Abram Duryée was a merchant and a general during the American Civil War. After the war, he became New York City Police Commissioner.
Background
Abram Duryee was born on April 29, 1815 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of Jacob and Eliza Duryee. He was of warlike Huguenot ancestry, his grandfather, Abraham Durea, having fought in the Revolution, his father and two uncles in the War of 1812.
Education
Abram Duryée was educated at the Crosby Street school and the grammar school of Columbia College.
Career
Choosing a mercantile career, Duryee made a fortune in mahogany.
At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the 142nd Regiment of militia; the next year he was appointed sergeant, and two years thereafter, sergeant-major. That same year he enlisted in the 27th later the 7th Regiment. Soon promoted sergeant, his rise was rapid: captain in 1843, major in September 1845, lieutenant-colonel in November, colonel in After ten years devoted service he resigned in 1859 and resisted all efforts to make him reconsider.
He was twice wounded while in command of his regiment during the Astor Place riots of 1849, and helped suppress other insurrections.
In April 1861 he raised a regiment of volunteers which became the 5th New York, or Duryee’s Zouaves. This regiment saw service at Big Bethel, June 10. Shortly afterward Col. Duryee became acting brigadier-general in place of Gen. E. M. Pierce. His command was ordered back to the vicinity of Washington. In command of his old regiment, he fortified Federal Hill, at Baltimore.
The President appointed him a brigadier-general in August and he was given charge of the instruction of fifteen regiments. In response to his plea for active service he was transferred to Alexandria in March 1862, and in August commanded a brigade in Ricketts’s division in the Valley of Virginia. Duryee’s brigade gave good account of itself at Cedar Mountain, Rappahannock Station, Thoroughfare Gap, Groveton, Second Bull Run—where Duryee was twice wounded—Chantilly, and South Mountain.
During the Antietam campaign he received three wounds while in command of Ricketts’s division. After a furlough of thirty days, he found (November 1862) that a junior officer had been promoted over his head. Unable to secure redress, he resigned in January 1863.
After the war he was made brevet major-general of volunteers. Generals Ricketts, MacDowell, Pope, and Meade all commended him in their official reports. Mayor Havemeyer appointed Duryee police commissioner of New York, in 1873, a position which he filled with ability and fidelity. He became dockmaster in 1884 and rendered able service here also.
Achievements
Connections
In 1838 Duryee married Caroline E. Allen who bore him a son and three daughters.