[Erasmus Darwin]. American soldier, born at Brimfield, MA, on the 29th of May 1810. He was graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1832; served in Charleston harbor during the nullification troubles in 1833; and in 1837–41 was aide to General Winfield Scott. After being made captain he served as instructor of artillery and cavalry at West Point from 1844 to 1848, and afterward served in the field on the northwestern frontier. During the Civil War he fought as brigade-commander in the first battle of Bull Run; commanded the Fourth Corps of the Army of the Potomac under General McClellan; and was engaged actively in the Peninsular campaign, which gained for him the promotion to major-general of volunteers. In 1863 he took part in General Dix’s expedition against Richmond. He resigned in 1864. He then removed to California, where he became president of the Mexican Gold-Mining Company (1867–69) and vice-president of the California Vine Culture Society (1868–72). In 1884 General Keyes published Fifty Years’ Observation of Men and Events. He died at Nice, France, on the 14th of October 1895, and was buried the following January, with full military honors, at West Point.
