Richard Delafield (September 1, 1798 – November 5, 1873) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

officer for 52 years. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy for a total of 12 years. At the start of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

, then

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

Delafield helped equip and send volunteers from New York to the Union Army. He also was in command of defenses around New York Harbor from 1861 to April 1864. On April 22, 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army of the United States and Chief of Engineers. On March 8, 1866, President

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. The 16th vice president, he assumed the presidency following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a South ...

nominated Delafield for appointment to the grade of brevet major general in the Regular Army, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866, reconfirmed due to a technicality on July 14, 1866. He retired from the US Army on August 8, 1866. He later served on two commissions relating to improvements to Boston Harbor and to lighthouses. He also served as a regent of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

Early life

Richard Delafield was born in

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on September 1, 1798.Warner, Ezra J. ''Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders''. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1964. . pp. 117-118.Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, ''Civil War High Commands.'' Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. . pp. 205-206. He was one of the 14 children of John Delafield and Anne (''née'' Hallett) Delafield. His father had emigrated to New York from England in 1788 and made a fortune as a merchant. Edward Delafield, a prominent American physician, Joseph Delafield, a lawyer and diplomat, and Rufus King Delafield, a banker and manufacturer, were among his brothers. He was the first graduate of the United States Military Academy to receive a merit class standing, ranking first in the class of 1818. During his time at West Point he also became the first cadet teacher detailed as acting assistant professor of mathematics in 1815. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, he served as topographical draftsman for the American Boundary Commission, along with his brother Joseph Delafield. The commission established the northern boundary between the United States and Canada under the Treaty of Ghent.

Military career

Delafield served as assistant engineer in the construction of

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

defenses from 1819 to 1824 and was in charge of fortifications and surveys in the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

delta area in 1824–1832. While superintendent of repair work on the Cumberland Road east of the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

, he designed and built Dunlap's Creek Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, the first cast-iron tubular-arch bridge in the United States. Commissioned a major of engineers in July 1838, he was appointed superintendent of the Military Academy after the fire of 1838 and served till 1845. He designed the new buildings and the new cadet uniform that first displayed the castle insignia. He superintended the construction of coast defenses for New York Harbor from 1846 to 1855. The Delafield Commission

In the beginning of 1855, Delafield was appointed by the

Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

a head of the board of officers, later called ''The Delafield Commission'', and sent to

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to study the European military. The board included Captain

George B. McClellan George Brinton McClellan (December 3, 1826 – October 29, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 24th governor of New Jersey and as Commanding General of the United States Army from November 1861 to March 186 ...

and Major Alfred Mordecai. They inspected the state of the military in Great Britain, Germany, the Austrian Empire, France, Belgium, and Russia, and served as military observers during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. After his return in April 1856, Delafield submitted a report which was later published as a book by Congress, ''Report on the Art of War in Europe in 1854, 1855, and 1856''. The book was suppressed during the

due to fears that it would be instructive to Confederate engineers as it contained multiple drawings and descriptions of military fortifications. Delafield served as superintendent of the Military Academy again in 1856–1861. In January 1861, he was succeeded by Captain Pierre G. T. Beauregard, who was dismissed shortly after Beauregard's home state of Louisiana seceded from the Union, and Delafield returned as superintendent serving until March 1, 1861. In the beginning of the Civil War he advised the governor of New York Edwin D. Morgan during the volunteer force creation. Then, in 1861–1864, he was put in charge of New York Harbor defenses, including

Governors Island Governors Island is a island in New York Harbor, within the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. It is located approximately south of Manhattan Island, and is separated from Brooklyn to the east by the Buttermilk ...

and Fort at Sandy Hook. On May 19, 1864, he was commissioned a brigadier-general after replacing Joseph Gilbert Totten, who had died, as the Chief of Engineers, United States Army Corps of Engineers, on April 22, 1864. He stayed in charge of the Bureau of Engineers of the War Department until his retirement on August 8, 1866. On March 8, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Delafield for appointment to the grade of brevet major general in the Regular Army of the United States, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866, and reconfirmed it due to a technicality on July 14, 1866.

Later life

After retirement Delafield served as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution and a member of the Lighthouse Board.''American Civil War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection''
ed. by Spencer C. Tucker. Volume I. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO, 2013. He died in Washington, D.C., on November 5, 1873. The Secretary of War ordered that 13 guns be fired in his memory at West Point. He is buried at

Green-Wood Cemetery Green-Wood Cemetery is a cemetery in the western portion of Brooklyn, New York City. The cemetery is located between South Slope, Brooklyn, South Slope/Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, Greenwood Heights, Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, Win ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Family

Delafield's first wife Helen Summers, whom he married in 1824, passed away after four months into the marriage. In 1833 he married Harriet Baldwin Covington (1811–1894) with whom he had eight children, among them: *Henry Baldwin Delafield (1834–1847) *Susan Parish Delafield (1836–1896) *Juliet Covington Delafield (1837–1925) *Emma Delafield (1840–1938) *Laura Delafield (1843–1886) *Albert Delafield (1846–1920), who married Julia Floyd (1846–1929), granddaughter of U.S. Representative William Floyd File:Members of the Delafield family, circa 1870.jpg, Members of the Delafield family, circa 1870 File:Delafield Family Mausoleum.jpg, Delafield Family Mausoleum File:Delafield Family Mausoleum - Inscriptions.jpg, Delafield Family Mausoleum inscriptions File:Delafield Family Mausoleum III.jpg, Delafield Family Mausoleum (close-up)

References

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