Eugene Asa Carr

Background

Eugene Asa Carr was born on March 20, 1830 at Concord, Erie County, New York, United States; the son of Clark Murwin and Delia Ann (Torrey) Carr.

Education

Entering the United States Military Academy in 1846, Carr graduated in 1850, was commissioned in the Mounted Riflemen (now the 3rd Cavalry), and was sent to the Cavalry School for Practise at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, for what the present-day army would call an incubator course.

Career

For ten years his service was chiefly on the frontier, and included several skirmishes with Indians, in one of which (near Limpia, Tex. , October 10, 1854) he was severely injured by an arrow, the first of his many wounds. Upon the organization of several new regiments in 1855, he was appointed a first lieutenant in the 1st (now 4th) Cavalry, and was promoted to a captaincy in 1858. At the beginning of the Civil War he was in garrison at Fort Washita, in the Indian Territory. Sent to join Lyon's command in Missouri, he distinguished himself at the battle of Wilson's Creek, and was appointed colonel of the 3rd Illinois Cavalry a few days later. He was soon in command of a brigade and then, at the battle of Pea Ridge, of a division. Here he was three times wounded, but refused to leave the field and had his wounds bandaged as he sat on his horse.

He was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers, March 7, 1862. His promotion to the grade of major in the regular army followed a few months later, but this commission of course remained in abeyance so long as he held higher volunteer rank. In 1863 he commanded a division in the Vicksburg campaign, and after the surrender of the city returned to Arkansas, where he was engaged in minor operations until he joined Gen. Canby early in 1865 for the campaign which resulted in the capture of Mobile. He was mustered out of the volunteer service, January 15, 1866, with the brevet rank of major-general, served for a time in North Carolina and at Washington, and then returned to the frontier. He had gained his first experience with hostile Indians before the Civil War; now began a long series of campaigns which made him, according to Gen. C. D. Rhodes, "perhaps the most famous and experienced Indian fighter of the quarter of a century following the Civil War. " From 1868 until the final campaign of Pine Ridge in 1890-91, he served almost continuously in the Indian country with the 5th and 6th Cavalry, fought against Cheyenne, Sioux, and Apache, and received the thanks of the legislatures of Nebraska, Colorado, and New Mexico for bringing peace within their borders. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, January 7, 1873, and to colonel, April 29, 1879. He was appointed brigadier-general, July 19, 1892, but his active service was nearly at an end, for he was placed on the retired list, February 15, 1893. Though spending the rest of his life in the East, he was a member of the Historical Society of Kansas, a state whose history he had largely helped to make. Gen. Rhodes calls him a "superb horseman" and "a born cavalry leader, " and quotes Frederic Remington as saying that "Gen. Carr would rather be a colonel of cavalry than Czar of Russia. " The Indians called him the War Eagle.

He died in Washington and was buried at West Point.

Achievements

• He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle and was brevetted Brigadier General of US Volunteers. After the Civil War, Carr served in the 5th and 6th Cavalry on the Frontier from 1868 to 1891 and was known as a experienced Indian fighter.

Membership

He was a member of the Historical Society of Kansas.

Connections

His wife was Mary P. Maguire of St. Louis.

Father:

Clark Murwin Carr

Mother:

Delia Ann (Torrey) Carr

Wife:

Mary P. Maguire

References

• Eugene Asa Carr 2009 Topps American Heritage Heroes Medal of Honor #MOH-1 - Civil War