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Rh November 11, 1869. After the close of the Civil war he was in Texas, 1867-77. He was secretary of the Sitting Bull Commission, August, 1877. He was assigned to duty at the Executive Mansion, Washington, District of Columbia, as a member of the official staff of President Hayes, serving 1877-81; and was appointed assistant adjutant-general with the rank of major, June 16, 1880; and stationed in the Department of the South, 1883-84; Department of Missouri, 1884 to 1891. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel and assistant adjutant-general, June 7, 1889, and was in the Department of Arizona, 1891-92, where he conducted an expedition against the Moqui Indians, and he served in the adjutant-general's office, Washington, from 1892 to 1895; in the Department of the East, 1895-97. He was appointed brigadier-general and adjutant-general of the army, February 25, 1898. He served as secretary of the joint congressional committee chosen to represent the United States at the Yorktown Centennial. He was to attend President Garfield on his contemplated visit to New England in 1881, was present when the president was shot in the railroad depot at Washington, accompanied him to the sea shore at Elberon, New Jersey, and was present at his death.

In the war with Spain, 1898, he severely criticized the conduct of the war department, and for the time this appeared to have put an end to his official life; but in reorganizing the army in 1900 congress by a special act promoted him to the rank of major-general and adjutant-general of the United States army, "this grade to expire with the termination of office of the present incumbent." He served until October 20, 1903, when he was assigned to the command of the Department of the East, and later to the Atlantic Division. In 1899 President Roosevelt sent him with Generals Young and Wood to witness the German maneuvers where for two weeks they were the personal guests of the Emperor, and were treated with great consideration, as they were subsequently by the King of England and his court. During the visit of Prince Henry of Germany to the United States in 1900, General Corbin was one of the President's delegates and accompanied the Prince on his tour of the states. During the Spanish war he had the confidence of President McKinley and was his constant adviser, under call night and day; and after the president's death the members of his cabinet, anxious to have some official record of the extent and nature of this service,