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Edward N. Kirk

Edward Needles Kirk
Edward N. Kirk, c. 1858
Born	(1828-02-29)February 29, 1828 Jefferson County, Ohio, US
Died	July 21, 1863(1863-07-21) (aged 35) Chicago, Illinois, US
Place of burial	Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago, Illinois
Allegiance	United States Union
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1861–1863
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands held	34th Illinois Infantry
Battles/wars	American Civil War Battle of Shiloh Battle of Stones River

Edward Needles Kirk (February 29, 1828 – July 21, 1863) was a Quaker school teacher, attorney, and then a brigadier general in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Kirk was born in rural Jefferson County, Ohio. He was educated at the Friends' Academy in Mount Pleasant, Ohio, and subsequently taught school. He studied law for two years in Cadiz, Ohio, and passed the bar exam in 1853. He established a practice in Baltimore, Maryland. In the spring of 1854, he relocated to Sterling, Illinois. He married Marcella Cameron in Philadelphia on October 17, 1855. The couple had two sons. In 1858, with his business quickly prospering, Kirk built a large mansion, now known as the Paul W. Dillon Home.

At the start of the Civil War, Kirk recruited and organized the 34th Illinois Infantry, serving as the regiment's first colonel dating from September 1861. He saw duty in Kentucky and Tennessee. He commanded a brigade of four regiments during the Battle of Shiloh, where he was wounded in the shoulder on April 7, 1862, and eventually shipped home to recuperate.

Following his lengthy convalescence, Kirk returned to the field in late August, although he was still partially invalided. He and his men participated in parts of the Kentucky Campaign. He was appointed as a brigadier general dating from November 29, 1862. A little more than a month later, he was severely wounded in the hip during the Battle of Stones River near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Minié ball lodging near his spine. He was transported to a field hospital and then eventually taken to the Tremont HouseinChicago, where he died several months later.

He is buried in the Rosehill Cemetery and Mausoleum in Chicago.

Battery Edward N. Kirk at Fort StarkinNew Hampshire was named in his memory. His son, Edward C. Kirk, became one of Pennsylvania's leading dental surgeons and medical educators.

• List of American Civil War generals (Union)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this articlebyadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Edward N. Kirk" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (April 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Warner, Ezra J., Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, ISBN 0-8071-0822-7.
• Wilson, James G., Biographical Sketches of Illinois Officers Engaged in the War Against the Rebellion of 1861. Chicago: James Barnet, publisher, 1863.

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wilson, J. G.; Fiske, J., eds. (1891). Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Photo gallery at the Wayback Machine (archived February 8, 2008)