Background
Wickham Hoffman was born on April 2, 1821 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of David Murray Hoffman, eminent jurist, and Frances Amelia (Burrall) Hoffman.
(Published in 1877, these are the author's memoirs, who wa...)
Published in 1877, these are the author's memoirs, who was the Assistant Adj.-Gen. of U.S. Volunteers and Secretary U.S. Legation at Paris, his experiences and adventures during the Civil War.
https://www.amazon.com/Camp-Court-Siege-Narrative-Observation/dp/1492974692?SubscriptionId=AKIAJRRWTH346WSPOAFQ&tag=prabook-20&linkCode=sp1&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=1492974692
Wickham Hoffman was born on April 2, 1821 in New York City, New York, United States. He was the son of David Murray Hoffman, eminent jurist, and Frances Amelia (Burrall) Hoffman.
Hoffman received an excellent early education, then entered Harvard in 1837, and graduated in 1841.
Hoffman was admitted to the bar of New York and practised law there until the outbreak of the Civil War. He was then appointed aide-de-camp to Governor Morgan and was ordered to Fortress Monroe to inspect the New York troops in 1861. Commissioned assistant adjutant-general in the United States volunteer service in March 1862, he was assigned to the staff of Brigadier-General Thomas Williams and in this capacity served through the expedition which captured New Orleans and later went with Williams to assist in the operations at Vicksburg. On the expedition to Baton Rouge, he was with General Williams until the latter was killed. He was then ordered to the staff of General W. T. Sherman as assistant adjutant-general, serving until late in 1863, when he went with Major-General W. B. Franklin in the expedition to Sabine Pass, Texas, to Opelousas, Louisiana, and through the Red River campaign.
Following this service he was on the staff of Major-General Gillmore in Virginia until his appointment by General Butler in 1864 as assistant adjutant-general of the district of Eastern Virginia and North Carolina. In March 1865 General W. T. Sherman applied for him, and he was ordered to duty in New Orleans. There he served as adjutant-general and chief of staff to Major-General Canby, who commanded the department of Louisiana and Texas, extending from Florida to Texas and from St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico. For gallant and meritorious service during the war he was commissioned colonel of volunteers on March 13, 1865.
On June 8, 1866, Hoffman was mustered out of the service and in October of the same year, upon the warm recommendation of General Canby, he was appointed assistant secretary of the legation at Paris by Secretary Seward. With this appointment he began a diplomatic career which continued until his retirement only a few years before his death. Appointed first secretary of the legation in 1867, he served in Paris in that capacity for seven years, being resident there through the siege by the Prussians in 1870 and during the days of the Commune. In December 1874 he was transferred to London as secretary of the legation, and in 1877 he was ordered to St. Petersburg.
After some six years in Russia he was appointed, in February 1883, United States minister to Denmark, and from this position he retired to private life in 1885. Meanwhile he had written two volumes of memoirs. The first, Camp, Court, and Siege (1877), was a personal account of his experiences in the Civil War and in France under the Empire and through the siege of 1870. In 1883 he published Leisure Hours in Russia, a chatty narrative of his observations and experiences in the East. He died at Atlantic City, New Jersey.
(Published in 1877, these are the author's memoirs, who wa...)
On May 14, 1844, Hoffman married Elizabeth Baylies, the daughter of Edmund Baylies of Taunton, Massachussets, and granddaughter of Hodijah Baylies, an officer in the Continental Army.