Samuel T. Cushing

Samuel T. Cushing (14 September 1839 – 21 July 1901) was a career officer in the United States Army. A veteran of the American Civil War, American Indian Wars, and Spanish–American War, he was one of the organizers of the US Army Signal Corps and attained the rank of brigadier general as the army's Commissary General of Subsistence.

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Cushing was raised and educated in Providence and graduated from the United States Military Academy (West Point) in 1860. After serving in New Mexico Territory during the Navajo Wars in 1860 and 1861, Cushing served with the Union Army throughout the American Civil War. While in New Mexico, he and Albert J. Myer studied and experimented with signaling and communications methods including the telegraph. At the start of the American Civil War, he served as aide-de-camp to Dixon Stansbury Miles, who commanded a brigade during the July 1861 First Battle of Bull Run. He subsequently commanded a school for training soldiers assigned to the Signal Corps and served as the Army of the Potomac's chief signal officer. After teaching Signal officers as a member of the West Point faculty, he transferred to the Commissary department, then served at posts in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana until the end of the war.

During the Reconstruction era, Cushing served in Mississippi, which was followed by commissary duty at forts and camps in Nebraska, Texas, New Mexico, and other locations in the Western United States. He took part in the Bannock War of 1878 and was part of the 1884 disaster relief response that followed flooding in Pennsylvania. In the late 1880s and early 1890s, he performed commissary of subsistence duties in states including Texas and Kansas.

In 1895, Cushing was assigned as the army's assistant commissary general of subsistence as a lieutenant colonel, and he was promoted to colonel in January 1897. In January 1898, he was promoted to brigadier general and appointed as commissary general. The Spanish–American War commenced in early 1898; at age 59, Cushing anticipated serving until reaching the mandatory retirement age of 64 in 1903. However, his declining health caused him to conclude that he could not perform effectively during the army's wartime expansion, so he requested retirement for disability. His request was approved, and he left the army in April 1898.

After retiring, Cushing resided in Washington, D.C. he died in Washington on 21 July 1901. Cushing was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Early life Samuel Tobey Cushing was born in Providence, Rhode Island on 14 September 1839, a son of George W. Cushing and Sarah (Cooke) Cushing. He was raised and educated in Providence, and graduated from Providence High School. In 1855 received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

On 1 July 1860, Cushing was appointed a second lieutenant of Infantry by brevet and assigned to frontier duty in New Mexico Territory. He served at Fort Defiance in 1860 and 1861, including participation in an extended expedition during the Navajo Wars. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry Regiment on 19 January 1861.

Continued career

Cushing served as commissary officer for the District of New Mexico from October 1873 to November 1874, and depot commissary officer in Louisville, Kentucky from November 1874 to August 1875. He died in Washington on 21 July 1901. Cushing's funeral was held at the Church of St. Paul's and he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Dates of rank Cushing's dates of rank were:

Second Lieutenant (Brevet), 1 July 1860 Second Lieutenant (Infantry), 19 January 1861 First Lieutenant (Infantry), 14 May 1861 Captain (Infantry), 15 February 1862 Captain (Commissary), 9 February 1863 Major (Brevet), 13 March 1868 Major (Commissary), 28 August 1888 Lieutenant Colonel (Commissary), 11 November 1895 Colonel (Commissary), 26 January 1897 Brigadier General (Commissary), 28 January 1898 Brigadier General (Retired), 21 April 1898