Upton, Emory

Upton, Emory

(1839–81) soldier, military theorist; born near Batavia, N.Y. An 1861 West Point graduate, he earned rapid promotion. At Spotsylvania (1864) his tactical innovations led to a penetration of forbidding Confederate defenses. He later published important works on tactical theory. He committed suicide after he discovered he had contracted a fatal disease.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.