Decius Wadsworth

January 2, 1768 (age 53)

Farmington

He was a renowned military organizer, engineer and inventor. He was a scion of the prominent Wadsworth family of Connecticut. He was a contemporary and relative of Jeremiah Wadsworth, James Wadsworth, William Wadsworth, and James Wadsworth. Decius never married. In 1794, Decius Wadsworth was appointed by President George Washington as a captain in the Artillerist and Engineer Corps. He served was promoted to major in January 1800, and served as acting Superintendent of the Military Academy from 1803 until 1805, when he resigned. He returned to the army after being appointed Commissary General of Ordnance on July 2, 1812. On February 8, 1815, the Office of Commissary General of Ordnance was redesignated as the Chief of Ordnance. His department was charged with the procurement, supply, and maintenance of all cannon, small arms, powder, ball, shot, and other related items for the war effort. He drew up a set of regulations to ensure a system of uniformity in the armories and in the manufacture of ordnance material. Colonel Wadsworth served as the Chief of Ordnance until June 1, 1821, at which time he left the service due to illness. In 1817, he developed a cipher system based on a design by Thomas Jefferson, establishing a method that was continuously improved upon and used until the end of World World War World War II system involved a set of two disks, one inside the other, where the outer disk had the 26 letters of the alphabet and the numbers 2–8, and the inner disk had only the 26 letters. The disks were geared at a ratio of 26:33. To encipher a message, the inner disk was turned until the desired letter was at the top position, with the number of turns required for the result transmitted as ciphertext. Due to the gearing, a ciphertext substitution for a character did not repeat until all 33 characters for the plaintext letter had been used. He received recognition for this method only posthumously.

Decius Wadsworth

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Background

Decius Wadsworth was born in 1768 in Farmington, Connecticut, the eldest son of William Wadsworth, III and Mercy Clarke. He was a sixth generation descendant of William Wadsworth, an original founder of Hartford, Connecticut.

Education

He graduated from Yale University in 1785 with Honors.

Career

He was a renowned military organizer, engineer and inventor. He was a scion of the prominent Wadsworth family of Connecticut. He was a contemporary and relative of Jeremiah Wadsworth, James Wadsworth, William Wadsworth, and James Wadsworth.

Decius never married.

In 1794, Decius Wadsworth was appointed by President George Washington as a captain in the Artillerist and Engineer Corps. He served was promoted to major in January 1800, and served as acting Superintendent of the Military Academy from 1803 until 1805, when he resigned.

He returned to the army after being appointed Commissary General of Ordnance on July 2, 1812. On February 8, 1815, the Office of Commissary General of Ordnance was redesignated as the Chief of Ordnance.

His department was charged with the procurement, supply, and maintenance of all cannon, small arms, powder, ball, shot, and other related items for the war effort.

He drew up a set of regulations to ensure a system of uniformity in the armories and in the manufacture of ordnance material. Colonel Wadsworth served as the Chief of Ordnance until June 1, 1821, at which time he left the service due to illness. In 1817, he developed a cipher system based on a design by Thomas Jefferson, establishing a method that was continuously improved upon and used until the end of World World War World War II system involved a set of two disks, one inside the other, where the outer disk had the 26 letters of the alphabet and the numbers 2–8, and the inner disk had only the 26 letters.

The disks were geared at a ratio of 26:33.

To encipher a message, the inner disk was turned until the desired letter was at the top position, with the number of turns required for the result transmitted as ciphertext. Due to the gearing, a ciphertext substitution for a character did not repeat until all 33 characters for the plaintext letter had been used.

He received recognition for this method only posthumously.

Achievements

He standardized small arms in the service and accomplished inventories of material at posts and forts around the country.

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