As Pleasonton’s most recent biographer, I can tell you that he rarely, if ever, made a move without the ulterior motive of promoting himself in some way. He rose through the ranks by sheer manipulation – first through McClellan during the Peninsula Campaign by submitting bogus reports of his “glorious” activities; same during the Maryland Campaign; and finally at Chancellorsville by claiming to have single-handedly blunting Jackson’s flank attack and “saving” the entire Union army from destruction. When Hooker happily sent Stoneman on medical leave after Chancellorsville, Pleasonton only too happily stepped into the chair. After commanding terribly at Brandy Station (his subordinates deserve the credit for the successes there), Pleasonton manipulated foreign-born commanders out of the Corps and promoted several of his hand-picked youngsters, including Custer, Farnsworth, Merritt, and Kilpatrick.
Interestingly, while George Meade was a pre-war captain of engineers, he often had to deal with Pleasonton’s father, Stephen, who was Commissioner of Lighthouses. Stephen appears to have taken bribes and kickbacks, and gave construction and maintenance contracts to his cronies, making a mess of the US lighthouse system for decades. When a Congressional Committee booted Stephen Pleasonton out of office in the late 1850’s, Capt. Meade was one of the officers who was tasked to redesign and repair Stephen’s broken-down lighthouses, which had often been built with shoddy materials and obsolete equipment. No doubt, Meade knew that when it came to Stephen and Alfred, the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. As Stephen used the political process to benefit himself, so did Alf. The son learned very well.
After the Gettysburg Campaign, Meade continued to defend Alf until Pleasonton testified against Meade in the spring of 1864 at the Committee on the Conduct of the War. Meade then cut his support, and Grant brought Sheridan to command the Cavalry Corps. Pleasonton was banished to the western backwater where he actually performed quite well, notably against Price’s Campaign… except for his old penchant of complaining about the performance of some subordinates and bringing them up on courtmartial charges. Although he performed well on the field, Pleasonton didn’t make many friends there.
After the war, and not getting the promotion he felt he deserved, he resigned from the Army and spent some time as a Commissioner of Revenue. Until an older brother died and bequeathed his fortune to him, Pleasonton was quite poor and relied on support from friends. He spent most of his days in bed and his nights regaling everyone in a Washington DC saloon with his war stories. He died in 1897, likely from throat cancer from smoking all those cigars – just like Grant.

He was quite an enigma, quite a frustrating personality to get to know, but very interesting to study!

J.D.