Richard Arnold was a career U. S. Army officer who served as a brigadier general in the Union forces during the American Civil War.
Background
Richard Arnold was born on April 12, 1828 in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. He was the son of Sally (Lyman) Arnold and Lemuel Hastings Arnold, governor of Rhode Island, and a descendant of Thomas Arnold who was established in New England by 1635.
Education
He entered West Point in 1846, was graduated in 1850, and was commissioned in the artillery.
Career
He served with his battery in Florida and California, and was engaged for two years in exploration and road-building in the Northwest.
In 1854 he was promoted to first-lieutenant, and the next year was assigned to duty as aide-de-camp to Gen. Wool, with whom he served until his promotion to a captaincy at the beginning of the Civil War. He joined his battery at Washington, and a few days later took it into action at Bull Run, his first battle.
Though heavily engaged through the day, the battery was not infected with the general panic. With other troops which preserved their cohesion and discipline, it covered the retreat of the demoralized army, and in doing so was compelled to sacrifice all its guns.
Arnold began the Peninsular Campaign, next spring, as chief of artillery in Gen. Franklin's division, and at the very outset was noted for his energy and ability in getting his guns ashore. Through the greater part of the campaign, however, he was not with the artillery, but serving on the staff of the 6th corps, with which he was present at the battles of Savage Station, Glendale, and Malvern Hill.
After the withdrawal of the army from the peninsula, illness kept him from the field for some months. He was then selected as chief of artillery of the Department of the Gulf, was appointed brigadier-general of volunteers (November 29, 1862), and departed for New Orleans. His duties in his new position, for a great part of the time, were administrative, but he was in the field during the campaign which ended with the siege and capture of Port Hudson in 1863, and again during the disastrous Red River Expedition in the spring of 1864. In this expedition he was temporarily assigned to duty with the cavalry, and commanded the cavalry division for two months.
Immediately afterward he was sent to assist in the siege of Fort Morgan, in Mobile Bay, and with its surrender in August 1864 his field service ended.
He was mustered out of the volunteers a year later, and returned to battery duty. Promoted to major in 1875, he served with his regiment for a time, and then on staff duty at Governor's Island, where he died. His promotion to a lieutenant-colonelcy had fallen due only a few days before.
Achievements
Connections
Arnold was married to Abby Parker Coffin. They didn't have children.