National Archives Eugene Asa Neil Carr, later nicknamed The Black Beard Cossack, was born on March 10, 1830 near Hamburg, New York, to Clark Merwin and Delia Ann (Torry) Carr. He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point in 1850. He served in the Indian Wars and was promoted to captain of the 1st US Cavalry. He would spend his first ten years in the US Army out west fighting American Indians. At the beginning of the Civil War, he was a cavalry captain at Fort Washita, in Indian Territory. On August 17, 1861 he was appointed colonel of the 3rd Illinois Cavalry. Carr took part in the Battle of Wilson's Creek and the Battle of Pea Ridge. During the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 7, 1862, Carr was wounded three times, but refused to leave the battlefield. He received a medal of honor for his actions in that battle. He received a commission to brigadier general of volunteers effective March 7, 1862. He participated in the Second Vicksburg Campaign and Siege of Mobile. After the war, he married Mary Patience Magwire in St. Louis on October 12, 1865. Carr was mustered out of the volunteers on January 15,1866. He went back out west and was assigned to 5th US Cavalry in Colorado. Sheridan’s grand strategy used two columns of troops regarded as “beaters in,” driving any outlying Indians to the central column, Lt. Col. George Custer’s men. On December 2, 1868, Carr led seven companies of the 5th US Cavalry, four companies of the 10th US Cavalry, and one company of the 7th US Cavalry out of Fort Lyon, Colorado. National Park Service historian, Jerome Greene describes what happened to Major Carr.
Carr would lead an expedition to the Republican River in June and July, 1869. He defeated Cheyenne Chief Tall Bull and his Dog Soldiers during the Battle of Summit Springs, Colorado on July 11,1869, securing a lasting peace on the Southern Plains. He was then stationed at Fort McPherson, Nebraska where on June 17, 1873, where he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He participated in a campaign against the Sioux in 1876, afterward he commanded the Black Hills district. On April 29, 1879, he was promoted to colonel and put in command of the 6th US Cavalry, and was transferred to Fort Lowell, Arizona. He directed the field operations against the hostile Apaches in Arizona and New Mexico in 1880 and commanded the expedition to Old Mexico during the Victoria campaign. He was in command at the incident at Cibecue Creek with the Apaches in 1881. Carr was promoted to brigadier general in July 1892 before quietly retiring from the US Army in February 1893. Eugene Carr died in Washington, DC on December 2, 1910 and was laid to rest at the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery at West Point, New York.
Bibliography: Jerome A. Greene. Washita: The U.S. Army and the Southern Cheyenne, 1867-1869, Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2004. Thomas Peterson Jr. “Eugene Asa Carr: War Eagle” Arizoniana Vol. 2, No. 3 (FALL 1961), pp. 24-28 http://www.lincolnsgenerals.org/Carr.html https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/5885775/eugene-asa_niel-carr |
Last updated: December 20, 2021