Sibley, Henry Hopkins

The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military | 2001 | 700+ words | Copyright

Sibley, Henry Hopkins (1816–86) Confederate army officer, born in Louisiana. Sibley fought in the second Seminole War and the Mexican War (1846–48), where he was cited for bravery, and in an unsuccessful war against the Navajo in 1860. After the outbreak of the Civil War, he convinced Confederate president Jefferson Davis to try to seize Colorado, New Mexico, and California, which he believed would convince doubting European powers of the Confederacy's viability. Sibley led a force out West and won some early victories against Union troops, but the campaign ended disastrously (partly because of Sibley's heavy drinking,) with Sibley losing one-third of his men. As a result, he lost his command. After the war, he was briefly a general in the Egyptian army, charged with construction of coastal fortifications, but he was dismissed for incompetence and drinking and returned to the United States.

Henry Hopkins Sibley is not related to Henry Hastings Sibley.

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