Charles Kitchell Gardner was born on June 24, 1787, in Morris County, New Jersey. He was the son of Thomas Gardner, a veteran of the Revolution, and his wife, Sarah Kitchel.
He was descended from John Gardner who is said to have come from London to New Jersey in 1680.
When Charles was but four years old, his family moved to Newburgh on the Hudson, where he received his early training.
In 1808, while studying medicine under Dr. Hosack, Charles received an appointment as ensign in the 6th Regiment of Infantry, United States Army, and turned his attention toward a military career. He rose to be adjutant-general and is said to have refused a brevet of lieutenantcolonel.
In September 1815, at the instigation of Maj. -Gen. Ripley, with whom he had a personal quarrel, he was arrested and court-martialed. He was found guilty of conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman and of disrespectful conduct and language, but not guilty of cowardice or neglect of duty.
The court criticized Ripley’s conduct, saying “Where the principal charges have related to events long elapsed and the present occasion of the arrest was a personal difference the discipline of the army would not have suffered by his obeying the dictates of delicacy”.
Gardner was recommissioned adjutant-general of the Army of the North and in that capacity signed the Division Orders of May 22, 1816, for the light artillery and infantry in his division to be permanently designated by the first letter of the alphabet, which he claims inaugurated the present system in the United States army.
He resigned from the army in March 1818.
Gardner took up their residence in New York City, where Gov. DeWitt Clinton appointed Gardner police justice and later deputy commissioner-general.
In 1819, he published a Compend of the United States System of Infantry Exercise and Manoeuvres, and in the following year, Regulations for Light Infantry and Riflemen. In June 1820, he edited the first number of the Literary and Scientific Repository, and Critical Review (New York), which publication continued until May 1822.
His next journalistic venture was the New York Patriot, the first number of which appeared May 28, 1823.
It was generally believed that John C. Calhoun and Henry Wheaton were responsible for the organization of this paper.
Intended to supplant the National Advocate, which was thought disloyal to Republican principles, it was made the organ of Tammany Hall. Maj. Mordecai Manuel Noah, the able and relentless editor of the National Advocate, launched a counter attack, seized upon Gardner’s political record, charged him with turning from Clinton to the army group of Calhoun, and made many allusions to the court martial.
The editorial battle was stiff and amusing. Gardner assumed an air of injured innocence and aloofness in the face of the ruthless attacks by Noah. The Patriot and the National Advocate were finally bought by Thomas Snowden, and the Patriot was discontinued December 31, 1824.
The remainder of Gardner’s career seems to have been made up of political appointments.
In 1829, he became senior assistant postmaster-general and from 1836 to 1841 was auditor of the treasury for the Post-Office Department. On September 3, 1842, he was appointed secretary of the board of commissioners to settle claims arising under the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, and on January 17, 1844, was removed from office.
From 1845 to 1849, he was postmaster at Washington, C.
In 1853, as the fruit of four years’ labor, he published A Dictionary of all Officers in the Army of the United States 1789-1853. He next became surveyor- general of Oregon, and then returned to Washington to become a clerk in the Treasury Department. He retired in 1867 and died two years later.
Charles Kitchell Gardner was a senior assistant postmaster-general, auditor of the treasury for the Post-Office Department. He was appointed secretary of the board of commissioners to settle claims arising under the treaty with the Cherokee Indians, was postmaster at Washington, C. Published A Dictionary of all Officers in the Army of the United States 1789-1853. He became surveyor- general of Oregon, then returned to Washington to become a clerk in the Treasury Department.
In 1818, Gardner married Ann Eliza McLean. His wife survived him some seven years.
27 February 1799 - 26 December 1876
6 July 1827 - 10 December 1871
14 December 1833 - 27 May 1911
9 August 1820 - 1 March 1897
29 January 1823 - 29 April 1873
18 August 1831 - 12 August 1904
