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EDMUND KIRBY SMITH (1824-1893)

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Originally appearing in Volume V25, Page 260 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDMUND See also:KIRBY See also:SMITH (1824-1893)  , Confederate See also:general in the See also:American See also:Civil See also:War, was the son of See also:Joseph See also:Lee See also:Smith (1776—1846), an American lawyer and soldier, who served with See also:credit in the War of 1812 and See also:rose to the See also:rank of See also:colonel U.S.A . His See also:elder See also:brother, See also:Ephraim See also:Kirby Smith (1807—1847), also a soldier, See also:fell at Molino del Rey; and Joseph Lee Kirby Smith, Ephraim's son, who took the Federal See also:side in the Civil War, was mortally wounded at the See also:battle of See also:Corinth, having at the See also:age of twenty-six attained the rank of See also:brevet-colonel U.S.A . See also:Edmund Kirby Smith was See also:born at St See also:Augustine, Fla., on the 16th of May 1824, and graduated at See also:West Point in 1845, being assigned to the See also:infantry . In the Mexican War he was breveted first See also:lieutenant, and See also:captain for gallantry at See also:Vera Cruz and Cerro Gordo and at Contreras-Churubusco . He was assistant See also:professor of See also:mathematics at West Point from 1849 to 1852 and was later engaged in See also:Indian warfare on the See also:Texas frontier . In 1861 he attained the rank of See also:major . When See also:Florida seceded he resigned his See also:army See also:commission and entered the Confederate service as a lieutenant-colonel . He was made a brigadier-general on the 17th of See also:June 1861, and was wounded at the battle of See also:Bull Run (q.v.) . In command of the Confederate forces in the Cumber-See also:land See also:Gap region Kirby Smith took See also:part in General See also:Bragg's invasion of See also:Kentucky in the autumn of 1862, and inflicted upon the Federal forces a severe defeat at See also:Richmond, Ky., on the 3oth of See also:August; and was See also:present at the battles of See also:Perryville and See also:Murfreesboro (See also:Stone See also:River) . From See also:February 1863 to the fall of the Confederacy he was in command of the trans-See also:Mississippi See also:department, and was successful in making this See also:section of the Confederacy (isolated from, the See also:rest by the fall of See also:Vicksburg) self-supporting .

End of Article: EDMUND KIRBY SMITH (1824-1893)
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