"His character was as pure as his talent and learning were great." - U.S. Grant
In August of 1862, the last of Henry Sibley's army was straggling into San Antonio. General Canby, acting through friends in Washington, was at the same time agitating for a new assignment. After sixteen months in command of the Department of New Mexico, Canby was more than ready to give up the thankless post. It was General-In-Chief Henry W. Halleck who recommended Canby's promotion to general, and it was probably Halleck who eventually arranged his transfer. The two men were West Point classmates, and had served together in California. Further, Halleck considered Canby to be "one of the best officers in the service."(1) In mid-August, efforts in Washington paid off. Canby was relieved of duty and ordered to report to the Secretary of War. On September 18th, 1862, he turned command of the Department of New Mexico over to Brigadier James H. Carleton, leader of the California Column. Four days later, accompanied by his wife Louisa, Canby took leave of Santa Fe.
With the Confederate threat to New Mexico ended, General Canby left the territory almost as quickly as the retreating Texans. Lamenting his departure, James L. Collins, the publisher of the Santa Fe Gazette, wrote; returning East "may enable him to render the country more service in another field of operations than he can here, but we feel assured that he will not fall among a people who will place a higher estimate upon his worth, both as an officer and private gentleman, than do the people of the Territory."(2)
As it turned out Collins was right. East of the Mississippi, Canby's rout of Sibley's army was considered small potatoes. Military operations in the far distant Territory of New Mexico were of little consequence in Washington. Concurrent events in the East, such as Stonewall Jackson's Valley Campaign, and the battles at Fort Henry, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh, all overshadowed Canby's small but signal engagements. He arrived in Washington on November 5th, and was told, without fanfare, to report himself to Lorenzo Thomas, the Adjutant General of the Army, at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. A few days later General Canby was assigned the relatively unimportant task of commanding a draft rendezvous at Pittsburgh. (3)
Thomas, it seems, had little use for an unheralded general from the Far West. Testifying before a congressional committee on the conduct of the war in July, Colonel Benjamin Roberts, who was Canby's second in command at Valverde, had stated bitterly; "It appears to me to be the determination of General Thomas ... not to acknowledge the services of the officers who saved the Territory of New Mexico." Roberts went on to declare that he was convinced that Thomas, "is not gratified at their loyalty and their success in saving that Territory to the Union." (4)
Despite proven ability, General Canby wasn't immediately returned to a field command. Instead, on January 15th, 1863, he was assigned to "special duty in the Adjutant General's Office" in the War Department. (5) For the next 18 months, he fought the War from behind a desk, performing a variety of bureaucratic tasks. He frequently signed correspondence, "Assistant Adjutant General," but isn't listed as such on any official roster for the period. Sometimes described as a "trusted adviser" or a "Military Adviser," his exact position is unclear. The most accurate description of his duty appears to be that of an administrative assistant to Edwin M. Stanton, the Secretary of War. (6)
During the period between January 1863 and May 1864, Canby was occasionally ordered to assignment outside the War Department. Most notably from July until November he was assigned as "commanding general of the city and harbor of New York." The purpose of this temporary duty was to quell disturbances arising from resistance to the draft. The worst of the civil disobedience was over before Canby assumed the post, nonetheless, there was considerable administrative work to perform. He was instrumental in reorganizing the city's conscription practices, and New York's second draft went off without a hitch. On November 9th, his forty-sixth birthday, General Canby was relieved of the New York command and ordered back to the War Department. (7)
General Ulysses S. Grant wrote in his memoirs, that he wasn't sure whether Edward Canby chose to render service in an office, but he was positive that it was his "superior efficiency" that kept him there. He was "naturally studious, and inclined to the law," noted Grant. "There have been in the army but very few, if any, officers who took as much interest in reading and digesting every act of Congress and every regulation for the government of the army as he." (8) Overworked to the point of illness, Canby was invaluable at the bureau. A friend noted in March of 1864 that the "Genl ... has the whole burden of the War Dept. on his hands." Secretary Stanton, who was unacquainted with Edward before his assignment, wrote; the tasks Canby assumed were "onerous and harassing," but that he performed them with "wisdom, firmness, vigilance and integrity."(9)
Canby might have remained behind a desk in Washington for the rest of the war, if not for events unfolding west of the Mississippi. Indirectly, the men of the Sibley Brigade were at least partially responsible for the General's next assignment. When General Richard Taylor and his forces threw Nathaniel Banks' army into retreat at Mansfield and Pleasant Hill, it was a wake-up call to the Union high command. Before the war, General Banks was Speaker of the House in Congress. He was a politician, rather than a career soldier, and his Red River Expedition proved a debacle. Although he was a cohort to the President, Grant, Halleck, and others realized that it was time he was replaced. With the Union's all out push against the Confederacy about to begin, General Grant felt that little could be accomplished out West. He determined to put the whole region "under some good officer," and then leave him to correct Banks' mistakes. (10) Initially, Grant suggested that General Halleck hand his current post to Canby, and head west himself. Wanting to remain near the center of power at the capital, Halleck turned the plan around. While declaring his willingness to serve "anywhere and everywhere," he deferred the appointment to Canby. (11)
Promoted to the rank of Major General of Volunteers, Canby was assigned command of the Military Division of West Mississippi. Within days, he was aboard a fast steamer, headed south. Wasting no time, he fired off dispatches as he traveled, requesting information about the military situation in the Departments of Arkansas and the Gulf. What he learned, prompted him to head quickly for the mouth of the Red River. On May 18th, 1864, General Canby arrived at Simsport, where he found Banks' retreating column. The troops were in better shape than he expected, but he still estimated that it would require thirty days before they could refit and again take the field. After conferring with General Banks, Canby remained with army until it was safely across the Mississippi. Confident that his new command was free from immediate threat, he then made his way to Natchez and Vicksburg. (12)
General Canby was charged with "restoration of the authority of the United States west of the Mississippi," but for the next 2 months he took little action. (13) More concerned with infrastructure than field operations, he spent the time reorganizing his new command. He ordered his troops to concentrate at various points and to abandon all sites not essential to military operations. It was Canby's conviction that the Confederates did a superior job of suddenly and unexpectedly concentrating large forces. By creating large reserves, where they could be held in readiness to meet any threat, he hoped to counter this ability. He also noted, that when the Rebels took the field, every effective man fought. Only boys and men not fit to be in the army, remained behind to perform guard, picket and provost duty, near their homes. Feeling that the Union's policy absorbed too many effectives, Canby sought to emulate his enemy. Within a short time he issued orders that all able-bodied males, residing in the area of occupation, between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, register for militia duty. Only Confederate deserters were rejected. Wherever possible, effectives on detached service were replaced with civilians or non-effectives. Recruits and men on sick leave were organized for garrison duty.
While consolidating his new army, General Canby also took steps to make it leaner and more mobile. Based on his experiences in New Mexico, he realized that his men were encumbered by all manner of unnecessary equipment. Certain they could perform adequately with much less. He ordered that everything not absolutely vital be cast off. Clothing was limited to one uniform, per soldier, a change of underwear, and an extra pair of shoes. Field tents replaced more elaborate shelters, and officers were told to make their baggage conform to their men's. Foodstuffs were reduced to the essentials of bread, meat, and a little hardtack and bacon. Hangers on were informed they were no longer welcome near the army, and every superfluous man or animal, that had to be fed, transported, or protected was ordered away. Perhaps still smarting from his loss of the Valverde Battery, Canby also espoused a belief that the Union relied too heavily on artillery. He directed, that hereafter only one gun take the field for every 1,000 men, an equal number to be held cautiously in reserve.
Little of consequence occurred in the West Mississippi Division until August. Under Canby's direction, the readiness of the division improved, but field operations were limited. It was under Sherman, thundering away at Atlanta, that the action was taking place. Canby felt his primary task was to support Sherman's campaign. To this end, he focused his energy on maintaining the line of the Mississippi, keeping Richard Taylor's and Kirby Smith's troops bottled up in the West. He also sent a sizable force, under Major General A.J. Smith to prevent Nathan Bedford Forrest's cavalry from harassing Sherman's rear.
In June, Rear Admiral David Farragut, approached Canby and suggested, that the army and the navy make a combined demonstration against the Confederate bastion at Mobile Bay. Because the action would take pressure off of Sherman, Canby readily agreed. In what was primarily a naval operation, Union land and sea forces invested the forts guarding the bay. One after another the redoubts fell. Farragut struck first at the island bastion of Fort Gaines, and by August 8th the stars and stripes were flying above its walls. With its position no longer tenable, the Rebels abandoned Fort Powell. The operations ended two weeks later with the unconditional surrender of Fort Morgan on South Bank. The Confederates still held the Port of Mobile and its nearby forts, but they lost the entrance to the bay. Despite its limited scope, the Union viewed this action as a brilliant success. Canby received recognition and praise for his able handling of the land operation, and both he and Admiral Farragut were thanked by the President. (14)
Leaving a small garrison force at the captured forts, General Canby returned his attention to the line of the Mississippi. The Confederates wanted desperately to cross troops to reinforce John Bell Hood, but with the help of gunboats, Canby managed to block their attempts. The aggressive Sherman also wanted him to secure the Alabama and Apalachicola Rivers. During the next two months, General Canby attempted to comply, but because of Confederate pressure in Arkansas and Missouri, he made only sporadic moves.
On the field at Valverde, Edward evinced considerable personal courage. Musket in hand, he proved his willingness to face the uncertainties of close combat. It was during the period of relative inaction, however, that he came closest to losing his life. On the morning of November 6th, he was standing on the hurricane deck of the Union gunboat "Cricket," enjoying the day as it steamed up the White River. The boat was about forty miles above the river's mouth, and he was on his way to meet with Major General Steele and direct matters in Arkansas. Among other objects of the trip, General Canby wanted to satisfy himself "as to the expediency of abandoning Fort Smith and its dependencies." (15) As the gunboat passed about 3 miles below Little Island, a Rebel guerrilla was standing among the canebrakes of the stream's west bank. Seeing a Union General, standing exposed on her deck, the guerrilla raised his rifle and struck a blow for the Confederacy. His bullet slammed into Canby's "left buttock nearly over the point where the sciatic nerve emerges." Passing directly through his leg, it "made its exit at the inner portion of the limb immediately below the groin." (16) It was a terrible wound, and as soon as word of it spread, rumors flew through the Eastern press. On Tuesday November 15th, headlines in the New York Times proclaimed "Gen. Canby Dangerously Wounded," "His Recovery Doubtful." (17) Other dailies were less cautious and reports of the Major General's death filled morning newspapers.
Fortunately for Edward Canby, the stories of his demise were premature. The sniper's bullet "passed through the upper part of the thigh, missing the femoral artery, and breaking no bones." (18) Although agonizing and "tolerably severe", his wound was not life threatening. (19) On the advice of the boat's surgeon, Canby requested that the "Cricket" put about and make for New Orleans. Acting Volunteer Lieutenant, Frederick S. Hill, commanding the gunboat, promptly placed his vessel at the Major General's disposal and made full steam for the Mississippi. (20)
Canby's was suffering terribly, but he didn't let his pain interfere with the discharge of his duty. At the mouth of the White River, he ordered a halt so that he could meet with Major General J.J. Reynolds. Despite his discomfort, Canby "had a full conference" with Reynolds, and didn't leave until he was confident that his injury would "in no way interfere with the direction of affairs in [the] division." Ten days later, General Reynolds was, by direction of the President, assigned command of the West Mississippi, during Canby's disability. (21)
Stopping to "communicate with the commandants of all the military posts" on the way down, it took the Cricket four days to make the run back to New Orleans. The gunboat reached Natchez on the 9th and arrived at its destination on the afternoon of Thursday the 10th. Canby was in reasonable shape, but "the transfer from the steamer to his house and the meeting with Mrs. Canby produced a sort of unnatural excitement, which was followed by a severe relapse. All Saturday and Sunday he had a fever and suffered very great pain." By Monday, "his admirable powers of endurance and strength of mind" had seen him through the crisis. His wound was discharging freely, his appetite improved, and he was feeling quite cheerful. The weather at the time was everything that could be desired, and the general was receiving the best of care, under Mrs. Canby's own superintendence. Canby wasn't completely out of danger, but it was expected that he would make a speedy recovery. Voicing the common sentiment, his Adjutant, C.T. Christensen, wrote; "We hope he will be about in a few weeks." (22)
Nearly a month after the bushwhacking, Edward Canby still found himself bedridden. His mental faculties were entirely unaffected by his injuries, and he found the confinement irksome. While he was convalescing, Lieutenant Colonel Christensen tried to keep day to day business at bay. The General wouldn't hear of it. "It seems a sort of necessity for him to keep track of important events," wrote Christensen, "and his medical advisers say that it will not harm him." Despite the very serious character of his wounds, not a single day passed, that Canby was not able to attend to all official business that imperatively demanded his personal attention. By mid-December, his recovery progressed to the point where his physicians allowed him to take limited exercise on crutches. By the latter part of January, his recovery was more or less complete. (23)
About this time, General Sherman was preparing to embark on his famous march into the Carolinas. To support the campaign and take pressure off it, Ulysses S. Grant ordered additional offensives to be launched in other areas. On the 18th of January, 1865, he directed General Canby, in command at New Orleans, to move against Mobile, Montgomery, and Selma, and strike into the heart of Alabama. Canby was to march from the sea-coast towards the interior, with a moving column of nearly 20,000 men, destroying roads, machine shops, etc. as he went. The, now recovered, general appeared keen to comply. Acknowledging receipt of Grant's orders, he announced that preparations for such a move were already under way. (24)
Despite his anticipation of Grant's plan, Canby's organization of men and material for the campaign went slowly. On February 27th, more than a month after he first received his orders, he still was not in the field. Grant "was extremely anxious to hear of his being in Alabama," and wrote urging that everything be pushed. Bad weather was responsible for much of the delay, but Canby's exacting and deliberate temperament was also a factor. Hampered by impassable roads, heavy gales, dense fog, and incessant rain, the general chose to wait. A less meticulous or more aggressive officer might have pushed forward with the force which was already assembled. Instead, Canby made requisitions for a construction corps, material, and stock to build seventy miles of railroad. Grant was furious. "Almost in despair of having adequate service rendered to the cause in that quarter," he sent Canby a scathing dispatch. "If there had been any idea of repairing railroads," wrote Grant, "it could have been done much better from the North, where we already had the troops. I expected your movements to be co-operative with Sherman's last. This has now entirely failed. I wrote to you long ago, urging you to push promptly and to live upon the country, and destroy railroads, machine shops, etc., not to build them. Take Mobile and hold it, and push your forces to the interior - to Montgomery and to Selma." (25)
With Grant breathing down his collar, it was still late March, before Canby got his expedition underway and struck at Mobile. Due to his careful planning, the offensive was eminently successful. Unfortunately, by the time he took the field, the war was almost over and no real profit came of his operations. Indeed, General Grant wrote in his memoirs; "much valuable property was destroyed and many lives lost at a time when we would have liked to spare them." Edward Canby had never before personally commanded a campaign of such magnitude. Grant felt that his reticence in taking the field stemmed from this new burden of command. Magnanimously he noted; "Had Canby been in other engagements afterwards, he would, I have no doubt, have advanced without any fear arising from a sense of the responsibility." (26)
As the war drew to a close, Edward Richard Sprigg Canby stood at the center of two more historical dramas. Between late April and early June of 1865, he met with General Richard Taylor and General Kirby Smith, and on behalf of the Union, accepted the surrender of the Confederate Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana, and later the Department of the Trans-Mississippi. With the surrender of Smith's Department, the last organized Confederate forces lay down their arms.
Canby was a career soldier, and following the war, he remained in the military. Doing what he did best, he served in a number of ministerial and administrative posts, helping to lead the post war South back into the Union. He remained in Louisiana until June of 1866, when, amid speculation that he was slated to become Adjutant General of the Army, he was recalled to Washington. In the Capitol, newspapers reported that he was to be assigned to important special duty abroad. Both speculations proved wrong. Instead, he was given command of the Department of Washington, and found himself back behind a desk at the War Department. During the next year, he testified before committees of Congress, investigating matters pertaining to reconstruction and Southern railroads. He also sat on a number of boards, ranging from one that prepared plans for a new fire-proof War Department building to one which prepared rules and regulations for equalizing bounties paid to Indian regiments and Colored troops. Most of his time was spent chairing a commission which investigated the claims for restoration of property taken or appropriated by Union forces during the war. The "Canby Claims Commission," as it was frequently called, examined and had authority over all special claims that fell outside the jurisdiction of existing bureaus and regulations. (27)
During his tenure in Washington, Congress reorganized the army to peacetime levels, fixing its number of Brigadier Generals at ten. Canby was promoted to one of the posts and became the 9th ranked officer in that grade. It was at this time, that congress, under radical leadership, passed its "Reconstruction" legislation. Under the legislation, the ex-Confederate states were divided into five military districts, and a general officer of the army was appointed to the command of each. One of the appointees didn't last very long. Major General Daniel E. Sickles, interfered with the operation of the U.S. Circuit Court in North Carolina and was removed from his post. The President conferred the post on General Canby, and on September 5th, 1867 he assumed command of the Second Military District. As always, Canby was a superb administrator. Over the next three years, he was successively posted to three different districts. He didn't shape reconstruction policy, but he urged its relaxation. His administrations were later characterized as "vigorous and firm, but just." In his steady and even handed way, Canby eventually helped the states of: Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia, reenter the Union fold. (28)
Toward the end of this period, someone was needed to command the Department of Columbia. The department, which was part of the Military Division of the Pacific, consisted of the State of Oregon and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, and Alaska. General Canby volunteered for the post. Now 53, he was beginning to slow down a little. He suffered from attacks of rheumatism and neuralgia and the strain of almost ten years of constant and demanding service. Headquartered in Portland, Oregon, the new command held the promise of lighter duty, free from sectional politics. After a much deserved two week vacation, General Sherman bade Edward and Louisa, "A pleasant trip," and the Canbys set out for the Pacific Northwest. Arriving in Portland, the General assumed command of the department on August 8th, 1870. For next two years the post proved a relatively easy one, requiring only supervisory attention. As they hoped, the Canbys adapted to the "`settled` damp" of Oregon and found life there "not unpleasant."(29)
The assignment to the Department of Columbia should have been the first step for Edward Canby towards retirement and elder statesmanship. Instead it was a first step toward oblivion. In the last days of November, 1872, a long simmering conflict with the Modoc Indians of Southern Oregon and Northern California burst into flames. Because of assorted grievances, several bands of Modocs left their reservation and for some time lived at three camps along the shores of Tule Lake. An abortive attempt by a small detachment of troops to force one of the bands to surrender and return to their reservation led to bloodshed. In retaliation, another band, led by a petty chief named Hooker Jim, went on a killing spree among nearby isolated white settlements. After two days of butchery and pillage, "eighteen unoffending and unsuspecting citizens" were dead. (30)
As soon as General Canby learned of these incidents, he dispatched all available troops to the scene, with orders that the Modocs be "destroyed or captured." While waiting for Federal troops to arrive, the Governor of Oregon authorized the muster of volunteers into a citizens militia. What came next was one of the most remarkable Indian conflicts in U.S. history. The Modocs led by a warrior named Kientpoos, called "Captain Jack" by the whites, retreated into the Lava Beds south of Tule Lake. On January 17th, 1873, they were attacked by a combined force consisting of: 310 Federal Troops, 115 Oregon Militia, and 25 California Volunteers. The whites were well armed and supported by a howitzer battery. The Modoc force consisted of approximately fifty warriors and their families. Instead of retreating or surrendering as expected, the Indians fought furiously. As the battle raged over "jumbled, sharp-edged rocks, steep fissures, gulches, cliffs and trenches," the Natives contested every inch of the volcanic malpais. At the end of the day the soldiers withdrew. With virtually no losses of their own, the Modocs killed or wounded forty-eight of their attackers. Colonel Frank Wheaton who led the assault, afterwards reported to General Canby; "I have been twenty-three years in the service of the government and have been employed a greater portion of the time in remote frontiers and generally engaged in operating against hostile Indians. In this service I have never before encountered an enemy, civilized or savage, occupying a position of such great natural strength as the Modoc stronghold, nor have I ever seen troops engage a better-armed or more skillful foe." In another report, Wheaton called the Modoc position "a second Gibraltar." (31)
Back East, the events didn't play well. Within two weeks of Wheaton's repulse, Canby received word from General Sherman, stating that the President was "disposed to allow the peace men to try their hands." Meanwhile, the Secretary of War appointed a three-man commission to treat with the Modocs. In preparation for their peace initiative, Canby was ordered to "let all defensive measures proceed, but order no attack on the Indians." During February and March, the shores of Tule Lake became an armed camp. Wheaton was replaced by General Alvan C. Gillem, and Government forces on the scene grew past one thousand. Captain Jack and his people remained holed up in their volcanic fortress. The Peace Commission arrived, and various overtures were made and rejected. With each side suspect of the other, it was frequently difficult to even agree on when and where to talk. As the wrangling dragged on some commissioners quit, and others were appointed. Eventually, General Canby reached the lake. Although not a member of the commission, he participated fully in its negotiations. The talks frustrated the whites. Captain Jack said many times; "Tomorrow I will talk," but when it came time to do so did not appear. Canby wrote to his wife; the Modocs "are the strangest mixture of insolence and arrogance, ignorance and superstition that I have ever seen, even among Indians." According to the General the negotiations were stalled because, "treacherous themselves, [the Modocs] suspect treachery in everything." The General didn't trust the Indians, but he planned to be careful and expected to be home soon. (32)
In early April, it appeared that the Modocs might be ready for another meaningful talk. Amid rumors of possible betrayal, the peace commission set another meeting for the morning of April 11th, 1878. Canby was confident the Indians wouldn't try anything while facing 1,000 troops. The day was Good Friday. When the appointed hour arrived, the commissioners left camp and headed for the conference tent, which was pitched about a mile away. Besides General Canby, the party included: Alfred B. Meacham, Oregon Superintendent of Indian Affairs and head of the commission; the Reverend Doctor Eleazer Thomas, a Methodist minister from Petaluma, California; Leroy S. Dyer an Indian agent from the Klamath Agency; and their interpreters Frank Riddle and his Modoc wife, Toby. Reverend Thomas was wearing a suit of "Scotch Grey," and, except for the lack of side arms, Canby was outfitted in his full dress uniform. Meacham and Dyer were less sanguine of success than their associates. Taking the talk of treachery seriously, both men secreted small pistols on their persons. (33)
When General Canby and his party arrived at the Peace Tent, they found the Modocs already there. Captain Jack and his bunch were positioned so that the tent hid them from the army camp, and instead of the agreed upon six, they numbered eight. "The Indians bore on their countenances an air of insolence and were swaggering about." Nevertheless, the Peace Commissioners sat down in their midst. Canby passed out cigars, and seemingly unperturbed, tried to open their talk. After several unfruitful minutes, "Captain Jack gave a signal and the Modoc war-whoop brought everyone erect." Immediately the commissioners espied two Indian boys, running towards the tent carrying rifles. Meacham shouted; "Jack, what does this mean?" The Modoc chieftain answered by reaching inside his coat, drawing a previously concealed six-shooter, and shouting; "All ready!" Steadying the revolver with his left hand, he pointed it at General Canby's head and pulled the trigger. The hammer fell with a loud click, but the gun misfired. Before the stunned General could react, Jack spun the cylinder and pulled the trigger a second time. The bullet smashed into Canby's skull. Severely wounded, the general turned and staggered away. He was immediately pursued by Jack and another Indian, called Ellen's Man. A third Modoc, Boston Charley, drew a revolver and shot Reverend Meacham above the heart, killing him instantly. Leroy Dyer, who was hanging warily back, turned and fled. A Modoc was hot on his heels, but he managed to draw his Derringer and unnerve his pursuer long enough to escape. Meacham was less fortunate. At the first sign of treachery, he too pulled his concealed pistol, but the piece misfired, and he had to take cover behind some rocks. Attempting to get off another shot, he was struck in the head with a rifle bullet. Terribly wounded, the Superintendent of Indian Affairs was scalped, stripped naked, and left for dead. Meanwhile, General Canby stumbled and fell. Instantly the Modocs were on him. "Jack held him down by the shoulders while Ellen's Man slashed the General's throat." One of the young Indians, Barncho, then handed Ellen's man a rifle and the latter finished Canby once and for all with another bullet through the head. The General wasn't scalped, but like Meacham and Thomas, his body was stripped. (34)
Edward Richard Sprigg Canby was "a bona fide 'officer and gentleman' - reserved, modest, thoughtful and humane," and the massacre in the Peace Tent was an unfortunate end to a good man. His murder created a great excitement throughout the country. At the time it occurred, he was the only general officer to have died in a post-Civil War Indian campaign. If not for the incredible carelessness of the more colorful George Armstrong Custer, Canby's death at the hands of the Modocs, might have become one of the best known and most enduring events of Western history. As things turned out, the man who saved the Far West for the Union is today remembered by some place names in Oregon and a white cross in the lava beds of Northern California. Canby's body was carried to Yreka, where it lay in state at the Masonic Temple. Later it was sent to Portland and eventually to the General's final resting place in Indianapolis, Indiana. (35)
Footnotes (See The Road to Glorieta for biblography)
1. OR,I,VIII,pp.629-633, Halleck to Stanton; OR,I,IX,p.688.
2. Santa Fe Gazette, September 20, 1862.
3. Halleck ordered Canby to report to Thomas, but it was Stanton who suggested the draft camp posting. OR,I,LI,v.1,p.937, Special Orders, November 7, 1862; Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, p.189.
4. Whitford, Battle of Glorieta Pass, p.142, as quoted in; OR,III,I,p.740, Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton to Adjutant General Thomas.
5. OR,III,II,p.18, Special Orders No. 29
6. Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, p.190.
7. Ibid, pp.194-198.
8. Grant, Personal Memoirs, pp.574-575
9. Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, p.199, as quoted in, W.A. Carter to his daughter.
10. In his memoirs, U.S. Grant wrote that "Banks had been defeated in Louisiana, relieved, and Canby put in his place." But he goes on to note; "The change of commander was not at my suggestion." Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, pp.201-202
11. Grant, Personal Memoirs, p.426.
12. Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, pp.201-203.
13. Ibid, pp.204-205.
14. Ibid, pp.211-218.
15. OR,I,XLI,v4,p.485, Major General J.J. Reynolds to Major General Steele
16. OR,I,XLI,v4,p.504, Assistant Adjutant-General C.T. Christensen to Hon. E.M. Stanton; OR,I,XLI,v4,pp.579-580, Major General E.R.S. Canby to Maj. Gen. H.W. Halleck
17. Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, p.221, as quoted in.
18. Official Records ORN,,I,XXVI,pp.736-737, Report of Acting Rear-Admiral S.P. Lee
19. OR,I,XLI,v4,p.485, Major General J.J. Reynolds to Major General Steele
20. Official Records ORN,I,XXVI,pp.735-736, S.P. Lee to E.R.S. Canby.
21. OR,I,XLI,v4,p.485, Major General J.J. Reynolds to Major General Steele; OR,I,XLI,v4,p.504, Assistant Adjutant-General C.T. Christensen to Hon. E.M. Stanton; OR,I,XLI,v4,p.580, Special Order No. 400.
22. Official Records ORN,I,XXVI,pp.736-737, Report of Acting Rear-Admiral S.P. Lee; OR,I,LXI,v4,pp.568-569, C.T. Christensen to Major General Reynolds; OR,I,LXI,v4,p.504, Assistant Adjutant-General C.T. Christensen to Hon. E.M. Stanton.
23. OR,I,LXI,v4,pp.568-569, C.T. Christensen to Major General Reynolds; OR,I,XLI,v4,p.717, C.T. Christensen to Rear-Admiral S.P. Lee.
24. Grant, Personal Memoirs, pp.514-516.
25. Ibid, p.517; OR,I,XLIX,pt1,p.781, Grant to Canby.
26. Grant, Personal Memoirs, pp.571-575.
27. Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, pp.293-302.
28. Ibid, pp.303-347.
29. Ibid, p.350, as quoted in.
30. The attempt to force the Modocs back to the reservation was made by Captain James Jackson and a small detachment of 35 men. The band they attempted to disarm and move consisted of several warriors and their families, led by a chieftain named Kientpoos. This band was camped on the west side of the lake about 3 miles from the mouth of Lost River. Report of Governor Grover to General Schofield, p.8.
31. Dillon, Conduct of the Modoc War, p.9; Report of Governor Grover to General Schofield, pp.35-39.
32. Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, pp.364 & 374, Canby to My Dear Wife, as quoted in; Dillon, Conduct of the Modoc War, pp.31-34.
33. The party left camp at 11 o'clock a.m.. Canby and Thomas were walking and Meacham and Dyer were mounted on ponies. Dillon, Conduct of the Modoc War, p.39.
34. Captain Jack was not as bloodthirsty as some of his cohorts. A more radical element in the tribe convinced him that if the white's big "Tyee" or chief was killed, they would go away. They further persuaded him that if he wanted to retain his position of leadership he needed to do the deed himself. After the massacre, General Gillem again attacked Jack's stronghold, without success. The Modoc War eventually stretched to nearly 6 months. By its end, the Army outnumbered the Modocs 25 to 1 and were equipped with both mortars and howitzers. Of the war's 5 engagements, none were clearcut victories for the U.S. Army. The eventual toll of the fighting was 168 whites dead or wounded. On the Modoc side, the only confirmed casualties were Captain Jack and three others who were captured and hanged. One other Indian committed suicide, rather than be hung. Estimates of the dollar cost of the campaign range from $500,000 to $5,000,000, making it one of the most expensive actions, per-capita-of-the-enemy, ever fought by U.S. troops. Dillon, Conduct of the Modoc War, p.40; Glassey, Pacific Northwest Indian Wars, pp.169-187.
35. Louisa Canby, so beloved of Henry Sibley's Texans, was left in poverty by Edward's death. The perfect administrator, Canby failed in the management of his own affairs. As the widow of a General, Louisa received a stipend of $30 per month. In June of 1874 this was increased to $50 by a special act of Congress. Learning of her need, the people of Portland, Oregon took up a collection and gathered $5000 for her support. Louisa lived off the interest from this sum and when the gracious lady died in 1889, her will returned the principle to the city. Dillon, Conduct of the Modoc War, pp.64-66; Heyman, Prudent Soldier, E.R.S. Canby, pp.380-383.
(See The Road to Glorieta for bibliography)
