Don Carlos Buell was a Union general during the American Civil War. He commanded troops in the West and took part in the Battle of Shiloh and the Battle of Perryville.

He was born on March 23, 1818, in Lowell, Ohio. His father died when the boy was 5, and Don went to live with his uncle George in Lawrenceburg, Ind. His uncle was a farmer, and young Don worked on the farm but also enjoyed an education at a local private school. He was a good student and scored highly in math. He gained admission to the U.S. Military Academy in 1837 and, after four up-and-down years, graduated in 1841, just time to fight in the Second Seminole War.

Staying in the Army, he served in the Mexican-American War, under both Gen. Winfield Scott and Gen. Zachary Taylor, and sustained a serious wound at Churubusco. After the war, he served in the adjutant general's office in the Department of the Pacific.

He began the Civil War as a lieutenant colonel and then became a brigadier general of volunteers and then a major general of volunteers. He helped Gen. George McClellan organize the Army of the Potomac and then, in November 1861, replaced William T. Sherman as the Army of the Ohio.

He suggested that Union troops travel along the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers in order to seize Nashville. Opposing this plan at the time were both McClellan and President Abraham Lincoln. This was the route taken by forces under Brig. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant in seizing both Fort Henry and Fort Donelson.

Buell took the initiative and occupied Nashville, on Feb. 25, 1862. He pursued the retreating Confederate force under Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston in the direction of Mississippi. Buell played a vital role in helping Union troops under Ulysses S. Grant avoid defeat at Shiloh and then assisted in the occupation of Corinth.

In June 1862, Buell headed toward Chattanooga but ran into stiff resistance from Confederate cavalry and infantry. He moved into Kentucky in September to stop an invasion by Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg, occupied Louisville, and stopped Bragg at the Battle of Perryville, in October. Buell did not pursue a retreating Bragg and was relieved of his command. A military commission investigation found no cause for punishment, but Buell received no new orders. He left the Army on May 23, 1864.

Buell settled in Kentucky and worked in the coal and iron industries, including a stint as president of the Green River Iron Company. In 1885–1889, he worked as a pension agent for the U.S. Government. He died on Nov. 19, 1898, at his home near Paradise, Ky; he was 80. He had married Margaret Mason in 1851.