Delos Bennett Sackett

Delos Bennett Sackett
Born	April 14, 1822(1822-04-14) Cape Vincent, New York
Died	March 8, 1885(1885-03-08) (aged 62) Washington, D.C.
Place of burial	Cape Vincent, New York
Allegiance	United States of America Union
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1845-1885
Rank	major general (Volunteers) Brigadier General (Regulars)
Commands held	Inspector General Army of the Potomac Inspector General Washington, D.C.
Battles/wars	Mexican-American War Battle of Palo Alto Resaca de la Palma American Civil War Peninsula Campaign Maryland Campaign Fredericksburg
Other work	Senior Inspector General of the US Army

Delos Bennett Sackett (April 14, 1822 – March 8, 1885) was a career officer in the United States Army, and served in the American Civil War as a general in the Union Army. He was a postbellum Senior Inspector General of the Army.

Early life and career

Sackett (spelled Sacket in some army records) was born in Cape Vincent, New York. He graduated the United States Military Academy in 1845. As a lieutenant in the 2nd Dragoons, he was assigned to duty in Texas and then in the Mexican-American War. He was cited for gallantry for his actions at the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma.

Col. Delos B. Sackett (extreme left) with President Lincoln, George B. McClellan and other officers at the Battle of Antietam, 1862.

He plotted out 84 city blocks with stakes and rawhide rope [fake lore], as the foundation of what is now Las Cruces, New Mexico.^[1] In 1848, during the summer, he was with 87 soldiers of the First Dragoons of Company H, charged with defending homesteads from Apache raids. El Paso, Texas, was one of these communities protected by Sackett's force.^[1] While scouting against the Apache Indians in 1850, he won special distinction from his superiors as "an active and gallant officer."^[2] Sackett married a Cherokee girl, Amanda Fields. The couple had a daughter, but Mrs. Sackett died in August 1849 in Arkansas while her husband was serving on the frontier.^[3]

In December 1850, Sackett returned to West Point as Assistant Instructor of Cavalry Tactics, serving until April 1855. With the rank of captain in the 1st U.S. Cavalry, he went to Kansas Territory to Fort Leavenworth and served on various expeditions against hostile Indians. He then served on a variety of posts around the country and took a leave of absence for an extended trip to Europe. He was serving in the Indian Territory when the Civil War erupted.

Civil War

Colonel Sackett (seated center) with Colonel Albert V. Colburn and General John Sedgwick in Harrison's Landing, Virginia, during the Peninsula Campaign, 1862.

At the outset of the war, Sackett, then the lieutenant colonel of the 5th U.S. Cavalry, was assigned to Washington, D.C. as the Acting Inspector-General of the Department of Washington. He held that position until August 1861, when he was reassigned as the Mustering and Disbursing Officer for New York City until December, spending much of his time helping to organize newly recruited troops. In late December, he joined the Army of the Potomac as its Inspector General, serving in that role until January 1863. He was in the Peninsula Campaign as a staff officer and advisor to Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan and again during the Maryland Campaign. After serving under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside at Fredericksburg, Sackett took command of the Inspector General's Office in Washington.

He then served on a variety of military boards (helping to organize the Invalid Corps) until April 1864, when he was sent to the Western Theater on inspection duty for the Departments of the Tennessee, Cumberland, Arkansas, and New Mexico. In the omnibus promotions at the end of the war, he reached the brevet rank of major general for "faithful and meritorious services during the Rebellion."

Postbellum career

Delos B. Sackett in his postbellum.

After spending a year in New York City awaiting orders, Sackett was sent to the Montana Territory on an inspection tour, and then went on to the Pacific Coast. He was then assigned as Inspector General of the Department of the Tennessee from November 1866 through to March 1867. He served in the same role in a variety of posts until 1881, when he returned to Washington as a brigadier general and Senior Inspector General of the Army, a post he held until his death in Washington at the age of 63 of gangrene.

He was buried in his native Cape Vincent, where he had built an impressive house in 1872.

Post # 268 of the Grand Army of the Republic in Cape Vincent was named for Delos B. Sackett.

Sackett's Well, a bleak watering hole in a remote desert west of Yuma, Arizona, provided the inspiration for name of the fictional Sackett family in author Louis L’Amour’s series of Western novels, The Sacketts.

Camp Sackett was a United States military camp located about 3.5 miles southwest of Lecompton, Kansas. It served as a temporary prison for free state advocates, including Governor Charles L. Robinson, during the Bleeding Kansas issue in 1856.

See also

	Biography portal
	United States Army portal
	American Civil War portal

• List of American Civil War generals

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} "La Cruces history"
2. ^ NY Times obituary, March 9, 1885.
3. ^ Chronicles of Oklahoma

References

• Biography of Delos Bennett Sackett
• New York Times obituary
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography.

External links

• Postbellum photo of D. B. Sackett

Military offices
Preceded by Randolph B. Marcy	Inspector General of the U. S. Army January 2, 1881-March 8, 1885	Succeeded by Nelson H. Davis

Persondata
Name	Sackett, Delos Bennett
Alternative names
Short description	Union Army general
Date of birth	April 14, 1822
Place of birth	Cape Vincent, New York
Date of death	March 8, 1885
Place of death	Washington, D.C.