Wednesday, January 05, 2011

Officers Of The United States.

All these officers are from different time periods, but no matter what time they came from all fought for their country honorably.
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Benjamin Gorham, born Massachusetts, appointed from Massachusetts, 2nd., Lieutenant light artillery, June1, 1820, transferred to the 15th., infantry June 1, 1821. Graduated from West Point Military Academy as the 21st in his class, July 17, 1814. Dead October 15, 1821.
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Jesse A. Gove, born December 5, 1824, New Hampshire, appointed from New Hampshire, 2nd., of infantry March 8, 1847; 9th., infantry April 9, 1847. 1St., Lieutenant December 4, 1847. Disbanded August 26, 1848. Captain 10th., infantry March 3, 1855. Colonel 22nd., Massachusetts Volunteers November 9, 1861. Killed at the battle of Gaines Mill, June 27, 1862.

Jesse A. Gove was born in Weare, New Hampshire, the son of Squire and Dolly (Atwood) Gove. In 1845, he entered Norwich University (Norwich, Vermont), but interrupted his studies in 1847 to serve in the Mexican War, first as a Second Lieutenant, then as a First Lieutenant, in the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment. After the war, he returned to Norwich and graduated with a B.S. degree in 1849.

Gove then moved to Concord, New Hampshire, to study law and was admitted to the bar in 1851. He had his own office there until 1855, and was also Deputy Secretary of State for New Hampshire. In 1852, he married Maria Louise Sherburne of Concord. They had one daughter, Jessie, who married the Hon. John H. Pearson, and one son, Charles A. (U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1876). Gove was also a member of Mount Horeb Commandery, Knights Templar, in Concord.

In 1855, Gove returned to military service, being commissioned Captain, Company I, 10th U.S. Infantry Regiment, by President Franklin Pierce. Gove served in the Minnesota and Utah Territories before the Civil War erupted. When Col. Henry Wilson returned to his senatorial duties, Gove was commissioned Colonel of the 22nd Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

In what became known as the Seven Days' Battles, on June 27, 1862, at Gaines's Mill, Virginia, Colonel Gove was shot through his heart by a minie ball and died instantly. One of his non-commissioned officers, who had been taken prisoner of war, recognized the body and removed the colonel's belt, which he later presented to Colonel Gove's widow, but due to the circumstances, could not recover the body. If Colonel Gove's body was ever buried, it was not marked by name.
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Archibald Gracie Jr., born New York, November 1, 1832, appointed from New Jersey, Bvt. 2nd., Lieutenant 4th., infantry, July 1, 1854. 2nd., Lieutenant 5th., infantry March 3, 1855. Resigned May 3, 1856.

Civil War Confederate General. Northern-born Southern General. His family was the one that built "Gracie Mansion", the residence of the Mayor of New York. A West Point graduate, he threw his lot with the CSA after becoming a businessman in the South and marrying a Richmond woman. He was killed while his brigade was manning the Petersburg trenches in 1864.
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George W. Graffam, born Massachusetts, appointed from Army, Sergeant Co. C., 1sSt., Maine Volunteers May 3 to August 5, 1861. 1St., Lieutenant Adj., 5th., Maine Volunteers October 8, 1866. Resigned October 18, 1863. Private and Sergeant Co. G., and Sergeant Major 2nd., Batt. 16th., infantry June 6 to December 1, 1865. 2nd., Lieutenant 16th, infantry, November 24, 1865. Transferred to the 34th., infantry September 21, 1866. Unassigned April 14, 1869. Mustered out January 1, 1871, died on August 11, 1882.
Burial Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington County, Virginia.
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Lawrence P. Graham, born 1815, Virginia, appointed from Virginia, 2nd., Lieutenant, 2nd., Dragoons October 13, 1837. 1St., Lieutenant January 1, 1839. Captain August 31, 1843. Bvt. Major May 9, 1846, for gallant conduct in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca, de la Palma. Major 2nd., Dragoons June 14, 1858. Brig. General Volunteers August 31, 1866. Lieutenant Colonel 5th., Cavalry October 1, 1861. Colonel 4th., May 9, 1864. Bvt. Brig. General March 13, 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the war. Mustered out of Volunteer service August 24, 1865. Retired December 15, 1870. Died September 12, 1905.

Civil War Union Brigadier General. A career military officer, at the start of the Civil War, he was appointed Brigadier General of a Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. In 1862, he directed the Siege of Yorktown and was Chief of Cavalry to the camp of instruction near Annapolis, Maryland, in 1863. For the remainder of the war, he acted as President of a General Courts Martial and on the Board for Examination of Invalid Officers at Annapolis. After the war, he served various frontier posts, until retiring in December 1870. He became one of the most Shakesperean scholars in Washington, D.C. where he lived until his death.
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Hyacinth R. Agnel, born November 25, 1799, at New York, appointed from New York. Teacher and Prof., of French at Military Acad., February 4, 1820, and Prof., May16, 1848 to February 10, 1871. Died February 10, 1871.

Famous author:
The Book of Chess", 1848.
Chess for Winter Evenings", 1848.

He served in the Venezuelan army until 1831. In a battle near Caraccas, he received a severe saber wound in his hip.
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George Pahern, born December 29, 1859, New York appointed from New York. 2nd., Lieutenant 25th., infantry, June 13, 1882. 1St., Lieutenant 4th., infantry, February 20, 1891. Transferred to 25th., infantry, July 20, 1891. Captain of the 9th., infantry, June 30, 1898. Died May 13, 1940, Washington, District of Columbia, District Of Columbia.

United States Army Officer, Conservationist. He served in Cuba and the Philippines during the Spanish-American War. After the war, he remained in the Philippines to organize the Office of Patents, Copyrights and Trademarks and later the Bureau of Forestry for the Philippine Government. Earlier in 1890, he explored some of the last areas unmapped in Montana, mapping what would become Glacier National Park. Several areas in the park are named for him including Ahern Creek, Peak, Pass and Glacier. In the military for over 32 years, he saw combat in the Indian Campaigns in the Northwest, the Spanish American War, the Boxer Rebellion, and the Philippines Insurrection. During World War I, he served as the assistant to the Chief of Military Intelligence and then Secretary of the War College. A committed to conservationist, he wrote several books on Forestry.
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Frederick C. Ainsworth, born September 11, 1852, Vermont appointed from Vermont, 1St., Lieutenant Asst. Surg., November 10, 1874. Captain Asst., Surg., November 10, 1879. Major Surg., February 27, 1891. Colonel Chief of Records and Pension Office, May 27, 1892. Brig. General and Chief, March 2, 1899. Died June 5, 1934.

United States Army General. He entered the United States Medical Corps in 1874, serving in Alaska and the Southwest until 1884. Assigned to direct the Records and Pensions division of the Surgeon General's office in 1886, in this capacity he reorganized and brought up to date the records thousands of soldiers files, which made Civil War veteran pension claims faster and easier to process. In 1889 the records of the Adjutant General's office were placed under his control, and in 1892 he was named to head the newly created Records and Pension Office of the War Department. In 1898 he took over the organization and publication of all the "Official Records of the Civil War", which had been published sporadically since 1880.

Through his efforts the records of the War were effectively consolidated and published, thus providing an extremely valuable source of information for Civil War historians and researchers. He was promoted to Brigadier General in 1899, and Major General and Adjutant General of the United States Army in 1904. In his later years as Adjutant, he was very resistant to change and innovation to the point of insubordination, and he was retired in 1912 to avoid a court martial. The United States Navy troop transport ship "USNS Fred C. Ainsworth" (T-AP-181) was named in his honor.
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Jacob W. Albright, born 1782, place unknown appointed from Pennsylvania, Ensinn 1St., infantry, March 6, 1806. 2nd., Lieutenant November 15, 1807. 1St., Lieutenant August 26, 1812. District P. M., September 4, 1813 disbanded June 15, 1815. P. M. 2nd., infantry, July 9, 1816. Major P. M., June 1, 1821. Resigned May 13, 1823. Died June 3, 1823.

Was 41, years when he died, originally buried at the Second Presbyterian Church Cemetery but when that cemetery closed in 1867 more than 2500 burials were moved to Mount Vernon. Burial Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
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Brad R. Alden, born May 6, 1811, Pennsylvania, appointed from New York. Bvt 2nd., Lieutenant 4th., infantry, July 1, 1831. 2nd., Lieutenant September 15, 1833. 1St., Lieutenant September 1836. Captain June 14, 1842. Resigned September 29, 1853. Died on September 10, 1870.

United States Army Officer. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Class of 1831, he was posted as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th United States Infantry. After serving in the Seminole Wars and as an instructor at West Point, he was detailed as an Aide-de-camp to Major General Winfield Scott. His tenure as a staff officer began on September 3, 1840, and ended on June 14, 1842, when he was promoted to Captain and sent back to his regiment for duty in the field. After service commanding his detachment of the 4th Infantry in Texas for three years, he was assigned back to West Point as the Commandant of Cadets, upon the endorsement of General Scott. He served in that duty from December 14, 1845 to November 1, 1852, during which time 263 cadets were graduated that would go on to become Generals during the Civil War (the include such figures as Union Generals George B. McClellan, John Buford, Gouverneur K. Warren and John Gibbon, and Confederate Generals Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, Henry Heth, George E. Pickett and Charles W. Field).

Sent to the Pacific Coast in 1853, he was given command of Fort Jones, located in Northern California. When Indians along the Rogue River in southeastern Oregon threatened an uprising, Captain Alden led an expedition of his Regular troops plus an regiment of volunteers the from local populace (who elected him "Colonel" even though that rank was unofficial and honorary). In severe fighting on August 24, 1853 at the Rogue River, his command defeated the Indians, but he received a gunshot wound through the shoulder that permanently disabled him, and forced him to resign on September 24, 1853, a month later.

His post-military career included travels in Europe, and was one of the first men to drill for oil in the fields of western Pennsylvania in the late 1850s. During the Civil War his great desire to serve was thwarted by his disability, and efforts to raise a regiment of volunteers and to serve as a staff officer both were unsuccessful due to his injuries. He eventually succumbed to his wounds on September 10, 1870 at Newport, Rhode Island.
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Bishop Aldrich, born New York, appointed from Army. Private, Corporal, Sergeant, Co., H., and Q. M. Sergeant, 8th., infantry, July 29, 1855, to November 6, 1863. 2nd., 8th., infantry, October 31, 1863. 1St., Lieutenant July 28, 1866. R. Q. M., October 7, 1869, to May 16, 1877. Died on May 16, 1877. He was Bvt. 1St., Lieutenant May 10, 1864, for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Spottsylvania Virginia.

His burial is at Prescott National Cemetery, Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona, Plot: 2, 14 ROW D., There are no dates on his tombstone.

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