Background
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was born in August, 1817 in Kentucky. His father, Israel T. Canby, was later Democratic candidate for governor of Indiana, to which state the family had removed.
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was born in August, 1817 in Kentucky. His father, Israel T. Canby, was later Democratic candidate for governor of Indiana, to which state the family had removed.
Canby was appointed from Indiana to a cadetship at West Point in 1835, graduated there in 1839, and was commissioned second lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry.
Canby served in the Florida War and on routine duties for some years, was promoted first lieutenant in 1846, and in 1847 was appointed an assistant adjutant-general with the rank of captain. In that capacity he accompanied Riley's brigade of Gen. Scott's army in Mexico, was present at the siege of Vera Cruz, the battles of Cerro Gordo, Contreras, and Churubusco, and the taking of the City of Mexico, and was twice brevetted for gallantry. He was employed on duties pertaining to his department, at first in San Francisco and later in Washington, until 1855, when he returned to the line by appointment as major of the 10th Infantry. He then served with his regiment at various stations on the frontier, the outbreak of the Civil War finding him in garrison at Fort Defiance, N. M. He was appointed colonel of the 19th Infantry, May 14, 1861, and assigned to the command of the Department of New Mexico. The district under his charge was an almost uninhabited region, remote from the principal theatre of the war, and the operations conducted there were little noticed at the time and are now almost forgotten. Yet they had, or might have had, a great influence upon the result of the war. When Gen. Sibley led a Confederate expedition from Texas into New Mexico, his government had larger plans than the mere occupation of that territory. California was the goal which Sibley hoped to reach. Its population was scanty, and included a considerable number of secession sympathizers. Once occupied, its reconquest by Union troops would have been a difficult matter, and meanwhile the Confederate government could have drawn from it an ample supply of the gold that it so badly needed. Canby's force was small, and was largely made up of unreliable local volunteers. He fought and lost a battle at Valverde, January 21, 1862, and thereafter avoided combat, using hunger, thirst, and heat as his weapons, as he drew Sibley away from his supplies. The invasion ended in complete disaster, and Sibley's demoralized command had lost half its strength before it reached Texas again. Canby was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, March 31, 1862, and ordered east. For a year and a half he was on duty as assistant adjutant-general in Washington, except for a period of four months in 1863, following the draft riots, when he was in command of the city of New York, suppressing disorder and executing the draft. He was appointed major-general of volunteers, May 7, 1864, and assigned to the command of the Military Division of West Mississippi, embracing the Gulf States and the Southwest. As all available troops had been withdrawn to strengthen Grant's and Sherman's armies, there were no large operations in his district during 1864. He was severely wounded by guerrillas in November. Soon after his recovery he managed to assemble sufficient force for a serious campaign against Mobile. The forts covering it were successively taken, by siege or assault, and the city was entered on Apr. 12, 1865. On May 4 and May 26, Canby received the surrender of the armies of Taylor and Kirby Smith, the last two Confederate armies remaining in the field. For five years following the war he was moved from place to place in the South, being sent anywhere that the administration encountered serious difficulties. He had been appointed a brigadier-general in the regular army, July 28, 1866, and was mustered out of the volunteer service, September 1, 1866. In 1870 he was assigned to command on the Pacific coast. Always a friend to the Indian, he undertook a mission to the Modocs in northern California, endeavoring to arrange a peaceable settlement of the difficulties with the government, but was treacherously murdered by the Indian envoys during his conference with them.
In 1861–1862, Canby commanded the Department of New Mexico, defeating the Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, forcing him to retreat to Texas. At the war's end, he took the surrender of Generals Richard Taylor and Edmund Kirby Smith. As commander of the Pacific Northwest in 1873, he was assassinated during peace talks with the Modoc, who were refusing to move from their California homelands. He was the only United States general to be killed during the Indian Wars.
Canby was regarded as an administrator, more than a leader. General Ulysses S. Grant believed that he lacked aggression, but declared him irreplaceable for his knowledge of army regulations and constitutional law.
He was tall and soldierly in appearance, kind and courteous in manner, utterly devoid of selfish ambition. His superiors and subordinates knew him as a great commander; he was too modest and reserved to win the popular recognition that he merited.
Quotes from others about the person
"Wherever he went, " says Gen. Cullum, "order good feeling, and tranquillity followed his footsteps. "
He married Louisa Hawkins at Crawfordsville, Indiana, August 1, 1839.