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EDWIN VOSE SUMNER (1797-1863)

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 83 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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EDWIN VOSE See also:SUMNER (1797-1863)  , See also:American soldier, was See also:born at See also:Boston, See also:Massachusetts, and entered the See also:United States See also:army in 1819 . He served in the See also:Black See also:Hawk See also:War and in various See also:Indian See also:campaigns . In 1838 he commanded the See also:cavalry instructional See also:establishment at See also:Carlisle, See also:Pennsylvania . He took See also:part in the Mexican War as a See also:major, and for his bravery at See also:Moline del Rey he received the See also:brevet See also:rank of See also:colonel . In 1857 he commanded an expedition against the See also:Cheyenne See also:Indians . At the outbreak of the See also:Civil War, four years later, See also:Sumner had just been promoted brigadier-See also:general U.S.A. and sent to replace See also:Sidney See also:Johnston in command on the Pacific See also:coast . He thus took no part in the first See also:campaign of the Civil War . But in the autumn he was brought back to the See also:East to command a See also:division, and soon afterwards, as a major-general U.S.V., a See also:corps in the army that was being organized by McClellan . This corps, numbered II., retained its See also:independent existence throughout the war, and under the command of Sumner, See also:Couch, Han-See also:cock and See also:Humphreys it had the deserved reputation of being the See also:beat in the See also:Union army . Sumner, who was by far the See also:oldest of the generals in the army of the See also:Potomac, led his corps through-out the See also:peninsular campaign, was wounded during the Seven Days' See also:Battle, and received the brevet of major-general U.S.A., and was again wounded in the battle of See also:Antietam . When See also:Burnside succeeded to the command of the army of the Potomac he grouped the corps in " See also:grand divisions," and appointed Sumner to command the right grand division . In this capacity the old cavalry soldier took part in the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg, in which the II. corps suffered most severely .

Soon afterwards, on See also:

Hooker's See also:appointment to command the army, Sumner was relieved at his own See also:request . He died suddenly, on the 21st of See also:March 1863, while on his way to assume supreme command in See also:Missouri .

End of Article: EDWIN VOSE SUMNER (1797-1863)
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CHARLES RICHARD SUMNER (1790-1874)
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JOHN BIRD SUMNER (1780-1862)

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