Edward
Richard Canby was
born in Kentucky in 1817. After graduating from West
Point in 1839,he saw action in the Seminole
War (1838-42) and the Mexican War
(1846-48).
On the outbreak of the American Civil War
Canby was appointed commander of the Department of New Mexico and
successfully prevented an invasion of California by Henry Sibley.
Canby went to Washington as an assistant
adjutant general and commanded troops in New
York City. Appointed commander of the Military Division of Western
Mississippi, he captured Mobile, Alabama, and forced the surrender
of Edmund Kirby-Smith.
Edward Richard Canby, promoted to the rank of major general, remained
in the army but on 11th April, 1873, while commander of the Department
of Columbia, was murdered in Siskiyou, California by Modocs
led by Kintpuash
during negotiations
over a peace treaty.
(1)
Ulysses
Grant, Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant (1885)
General
Canby was an officer of great merit. He was naturally studious, and
inclined to the law. There have been in the army but very few, if
any, officers who took as much interest in reading and digesting every
act of Congress and every regulation for the government of the army
as he. His knowledge gained in this way made him a most valuable staff
officer. He was an exceedingly modest officer, though of great talent
and learning.
Available from Amazon Books
(order below)
