Edmund Kirby Smith




Edmund Kirby Smith (May 16, 1824 – March 28, 1893) was a career United States Army officer who served with the Confederates during the Civil War, as one of only seven officers to reach the rank of Full General.
Wounded at First Bull Run, he distinguished himself during Braxton Bragg's invasion of Kentucky, before being made commander of the Trans-Mississippi Department (Texas, Louisiana, Western Arkansas) in January 1863. After the Mississippi returned to the Union, this isolated zone became virtually an independent nation, nicknamed 'Kirby Smithdom'. In the Red River Campaign of Spring 1864, he commanded the victorious General Richard Taylor, who defeated the combined army/navy assault under Nathaniel Banks.