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1824 “The Spectator” Book with “John Floyd” Bookplate Son of John Floyd, Sr., Governor of Virginia (1849-1852)
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“John Floyd” (1806-1863) John (Buchanan) Floyd’s his Original Engraved Bookplate as Owner , Son of John Floyd, Sr., Governor of Virginia (1849-1852), Confederate General, placed on the inside front cover, book titled, “The Spectator” Volume VIII Only, of a series of Twelve volumes, printed in 1824 in Philadelphia: by James Crissy, 177, Chestnut Street, the book is complete Very Good, the Bookplate is Very Fine.
This impressively designed Bookplate shows a large Rattlesnake with the word “BEWARE” above, and crossed militaria below, then “John Floyd” in script. This is verified by its being imaged on a website for historic Virginia Bookplates. This book, printed in 1824, is from General Floyd's library. Floyd is also known as the Confederate General in the American Civil War who lost the crucial Battle of Fort Donelson.
From the Museum Display Identification Card: John Buchanan Floyd: Son of John Floyd, Sr., born at "Smithfield" in Montgomery County, Virginia on June 1, 1806. He was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1847 and elected Governor of Virginia in 1848, serving until 1852. In 1857 Floyd was appointed Secretary of War under President Buchanan. He resigned on December 29, 1860 because of the President's refusal to order Major Anderson back from Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie. He was bitterly criticized for transferring unwarranted numbers of arms from Northern to Southern arsenals. Commissioned a Brigadier General on May 23, 1861, he served in the West Virginia Campaign under General Robert E. Lee. At Fort Donelson, he turned over his command to General Pillow prior to the Surrender of the fort, which caused his dismissal by Confederate President Davis, without a court of inquiry, on March 11, 1862. Floyd was Commissioned a Major General of the Virginia State Troops. Floyd's health failed and he died near Abingdon, Virginia on August 26, 1863. John Buchanan Floyd is the Son of John Floyd, Sr. After the Secession of Virginia during the Civil War, Floyd was commissioned a Major General in the Provisional Army of Virginia, but on May 23, 1861, he was appointed a Brigadier General in the Confederate States Army (CSA).
He was first employed in some unsuccessful operations in the Kanawha Valley of western Virginia under Robert E. Lee, where he was both defeated and wounded in the arm at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry on September 10.
General Floyd blamed Brigadier General Henry A. Wise for the Confederate loss at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry, stating that Wise refused to come to his aid. Virginia Delegate Mason Mathews, whose son Alexander F. Mathews was Wise's aide-de-camp, spent several days in the camps of both Wise and Floyd to seek resolution to an escalating feud between the two generals.
Afterward, he wrote to President Jefferson Davis urging that both men be removed, stating, "I am fully satisfied that each of them would be highly gratified to see the other annihilated." Davis subsequently removed Wise from his command of the western Virginia region, leaving Floyd as the region's unquestioned superior officer.
In January 1862, he was dispatched to the Western Theater to report to General Albert Sidney Johnston and was given command of a division. Johnston sent Floyd to reinforce Fort Donelson and assume command of the post there. Floyd took command of Fort Donelson on February 13, just two days after the U.S. Army had arrived, becoming the third post commander within a week. Fort Donelson protected the crucial Cumberland River, and indirectly, the manufacturing city of Nashville and Confederate control of Middle Tennessee. It was the companion to Fort Henry on the nearby Tennessee River, which, on February 6, 1862, was captured by United States Army Brigadier General Ulysses S. Grant and river gunboats.
Floyd was not an appropriate choice to defend such a vital point, having political influence but virtually no military experience. General Johnston had other experienced, more senior generals (P. G. T. Beauregard and William J. Hardee) available and made a severe error in selecting Floyd. Floyd had little military influence on the Battle of Fort Donelson itself, deferring to his more experienced subordinates, Brigadier Generals Gideon Johnson Pillow and Simon Bolivar Buckner.
As the U.S. forces surrounded the fort and the town of Dover, the Confederates launched an assault on February 15 to open an escape route. Although successful initially, indecision on General Pillow's part left the Confederates in their trenches, facing growing reinforcements for Grant.
General Floyd, the commanding officer, who was a man of talent enough for any civil position, was no soldier, and possibly, did not possess the elements of one. He was further unfitted for command for the reason that his conscience must have troubled him and made him afraid. As Secretary of War, he had taken a solemn oath to maintain the Constitution of the United States and uphold the same against all enemies. He had betrayed that trust.
- Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant
Early in the morning of February 16, at a council of war, the generals and field officers decided to surrender their army.
Floyd, concerned that he would be arrested for treason if captured by the U.S. Army, turned his command over to Pillow, who immediately turned it over to Buckner. Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest and his entire Tennessee cavalry regiment escaped while Pillow escaped on a small boat across the Cumberland. The next morning, Floyd fled by steamboat with the 36th Virginia and 51st Virginia Infantry regiments, two artillery batteries, and elements of the other units from his old command. He safely reached Nashville, escaping just before Buckner surrendered to Grant in one of the most significant strategic defeats of the Civil War.
A short time before daylight the two steamboats arrived. Without loss of time the general (Floyd) hastened to the river, embarked with his Virginians, and at an early hour cast loose from the shore, and in good time, and safely, he reached Nashville. He never satisfactorily explained upon what principles he appropriated all the transportation on to the use of his particular command.
Floyd was relieved of his command by Confederate President Davis, without a court of inquiry, on March 11, 1862. He resumed his commission as a Major General of the Virginia Militia. However, his health soon failed, and he died a year later at Abingdon, Virginia, where he was buried in Sinking Spring Cemetery.