Benjamin Alvord was an American soldier, mathematician, and botanist. He took part in the Second Seminole War and Mexican-American War.
Background
Benjamin Alvord was born on August 18, 1813 in Rutland, Vermont, United States. He was the son of William and Lucy (Claghorn) Alvord, and sixth in descent from Alexander Alvord, who came from the southwest of England to Windsor, Connecticut, about 1645.
Education
Alvord graduated from West Point in 1833.
Career
In 1833 Alvord was commissioned in the 4th Infantry, and, except for brief periods of detached service and a two years' tour of duty as instructor at the Military Academy, served with it for twenty-one years. He took part in the Florida War, in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, and in the guerrilla fighting of Lally's command which convoyed supplies from Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico in the summer and fall of 1847.
In 1854 he accepted an appointment as paymaster with the rank of major. At the outbreak of the Civil War he was chief paymaster in Oregon. Some experienced officer was needed for the command of that remote district, and to this duty Alvord was assigned, being made a brigadier-general of volunteers in 1862, and continuing in Oregon until 1865. Thus no opportunity for distinction in the field came to him, but his services, though unspectacular, were not unimportant.
In the early days of the war his influence was effectively exerted to keep the people of the territory loyal to the Union and to overcome the secessionist sympathies which were active in some places. Throughout the whole period he had the difficult task of protecting settlers from the attacks of hostile Indians, and peaceable Indians from the aggression of rascally white men. He seems to have performed it with impartial justice.
The government showed its approval of his conduct of affairs by conferring three brevets. From 1872 until his retirement in 1880, he was paymaster-general of the army, at first with the rank of colonel, and after 1876 with that of brigadier-general.
Although the greater part of Alvord's life was spent in places remote from facilities for study, his attainments in several branches of science were considerable, and he wrote extensively for learned publications. In 1855 he published his monograph on "The Tangencies of Circles and of Spheres" and its sequel, "The Intersection of Circles and the Intersection of Spheres". Among other published papers are "Winter Grazing in the Rocky Mountains, " and several on mathematical subjects and on the American Indians.
Achievements
Personality
Alvord was a kindly, unassuming, studious man; his interests were scholarly, and his abilities of a sort little appreciated in an army whose duties lay chiefly on the frontier.
Connections
Alvord was married in 1846 to Emily Louise Mussey of Rutland, Vermont, by whom he had six children.