Curtis, Samuel Ryan

Curtis, Samuel Ryan,

1805–66, Union general in the Civil War, b. Clinton co., N.Y., grad. West Point, 1831. Curtis won a decisive victory at Pea Ridge (1862) and was therefore promoted to major general. He commanded the Dept. of Missouri (1862–63), the Dept. of Kansas (1864–65), and the Dept. of the Northwest (1865). His last services (1865–66) were in negotiating treaties with the Native Americans and in reporting on the construction of the new Union Pacific RR.