Darius Nash Couch | |
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Portrait of Darius Couch by Mathew Brady or Levin C. Handy taken in 1861 or 1862
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Born |
Putnam County, New York |
July 23, 1822
Died | February 12, 1897 Norwalk, Connecticut |
(aged 74)
Place of burial | Mount Pleasant Cemetery Taunton, Massachusetts |
Allegiance |
United States of America Union |
Service/branch |
United States Army Union Army |
Years of service | 1846–1855, 1861–1865 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands held |
II Corps, Army of the Potomac Department of the Susquehanna 2nd Division, XXIII Corps |
Battles/wars |
Mexican-American War Seminole Wars American Civil War |
Signature |
Darius Nash Couch (July 23, 1822 – February 12, 1897) was an American soldier, businessman, and naturalist. He served as a career U.S. Army officer during the Mexican-American War, the Second Seminole War, and as a general officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
During the Civil War, Couch fought notably in the Peninsula and Fredericksburg campaigns of 1862, and the Chancellorsville and Gettysburg campaigns of 1863. He rose to command a corps in the Army of the Potomac, and led divisions in both the Eastern Theater and Western Theater. Militia under his command played a strategic role during the Gettysburg Campaign in delaying the advance of Confederate troops of the Army of Northern Virginia and preventing their crossing the Susquehanna River, critical to Pennsylvania's defense.
He has been described as personally courageous, very thin in build, and (after his time in Mexico) frail of health.
Couch was born in 1822 on a farm in the village of Southeast in Putnam County, New York, and was educated at the local schools there. In 1842 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating four years later 13th out of 59 cadets. On July 1, 1846, Couch was commissioned a brevet second lieutenant and was assigned to the 4th U.S. Artillery.