Samuel Ryan Curtis Samuel Ryan Curtis ( February 3 , 1805 – December 26 , 1866 ) was an American military officer , and one of the first Republicans elected to Congress . He was most famous for his role as a Union Army general in the Trans - Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War . Biography . Born near Champlain , New York , Curtis graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1831 . He moved to Ohio , where he was a lawyer and took several other civilian jobs . During the Mexican - American War , he was appointed a colonel and served as military governor of several occupied cities . After the war , he moved to Iowa , and became the mayor of Keokuk in 1856 . In 1856 he was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa ' s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives . Curtis and Timothy Davis ( elected the same day to represent Iowa ' s 2nd congressional district ) were the first Iowa Republicans elected to serve in the U . S . House . Curtis was re - elected in 1858 and 1860 . He was a supporter of eventual President Abraham Lincoln , and was considered for a cabinet position in the Lincoln administration . However , after the Civil War broke out , Curtis was appointed colonel of the 2nd Iowa Infantry on June 1 , 1861 , prompting him to resign his congressional seat . He was subsequently promoted to brigadier general , effective May 17 , 1861 . After organizing the chaos in St . Louis , Missouri , Curtis was given command of the Army of the Southwest on December 25 , 1861 , by Maj . Gen . Henry W . Halleck . Curtis moved his headquarters south to Rolla , Missouri , to solidify Union control in Arkansas . In March 1862 , his army won the Battle of Pea Ridge in northwest Arkansas . His success made him pensive rather than triumphant . A few days after the battle he wrote , " The scene is silent and sad . The vulture and the wolf now have the dominion and the dead friends and foes sleep in the same lonely graves . " He was promoted to major general for his success , effective March 21 , 1862 . On the same day in late March that he heard about his promotion , he also found out that his twenty - year - old daughter Sadie died of typhoid fever in St . Louis . After Pea Ridge , Curtis ' small army moved east and invaded northeast Arkansas , capturing the city of Helena , Arkansas in July . In September , Curtis was given command of the District of Missouri , but Lincoln was soon forced to reassign him , after Curtis ' s abolitionist views led to conflict with the governor of Missouri . He was reassigned to command the Department of Kansas & Indian Territory . In October 1863 , his son Major Henry Zarah Curtis , adjutant to Brig . Gen . James G . Blunt , was killed by Quantrill ' s Raiders . In this surprise attack at the Battle of Baxter Springs , Quantrill ' s men wore Federal uniforms and gave no quarter . Samuel Curtis named Fort Zarah in memory of his son . In 1864 , Curtis returned to Missouri , fighting against the Confederate invasion led by Maj . Gen . Sterling Price . Curtis gathered the forces of his department together , including several regiments of Kansas State Militia , calling his force the Army of the Border . Price ' s incursion was halted by Curtis ' victory at the Battle of Westport . Curtis was then reassigned to a completely different armed conflict , commanding the Army ' s " Department of the Northwest , " which was in the closing phase of a military response to uprisings in southern Minnesota and Dakota Territory by Native Americans against settlers . In late 1865 , he returned to Iowa where he was involved with the Union Pacific Railroad until his death the following year in Council Bluffs , Iowa . He is buried in Oakland Cemetery , in Keokuk .