Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby (November 9 1817–April 11, 1873) graduated from West Point in 1839. During the U.S. Civil War, he prevented Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley from reaching Colorado and California. Canby commanded the Union forces at the Battle of Fort Blakely which led to the fall of Mobile in 1865.

After the war, Canby was named army commander of the Department of the Columbia. He was later sent in 1873 to California for participation in the Modoc War. The Modocs, entrenched in Captain Jack's Stronghold south of Tule Lake, resisted army attacks so effectively that a peace conference was arranged. General Canby was shot and killed by Captain Jack of the Modocs on April 11, 1873, becoming the first, and only, general killed during the Indian Wars.

A cross in recognition of his assassination was erected in Lava Beds National Monument. The town of Canby in Clackamas County, Oregon is named for him.