Henry Hopkins Sibley
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Henry Hopkins Sibley (May 25 1816 – August 23 1886) was a brigadier general during the American Civil War, fighting in the Confederate States Army in the New Mexico Territory.
Sibley was born in Natchitoches, Louisiana. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1838 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 2nd U.S. Dragoons.
In the 1850s, he invented the "Sibley tent", which was widely used in the frontier afterwards. He also invented the "Sibley stove," used until the advent of World War II.
His unsuccessful New Mexico Campaign was intended to control the Santa Fe Trail up to Colorado and from there gain access to the warm water ports of California. However, he was forced to retreat after the Battle of Glorieta Pass. His opponent was Colonel Edward Canby.
After the failure of his New Mexico campaign, Sibley was given minor commands and struggled with alcoholism. In 1863, he was court-martialed in Louisiana. Although not convicted of cowardice, he was censured. After the war, he served as a military advisor to the Khedive of Egypt before returning to the United States where he died at Fredericksburg, Virginia, in poverty. He is buried in the City Cemetery at Fredericksburg.
Union General and Governor of Minnesota, Henry Hastings Sibley, was a distant cousin.
Sibley is referenced (and seen briefly) in the film The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
External links
- [Military biography of Henry Hopkins Sibley] from the Cullum biographies
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