Samuel Ryan Curtis  Samuel Ryan Curtis (February 3, 1805 – December 26, 1866) was an American military officer, and one of the first Republicans elected to Congress. He was most famous for his role as a Union Army general in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the American Civil War, especially for his victories at the Battles of Pea Ridge in 1862 and Westport in 1864. Born near Champlain, New York, Curtis graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1831. He was stationed at Fort Gibson in the Indian Territories (present-day Oklahoma) before resigning from the Army in 1832. He moved to Ohio, where he worked as a civil engineer on the Muskingum River improvement projects and also became a lawyer in 1841. During the Mexican–American War, he was appointed colonel of the 2nd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers and served as military governor of several occupied cities. After the war in the 1850s, he served as chief engineer for river improvements in Des Moines, Iowa, for public infrastructure works in St. Louis, and for the American Central Railroad in Iowa. He became the mayor of Keokuk in 1856 and in the same year was elected as a Republican to represent Iowa's 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. Curtis and Timothy Davis (elected the same day to represent Iowa's 2nd congressional district) were the first Iowa Republicans elected to serve in the U.S. House. Curtis was re-elected in 1858 and 1860 and during his time in Congress was a strong advocate of a transcontinental railroad. He was a supporter of eventual President Abraham Lincoln, and was considered for a cabinet position in the Lincoln administration. However, after the Civil War broke out, Curtis was appointed colonel of the 2nd Iowa Infantry on June 1, 1861, prompting him to resign his congressional seat on August 4 of that year. He was subsequently promoted to brigadier general, with the promotion backdated to May 17, 1861. After organizing the chaos in St. Louis, Missouri, Curtis was given command of the Army of the Southwest on December 25, 1861, by Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck. The Army originally consisted of three divisions, the 1st commanded by Brig. Gen. Franz Sigel, the 2nd by Brig. Gen. Alexander Asboth, and the 3rd by Col. Jefferson C. Davis. However, Sigel, a native German who held significant influence amongst the many German immigrants in the army, threatened to resign over having not been appointed to command of the army himself.