Alfred Howe Terry (10 November 1827 – 16 December 1890) was a Major-General of the US Army during the American Civil War, the Great Sioux War of 1876, and the Nez Perce War. From 1866 to 1869 and again from 1872 to 1886, Terry commanded US forces in the Dakota Territory.
Biography[]
Alfred Terry was born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States on 10 November 1827, and he spent most of his childhood in New Haven. After graduating from Yale Law School in 1848, he became a lawyer, and he would raise a regiment of Connecticut volunteers when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. Terry fought at Bull Run before his regiment was transferred to South Carolina, and he was promoted to Brigadier-General in April 1862. He commanded the Morris Island Division of the X Corps and took part in the siege operations around Charleston, taking Fort Wagner in September 1863 after two previous assaults that year had ended in costly failure. In 1864, the entire X Corps was moved to Virginia, and Terry led the X Corps' 1st Division during the fighting around Richmond and Petersburg. At the year's end, Ulysses S. Grant replaced Fort Fisher Expeditionary Corps leader Benjamin Butler with Terry, and Terry took the fort by storm in January 1865. In February, Terry's corps took Wilmington, North Carolina, and his corps ended the war in that same state in April 1865.
After the war, Terry decided to remain in the military, leading the US forces in the Dakota Territory from 1866 to 1869 and again from 1872 to 1886. In 1876-77, Terry commanded a US Army column sent into Montana to crush the Sioux tribe, and he also led the forces that subdued the Nez Perce tribe. In 1886, Terry was promoted to Major-General and given command of the Military Division of the Missouri in Chicago, Illinois, retiring in 1888. Terry died in New Haven on 16 December 1890 at the age of 63.
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