Years of service 1826–1874 | Name Amos Eaton | |
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Born May 12, 1806Catskill, New York ( 1806-05-12 ) Battles/wars Mexican-American WarAmerican Civil War Education United States Military Academy Allegiance United States of America, Union | ||
Amos Beebe Eaton (May 12, 1806 – February 21, 1877) was a career officer in the United States Army, serving as a general for the Union during the American Civil War.
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Biography
Amos B. Eaton was born in Catskill, New York. He graduated from West Point in 1826; he was an infantry lieutenant until the Florida campaigns of the late 1830s. After that, his only fighting experiences took place in the Mexican-American War, for which service he was appointed a brevet major. 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. 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 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 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. Eaton died in New Haven, on February 21, 1877, and was buried there.
Relations
His daughter Frances Spencer Eaton married Charles Atwood White, the great-grandson of American founding father Roger Sherman. They were the parents of U.S. Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson's wife Mabel Wellington Stimson and women's suffrage leader Elizabeth Selden Rogers. Eaton is the son of Amos Eaton.