A historical debate: General Benjamin Prentiss was called the “Hero of the Battle of Shiloh” following the Civil War skirmish in Tennessee between his Union troops and the Confederates. But some historians have questioned whether he should have gotten that tribute. The author of the accompanying article believes that Prentiss was unfairly criticized after the war. He lived out his life in Bethany after the war.
A home fit for a general: Benjamin Prentiss, Union Army general in the Civil War, built this magnificent home on a hill south of the railroad tracks near 17th Street after he moved to Bethany after the war to become the postmaster.
(Editor’s note: Civil War General Benjamin Prentiss lived his final years in Bethany where he built a mansion on a hilltop looking out over his adopted community. He was appointed as Bethany’s postmaster by President Benjamin Harrison. He died on Feb. 8, 1901, and is buried at Miriam Cemetery in Bethany. The Prentiss Park on South 15th Street is dedicated in the general’s memory. His role as a Union general in the Civil War was a frequent subject of debate. The following article was written by Hank Koopman in the Quincy, Ill., Whig Herald who makes the point that the general was frequently maligned, falsely, by historians and the media of the time.)
Bethany, MO: Major General Benjamin Mayberry Prentiss of Quincy, Illinois commanded the 6th Division of Ulysses S. Grant’s Army of the Tennessee as a brigadier general on April 6, 1862, the first day of the two-day battle of Shiloh.–By the Quincy Whig-Herald