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Amos Beebe Eaton (May 12, 1806 – February 21, 1877) was a career officer in the
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...
, serving as a general for the Union during the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.


Biography

Amos B. Eaton was born in
Catskill, New York Catskill is a town in the southeastern section of Greene County, New York, United States. The population was 11,298 at the 2020 census, the largest town in the county. The western part of the town is in the Catskill Park. The town contains a v ...
. He graduated from
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
in 1826; he was an
infantry Infantry, or infantryman are a type of soldier who specialize in ground combat, typically fighting dismounted. Historically the term was used to describe foot soldiers, i.e. those who march and fight on foot. In modern usage, the term broadl ...
lieutenant until the Florida campaigns of the late 1830s. After that, his only fighting experiences took place in the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
, for which service he was appointed a brevet
major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...
. Eaton served for 12 years as a field officer in the U.S. Army, then joined the commissary department for 23 years. Appointed a lieutenant colonel and assistant commissary general in 1861, Eaton was given the task of creating an effective supply system for the fledgling Union army. The large number of troops entering the Army at the beginning of the war was overloading the existing system. His work provisioning and distributing supplies to the troops led to President Abraham Lincoln's July 6, 1864, appointment of Eaton to the rank of brigadier general, U.S. Army, to rank from June 29, 1864.Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands''. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . p. 716 President Lincoln formally nominated Eaton for the appointment on June 30, 1864, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on July 2, 1864. Eaton took over the position of commissary general of the
Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a ...
at the same time due to the death of Brigadier General Joseph P. Taylor on June 29, 1864. On March 8, 1866, President
Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...
nominated Eaton for appointment to the brevet grade of major general to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the nomination on May 4, 1866, and re-confirmed it on July 14, 1866, in order to have line officers precede staff officers in rank. He retired May 1, 1874, with the grade of brigadier general, USA, and commissary general of subsistence. He then moved to
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is List ...
. Eaton died in New Haven, on February 21, 1877, and was buried there.


Personal life

Eaton is the son of
Amos Eaton Amos Eaton (May 17, 1776 – May 10, 1842) was an American botany, botanist, geologist, and educator who is considered the founder of the modern scientific prospectus in education, which was a radical departure from the American liberal arts tra ...
and Sally Cady Eaton. His first cousin is
Elizabeth Cady Stanton Elizabeth Cady Stanton ( Cady; November 12, 1815 – October 26, 1902) was an American writer and activist who was a leader of the women's rights movement in the U.S. during the mid- to late-19th century. She was the main force behind the 1848 ...
. Eaton married Elizabeth Selden Spencer (1796-1868) on April 21, 1831. She was the widow of New York State Senator Joseph Spencer (New York politician). Elizabeth and Joseph had one daughter, Elizabeth Selden Spencer Colt (1819-1910). Elizabeth was the sister of New York State Lieutenant Governor Henry R. Selden and politician Samuel L. Selden. Amos and Elizabeth had three children: Ellen Dwight Eaton (1832-1907),
Daniel Cady Eaton Daniel Cady Eaton (September 12, 1834 – June 29, 1895) was an American botanist and author. After studies at the Rensselaer Institute in Troy and Russell's military school in New Haven, he gained his bachelor's degree at Yale College, then w ...
(1834-1895), and Frances Spencer Eaton (1836-1911). Following his wife's death on May 8, 1868, Eaton re-married, on September 7, 1870, to Mary Isaacs Jerome Smith. She was the widow of Captain Ephraim Kirby Smith, who was killed in action near
Mexico City, Mexico Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
while serving in the United States Army during the
Mexican-American War Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...
. Smith had three children of her own: Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Lee Smith Kirby, U.S. Army (1836-1862), who was killed in action during the
United States Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded ...
in Corinth, Mississippi; Emma Jerome Kirby Blackwood (1840-1916); and Second Lieutenant George Geddes Kirby (1843-1875), an Ensign during the U.S. Civil War and later a lieutenant stationed in Wyoming who took his own life. Her second cousin, twice removed was
Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...
. His daughter Frances Spencer Eaton married Charles Atwood White, the great-grandson of American founding father
Roger Sherman Roger Sherman (April 19, 1721 – July 23, 1793) was an early American politician, lawyer, and a Founding Father of the United States. He is the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, ...
. They were the parents of
U.S. Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the C ...
Henry L. Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and Demo ...
's wife Mabel Wellington Stimson and
women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...
leader
Elizabeth Selden Rogers Elizabeth Selden White Rogers (July 23, 1868 – December 18, 1950) was a civic reformer who worked to improve the New York public schools, and to win suffrage for women in the state of New York and the nation. Suffrage writing One of Roge ...
. His grandson, Dr. George Francis Eaton (son of Daniel), earned his Ph.D. from Yale University and was an instructor at that institute. His 3rd great-grandson, Staff Sergeant Richard Selden Eaton, Jr. (1966-2003), was a United States Army counterintelligence analyst who died in Iraq from illness while active service.


See also

* List of American Civil War generals (Union)


Notes


References

* Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. .


Archives and records


U.S. Army Office of Assistant Commissary General of Subsistence records
at Baker Library Special Collections, Harvard Business School.


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Eaton, Amos Beebe 1806 births 1877 deaths Union army generals People of New York (state) in the American Civil War United States Military Academy alumni Burials at Grove Street Cemetery Commissary General of Subsistence (United States Army)