During the winter of early 1864, Stoneman wearied of his administrative duties at Washington and longed to get back to the field. He was anxious to redeem his reputation in the wake of the Chancellorsville raid. When Major General John Schofield, a fellow New Yorker and friend, was given command of the Department of the Ohio in January, he arranged for Stoneman to take command of the XXIII Corps of infantry in the Western Theater. However, on April 4, Schofield took his place while retaining command of the Department. Stoneman was assigned to command a special cavalry force, but Schofield instead placed him in command of the Department's entire Cavalry Corps. Buford's closest aide, Myles Keogh, distraught at Buford's death, requested a transfer to be appointed to Stoneman's staff. Keogh became Stoneman's aide-de-camp. During a raid planned for Macon GA and the Andersonville Confederate prison camp designed by Stoneman to free captives there, he was captured on July 31, 1864, along with Keogh. Stoneman suffered the distinction of being the
highest-ranking officer that the Confederates captured during the war. Both were specially exchanged at General William T. Sherman's request that fall, Stoneman being exchanged for Confederate Brigadier General Daniel C. Govan. After his return to the army, in late 1864, Stoneman finally salvaged his reputation by leading a raid into southwestern Virginia to destroy the salt works there, one of Lee's army's major resources, and the ironworks near Wytheville. He then led 6,000 men on another raid into North Carolina and Virginia in March 1865. His command nearly captured Confederate President Jefferson Davis. As Davis moved his government into North Carolina, Stoneman's horsemen closed in. Davis was finally captured by the 4th Michigan Cavalry, of Major General James Wilson's command, in Georgia on May 10. In June 1865, Stoneman was appointed commander of the Department of the Tennessee and headquartered in Memphis, a city torn by racial tension since Black troops comprised a part of the occupying Union army. After a riot broke out on May 1 between the black soldiers and black citizens, it led to charges that Stoneman had not intervened quickly enough to restore order. White Irish-born immigrants, competing with the blacks for manual labor jobs, had killed 46 blacks. Making matters worse was the fact that the Memphis police force was predominately Irish. Later, a Congressional committee investigated the riots and both thanked Stoneman for his assistance as well as rebuking him for not acting as quickly as he
perhaps could have.
During the Congressional campaigns of 1866, Stoneman became a Democrat since he was opposed to the radical policies of
Reconstruction. Republicans, however, won a sweeping victory and began establishing military districts in the south, placing some ten states under military rule. Stoneman was first tapped to head the sub-district in Petersburg VA and then the district of the state itself. Stoneman, like his predecessor and old friend John Schofield, supported more moderate policies that eased the state through the process. For his services, Stoneman received a brevet to major general in the Regular Army and was mustered out of volunteer service on September 1, 1866.
Upon mustering out, Stoneman reverted to his Regular Army rank of lieutenant colonel of the 3rd Cavalry. Effective back to July 28, 1866, he was appointed colonel of the XXI Infantry, and commanded the Department of Arizona, 1st Military District. On May 3, 1870, Stoneman took command of the Arizona Military Department with headquarters at Drum Barracks. A controversial commander in his dealings with Indian uprisings, Stoneman was relieved of his command in May 1871, retiring with the rank of major general and replaced by George Crook. He had sought retirement due to "injuries" suffered during the Civil War, but President Ulysses Grant discovered that Stoneman's "disability" was due to the hemorrhoid condition and revoked Stoneman's rank, reverting him to colonel.
Moving to California, and realizing his life-long dream since first seeing it as a young 2nd lieutenant over 30 years before, Stoneman and wife Mary settled on a 400-acre estate in San Gabriel Valley which he called "Los Robles (The Oaks)." Stoneman cultivated a lush vineyard on the property. The home no longer stands, but the area is today a state historical landmark.
In 1882, he was elected Governor of California and served a four- year term after serving as a Railroad Commissioner from 1876-78. Stoneman had several influential supporters in his nomination, three being Judge David S. Terry, Stephen M. White, and James T. Ayers, the latter the editor of the Evening Express. Stoneman's principal opponent for nomination was the owner of the San Francisco Examiner, George Hearst (millionaire father of William Randolph Hearst), who
led in the early balloting. However, Stoneman's rural-based supporters rallied and Stoneman was finally nominated on the 14th ballot. In the election, Stoneman faced the Republican Morris M. Estee, an experienced California politician and Speaker of the Assembly. Stoneman campaigned hard throughout the state, hampered by his poor speech-making. His wife Mary (picture at left), who called her husband "Stony," hated the rigors of campaigning. She once even wrote that seeing her husband in the political arena made her "sick."
Stoneman won the race handily, capturing 40% of the total vote among four candidates. His administration was early on marked by the controversial issues of the state railroads, but he nevertheless established progressive programs in several arenas. Two new state hospitals were established in 1885, as well as a home for the blind. A Forestry Board, sorely needed, was established.
On July 17, 1885, a fire destroyed Stoneman's ranch home. The family wasn't home at the time, but Stoneman's papers, his Civil War mementos, and most personal possessions were lost. Stoneman's political supporters, as well as many newspapers, proclaimed the fire to have been set by the Governor's political enemies. Mary was devastated by the fire, and more so upon learning that her husband had let the insurance lapse so there was no recovery available.
His party did not nominate Stoneman for re-election, as he faced strong opposition within his own party. Without the necessary political skill to build support, Stoneman was not even considered for a second term. In fact, at the convention, his record as governor was hardly even mentioned.
In 1887 he asked for restoration to the military retirement list upon leaving office, which elicited negative comments since there was a perception that his ranch had made him a wealthy man, irrespective of losing his home. He became estranged from his wife over an alleged affair, which she vigorously denied. Broken financially and in poor health, he traveled to New York City and there had surgery to alleviate his hemorrhoids, described by his sister as a "severe operation." He stayed at her home in Albany to recuperate. On November 28, 1888, Stoneman left Albany and traveled to Buffalo NY, to visit another sister, Charlotte Williams. After more traveling to visit his children and other family, he died at Charlotte's home in Buffalo on September 5, 1894, as a result of a stoke suffered in April. His final years had been anything but the happy ones he had expected to spend at his home in the beloved California valley.
At the military funeral, all of his pallbearers were civilians, and neither of his sons attended. He is buried in the very small Bentley Cemetery in Lakewood NY, not far from his Busti childhood home, in the Stoneman family plot. A simple family monument in the center briefly tells of Stoneman's accomplishments, and he is surrounded by his parents and other members of his family. Stoneman's family home in Busti disappeared long ago, and a new home, built in the 1990's,
now stands on the spot. In 1970, songwriter J. R. Robertson immortalized Stoneman's 1865 raid into southwest Virginia in his popular song, "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
