Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene B. Beaumont, U.S.A.Lieutenant-Colonel Eugene B. Beaumont was born August 2, 1837, in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and was the youngest son of Hon. Andrew Beaumont and Julia A. Colt, his wife. Colonel Beaumont received his appointment to West Point through Hon. Henry M. Fuller, and graduated in May, 1861. The first class of that year made application to graduate in April, that they might join the army at once. On April 29, 1861, the superintendent of the Military Academy was ordered to have the first class examined and graduated as soon as practicable. Upon graduating, Beaumont was appointed second lieutenant First Cavalry, and detailed to drill volunteers at Washington, D. C. During the first battle of Bull Run he was aide-de-camp to General A. E. Burnside, and was very highly complimented in the report of that officer. During 1861 and the spring of 1862 he served with the Army of the Potomac as aide-de-camp to General John Sedgwick, on the Upper Potomac, the Shenandoah Valley, and on the Peninsula. Disabled by typhoid fever, he was compelled to quit the field. During the winter of 1862-63 he was aide-de-camp to the general-in-chief, Major-General H. W. Halleck. In May, 1863, he was aide-de-camp to Major-General John Sedgwick, and served with the army during the campaign of Gettysburg, and participated in the battles of Rappahannock Station, Mine Run, Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court-House, and Cold Harbor. After General Sedgwick's death, Beaumont was ordered by General Grant to report to General J. H. Wilson, commanding the Third Cavalry Division, Army of the Potomac, and was in the battles of White Oak Swamp and all the operations and fights of the division around Richmond, in the raid for the destruction of the Danville & Southside Railroad. He was in the campaign against Early in the valley of the Shenandoah. In October, 1864, Beaumont accompanied General Wilson, and was appointed assistant adjutant-general of the Cavalry Corps of the Military Division of the Mississippi. He was actively engaged in the organization of the corps, and highly complimented for his efficient services. He participated in the battle of Nashville, in the pursuit of Hood, fight at Hollow-Tree Gap, Richland Creek, Little Harpath River, Pulaski, and other skirmishes. He was with his corps in its march through Alabama and Georgia, taking part in the battles of Montevallo, Ebenezer Church, storming of Selma, capture of Montgomery, Columbus, and Macon, Georgia. This march was one of the most brilliant and successful of the war. He received Jefferson Davis at Macon on his arrival as a prisoner, after his capture by Colonel Pritchard. He remained on duty at Macon until November, 1864. In April, 1866, he took command of Troop A, Fourth Cavalry, at San Antonio, Texas; was engaged in scouting and other duties. Commanded a battalion of four troops in the fight of Palo Duro Canon, Red River, September 28, 1874, which resulted in the destruction of numerous camps and capture of seventeen hundred horses and mules, and defeat of a band of Comanches. He was on duty at West Point as instructor of cavalry from March, 1875, to September, 1879; was promoted major Fourth Cavalry November 12, 1879, and joined McKenzie's expedition against the Uncompahgre Utes at Fort Garland, where he took command of the cavalry. In 1882 he organized and led a second expedition into the Uncompahgre country. Subsequently served at Fort Wingate, New Mexico; Fort Bayard, New Mexico; commanded Fort Bowie, Arizona, and Huachuca, Arizona. In December, 1888, he was detailed as acting inspector-general Department of Texas, and served there until February 1, 1892. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel Third Cavalry January 14, 1892; placed on the retired list, at his own request, May 6, 1892, and now resides in his native place, Wilkesbarre.
Source: Officers of the Volunteer Army and Navy who served in the Civil War, published by L.R. Hamersly & Co., 1893, 419 pgs.
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