice at Fort Monroe, Virginia, from 1859 to the outbreak of the war in 1861. He was promoted to captain, 4th Artillery, on July 3, 1861. Mendenhall married Sophia Elizabeth Mix (1838–1895) on November 27, 1858. War service