Ranald Slidell MacKenzie

Ranald Slidell MacKenzie (born July 27, 1840 in New York City, according to other sources in Westchester County , New York , † January 19, 1889 in New Brighton on Staten Island , New York ) was an American brigadier general .

Life

Ranald Slidell MacKenzie

He was born on July 27, 1840 in New York City or in Westchester County, New York, the son of a naval officer. The young Ranald was called to the Military Academy in West Point , New York in 1858 and graduated there in 1862, in the second year of the Civil War , at the top of his class. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the US Army as a pioneer in the Potomac Army and stayed there during the battles of Fredericksburg , Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, among others .

Off Petersburg , Virginia, he was appointed commander of the 2nd Connecticut Heavy Artillery Regiment on June 10, 1864 , a regiment that was used as infantry and suffered heavy losses during the fighting for Petersburg . Mackenzie eventually commanded a brigade in the VI. Corps during the Shenandoah campaign in 1864 and was promoted to Brigadier General of Volunteers on October 19, 1864. Most recently he commanded the James Army's cavalry division at Petersburg, Five Forks and during the Appomattox campaign . For his war merit he was - with rank of March 31, 1865 - certified major general of the volunteers .

After the war, in 1867, he was appointed commander of the 41st US Infantry Regiment, a regiment of black soldiers. In February 1871 he took command of the 4th U.S. Cavalry Regiment in Fort Concho and Fort Richardson , Texas . Here he fought rebellious Indian tribes of the Comanche . In 1874 he achieved what is probably his most famous victory when he destroyed five Indian villages in Palo Duro Canyon on September 28 and was able to end the unrest. In March 1875, MacKenzie took command of Fort Sill , where Quanah Parker , the leader of the Comanche, surrendered in October , ending the war on the Red River. After Custer's defeat at Little Big Horn in 1874, MacKenzie was placed in command of the Black Hills Defense District and Camp Robinson. Under the direction of General George Crook , the commander of the military area Platte, Mackenzie participated as a key field commander in a winter campaign against the Northern Cheyenne , whose camp he raided and devastated on November 25, 1876 on the Red Fork of the Powder River in Wyoming .

In 1878 he was sent back to Fort Clark to fight Indians operating from Mexico . In October 1879 he was sent to Colorado against the rebellion of the Ute , and finally to Arizona in 1881 to fight the Apaches there as commander of all troops there , which he succeeded in a quick punitive expedition. On October 26, 1882, he was promoted to Brigadier General. A year later he assumed command of the Texas Military Area, headquartered in San Antonio , Texas. He had to give up his work as commander due to illness. He was retired from active service on March 24, 1884 due to incapacity.

Ranald Slidell MacKenzie died on January 19, 1889 on Staten Island, New York, of mental derangement.

literature

• Charles M. Robinson III .: Bad Hand: A Biography of General Ranald S. MacKenzie , State House Press, ISBN 1-880510-02-2 .
• Michael D. Pierce: The Most Promising Young Officer: A Life of Ranald Slidell Mackenzie. Norman, OK 1993.
• J'Nell L. Godfather: Ranald Slidell Mackenzie: Brave Cavalry Colonel . Austin, TX 1994.

Web links

• Extensive biography at Texas State Historical Association (Engl.)