William Babcock Hazen: The Best Hated Man

At West Point William Babcock Hazen made a life-long enemy of Custer by arresting him, and during the Civil War he made enemies of Rosecrans and Sheridan. After the war Grant came to hate him. These men accused Hazen of stealing, of cowardice in the face of the enemy, of causing the loss at Chickamauga, of being a dupe of the Indians, and they banished him to Fort Buford in the far northwest. Hazen's life debunks the myth of men who fought side by side bonding together into a brotherhood. Hazen also had running feuds with two secretaries of war. He caused one to be impeached and the other to be publicly disgraced. Even Sherman, after years of friendship, turned against Hazen. This book traces the origins of these feuds and how they played out in magazines, newspapers, congressional hearings, and trials, and how Hazen emerged triumphant. The book uses the unpublished memoir of Hazen's wife and the thirty-year correspondence with his best friend, James Garfield, to provide color and motivation to these feuds. Edward S. Cooper is an independent scholar.Edward S. Cooper is the author of 'William Babcock Hazen: The Best Hated Man' with ISBN 9780838640890 and ISBN 0838640893.