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{{Short description|U.S. Union Army general}}
{{about||his son, the U.S. Army general|Edwin Vose Sumner Jr.}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Edwin Vose Sumner
|birth_date={{birth date|1797|1|30}}
|death_date={{death date and age|1863|3|21|1797|1|30}}
|birth_place=[[Boston]], Massachusetts, U.S.
|death_place=[[Syracuse, New York]], U.S.
|placeofburial=[[Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York)]]
|placeofburial_label=Place of burial
|image=Edwin Vose Sumner 1.png
|spouse=Hannah W. Foster
|children=6, including [[Edwin Vose Sumner Jr.|Edwin Jr.]] and [[Samuel S. Sumner|Samuel]]
|caption=
|nickname=Bull, Bull Head
|allegiance= United States<br />[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]
|serviceyears=1819–1863
|rank=[[Major general (United States)|Major General]]
|branch= [[United States Army]]<br/>[[Union Army]]
|commands=[[1st Cavalry Regiment (United States)|1st U.S. Cavalry]]<br />[[Department of the Pacific]]<br />[[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]], [[Army of the Potomac]]
|unit=
|battles=
{{Tree list}}
*[[Black Hawk War]]
*[[Mexican–American War]]
**[[Battle of Cerro Gordo]]
**[[Battle of Molino del Rey]]
*[[Cheyenne#Punitive US expedition of 1857|American Indian Wars]]
*[[Bleeding Kansas]]
*[[American Civil War]]
**[[Peninsula campaign]]
***[[Battle of Williamsburg]]
***[[Seven Days Battles]]
***[[Battle of Glendale]]
**[[Maryland campaign]]
***[[Battle of Antietam]]
**[[Battle of Fredericksburg]]
{{Tree list/end}}
|awards=
|laterwork=
}}
'''Edwin Vose Sumner''' (January 30, 1797{{snd}}March 21, 1863) was a career [[United States Army]] [[Commissioned officer|officer]] who became a [[Union Army]] [[General officer|general]] and the oldest field commander of any Army Corps on either side during the [[American Civil War]].{{sfn|Warner|1964|p=489}} 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 of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]] for the first half of the Civil War. He led the [[II Corps (Union Army)|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.

==Early life and career==
Sumner was born in [[Boston, Massachusetts]], to Elisha Sumner and Nancy Vose Sumner. His early schooling was in [[Milton Academy]] in [[Milton, Massachusetts]].<ref name="appletons">{{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sumner, Edwin Vose|year=1900}}</ref> He was a first cousin once removed of [[Charles Sumner]], the abolitionist, and a distant cousin of the statesman, [[Increase Sumner]], and his son, the historian [[William H. Sumner]].

In 1819, after losing interest in a [[Mercantilism|mercantile]] career in [[Troy, New York]], he entered the [[United States Army]] as a [[Second lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in the [[2nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|2nd US Infantry Regiment]] on March 3, 1819. He was promoted to [[First Lieutenant#United States|first lieutenant]] on January 25, 1825.

Sumner's military appointment was facilitated by Samuel Appleton Storrow, Judge Advocate Major on the staff of General [[Jacob Brown (general)|Jacob Jennings Brown]] of the Northern department. (Storrow had previously served as a mentor to Sumner in Boston.) In recognition of their long-standing friendship, Sumner would later name one of his sons Samuel Storrow Sumner.<ref>The Sumner–Storrow relationship is discussed in unpublished 19th-century correspondence of the Storrow family (copies of which are held by descendants). The Storrow–Brown relationship is described in Morris.</ref>

He married Hannah Wickersham Foster (1804–1880) on March 31, 1822. They had six children together: Nancy, Margaret Foster, Sarah Montgomery, Mary Heron, [[Edwin Vose Sumner, Jr.|Edwin Vose Jr.]], and [[Samuel S. Sumner|Samuel Storrow Sumner]]. His son Samuel was a general during the [[Spanish–American War]], [[Boxer Rebellion]], and the [[Philippine–American War]]. Sumner's daughter, Mary Heron, married General [[Armistead L. Long]] in 1860.

Sumner later served in the [[Black Hawk War]] and in various [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] campaigns.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Sumner, Edwin Vose|volume=26|page=83}}</ref> On March 4, 1833, he was promoted to the rank of [[Captain (U.S. Army)|captain]] and assigned to command B Company, the [[United States Regiment of Dragoons]] (later First US Dragoons), immediately upon its creation by [[United States Congress|Congress]].

In 1838, he commanded the [[cavalry]] instructional establishment at [[Carlisle Barracks]] in [[Pennsylvania]].<ref name="EB1911"/> He was assigned to Ft. Atkinson, Iowa Territory, from 1842 until 1845. He was the fort's commander during most of that period. He was promoted to [[Major (United States)|major]] of the 2nd Dragoons on June 30, 1846. During the Mexican–American War, Sumner was brevetted for bravery at the [[Battle of Cerro Gordo]] (to [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]]). It was here that he gained the nickname "Bull Head" because of a story about a musket ball that bounced off his head during the battle. At the [[Battle of Molino del Rey|Molino del Rey]] he received the brevet rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]]. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel of the 1st US Dragoons on July 23, 1848. He served as the military governor of the [[New Mexico Territory]] from 1851 to 1853 and was promoted to colonel of the 1st U.S. Cavalry on March 3, 1855.

In 1856 Sumner commanded [[Fort Leavenworth, Kansas]], and became involved in the crisis known as [[Bleeding Kansas]]. In 1857, as commander of the [[1st Cavalry Regiment (1855)]], he led a [[Cheyenne people#Punitive US expedition of 1857|punitive expedition against the Cheyenne]],<ref>Bertbrong, pp. 133–40; Grinnell, pp. 111–21.</ref> and in 1858 he commanded the Department of the West. On January 7, 1861, Sumner wrote to [[President of the United States|President-elect]] [[Abraham Lincoln]], advising him to carry a weapon at all times. [[Lieutenant general (United States)|Lt. Gen.]] [[Winfield Scott]] assigned Sumner as the senior officer to accompany Lincoln from [[Springfield, Illinois]], to [[Washington, D.C.]], in March 1861.{{sfn|Dupuy|1992|p=719}}

==Civil War==
[[File:The photographic history of the Civil War - thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities (1911) (14739902876).jpg|thumb|Edwin Vose Sumner and his staff ca. 1861-1862]]
In February 1861, [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brig. Gen.]] [[David E. Twiggs]] was dismissed from the Army for treason by outgoing U.S. President [[James Buchanan]], and on May 12, 1861, Sumner was nominated by the newly inaugurated Lincoln to replace Twiggs as one of only three brigadier generals in the [[Regular Army (United States)|regular army]], with date of rank March 16.<ref>{{harvnb|Eicher|2001|pp=716–17}}. The two other line-officer brigadier generals in the regular army as of May 1861 were [[John Wool]] and [[William S. Harney]]; [[Joseph E. Johnston]], Quartermaster General of the Army, resigned on April 22 to join the Confederate States Army.</ref> Sumner was thus the first new Union general created by the secession crisis. He was then sent to replace Brig. Gen. [[Albert Sidney Johnston]], then in command of the [[Department of the Pacific]] in [[California]], and thus took no part in the 1861 campaigns of the war.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} When Sumner left for California, his son-in-law [[Armistead Lindsay Long]] resigned his commission and enlisted with the Confederate Army eventually becoming Robert E. Lee's military secretary and an artillery brigadier general.
[[File:Edwin Vose Sumner - Brady-Handy.jpg|thumb|left|200px|An image of Sumner by [[Mathew Brady]] or [[Levin C. Handy]]]]
In November 1861, Sumner was brought back east to command a division.{{sfn|Eicher|2001|p=519}} When Maj. Gen. [[George B. McClellan]] began organizing the [[Army of the Potomac]] in March, Sumner was given command of one of its new [[corps]]. McClellan had not originally formed corps within the Army; Sumner was selected as one of four corps commanders by President Lincoln, based on his seniority. The [[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]], commanded during the war by Sumner, [[Darius N. Couch]], [[Winfield Scott Hancock]], and [[Andrew A. Humphreys]], had the deserved reputation of being one of the best in the [[Eastern Theater of the American Civil War|Eastern Theater]]. Sumner, who was the oldest of the generals in the Army of the Potomac, led his corps throughout the [[Peninsula Campaign]] and the [[Seven Days Battles]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}
[[File:William McIlvaine - The Chickahominy - Sumners Upper Bridge.jpg|''The Chickahominy – Sumner's Upper Bridge'': 1862 watercolour by William McIlvaine|thumb|300px]]
McClellan originally formed a poor opinion of Sumner during the [[Battle of Williamsburg]] on May 5, 1862. During McClellan's absence, Sumner directed the inconclusive battle, which failed to impede the Confederate withdrawal up the Peninsula, and McClellan wrote to his wife, "Sumner had proved that he was even a greater fool than I had supposed & had come within an ace of having us defeated."{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|p=xvi}} At the [[Battle of Seven Pines]], however, Sumner's initiative in sending reinforcing troops across the dangerously rain-swollen [[Chickahominy River]] prevented a Union disaster. He received the brevet of major general in the regular army for his gallantry at Seven Pines. Sumner was struck in the arm and hand by spent balls at the [[Battle of Glendale]]. Despite his old-fashioned ideas on discipline and respect for commanding officers, the II Corps troops generally had a positive opinion of him. Sumner was promoted to major general of volunteers on July 4, 1862, with the rank dated to May 5.

In the fall of 1862, at the [[Battle of Antietam]], Sumner was the center of controversy for ordering Brig. Gen. [[John Sedgwick]]'s division to launch an attack into the West Woods on the morning of the battle. The assault was devastated by a Confederate counterattack, and Sedgwick's men retreated in great disorder to their starting point with over 2,200 casualties. Sumner has been condemned by most historians for his "reckless" attack, his lack of coordination with the other corps commanders, accompanying Sedgwick's division personally and losing control of his other attacking division, failing to perform adequate reconnaissance prior to launching his attack, and selecting an unusual line of battle formation that was so effectively flanked by the Confederate counterattack. Historian M. V. Armstrong's recent scholarship, however, has determined that Sumner did perform appropriate reconnaissance and his decision to attack where he did was justified by the information available to him.{{sfn|Armstrong|2002|pp=39–55}}

Sumner's other divisions drove the weak Confederate center back, but Sumner was badly shaken by the disaster to Sedgwick and heavy casualties to other Union forces. Maj. Gen. [[William B. Franklin]] wanted to attack with his fresh VI Corps, but Sumner, who was senior to him, ordered him to hold back. McClellan sustained Sumner.

Shortly before being fired from command of the army in October, McClellan wrote to the War Department a letter recommending that Sumner be relieved of duty, as he doubted that his age and health would permit him to survive another campaign, but nothing came of this and when Maj. Gen. [[Ambrose Burnside]] succeeded to the command of the Army of the Potomac, he grouped the corps in "grand divisions" and appointed Sumner to command the Right Grand Division. In this capacity, he took part in the disastrous [[Battle of Fredericksburg]], in which the II Corps, now commanded by Major General [[Darius N. Couch]], suffered heavy casualties in frontal assaults against Confederate troops fortified at [[Marye's Heights]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

===Transfer and death===
[[File:Oakwood-Sumner-02.jpg|thumb|Memorial and burial place of Major Gen. E. V. Sumner and Hannah F. Sumner, [[Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York)|Oakwood Cemetery]], Syracuse, New York]]
Soon afterward, on Maj. Gen. [[Joseph Hooker]]'s appointment to command the Army of the Potomac on January 26, 1863, Sumner was relieved of his command at his own request.<ref name="EB1911"/> He was then reassigned to a new command in the [[Department of the Missouri]], effective in the spring.<ref>Official Records, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924077699712&view=1up&seq=154 Series 1, Volume 22, Part 2, p. 152]</ref> Before that, Sumner went to his daughter's home in [[Syracuse, New York]], to rest, where he fell ill with fever. He died on March 21, 1863, and was buried in Syracuse's Oakwood Cemetery.

His two sons, Brigadier General [[Edwin Vose Sumner, Jr.]] and Major General [[Samuel S. Sumner]], both served in the Civil War and the [[Spanish–American War]].

==Grave==
Sumner is buried in Section 8, Lot 1 of [[Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York)|Oakwood Cemetery]] in Syracuse. Part of the Teall family plot, the gravesite has some structural problems and issues of disrepair. The Onondaga County Civil War Round Table was raising funds to repair the grave and the general area.{{citation needed|date=July 2016}}

[[Fort Sumner]] in the [[New Mexico Territory]] was named in his honour.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|American Civil War}}
* [[List of American Civil War generals (Union)]]

==Notes==
{{More footnotes|date=October 2018}}
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==References==
* {{cite book | last=Armstrong |first=Marion V. |title=Disaster in the West Woods: General Edwin V. Sumner and the II Corps at Antietam |location=Sharpsburg, MD |publisher=Western Maryland Interpretive Association |year=2002 |asin=B0014SER8S}}
* Bertbrong, Donald J. ''The Southern Cheyenne''. The civilization of the American Indian series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1979. {{OCLC|254915143}}.
* {{cite book | last=Dupuy | first=Trevor | title=The Harper encyclopedia of military biography | publisher=HarperCollins | location=New York, NY | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-06-270015-5 | oclc=25026255 | author-link=Trevor N. Dupuy | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/harperencycloped00dupu_0 }}
* {{cite book | last=Eicher | first=John | title=Civil War high commands | publisher=Stanford University Press | location=Stanford, Calif | year=2001 | isbn=0-8047-3641-3 | oclc=45917117 }}
* Grinnell, George Bird. ''The Fighting Cheyenne''. The civilization of the American Indian series. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1956. {{ISBN|978-0-8061-0347-1}}. First published 1915 by Charles Scribner's Sons.
* Morris, John D. ''Sword of the Border: Major General Jacob Jennings Brown, 1775–1828''. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|0-87338-659-0}}.
* {{cite book | last=Warner | first=Ezra | title=Generals in blue : lives of the Union commanders | url=https://archive.org/details/generalsinblueli0000warn | url-access=registration | publisher=Louisiana State University Press | location=Baton Rouge, La | year=1964 | isbn=0-8071-0822-7 | oclc=445056 |author-link=Ezra J. Warner (historian)}}
* {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808204707/http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/ftlvn/civilwar.asp |date=August 8, 2007 |title=U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Library biographies }}
* [http://www.territorialkansasonline.org/cgiwrap/imlskto/index.php?SCREEN=bio_sketches/sumner_edwin Territorial Kansas Online biographical sketch]

==External links==
{{Commons cat}}
* [http://blueandgraytrail.com/event/Edwin_Vose_Sumner Edwin Vose Sumner biography and timeline]
* {{Wikisource-inline|list=
** {{Cite Appletons'|wstitle=Sumner, Edwin Vose|year=1900|notaref=x |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Sumner, Edward Vose |short=x |noicon=x}}
** {{Cite Collier's|wstitle=Sumner, Edwin Vose|year=1921 |short=x |noicon=x}}
}}

===Photographs===
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cwpb.03887 E. V. Sumner and staff in Warrenton, Va., 1862]
* [http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/cph.3c15180 Full–length portrait (1861–1863)]

===Documents at the Library of Congress===
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d0514800)) Letter from Sumner to Abraham Lincoln, December 17, 1860], stating that he has permission to accompany Lincoln on his trip to Washington.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d4184700)) Letter from Sumner to John G. Nicolay, January 20, 1861], stating that he will accompany Lincoln on his journey to Washington.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d0648000)) Letter from Sumner to Abraham Lincoln, January 20, 1861], recommending Judge Edward Bates for Secretary of War.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d0781700)) Letter from David Davis to Abraham Lincoln, March 6, 1861], recommending that Colonel Sumner be promoted.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d2009100)) Telegram From Sumner to wife, December 11, 1862], reporting the capture of Fredericksburg.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/mal:@field(DOCID+@lit(d2111600)) Letter from Sumner to Abraham Lincoln, January 10, 1863], seeking appointment to West Point for his grandson.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/mss/mal/mal1/226/2260400/001.jpg Resolution honoring General Edwin Sumner], from the New York Legislature to Abraham Lincoln, March 23, 1863.
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llhb&fileName=042/llhb042.db&recNum=6190 Senate bill to increase the pension of Mrs. Hannah W. Sumner, March 11, 1872]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llhb&fileName=042/llhb042.db&recNum=8693 Senate bill to increase the pension of Mrs. Hannah W. Sumner, April 25, 1872]

{{S-start}}
{{Succession box| title= Commander of the [[II Corps (Union Army)|II Corps]]| before=none| after=[[Darius N. Couch]]| years=March 13, 1862{{snd}}October 7, 1862}}
{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, Edwin Vose}}
[[Category:1797 births]]
[[Category:1863 deaths]]
[[Category:American people of English descent]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Boston]]
[[Category:United States Army personnel of the Mexican–American War]]
[[Category:People of California in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Union army generals]]
[[Category:Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York)]]
[[Category:Sumner family|Edwin Vose]]

Edwin Vose Sumner - Revision history

imported>Ken Gallager: cat sort