Edwin Vose Sumner | |
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Nickname(s) | Bull, Bull Head |
Born | Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. | January 30, 1797
Died | March 21, 1863 Syracuse, New York, U.S. | (aged 66)
Place of burial | |
Allegiance | United States Union |
Service | United States Army Union Army |
Years of service | 1819–1863 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands | 1st U.S. Cavalry Department of the Pacific II Corps, Army of the Potomac |
Battles / wars | |
Spouse(s) | Hannah W. Foster |
Children | 6, including Edwin Jr. and Samuel |
Edwin Vose Sumner (January 30, 1797 – March 21, 1863) was a career United States Army officer who became a Union Army general and the oldest field commander of any Army Corps on either side during the American Civil War.[1] His nicknames "Bull" or "Bull Head" came both from his great booming voice and a legend that a musket ball once bounced off his head.
Sumner fought in the Black Hawk War, with distinction in the Mexican–American War, on the Western frontier, and in the Eastern Theater for the first half of the Civil War. He led the II Corps of the Army of the Potomac through the Peninsula Campaign, the Seven Days Battles, and the Maryland Campaign, and the Right Grand Division of the Army during the Battle of Fredericksburg. He died in March 1863 while awaiting transfer.