"Bull"
(1797 - 1863)
Home State: Massachusetts
Education: Milton (MA) Academy
Command Billet: Corps Commander
Branch of Service: Cavalry
Unit: Second Army Corps
see his Battle Report
Before Antietam
He began his Army career in 1819, when he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd US Infantry. Subsequently he was:
1st Lt 25 Jan 1823;
Captain 1st Dragoons 4 Mar 1833;
Major, 2nd Dragoons 30 June 1846;
Cited by brevets for conspicuous performance in the Mexican War (1847 - 48);
Lt Colonel, 1st Dragoons, 13 July 1848;
Colonel, 1st US Cavalry 3 Mar 1855;
Brigadier General, USA, 16 Mar 1861; and
Major General of Volunteers 4 July 1862.
On the Campaign
Commanded the Federal Second (II) Army Corps
The rest of the War
When Burnside was relieved after the Mud March and Fredericksburg, Sumner requested other duty. He died in New York State before he could assume command of the Department of the Missouri.
References & notes
Sources: Heitman, Francis Historical Register and Dictionary of the United States Army 1789-1903, Washington, US Government Printing Office, 1903; and
Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889.
Birth
1/30/1797; Boston, MA
Death
3/21/1863; Syracuse, NY; burial in Oakwood Cemetery, Syracuse, NY