★ Kirby, Edmund

Edmund Kirby​

Born: March 11, 1840

Birthplace: Brownville, New York

Father: Colonel Edmund Kirby 1794 – 1849

(Buried: Brownville Cemetery, Brownville, New York)​

Mother: Eliza A. Brown 1808 – 1864

(Buried: Brownville Cemetery, Brownville, New York)​

Education:

1861: Graduated from West Point Military Academy May – (10th​)​

Civil War Career:

1861: 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 1st​ Artillery​

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1861: Drilled Volunteers in Washington, D.C.​

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1861 – 1863: 1st​ Lt. United States Army, 1st​ Artillery​

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1861: Served in the First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia​

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1861: Served in the Defenses of Washington, D.C.​

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1861 – 1862: Artillery Company Commander in Harper's Ferry, Virginia​

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1861: Served in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia​

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1862: Served in the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Glendale, Virginia​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia​

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1862: Served in the Battle of Falmouth, Virginia

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1862: Served in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia​

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1863: Mortally Wounded in left thigh Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia​

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1863: President Lincoln made him Brigadier General day of Kirby's Death​

Died: May 28, 1863

Place of Death: Washington, D.C.

Cause of Death: Pyemia

Age at time of Death: 23 years old

Burial Place: Brownville Cemetery, Brownville, New York

 

[Luke Freet]

Edmund Kirby​

Born: March 11, 1840View attachment 349259

Birthplace: Brownville, New York

Father: Colonel Edmund Kirby 1794 – 1849

(Buried: Brownville Cemetery, Brownville, New York)​

Mother: Eliza A. Brown 1808 – 1864

(Buried: Brownville Cemetery, Brownville, New York)​

Education:

1861: Graduated from West Point Military Academy May – (10th​)​

Civil War Career:

1861: 2nd​ Lt. United States Army, 1st​ Artillery​

​

1861: Drilled Volunteers in Washington, D.C.​

​

1861 – 1863: 1st​ Lt. United States Army, 1st​ Artillery​

​

1861: Served in the First Battle of Bull Run, Virginia​

​

1861: Served in the Defenses of Washington, D.C.​

​

1861 – 1862: Artillery Company Commander in Harper's Ferry, Virginia​

​

1861: Served in the Battle of Ball's Bluff, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Siege of Yorktown, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Battle of Fair Oaks, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Battle of Savage's Station, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Battle of Glendale, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Battle of Malvern Hill, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Battle of Falmouth, Virginia​

​

1862: Served in the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia​

​

1863: Mortally Wounded in left thigh Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia​

​

1863: President Lincoln made him Brigadier General day of Kirby's Death​

Died: May 28, 1863

Place of Death: Washington, D.C.

Cause of Death: Pyemia

Age at time of Death: 23 years old

Burial Place: Brownville Cemetery, Brownville, New York

What a jump in rank. From Lieutenant to Brigadier.

 

[Pollaco]

At Chancellorsville he was detached from his own battery and given charge of the 5th Maine Battery because this battery had lost all of it's officers.

A dying Kirby told Lincoln that his only concern was his widowed mother and sisters and how a Lts. Pension would be all they received. Lincoln immediately commissioned Kirby a brigadier general and this substantially increased the pension.

He was commanding the 5th Maine Battery instead of being with his own Battery I, 1st Artillery when he was wounded. His detachment was due to all officers of the 5th Maine having been killed or wounded through May 3.

When visited in the hospital by Lincoln Kirby told the president that his impending death would leave no support for his widowed mother and sisters. It was after hearing this story that Lincoln had Kirby promoted to brigadier.

John F. Chase won the MOH for his and another soldier returning to rescue the wounded Kirby.This was after the cannons of the 5th Maine were removed at Kirby's orders. "First the guns then me". Kirby recommended the 2 in his report that was written by Kirby in a ambulance.

 

[Belfoured]

Thanks for this post. A genuine American hero - as were so many of the young West Pointers assigned to the field artillery and who made the ultimate sacrifice for the US at their guns. Kirby, Dimick, Woodruff, Cushing, Hazlett....

 

[Belfoured]

What a jump in rank. From Lieutenant to Brigadier.

And much deserved.

 

[ErnieMac]

Kirby's father, Edmund Kirby was a career army officer who fought in the War of 1812, the Creek War, the Black Hawk War and the Mexican War. He died in 1849 of an illness contracted in the Mexican War. The elder Edmund Kirby had a sister named Frances Kirby who married a man named Joseph Lee Smith. Frances and Joseph were the parents of Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith.