Edward Winslow Hinks (May 30, 1830 – February 4,
1894) was a career
United States
Army officer who served as a
brigadier general during
the
American Civil War.
Early life
Hinks was born in
Bucksport, Maine.
His name was originally spelled "Hincks" but he dropped the "C"
when he joined the
U.S. Army in 1861 and resumed using it in 1871 after he
retired from the service. He was a printer for the
Whig and
Courier newspaper. He moved to Massachusetts in 1849 and
served in the state legislature.
Civil War
In 1861, Hinks received a
regular army commission as a
second lieutenant in
the
2nd U.S. Cavalry, but was soon after offered a
volunteer commission as commander of the
19th Massachusetts
Infantry.
Hinks saw
service at Ball's
Bluff
, the Peninsula
Campaign, and at Glendale
, where he was wounded. He returned to his
regiment for the Maryland Campaign, but was seriously
wounded at Antietam
on September 17, 1862.
He received a promotion to brigadier general of volunteers and
spent the next two years on
court
martial and recruiting duty, before being assigned to command
the 3rd Division of the
XVIII
Corps, composed entirely of
United States Colored Troops,
led by white officers.
He was one of the leaders of the unsuccessful
First Battle of
Petersburg
and served in the Siege of Petersburg
. When the division was rolled into the
XXV Corps, Winslow received a
brevet promotion to
major general and was sent
north to enforce the draft. He was also a brevet brigadier general
in the regular army for his service at Petersburg.
Postbellum career
After the war, he remained in the army as the
lieutenant colonel of the
40th U.S. Infantry before retiring at the rank of
colonel in December 1870.
After he
retired, he served as governor of the National Military Home in
Hampton,
Virginia
(1870–73)
and in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin
(1873–80).
Hinks died
in Cambridge,
Massachusetts
, and is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery Cambridge,
Massachusetts. His grave can be found on the Eglantine
Path, Lot 1636.
See also
References
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David
J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University
Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Heitman, Francis. Historical Register and Dictionary of the
United States Army 1789-1903, Washington, US Government
Printing Office, 1903.
Notes
- Eicher, p. 298.
External links
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