Samuel Ryan Curtis (1805 - 1866)

Born 3 Feb 1805 in Champlain, New York

Ancestors

Husband of Belinda (Buckingham) Curtis — married 3 Nov 1831 in Ohio

Died 26 Dec 1866 at age 61 in Council Bluffs, Iowa

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Biography

Samuel Curtis is Notable.

Samuel Ryan Curtis was an American engineer, lawyer, politician and soldier. Curtis was a Major General in the Union Army during the Civil War. Curtis was a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Iowa's 1st District.

Preceded by Augustus Hall

U.S. House of Representatives Ipwa 1st Congressional District March 4, 1857 – August 4, 1861

Succeeded by James F. Wilson

General Samuel Curtis served in the United States Civil War.
Side: USA

Born near Champlain, New York, Curtis graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1831. He entered the Engineer Corps and was stationed at Fort Gibson in present-day Oklahoma before resigning from the Army in 1832. He moved to Ohio, where he was a lawyer and took several other civilian jobs. During the Mexican-American War, he was appointed a colonel and served as military governor of several occupied cities.

After the war, he moved to Iowa, and became the mayor of Keokuk in 1856. In 1856 he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Curtis and Timothy Davis (elected the same day to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district) were the first Iowa Republicans elected to serve in the U.S. House. Curtis was re-elected in 1858 and 1860.

Source: Wikipedia Biography [1]

Samuel Ryan Curtis began his military career after graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1831. He was sent to Fort Gibson in Indian Territory, and served for one year before resigning from the military on June 30, 1832. He returned to Ohio, and became a civil engineer until the outbreak of the Mexican-American War. Curtis accepted the colonelcy of the 2nd Ohio Volunteers, and led the unit during the war within the army of General Zachary Taylor. After the war, he moved to Keokuk, Iowa, and was elected to Congress in 1856, where he served three terms.

Once the Civil War began, Curtis became the colonel of the 2nd Iowa, but was quickly promoted to brigadier general of volunteers on May 17, 1861, forcing him to resign from Congress. He received command of the Army of the Southwest, which he led to victory over Confederate forces in March of 1862 at the Battle of Pea Ridge in Arkansas. For his achievement, he was promoted to major general. After receiving his promotion, Curtis moved his army further into Arkansas and captured the city of Helena in July. In September of 1862, he was given command of the Department of Missouri; however, President Abraham Lincoln removed Curtis after Curtis stated abolitionist remarks, offending the governor of Missouri, William Gamble. Curtis briefly commanded the Department of Kansas until 1864, when he returned to Missouri. While in Missouri, Curtis helped stop a Confederate invasion of the state by General Sterling Price at the Battle of Westport. After the battle, he was given command of the Department of the Northwest, and held the position until the end of the war.

After the war, he was commissioned to help negotiate treaties with many of the Plains Indians, as well as work on the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Source: Civil War Trust [2]

Samuel Ryan Curtis was the most successful federal general west of the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. He is primarily remembered as the victor at the battles of Pea Ridge and Westport. But Curtis was far more than just a general; he played a key role in the opening and exploitation of the American West as an engineer, politician, railroad advocate, and soldier.

Source: Civil War on the Western Border - http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/curtis-samuel-r

Samuel married Belinda Buckingham Curtis (1812 - 1888)

They had six children, 3 of which lived to adulthood: Amanda S Curtis (1831 - 1834), Henry Zarah Curtis (1836 - 1863), Samuel Stephen Curtis (1838 - 1920), Sadie B. Curtis (1842 - 1862), G Buckingham H Curtis (1844 - 1851) and Yale Curtis (1851 - 1851)

Source: Find A Grave [3]

Sources

• Encyclopedia of Arkansas Biography [4]

• Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y.: From Its Establishment, in 1802, to 1890, Volume 1, By George Washington Cullum, Houghton, Mifflin, 1891 [5]

• Wikipedia Biography [6]

• https://www.civilwar.org/learn/biographies/samuel-r-curtis

• http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/curtis-samuel-r

• "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ4F-M7S : 12 April 2016), Samuel R Curtis, Keokuk, Lee, Iowa, United States; citing family 366, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

• Find A Grave Memorial [7]

• "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24ZR-BPR : 20 March 2015), Samuel O'Brien Curtis in entry for Samuel Curtis and Mary Bird, 03 Nov 1868; citing Marriage, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York City Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 1,544,217.

• Iowa colonels and regiments : being a history of Iowa regiments in the War of the Rebellion and containing a description of the battles in which they have fought. Addison. A. Stuart, Des Moines, 1865, page 35-50