William H. Emory
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| William Hemsley Emory | |
|---|---|
| September 7, 1811 – December 1, 1887 (aged 76) | |
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| Place of birth | Queen Anne's County, Maryland |
| Place of death | Washington, D.C. |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/branch | United States Army |
| Years of service | 1838 – 1876 |
| Rank | Brevet Brigadier General |
| Unit | various |
| Commands held | various |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
William Hemsley Emory (September 7, 1811 – December 1, 1887) was an United States Army officer and surveyor of Texas.
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[edit] Early life and career
Emory was born in Queen Anne's County, Maryland, on his family's "Poplar Grove" estate. He attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated in 1831. Assigned as a second lieutenant, he served in the Fourth Artillery until he resigned from the service in 1836 to pursue civil engineering, but he returned to the service in 1838. During that same year, he married a great-granddaughter of Benjamin Franklin, Matilda Wilkins Bache of Philadelphia. The couple would have three children.
During his second stint in the army, he was successively promoted from lieutenant to captain and finally to major. He specialized in mapping the United States border, including the Texas-Mexico border, the United States-Canadian border(1844–1866) and the Gadsden Purchase (1854–1857).
In 1844, Emory served in an expedition that produced a new map of Texan claims westward to the Rio Grande River. He came to public attention as the author of the Notes of a Military Reconnaissance from Fort Leavenworth in Missouri to San Diego, California, published by the Thirtieth United States Congress in 1848. This report described terrain and rivers, cities and forts and made observations about Indians, Mexicans, primarily in New Mexico Territory, Arizona Territory and Southern California. It was and is considered one of the important chronicles and descriptions of the historic Southwest, particularly noted for its maps. Emory was a reliable and conscientious cartographer.
[edit] Mexican-American War
During the Mexican-American War, Emory served in the Southwest and in California as Chief Topographical Engineer and later served as Adjutant General in the Army of the West under General Stephen W. Kearny. After a brief return to Washington he returned to Mexico and served under George Hughes (another Engineer officer) as the executive officer of a regiment of Maryland volunteers.
[edit] Civil War
In 1861, when the Civil War broke out, Emory was stationed in the Indian Territory. Anticipating the possible capture of his troops by Confederates, he withdrew to Fort Leavenworth. During his withdrawal, he attacked and captured lead elements of the pursuing enemy troops. He served as a brigade commander in the Army of the Potomac in 1862, and was transferred to the Western Theater. He later commanded a division in the Port Hudson campaign. He subsequently returned to the East as the commander of the Nineteenth Corps, serving in all the major battles in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1864, especially at the Battle of Cedar Creek, where Emory's actions helped saved the federal army from a devastating defeat until Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan's arrived.
[edit] Postbellum
After the war, Emory held a number of posts, most importantly commander of the Department of the Gulf (which included the Federal troops in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi)–a demanding and dangerous Reconstruction assignment. For political reasons, General Sheridan removed Emory from command and saw to it that he was retired in 1876. The Department of the Gulf was soon shifted to Sheridan's large Division of the Missouri, which included Texas.
Emory died in 1887 in Washington, D.C.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Dawson III, Joseph G., Army Generals and Reconstruction: Louisiana, 1862-1877. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982).
- Emory, William Hemsley, Report on the United States and Mexican Boundary Survey (2 vols., Washington: Nicholson, 1857, 1859; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1987).
- Emory, William Hemsley, Notes of a Military Reconnaissance (Washington and New York, 1848; rpt., by the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers, as Lieutenant Emory Reports, with intro. and notes by Ross Calvin [Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1951]).
- Goetzmann, W. H., Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-1863 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959; 2d ed., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1979; rpt., Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1991).
- Kerby, Robert L., Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863-1865 (New York: Columbia University Press, 1972).
- Traas, Adrian G., From the Golden Gate to Mexico City - The U. S. Army Topographical Engineers in the Mexican War, 1846 - 1848. (Wash., DC, CMH Pub 70-10 (GPO), 1992.)
