David Bell Birney
David Bell Birney (1825-1864) was a lawyer and a general in the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Birney rose steadily through the ranks during the war to major-general and participated in many notable battles and campaigns. Falling ill during the Petersburg Campaign, Birney eventually succumbed to typhoid fever and died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on October 18, 1864. He was the son of prominent abolitionist James Gillespie Birney.
Birney was born in the Triana community of Madison County on May 29, 1825, to James Gillespie Birney and Agatha Birney. He had six brothers and a sister. Three brothers also served during the Civil War. William recruited and commanded U.S. Colored Infantry and would rise to the rank of brigadier general. After the war, he engaged in a very public feud with noted abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison over James Birney’s influence in the movement. Brothers Dion and Fitzhugh died during the conflict. Brother James served in the Michigan legislature and was elected lieutenant governor. He later served as foreign minister at the Hague, in present-day Netherlands.
Their father was a prominent lawyer and plantation owner in Madison County until his advocacy for abolition drew backlash from the community. The backlash grew so fierce that James and Agatha moved the family, including David and his older brother William, to Kentucky, where James continued to gain prominence in the abolitionist movement; Agatha died there in 1838. During his childhood, Birney moved with his family from Kentucky to Ohio, Michigan, and then Philadelphia. Birney received his education at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. After graduating, he studied law in Cincinnati and was admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania. While in Kentucky in 1847, he married Anna Case, with whom he would have four children. She died in 1856. He began practicing law in Philadelphia in 1856 and married Marie Antoinette Jennison Birney in 1858; the couple had one child. During his time as a lawyer, Birney gained many influential friends and studied military science extensively as a hobby.
When the Civil War began in April 1861, Birney assisted in raising the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, where he enlisted at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Birney quickly received a promotion to colonel of the regiment and, by February 17, 1862, another promotion to brigadier general. Although he lacked official military education, he had influential friends in Pennsylvania politics. His first major engagement in the conflict occurred during the spring 1862 Peninsula Campaign, Gen. George B. McClellan’s ill-fated attempt to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, Virginia, by advancing up the Virginia Peninsula. While serving as part of Gen. Philip Kearny Jr.’s division during the Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines, Birney faced court-martial charges for allegedly disobeying orders. But after receiving support from his commanding officer, Birney was acquitted and resumed command during the related Seven Days Battle and later during the Second Battle of Manassas/Bull Run in August 1862, a resounding loss for the U.S. Army.
Birney took command of the division after Kearny was killed during the fighting at nearby Chantilly on September 1, 1862. Birney served as a division commander during U.S. defeats in Virginia at the Battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville in December 1862 and May 1863, respectively. Despite these setbacks, Birney continued to rise through the ranks, receiving a promotion to major general on May 20, 1863.
Birney and his division, under III Corps, were elements of the Army of the Potomac during the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863. On the second day of the battle, his division suffered significant casualties when his commanding officer, Daniel Sickles, attempted to advance U.S. lines to a peach orchard miles ahead of the rest of the federal forces. As a result of this ill-fated decision, Sickles was wounded by cannon fire, leading Birney to temporarily take over command of III Corps, one of the seven very large configurations making up the Army of the Potomac. After the battle, Birney returned to his division, and the Army of the Potomac set out on the Overland Campaign. That campaign saw the U.S. Army, led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, march toward Richmond and confront Confederate forces in 1864 at the Battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor. During the Battle of Spotsylvania, a shell fragment injured Birney, but he quickly returned to duty and received another promotion to command the X Corps in the Army of the James (River) on July 23, 1864.
During the nearly year-long siege of Petersburg, just south of Richmond, Birney became ill with diarrhea. The illness became so severe that he was eventually transported by ambulance back to Philadelphia. He never recovered and died of typhoid fever on October 18, 1864. He was buried in Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia. More than 5,000 mourners attended his funeral. In honor of his service and legacy, a school in Philadelphia was named after him in 1913.
