Background
Christopher Columbus Augur was born on July 10, 1821 in Kendall, New York to Ammon and Annis (Wellman) Augur. He moved with his family to Michigan and entered West Point in 1839.
Christopher Columbus Augur was born on July 10, 1821 in Kendall, New York to Ammon and Annis (Wellman) Augur. He moved with his family to Michigan and entered West Point in 1839.
Augur was appointed as a cadet to the United States Military Academy in 1839. He graduated in 1843, standing sixteenth in a class of thirty-nine members, which included U. S. Grant and a dozen others who distinguished themselves on one side or the other during the Civil War.
Assigned to the 4th Infantry, he served with credit in the Mexican War at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma under Gen. Zachary Taylor, and as aide-de-camp for several brigade commanders. He had active service on the frontier in the new territories of Washington and Oregon, during the years 1852-56, in campaigns against the Yakima and Rogue River Indians, with engagements at Two Buttes, Big Bend of Rogue River, and Sohomy Creek.
At the beginning of the Civil War, he had reached the grade of major and was serving as commandant of cadets at the West Point Military Academy, with the ex-officio rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was promoted to brigadier-general of volunteers in November 1861, and placed in command of the advance defenses of Washington until March 1862.
This was followed by active service on the Rappahannock and the first capture of Fredericksburg by his command March-July 1862. When Gen. Pope took command of the Army of Virginia, Augur was given Sigel's division of Banks's 5th corps on Aug. 9, which was ordered in a few days to threaten Gordonsville on the Virginia Central Railroad. Pope brought up the remaining corps, but did not place them at supporting distance. Banks thought that he was ordered to advance and attack the enemy, and in doing so found himself in the presence of Jackson's entire force, about four times as great as his own, at Cedar Mountain. He was driven back with great loss.
Augur was severely wounded late in the day and the other division commanders were wounded or captured. The rank of major-general of volunteers and of brevet-colonel in the regular army was conferred upon him for "gallant and meritorious services" on this occasion, one of the few commissions given for specific acts during the war. It was a long and tedious siege with much fighting. He opposed in council the disastrous assault of May 27 as premature and without proper study of the ground.
In the fall of 1862, when Banks organized his expedition to New Orleans, at his request Augur was assigned as second in command. He commanded the district of Baton Rouge for some months; commanded in the action at Port Hudson Plains, May 21, 1863; commanded the left wing of the army in the siege of Port Hudson until the surrender of the Confederate force under his classmate, Frank Gardner, in July.
It was a long and tedious siege with much fighting. He opposed in council the disastrous assault of May 27 as premature and without proper study of the ground. He was ill and on leave of absence and president of the Warren court of inquiry and other military commissions until October 13, 1863, when he was assigned to the command of the Department of Washington and the 22nd army corps, which he maintained until the end of the war.
He was brevetted brigadier-general in 1865 for gallant and meritorious service at Port Hudson and major-general for services in the field during the war.
In the years following the Civil War there were many new problems requiring solution by military commanders.
He was mustered out of volunteer service in 1866, reverted to his position as colonel of the 12th Infantry in the regular army, and was promoted to brigadier-general by Gen. Grant to fill one of the vacancies created by his own election to the presidency in 1869. In the years following the Civil War there were many new problems requiring solution by military commanders. The building of the Union Pacific Railroad and the migration of thousands of home seekers to the West aroused the Indian tribes to the defense of their hunting-grounds. Augur commanded various military departments during that period and directed operations against nearly every one of the hostile tribes in the years from 1867 to 1885.
Following the war, Augur went on to command several military departments: the Department of the Platte from January 15, 1867, to November 13, 1871; the Department of Texas from November, 1871, to March, 1875; the Department of the Gulf from 1875 to July 1, 1878; the Department of the South from July 1, 1878, to December 26, 1880; and then he returned to the Department of Texas where he commanded for approximately another three years between January 2, 1881, and October 31, 1883.
He headed up the Military Division of the Missouri from 1883-85. He also played a major role in negotiating the Treaty of Medicine Lodge in 1867 and the Treaty of Fort Laramie in 1868.
In 1885, he retired from the Army with the rank of Brigadier General.
While in command of the Department of the Gulf during the reconstruction days of 1876, when opposing factions were on the verge of open war because of the disputed election of that year, he settled the affair without bloodshed.
He retired from active service on July 10, 1885, and died on January 16, 1898 at Georgetown, Washington.
Member of the Aztec Club (1847), member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, member of the Military Order of Foreign Wars.
Augur was highly commended for his performance and bravery during war time.
In 1844 he married Jane Elizabeth Arnold of Ogdensburg, New York; they had ten children.
