Kozlay, Eugene A.

Eugene Arthur Kozlay (1828?-1883) was an officer in the Union Army during the Civil War. A Hungarian by birth, he served as a captain in the Hungarian army, emigrated to the United States, and eventually reached the rank of brigadier-general.

Evidence suggests that Kozlay lived briefly in New Orleans and that prior to the Civil War he was employed at the Customs House in New York City. At the outbreak of the war he helped to recruit the 54th New York Volunteers regiment, was commissioned as colonel in the Union Army and placed in command. The regiment was assigned to General Louis Blenker's division, but for some reason Kozlay refused the order and offered his resignation. However, his friends helped to reconcile with him Blenker and he finally joined his regiment. It appears that Blenker's division, including Kozlay's regiment, made up primarily of German and Austrian immigrants. They were sent with General John C. Fremont into West Virginia in 1862.

In 1862 Kozlay returned to New York in order to deal with some legal problems relating to fraud in recruiting or supply (it is not clear which), and remained there for about a year while the matters were being prosecuted. He then returned to his regiment, which had been assigned to participate in the siege of Charleston, South Carolina. During 1863 and 1864 he had command of Folly's Island and engaged in a number of skirmishes with the Confederate forces.

After the war, he served with the occupation forces in South Carolina and was assigned to supervise an office of the Freedmen's Bureau. At this time he was commissioned a brigadier general.

Kozlay was married and had at least two children. He died in 1883.

From the guide to the Eugene A. Kozlay Papers, 1860-1878, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)