William Starke Rosencrans
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| Name at Enlist | William Starke Rosencrans |
| Birth Name | William Starke Rosecrans |
| Lived | 6 Sep 1819 – 1898 |
| Birth Place | Ohio |
| Birth Country | USA |
| Rank at Enlistment | General |
| Death Location | California |
| Mother | Jemima Hopkins |
| Father | Crandall Rosecrans |
| Father Lived | 30 Aug 1874 |
| Spouse | Anna Elizabeth Hegeman |
| Married On | 24 Aug 1843 |
| Marriage Location | St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel, New York City, NY |
William Starke Rosecrans was born the second son of Crandall Rosecrans and Jemima Hopkins on September 6, 1819. Crandall was born to Dr. Daniel Rosecrans and Thankful Wilcox Rosecrans in Wilkes-Barre, PA on August 30, 1794. Crandall served in the War of 1812 and the Siege of Detroit. He was in the Light Horse Battalion. Captain Daniel Rosecrans was a great-grandfather to William and a Revolutionary War soldier.
William was also a descendant of Herman Hendricksen of Bergen, Norway. Herman Hendricksen was known to have married Magdalena Dircks in NY in 1657. In 1659, they moved to Esopus, NY, where Hendricksen was taken prisoner by Indians, but managed to escape. He died in Rochester, New York in 1697.
William went to West Point Academy with Don Carlos Buell between 1838 and 1842. He then moved to NY where he met and married Anna Elizabeth Hegeman. They married on August 24, 1843 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Chapel in New York City. They had 4 children. Between 1847 and 1852, he was an engineer and supervised the fortifications being built in Newport, RI. In 1853, he was also a civil and constructing engineer at the Washington Navy Yard.
When the Civil War started, he joined the WI 15th Infantry as a General. He was Commander of the Army of the Cumberland. Colonel Hans C. Heg and the WI 15th served under Rosecrans at Chickamauga. After the war, he served as Minister to Mexico, Congressman from CA, and Register of the Treasury under President Cleveland. He died in 1898 in California.
Sources: Rygg, p.53 [Photo at Vesterheim, Decorah IA]; William Mathias Lamers, The Edge of Glory, (Louisiana State University Press, 1961), pgs. xii, 8-17.