John Buchanan Floyd (1 June 1806 – 26 August 1863) was a Brigadier-General of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He previously served as Governor of Virginia from 1849 to 1852 (succeeding William Smith and preceding Joseph Johnson) and Secretary of War from 1857 to 1860 (succeeding Jefferson Davis and preceding Joseph Holt). Floyd was known for his crippling defeat at the Battle of Fort Donelson in 1862 to Ulysses S. Grant.
Biography[]
Floyd was born in Blacksburg, Virginia, to John Floyd, who had served as Governor of Virginia from 1830 to 1834. Floyd was of Welsh descent. After graduating from South Carolina College in 1829, Floyd practiced law in his native state and in Arkansas, where he lost much of his money and health. In 1839 he returned to Washington County, Virginia, and became a member of the House of Delegates from 1847-1849, and that year he was elected as the Governor of Virginia, with his term expiring in 1852. In 1857 he became Secretary of War for James Buchanan, and his lack of administration was evident due to the poor execution of the Utah Mormon War. In December 1860 he was sacked for malversement, and although he was opposed to slavery and secession, he was accused of smuggling Federal arms to armories in the south. Over 115,000 Federal muskets had reached the south by late 1859, and after the secession of Virginia, he became a Major General in the Provisional Army of Virginia. When the Confederate States were united he was made a Brigadier-General in the Confederate States Army and he fought in West Virginia along with Robert E. Lee, defeating Erastus B. Tyler at the Battle of Kessler's Cross Lanes. But at the Battle of Carnifex Ferry he was defeated, and he blamed Henry A. Wise, and Wise was sacked. Floyd remained in command of the CSA army in West Virginia until transferred west in January 1862. He became the commandant of Fort Donelson, but when Union general Ulysses S. Grant attacked the fort, he had little influence and had Gideon Pillow and Simon Bolivar Buckner take command. On 11 March 1862 he was relieved of command and he died of illness in 1863.