This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on William Ward Duffield is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
William Ward Duffield (November 19, 1823 – June 22, 1907) was an executive in the coal industry, a railroad construction engineer, and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. After the war he was appointed Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.
Contents |
Early life
Duffield was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the son of Isabella Graham (Bethune), and the Reverend George Duffield, a prominent minister in the Presbyterian Church. Although he would call Michigan home after 1836, throughout his life William worked and traveled widely. He graduated in 1842 from Columbia College, New York, as a civil engineer, and two years later received a Master of Arts. He later studied law and was admitted to the Detroit bar. At the onset of the Mexican-American War he entered the U.S. Army as adjutant of the 2nd Tennessee Infantry. Later during the war he served on the staff of General Gideon J. Pillow. He went to California as an Army paymaster after the war and qualified as a founding member in the Society of California Pioneers. During this service he became well enough versed in the military sciences to author two books on the subject. After leaving the Army he worked as engineer and superintendent of railroads in New York; surveyed the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad from Pontiac to Grand Haven, from Detroit to Port Huron, and from Mendota to Galesburg, Illinois.
Civil War
When the Civil War erupted, Duffield joined the 4th Michigan Infantry as its lieutenant colonel, and participated with the regiment in the First Battle of Bull Run. In September 1861 he resigned from the 4th and accepted a commission as colonel of the 9th Michigan Infantry.
On January 9, 1862, he was ordered to Bardstown, Kentucky, to head an officer examining board. From March 8 to May 14, 1862, he commanded the 23rd Brigade of the Army of the Ohio. On April 11, 1862, he was appointed acting brigadier general, but his appointment was not confirmed by the United States Senate; it was tabled on July 16, 1862.1 On May 9, 1862, he was appointed acting military governor of Kentucky. On July 12, 1863, Duffield arrived in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in command of the 9th Michigan. The following day the Union garrison, under the overall command of Brig. Gen. Thomas T. Crittenden, was attacked and defeated by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest in the First Battle of Murfreesboro. Col. Duffield was twice wounded during the attack and captured; he was exchanged on August 27, 1862.
Postbellum career
Duffield resigned from the Army on February 6, 1863, and returned to Michigan. After the war he had charge of coal mines in Pennsylvania and iron mines in Kentucky, and was chief engineer of the Kentucky Union Railroad. In 1879-1880 he served as a Michigan State Senator. He was appointed by President Grover Cleveland as Superintendent of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, 1894-1898. He spent his last years in Washington, D.C., where he died. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
See also
References
Primary sources
- Burton Historical Collection. Detroit Public Library, Detroit, Michigan. Duffield Family Papers.
- Detroit, Michigan Advertiser & Tribune, 1861-1865
- Detroit, Michigan Free Press, 1861-1865.
- Oakland Historical House Museum, Murfreesboro, TN. Duffield Letters.
Books
- American Biographical History of Eminent Self-Made Men, Michigan Edition Cincinnati, OH: Western Biographical Publishing Company. (1878)
- Bennett, Charles Historical Sketches of the Ninth Michigan Infantry Coldwater, MI: Daily Courier. (1913)
- Bingham, Steven D. Early History of Michigan with Biographies of State Officers, Members of Congress, Judges and Legislators Lansing: Thorp and Godrey, State Printers (1888).
- Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., Civil War High Commands, Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
- Michigan Biographies: Including Members of Congress, Elective State Officers, Justices of the Supreme Court, Members of the Michigan Legislature, Board of Regents of the University of Michigan, State Board of Agriculture and State Board of Education 2 vols. Lansing, MI: Michigan Historical Commission (1924).
- Wyeth, John Allan. That Devil Forrest: the Life of General Nathan Bedford Forrest 1899. Reprint. NY: Harpers, 1959.
Journal articles
- King, William H. "Forrest's Attack on Murfreesboro, July 13, 1862." Confederate Veteran 32 (November 1924): 430-431.
Notes
- ^ Eicher, p. 595.
External links
- William Ward Duffield at Find A Grave Retrieved on 2008-02-11
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Duffield, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Union Army officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 11 November 2008, at 20:16.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "William Ward Duffield".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.