Alexander Asboth

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Alexander Sandor Asboth (December 18, 1810 – January 21, 1868) was a military leader best known for his victories as a Union brigadier general during the American Civil War.

Asboth was born in Keszthely, Hungary. When Asboth was 8, his family moved to Zombor. Asboth wanted to be a soldier, like his elder brother Lajos, but instead his parents decided he should be an engineer. He studied at the Mining Academy of Selmecbanya and the Institutum Geometricum in Pest.

He then trained at the Hungarian military academy. In 1836, Asboth enlisted to the newly-formed Hungarian Army. He worked as both a sodier and an engineer for the army, and in December 1848 he was promoted to captain. During his time as captain, he took part in the Battles of Kapolna and Nagysallo. After these battles, he joined with freedom-fighter Lajos Kossuth in the 1848 revolutionary movement. Asboth traveled with Kossuth to the Ottoman Empire and then to the United States in 1851, after the revolution failed.

Asboth remained in the United States and joined the Union. Starting in July 1861, he served as chief of staff for General John C. Frémont. On September 26, 1861, he was promoted to brigadier general and assigned commanded of the 4th Division in Frémont's western campaign. Asboth later led a division under Samuel Curtis, and during the Arkansas campaign occupied Bentonville and Fayetteville. He participated in the Battle of Pea Ridge,leading troops at the Little Sugar Creek position. His arm was seriously wounded while bringing reinforcements to support Colonel Eugene A. Carr.

Asboth later commanded garrisons in Kentucky and Ohio. In August 1863, Asboth was assigned to the District of West Florida, with his headquarters at Fort Pickens. He was badly wounded in the Battle of Marianna on September 27, 1864, his left cheek-bone being broken and his left arm fractured in two places.

He was appointed to U.S. Minister to Argentina and Uruguay after the war and died in Buenos Aires in 1868, likely due to his wounds received in Florida. Though he was buried in Argentina, his remains were returned to the United States in 1990 for burial in Arlington National Cemetery.

[edit] References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography.

• Alexander Sandor Asboth biographical sketch on Find-A-Grave
• Hungarians with General John C. Fremont in the American Civil War {reference only}