The New Student's Reference Work/Sumner, Edward Vose

Sumner, Edward Vose (1797-1863), American soldier, was born in Boston, Mass., and educated at Milton Academy. In 1819 he entered the army as second lieutenant, and served in the Black Hawk and Mexican Wars and took part on the frontier in campaigns against the Indians. In the early 50's he was governor of New Mexico, and later saw further Indian righting, chiefly against the Cheyennes. In the Civil War he was given charge of the Department of the Pacific, with the rank of brigadier-general, but was subsequently transferred to the Army of the Potomac, where he served during the Peninsula and Antietam campaigns and saw severe fighting at Fair Oaks and Fredericksburg. For these services he was promoted to be major-general both in the volunteer and the regular army. Late in 1862 he was assigned to command in the Department of Missouri, but died (at Syracuse, N. Y.) ere he could reach the field of his new duties.