Ranald Slidell Mackenzie (27 July 1840-19 January 1889) was a Brigadier-General of the US Army during the American Civil War and Indian Wars.
Biography[]
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was born on 27 July 1840 in Westchester County, New York, the son of Commodore Alexander Slidell Mackenzie. He graduated head of his class from West Point in 1862 and joined the Union forces fighting in the American Civil War, and he fought on the east coast in major battles from Second Bull Run to the Battle of Petersburg. He lost two fingers on his right hand at the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road, and he was nicknamed "Bad Hand" because of his injury. In 1866, President Andrew Johnson brevetted him a Major-General of the US Army. Mackenzie had a good reputation among the officers, having suffered six wounds, received seven brevets, drilled his men strictly, and been called "the most promising young officer" by Ulysses S. Grant. After the American Civil War, he fought against the Native Americans on the Great Plains, winning the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon during the Red River War in 1874 and the Dull Knife Fight during the Great Sioux War in 1876. Mackenzie died at his sister's home in Long Island in 1889.
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