General Edmund Kirby Smith - Richmond, KY - U.S. Civil War Sites on Waymarking.com

General Edmund Kirby Smith-Edmund Kirby Smith commanded the victorious Confederate army at the Battle of Richmond. He served in every theater of the Civil War. Kirby Smith was the last Confederate general to surrender.

Graduated from West Point
Edmund Kirby Smith was born in St. Augustine, Florida. After graduating from West Point in 1845, he served in the U.S. army for sixteen years. Kirby Smith resigned his commission on April 6, 1861, to enlist in the Confederate army, where he attained the rank of general that June. At the Battle of First Manassas he was severely wounded in an attack that helped win the battle for the Confederacy.

Won the Battle of Richmond
After Manassas, Kirby Smith took command of East Tennessee, where he and Gen. Braxton Bragg planned the Kentucky Campaign. At Richmond, his army destroyed a Union force commanded by Gen. William "Bull" Nelson. His army then captured Lexington and Frankfort, the only Union state capitol to fall.

Commanded the Dept. of the Trans-Mississippi
Kirby Smith's success in Kentucky prompted his promotion to lieutenant general and Commander of the Department of the Trans-Mississippi. In 1864, he attained the rank of full general, the highest rank in the Confederate army. Kirby Smith was the last Confederate general to surrender, surrendering the Department of the Trans-Mississippi at Galveston, Texas, on June 2, 1865.

Location: Marker is at the intersection of Battlefield Memorial Highway (U.S. 421) and Berea Road (U.S. 25), on the right when traveling north at the Battlefield Visitor Center. 101 Battlefield Memorial Hwy, Richmond KY 40475.

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Date Logged Log User Rating   10/04/2021 Don.Morfe visited it