Major General E. R. S. Canby (USV)

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Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (USV)

Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was born in Piatt’s Landing, Kentucky on 9 November 1817. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1839 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Infantry. He is often referred to as Edward Canby, though he may have been called by Richard in his childhood, Sprigg by fellow cadets at West Point, and during most of his career he was referred to as E. R. S. Canby.

He served in the Second Seminole War in Florida and received three brevet promotions during the Mexican-American War. After the war, he served in upstate New York and in the adjutant general’s office in California from 1849 until 1851 during the territory’s transition to statehood.

He served in Wyoming and Utah during the Utah War, serving on the court martial of Captain Henry Hopkins Sibley. Sibley was acquitted, and Canby wrote an endorsement for the army tent Sibley had adapted from the Native American teepee. Both were later assigned to New Mexico, where Canby, in 1860, coordinated a campaign against the Navajo.

At the start of the Civil War, Canby commanded Fort Defiance in New Mexico Territory. He was promoted to colonel of the 19th U.S. Infantry on 14 May 1861 and to command of the Department of New Mexico in June. Sibley joined the Confederate Army as a brigadier general. Sibley’s Army of New Mexico defeated Canby at the Battle of Valverde in February 1862, but Canby forced Sibley back into Texas following the strategic Union victory at Glorieta Pass.

Canby was promoted to brigadier general on 31 March 1862. He was relieved of his command by James H. Carleton and reassigned in the east. He served as commanding general of the city and harbor of New York City during the latter half of 1863. He then worked in a position described as “similar that of an Assistant to the Secretary of the Army”.

In May 1864, Canby was promoted to major general and relieved Nathaniel P. Banks of command in Louisiana. He then took command of the Military Division of Western Mississippi. He was wounded in the upper thigh by a guerrilla on the White River in Arkansas on 6 November 1864. Canby commanded the Union campaign against Mobile, Alabama in the spring of 1865. Mobile fell on 12 April. Canby accepted the surrender of Confederate forces under Richard Taylor in Citronelle on 4 May, and those under Edmund Kirby Smith west of the Mississippi River on 26 May.

In August 1872, Canby was posted to command the Pacific Northwest. He ran into trouble with the Modoc tribe which had been forced out of Northern California to live on a reservation with their traditional enemies, the Klamath tribe. They pleaded to return to California and left the reservation illegally after the U.S. refused. The Modoc War broke out in 1872.

Canby received conflicting orders from Washington about whether to make peace or war on the Modoc. Canby was assigned to a peace commission but rumors that the governor of Oregon would hang nine Modoc as soon as they surrendered scuttled talks. On 11 April 1873, Canby went to another parley unarmed. Modoc warriors and two members of Canby’s party were secretly armed. Captain Jack, the Modoc leader, insisted on being able to ask Canby to “give us a home in our country”. When Canby said he didn’t have the authority to make such a promise, Captain Jack attacked and killed Canby. Reverend Eleazar Thomas was also killed. Canby was the only general to be killed during the Indian Wars.

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(Note: I completed this back in September 2017 and it got lost in the shuffle!)
 
Thanks for the response. I've not been to that area in southern Oregon and northern California, but it looks like its definitely worth a visit.
 
The whole area has a desolate beauty worth experiencing. The Modoc country borders on the Shasta country - they connect at Topsy like Cal-Or connects! Capt Jack was a Shasta raised by the Modoc. He and his people had been pushed and shoved and attacked by sometimes Indian agent Ben Wright, and there was just about no way for peace to happen. Canby, however, was the most reasonable officer Jack had to work with and would have gotten something accomplished, but the young men in Jack's band were too angry. They called him a woman for negotiating and so he shot Canby. The Modocs were definitely armed - they had been attacked twice by whites offering peace if they had no arms, and it was a ruse to get them killed. But killing Canby was a huge mistake. The US government frowned mightily upon the offing of their generals, and he was replaced with Jefferson C Davis, who had no use for Modocs. Sad things then ensued! But we have the little town of Canby, Oregon to commemorate the fallen general.
 
But killing Canby was a huge mistake. The US government frowned mightily upon the offing of their generals, and he was replaced with Jefferson C. Davis, who had no use for Modocs.

Old Jeff didn't bat an eye by killing Big Bill Bull Nelson in Louisville, Kentucky. Killing some Modocs in the Wild West was a walk in the park for this man.

Bill
 
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Old Jeff didn't bat an eye by killing Big Bill Bull Nelson in Louisville, Kentucky. Killing some Modocs in the Wild West was a walk in the park for this man.

Bill

It sure wasn't! He was fine with the incident that sparked the war, which was Ben Wright's poisoned barbecue. Wright killed about 40 Modocs and that was it. Curiously, Toby Riddle (Winema) was the translator for the US army - her son was named Jefferson C Davis Riddle and wrote the first book about the Modoc War. Winema was Modoc, Jack's cousin, and had married a miner from Kentucky. Both she and Jack had seen their parents and siblings killed - and it's interesting to see the completely different paths the two relatives took. This is something that twines on down to present day Native people, by the way.
 
I visited the birthplace of Major General Edward Canby yesterday at Piatt's Landing, Kentucky. This small area is close to Rabbit Hash.

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