Benjamin Alvord (August 18, 1813 – October 16, 1884) was an American soldier, mathematician, and botanist.

Early life and career

Alvord was born in

Rutland, Vermont Rutland, Vermont may refer to: *Rutland (city), Vermont *Rutland (town), Vermont *Rutland County, Vermont *West Rutland, Vermont West Rutland is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,214 at the 2020 census. The ...

, where he developed an interest in nature. He attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

and displayed a talent in mathematics. He graduated in 1833.Marquis Who's Who, Inc. ''Who Was Who in American History, the Military''. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who, 1975. P. 9 He was assigned to the 4th U.S. Infantry and participated in the

Seminole Wars The Seminole Wars (also known as the Florida Wars) were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858. The Seminoles are a Native American nation which co ...

. He returned to West Point as an assistant professor of mathematics until 1839, when he was again assigned to the 4th Infantry. He spent 21 years of his military career with that regiment. He was on frontier, garrison, and engineer duty until 1846, when he participated in the military occupation of the new state of Texas. Subsequently, he served during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...

, being brevetted successively to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

for gallantry in a number of important battles, including the

Battle of Palo Alto The Battle of Palo Alto () was the first major battle of the Mexican–American War and was fought on May 8, 1846, on disputed ground five miles (8 km) from the modern-day city of Brownsville, Texas. A force of some 3,700 Mexico, Mexican t ...

and the

Battle of Resaca de la Palma The Battle of Resaca de la Palma was one of the early engagements of the Mexican–American War, where the United States Army under General Zachary Taylor engaged the retreating forces of the Mexican ''Ejército del Norte'' ("Army of the Nor ...

. He served as General Riley's chief of staff to Major Folliott T. Lally's column on the march from Vera Cruz to Mexico City in 1847. He joined the

Aztec Club of 1847 The Aztec Club of 1847 is a military society founded in 1847 by United States Army officers of the Mexican–American War. It is a male-only hereditary organization with membership of those who can trace a direct ancestral connection "based on ma ...

in 1871.

Map_Eastern_Oregon_and_Western_Idaho_-_NARA_-_93193210

After the Mexican–American War, he went from line to staff when he was named paymaster and promoted to major. He was assigned to various posts and was sent with the 4th Infantry to the West Coast. He was the engineer in charge of building the military road in southern Oregon. He was then chief paymaster in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

from 1854 until 1862.

Civil War service

From 1862 to 1865, during 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 ...

, Alvord was at

Fort Vancouver Fort Vancouver was a 19th-century fur trading post built in the winter of 1824–1825. It was the headquarters of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department, located in the Pacific Northwest. Named for Captain George Vancouver, the fort was ...

as the commander of the District of Oregon with the rank of brigadier general of volunteers. He was named to that post by George Wright, the commanding officer of the

Department of the Pacific The Department of the Pacific or Pacific Department was a major command ( Department) of the United States Army from 1853 to 1858. It replaced the Pacific Division, and was itself replaced by the Department of California and the Department of O ...

. Wright wanted an experienced

Regular Army A regular army is the official army of a state or country (the official armed forces), contrasting with irregular forces, such as volunteer irregular militias, private armies, mercenaries, etc. A regular army usually has the following: * a ...

officer in that post, rather than a volunteer, since the District was large (encompassing the present-day states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho), underdeveloped, and had a history of friction between the native peoples and settlers. As commander of the District, Alvord built up the defenses around the mouth of the Columbia River, but was unable to do the same for Puget Sound. Because of low enlistments from Oregon and Washington, he supported the military draft, and failing that, supported the payment of bounties. He was removed from command in March 1865. He was ordered to the East Coast, where he resigned his volunteer commission and became paymaster in New York City.

Circles and spheres

Alvord was interested in the classical

problem of Apollonius In Euclidean plane geometry, Apollonius's problem is to construct circles that are tangent to three given circles in a plane (Figure 1). Apollonius of Perga (c. 262 190 BC) posed and solved this famous problem in his work (', "Tangencies ...

, to find a circle

tangent In geometry, the tangent line (or simply tangent) to a plane curve at a given point is, intuitively, the straight line that "just touches" the curve at that point. Leibniz defined it as the line through a pair of infinitely close points o ...

to three given circles, and the special cases of Apollonius' problem, as well as the generalization to spheres. In 1855, he published in ''Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge''. Posted to the remote Fort Vancouver, he continued his investigations and submitted his findings in 1860, but was frustrated by a fire. In 1882, when he found that there are 96 circles which cut four given circles at a fixed angle and there are 640 spheres which cut five given spheres at a fixed angle, he assembled all his results for an article in ''

American Journal of Mathematics The ''American Journal of Mathematics'' is a bimonthly mathematics journal published by the Johns Hopkins University Press. History The ''American Journal of Mathematics'' is the oldest continuously published mathematical journal in the United S ...

'', where he explained the delay: :All of this memoir, except the last two problems, were completed and sent to the Smithsonian Institute in January 1860, from Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory, but the manuscript was burned in January 1865 when the upper story of the Smithsonian building was on fire. The article is graced with annotations by

Arthur Cayley Arthur Cayley (; 16 August 1821 – 26 January 1895) was a British mathematician who worked mostly on algebra. He helped found the modern British school of pure mathematics, and was a professor at Trinity College, Cambridge for 35 years. He ...

and the concession that

Darboux Darboux is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Jean Gaston Darboux (1842–1917), French mathematician * Lauriane Doumbouya (née Darboux), the current First Lady of Guinea since 5 September 2021 * Paul Darboux (1919–1982), ...

had preceded Alvord in print.

Postbellum

After the war, he subsequently became paymaster of the District of Omaha and paymaster of the

Department of the Platte The Department of the Platte was a military administrative district established by the U.S. Army on March 5, 1866, with boundaries encompassing Iowa, Nebraska, Dakota Territory, Utah Territory and a small portion of Idaho. With headquarters in Oma ...

. He became

Paymaster General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The position is currently held by Nick Thomas-Symonds of the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party. History The post was ...

of the Army in 1872 and served in that capacity until his retirement from active service in 1880, when he was succeeded by Nathan W. Brown. He was promoted to brigadier general in 1876. He also wrote on natural history, writing the first scientific description of the ability of the compass plant ('' Silphium laciniatum'') to orient itself in a north-south direction, as well as writing about winter grazing in the Rocky Mountains. Alvord was a contributor to ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

'', and a member of the

Literary Society of Washington The Literary Society of Washington was formed in 1874 by a group of friends and associates who wished to meet regularly for "literary and artistic improvement and entertainment". - page 3 For more than 140 years, this literary society has convene ...

.Alvord is listed in the directory of members of the Society in Helen Nicolay's
Sixty Years of the Literary Society
', Washington, D.C., 1934. Library of Congress call number PN22.L53 N5. Google Book

Personal life and family

He married Emily Louise Mussey in 1846, and they had six children. His son, Benjamin Alvord, Jr., became a soldier and was a general in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. His daughter Louise married Thomas Craig, one of the main professors of mathematics at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

during its first two decades.

Death and legacy

He died on October 16, 1884 in Washington, D.C. He and his wife Emily Louise Mussey (1826–1885) are buried at Evergreen Cemetery, Rutland, Vermont, Section 4, Lot 4. Alvord Valley and the

Alvord Desert The Alvord Desert is a desert located in Harney County, in southeastern Oregon in the Western United States. It is roughly southeast of Steens Mountain. The Alvord Desert is a dry lake bed and averages of rain a year. Two mountain ranges ...

in Oregon were named in his honor.Corning, Howard M. ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing, 1956.

Notes

References

*Hubbell, John T., and James W. Geary (editors). ''Biographical Dictionary of the Union: Northern Leaders of the Civil War''. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. . *Johnson, Allen (editor). ''Dictionary of American Biography''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1946. *Johnson, Rossiter (editor). ''The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans''. Boston: The Biographical Society, 1904. *Warner, Ezra J., ''Generals in Blue: Lives of the Union Commanders''. Louisiana State University Press, 1964. Reissued in 2006 by Easton Press.

External links

* *

George Washington Cullum George Washington Cullum (25 February 1809 – 28 February 1892) was an American soldier, engineer and writer. He worked as the supervising engineer on the building and repair of many fortifications across the country. Cullum served as a general ...

(1891
Cullum's Register #728
from Bill Thayer at

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvord, Benjamin 1813 births 1884 deaths People from Rutland (town), Vermont United States Military Academy alumni 19th-century American mathematicians American botanists American military personnel of the Mexican–American War Members of the Aztec Club of 1847 Union army generals People of Vermont in the American Civil War United States Army paymasters People of Oregon in the American Civil War Snake War Scientists from Vermont Mathematicians from Vermont Paymaster-General of the United States Army Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Rutland, Vermont)