Samuel Whitside Brigadier General Samuel M . Whitside was a United States Cavalry officer who served from 1858 to 1902 . He commanded at every level from company to department for 32 of his 43 years in service , including Army posts such a Camp Huachuca , Jefferson Barracks , and Fort Sam Houston , the Departments of Eastern Cuba and Santiago and Puerto Principe , Cuba , commanded a provisional cavalry brigade ( consisting of the 10th and 5th Cavalry Regiments ) , a squadron in the 7th Cavalry Regiment , and a troop and platoon in the 6th Cavalry Regiment . The pinnacle of his career was serving as the Commanding General of the Department of Eastern Cuba before retiring in June 1902 as a Brigadier General in the U . S . Army . Most history books record two events during his career : the founding of Fort Huachuca , Arizona , and his role as a battalion commander during the Pine Ridge Campaign of 1890 - ' 91 . These two events are arguably the most noteworthy in Whitside ' s four decades in the U . S . cavalry . Joining the U . S . Army and Service in the American Civil War . S . M . Whitside was born on January 9 , 1839 in Toronto , Canada . He grew up in that area attending Normal School , and later moved to New York where he attended Careyville Academy . He enlisted into the General Mounted Service in 1858 and served for three years at Carlisle Barracks , PA where he was promoted to the rank of Corporal . Corporal Whitside was assigned on July 27 , 1861 to the 3rd Cavalry to fill a vacant noncommissioned officer position , and on August 1 , he was promoted to sergeant major of the regiment . On August 3 , Congress redesignated the 3d Cavalry as the 6th Cavalry Regiment . On November 1 , three sergeants were offered commissions ; among these was Sergeant Major Samuel M . Whitside . He accepted his appointment as a second lieutenant in the 6th U . S . Cavalry on November 4 , 1861 and assumed the duties of a junior officer in Company K . His commander was Captain Charles R . Lowell . Lieutenant Whitside served with his company in the 6th Cav during the Peninsular Campaign of 1862 where he participated in the following battles : Williamsburg - May 5 , Slatersville - May 7 , New Bridge - May 20 , Ellison ' s Mills - May 23 , Hanover Court House - 27 to May 29 , Black Creek - June 26 , and Malvern Hill - August 5 . Whitside next served as an aide - de - camp on the staff of BG Nathaniel P . Banks , and participated in the Siege of Port Hudson in Louisiana in 1863 . However , Whitside suffered from a number of ailments — including small pox — and was severely injured at the Battle of Culpeper Court House . After briefly serving as an aide to Gen . Martindale and Gen . Pleasonton , he spent the remainder of the Civil War on recruiting duty in Rhode Island and mustering duty in West Virginia . He later received brevet promotions to captain and major for faithful and meritorious service . Service on the Frontier . Whitside served for the next 20 years with the 6th Cav commanding B Company at various posts throughout the West . Arizona Territory , Colorado and Dakota Territory 1875 - 1887 . After eighteen years as a captain and almost twenty - four years with the 6th Cavalry Regiment , Whitside was transferred to the 7th Cavalry Regiment in 1885 and promoted to Major . The 7th was then serving in the Dakota Territory at various posts including Fort Meade . In 1887 the Regiment moved to Fort Riley , Kansas and a more settled lifestyle . During the previous twenty - two years of service on the frontier , Whitside married and had seven children , four of which died in childhood , and served at over twenty posts spending an average of ten months at any one location . Personal life . Whitside was married to Caroline P . McGavock of Nashville , Tennessee , for thirty - six years . Of their seven children , three survived to adulthood . Their eldest surviving son , Warren Whitside , became a Colonel in the Army Quartermaster Corps and his son , Warren , Jr . ; served in the U . S . Navy as a Captain . Samuel and Caroline ' s daughter , Madeline , married 1st Lt . Archie Miller , a cavalry officer and eventual Medal of Honor recipient . Their daughter , Caroline , would marry Robert Whitney Burns , a future army Lieutenant General . Their youngest child , Victor , became a Major in the Army and commanded an infantry battalion during the Meuse - Argonne Offensive before dying in Germany of pneumonia at the end of World War I .