Major General Samuel R. Curtis (USV)

[ColorizedPast]

Major General Samuel Ryan Curtis (USV)

Samuel Ryan Curtis was born on 3 February 1805 in Champlain, New York. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1831 and was stationed at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territories before resigning from the Army in 1832. He moved to Ohio, working as a civil engineer on the Muskingum River improvement projects and becoming a lawyer in 1841. During the Mexican-American War, he was appointed colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers and served as military governor of several occupied cities.

After the war, he served as chief engineer for river improvements in Des Moines, Iowa, for public infrastructure works in St. Louis and for the American Central Railroad in Iowa. In 1856, he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district. He was re-elected in 1858 and 1860 and advocated for a transcontinental railroad.

He was considered for a cabinet position in the Lincoln administration, but after the Civil War broke out, Curtis was appointed colonel of the 2nd Iowa Infantry on 1 June 1861. He was soon promoted to brigadier general backdated to 17 May 1861. After organizing the chaos in St. Louis, Curtis was given command of the Army of the Southwest on 25 December 1861.

In March 1862, his army won the Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas, and he was promoted to major general effective 21 March 1862. On the same day he heard of his promotion, he also found out his twenty-year old daughter Sadie had died of typhoid fever in St. Louis.

In July, he captured Helena, Arkansas. In September, Curtis was assigned command of the District of Missouri, but Lincoln was forced to reassign him, Curtis's abolitionist views led to conflict with the governor of Missouri, and he ended up in command of the Department of Kansas & Indian Territory.

In October 1863, his son Maj. Henry Zarah Curtis, adjutant to Brig. Gen. James G. Blunt, was killed by Quantrill's Raiders. In this surprise attack at the Battle of Baxter Springs, Quantrill's men wore Federal uniforms and gave no quarter.

In 1864, Curtis returned to Missouri to fight the Confederate invasion led by Maj. Gen. Sterling Price. Curtis gathered the forces of his department together, including several regiments of Kansas State Militia, calling his force the Army of the Border. Price was stopped at the Battle of Westport. Curtis was then reassigned to a completely different armed conflict, commanding the Department of the Northwest, in the closing phase of the response to uprisings in southern Minnesota and Dakota Territory by Native Americans.

In late 1865, he returned to Iowa where he was involved with the Union Pacific Railroad until his death in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on 26 December 1866.

 

[mofederal]

I like the image, but I am no fan of him. You did a fine job of colorizing him though. It really brings him to life.

 

[dixie1861]

Wow that's an amazing job of colorizing. Thanks for posting.

 

[JOHN42768]

Nice work

 

[WJC]

Yet another fabulous job! Thanks for sharing!

 

[WJC]

I am no fan of him.

Interesting. Why?

 

[Mrs. V]

Nice balance on the colors. Good skin tone as well. I am usually not a colorized fan, but this is quite nicely done. I don't know much about him, but to lose a daughter and a son? Inconcievable.

 

[ColorizedPast]

I'm a fan of colorizations when they are done well (and sometimes I don't even like my own stuff when it just isn't all the way there).

 

[The_Bilbo]

Interesting. Why?

My GG Grandfather, Anderson Bowman, a private in Co. D, 3rd Missouri Vol Inf, was on the arduous march from Pea Ridge to Helena in 1862. Among the many soldiers weakened, exhausted and sick from those poorly planned and meaningless wanderings, in Helena ("Hell-in-Arkansas") he faced the worst conditions possible for recovery. And then, on to and off of the river transports under Sherman to the Yazoo, Chickasaw Bayou, etc. He died of illness along with two first cousins in the same Regiment, one at Walnut Hills, one at Youngs Point, and Anderson Bowman near Helena on a steamer, the Metropolitan, heading up river after the Siege of Vicksburg, in September of 1863.

I'm not a big fan, either.