George B. Crittenden

George Bibb Crittenden (March 20, 1812 – November 27, 1880) was a soldier in both the United States Army and the Confederate States Army during the mid-19th century. The son of influential Kentucky politician John J. Crittenden, George Crittenden enrolled in the United States Military Academy in 1828, graduating four years later. He served in the Black Hawk War in 1832 before resigning from the military in 1833. Crittenden spent the rest of the decade practicing law and became an alcoholic. Leaving Kentucky, he traveled to the then-independent Republic of Texas and joined the Army of the Republic of Texas. He took part in the Mier expedition, an unauthorized Texian military incursion into Mexico that was forced to surrender. John Crittenden used his influence to push for his son's release, and George returned to Kentucky. In 1846, he rejoined the military for service in the Mexican–American War, but was arrested for drunkenness before he could see combat. Having been restored to the service, he received a brevet promotion for his actions at the Battle of Contreras and the Battle of Churubusco in 1847. Crittenden was arrested twice for drunkenness in 1848, but his father's influence allowed him to continue his military career.

Crittenden continued in the United States military until the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He resigned from the military in June, and by November was a major general in the Confederate States Army. Initially assigned to command east Tennessee and as much of Kentucky as he could hold, his command was later reduced to the brigades of Brigadier Generals Felix Zollicoffer and William Carroll. In December, Zollicoffer made a tactically questionable decision to move his troops north of the Cumberland River; by the time Crittenden arrived on the scene from his Knoxville, Tennessee, headquarters, it was too late to correct this deployment. On January 19, 1863, Crittenden ordered an attack while his Union opponents were divided by a flooded creek. The resulting Battle of Mill Springs was a Confederate defeat, and Zollicoffer was killed.

Retreating back into Tennessee, Crittenden faced allegations of drunkenness during the battle and of disloyalty. Assigned to command a corps under General Albert Sidney Johnston, Crittenden was arrested on April 1 for being drunk on duty. After a series of legal proceedings, Crittenden resigned in October. Re-entering the Confederate service as a colonel in April 1863, he served in staff roles in the backwater Department of Western Virginia, and for a time in 1864 held departmental command of the Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee. After the war ended in 1865, Crittenden returned to Kentucky. He was indicted for treason upon his return, but pardoned in 1867. From 1867 to 1874, he was the state librarian of Kentucky. Crittenden died in 1880. His brother Thomas L. Crittenden was a Union major general during the war.