Henry Clark Corbin (September 15, 1842 – September 8, 1909) was an American military officer who was Adjutant General of the United States Army from 1898 to 1904.

Life and career

He was born in

Monroe Township, Clermont County, Ohio Monroe Township, founded June 9, 1825, is one of the fourteen townships of Clermont County, Ohio, United States. The population was 7,531 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Ulysses S. Grant is located in Point Pleasant, an unincorporated co ...

, He was educated at the Clermont Academy. Corbin was teaching school and studying law when 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 ...

broke out. Corbin volunteered as a second lieutenant in the 83rd Ohio Infantry in July 1862 and transferred to the 79th Ohio Infantry the next month. In November 1863 he was commissioned a

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 ...

in the 14th United States Colored Infantry. He eventually rose to be lieutenant colonel and

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of this regiment, and participated in the Battle of Decatur and

Battle of Nashville The Battle of Nashville was a two-day battle in the Franklin-Nashville Campaign that represented the end of large-scale fighting west of the coastal states in the American Civil War. It was fought at Nashville, Tennessee, on December 15–16, 18 ...

. He was mustered out in March 1866. After the war, he became a First Class Companion of the

Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States The Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS), or, simply, the Loyal Legion, is a United States military order organized on April 15, 1865, by three veteran officers of the Union Army. The original membership was consisted ...

, a military society composed of Union officers and their descendants. In May 1866 he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 17th Infantry 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 ...

. He was promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in the 38th Infantry, a Buffalo Soldier regiment, in July 1866. The 38th Infantry was consolidated with the 41st Infantry to form the 24th Infantry in November 1869. Brazilian Aeronautical Commission

Corbin was appointed to the official staff of President

Rutherford B. Hayes Rutherford Birchard Hayes (; October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th president of the United States, serving from 1877 to 1881. Hayes served as Cincinnati's city solicitor from 1858 to 1861. He was a staunch Abolitionism in the Un ...

, serving at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

from 1877 to 1881. He was attending Hayes' successor,

James A. Garfield James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 1881 until his death in September that year after being shot two months earlier. A preacher, lawyer, and Civi ...

, when Garfield was shot in 1881, and was present at his death in

Elberon, New Jersey Elberon is an unincorporated community that is part of Long Branch in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP code 07740. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population for ZIP ...

. He became a

in the Adjutant General's Department in June 1880, serving in the Department of the South and the

Department of the Missouri The Department of the Missouri was a command echelon of the United States Army in the 19th century and a sub division of the Military Division of the Missouri that functioned through the Indian Wars. History Background Following the successful ...

. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1889, serving in the Department of Arizona, the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, and the Department of the East. In May 1896 he returned to the Adjutant General's Department in Washington as a

. He was elevated to Adjutant General of the U. S. Army with the rank of brigadier general in February 1898. He was promoted to major general in June 1900. He took command of the newly created Division of the Atlantic in January 1904, then was given command of the Division of the Philippines in November 1904. He took command of the Northern Division in February 1906 and was promoted to

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was norma ...

in April 1906, making him the senior ranking officer on active duty in the U.S. Army. He retired in September 1906 and continued to live in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Corbin died in September 1909 at

Roosevelt Hospital Mount Sinai West, opened in 1871 as Roosevelt Hospital, is affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and the Mount Sinai Health System. The 514-bed facility is located in the Midtown West neighborhood of New York City. The fa ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, New York City, where he had gone for treatment. He is buried as Henry Clarke Corbin in Section 2 of

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the United States National Cemetery System, one of two maintained by the United States Army. More than 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington County, Virginia. ...

. His portrait was painted at least twice by the Swiss-born American artist

Adolfo Müller-Ury Adolfo Müller-Ury, Order of St. Gregory the Great, KSG (March 29, 1862 – July 6, 1947) was a Swiss-born American portrait painter and Impressionism, impressionistic painter of roses and still life. Early life and education Müller was b ...

, once in 1899, and again in 1904, the latter of which was donated by Mrs Edythe Patten Corbin to the National Collection of Fine Arts, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. in 1941, transferred to National Portrait Gallery in 1971.

Military awards

Civil War Campaign Medal The Civil War Campaign Medal is considered the first campaign service medal of the United States Armed Forces. The decoration was awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces who had served in the American Civil War between 1861 and 1865. ...

Indian Campaign Medal The Indian Campaign Medal is a decoration established by War Department General Orders 12, 1907.

* Spanish War Service Medal *

Philippine Campaign Medal The Philippine Campaign Medal is a medal of the United States Armed Forces which was created to denote service of U.S. military men in the Philippine–American War between the years of 1899 and 1913. Although a single service medal, the Philippin ...

Family

Corbin was the son of Shadrach and Mary Anne (Clarke) Corbin. On September 6, 1865, Corbin married Frances Strickle. They had seven children. While Corbin was stationed along the Rio Grande in the summer of 1876, five of their children came down with a fever, possibly polio. Four of them subsequently died and the fifth became an invalid. His wife died in October 1894. On November 6, 1901, Corbin married Edythe Agnes Patten, one of five sisters who were heir to a mining fortune. Her older sister Katherine Augusta Patten had married Missouri congressman John M. Glover in February 1887. Both weddings took place at the Patten family mansion in Washington, D.C. At her wedding, Edythe was escorted into the ceremony by Nevada senator John P. Jones, a close friend and associate of her late father. The officiant at the Roman Catholic service was Cardinal Gibbons, with President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

and his wife in attendance. Henry and Edythe Corbin had one daughter. His nephew Clifford Lee Corbin (February 12, 1883 – January 20, 1966) was a 1905

United States Military Academy 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 ...

graduate who served during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, retiring as a major general in 1946.

References

* * * *

External links

Arlington National Cemetery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corbin, Henry Clark 1842 births 1909 deaths People from Clermont County, Ohio People of Ohio in the American Civil War Union army officers Adjutants general of the United States Army American military personnel of the Spanish–American War United States Army generals Military personnel from Washington, D.C. Burials at Arlington National Cemetery United States Army personnel of the Indian Wars 20th-century United States Army personnel

Life and career

Military awards

Family

See also

References

Further reading

External links