Edward Canby

Edward Canby (November 9, 1817 – April 11, 1873) was a general in the Union army during the American Civil War. He was born in 1817 in Kentucky. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1839. He fought in the Mexican-American War. After moving around to different army posts, he became commander of the U.S. army units in New Mexico in 1860.

Canby was a colonel at the start of the Civil War. He helped defeat a Confederate force during the New Mexico Campaign in early 1862. At the end of March 1862, he was promoted to Brigadier general. He was reassigned to the eastern United States. In 1864, he became commander of the Union forces along the Gulf of Mexico. He captured the Confederate city of Mobile, Alabama in April 1865.

Canby commanded U.S. army units in the South during the Reconstruction of the United States. In 1872, he was sent to the Pacific Northwest to fight the Indian tribes. He was killed in 1873 while trying to make a peace treaty with the Modoc Tribe in northern California.

Edward Canby Media

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  Portrait of Major General Edward Canby

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  L to R, US Indian agent, Winema (Tobey) and her husband Frank Riddle (interpreter), with other Modoc women in front, 1873

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  Murder of General Canby and the Rev. Dr. Thomas, an 1873 print

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  Funeral of the Late General Canby -- the Body Lying in State