Edward Otho Cresap Ord | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1818-10-18)October 18, 1818 |
| Died | July 22, 1883(1883-07-22) (aged 64) |
| Place of burial | |
| Allegiance |  United States (Union) |
| Branch | United States Army (Union Army) |
| Service years | 1839–1881 |
| Rank |  Major General |
| Commands | |
| Conflicts | |
| Relations | Edward Otho Cresap Ord, II, son Jules Garesche Ord, son |
Edward Otho Cresap Ord (October 18, 1818 – July 22, 1883), frequently referred to asE. O. C. Ord, was an American engineer andUnited States Army officer who saw action in theSeminole War, theIndian Wars, and theAmerican Civil War. He commanded an army during the final days of the Civil War, and was instrumental in forcing the surrender ofConfederate GeneralRobert E. Lee. He also designedFort Sam Houston. He died in Havana, Cuba ofyellow fever.
Ord was born inCumberland, Maryland, the son of James and Rebecca Ord.[1] Family tradition made James Ord the illegitimate son ofGeorge IV of the United Kingdom andMaria Fitzherbert[2] but, instead, he may have been the son of Ralph Ord, who was baptised at Wapping, Middlesex, in 1757, the son of John Ord, afactor (agent) from Berwick-upon-Tweed.[3] Historian James Munson has concluded that Mrs Fitzherbert had no child by the Prince of Wales,[4] although other historians disagree. For example, Saul David concludes that it is generally accepted that the Prince of Wales and Mrs Fitzherbert had at least one child and that James Ord would be the most likely candidate.[5]
Edward Ord was considered a mathematical genius and was appointed to theUnited States Military Academy byPresidentAndrew Jackson. His roommate atWest Point was future generalWilliam Tecumseh Sherman. He graduated in 1839 and was commissioned asecond lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Artillery. He fought in theSecond Seminole War in Florida and was promoted tofirst lieutenant.
In January 1847, Ord sailed on theUSSLexington aroundCape Horn withHenry Halleck and William Tecumseh Sherman. He arrived inMonterey, California, the capital of that newly acquired territory, and assumed command of Battery F, 3rd U.S. Artillery, with orders to complete Fort Mervine, which was renamed Fort Halleck. Its construction was superintended by Lieutenant Ord and his second in command, Lieutenant Sherman. On February 17, 1865, the fort was renamed Ord Barracks.In 1904, it was renamed to honor the originalPresidio of Monterey.
Ord was inCalifornia when thegold rush began, with its resultant skyrocketing prices. Since their military salaries no longer covered living expenses, Ord's commander suggested that the younger officers take on other jobs to supplement their income. In the fall of 1848, Ord and Sherman, in the employ ofJohn Augustus Sutter, Jr., assisted Captain William H. Warner of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the survey ofSacramento, California, helping to produce the map that established the future capital city's extensive downtown street grid. Ord also produced a map of the Gold and Quicksilver district of California dated July 25, 1848.
Later,Los Angeles officials needed to have a survey of the public lands in order to sell them, and Ord was hired as the surveyor. He choseWilliam Rich Hutton as his assistant, and together the two mapped Los Angeles in July and August 1849. Thanks to the efforts of these two men, historians have a fairly good view of what thePueblo de Los Angeles looked like in the middle of the 19th century. Lieutenant Ord surveyed the pueblo and his assistant Hutton sketched many scenes of the pueblo and drew the first map from Ord's survey.[6] The Los Angeles City Archives has the original map produced by Hutton from Ord's survey. Ord was paid $3000 for his work on this survey. La Reina De Los Angeles, published in 1929, states that Ord was offered 160 acres of public land and 10 building sites all in the present downtown business district but accepted the $3000 instead.
Ord was promoted tocaptain in 1850 while serving in thePacific Northwest. The War Department transferred him in December 1852 to theU.S. Coast Survey, which sent him to California to work on thegeodetic survey of Southern California's coast andChannel Islands (California). Ord's efforts improved navigation safety as the gold rush increased both ship traffic and accidents. While assigned to Coast Survey duty, Ord divided his time between San Francisco and Los Angeles and continued to hire on as a land surveyor. In the latter role, he completed a 1854-55 survey nearSan Pedro that would subdivide the future town ofWilmington from the Dóminguez family'sRancho San Pedro. The same work claimed navigable waters of the adjacent estuary as federal public domain. Both results would become a foundation for development of thePort of Los Angeles in the early twentieth century. Ord transferred back to the Army in 1855. He then served in the Pacific Northwest, in campaigns against Native Americans, atBenicia Barracks, andFort Monroe, Virginia before returning to California.[7]
In 1859, while attending artillery school at Fort Monroe, Ord was summoned bySecretary of WarJohn B. Floyd to quellJohn Brown's raid on theHarpers Ferry Federal arsenal. However,Col.Robert E. Lee reached Harpers Ferry first, and Colonel Lee telegraphed to Captain Ord that the situation was under control and Ord and his men would not be needed at Harpers Ferry. However, Ord's unit later arrived to keep order ahead of Brown's execution. Ord penned a letter to his wife on December 2, 1859, from the arsenal, describing the day and a hilltop climb with Colonel Lee.[8]
Ord married Mary Mercer Thompson on October 14, 1854, and they eventually had thirteen children. One of their notable children wasJules Garesche Ord, who was killed in action after reaching the top ofSan Juan Hill in Cuba. He was the officer who started and led the charge that Teddy Roosevelt followed. Another wasEdward Otho Cresap Ord, II, who was also aUnited States ArmyMajor who served with the22nd Infantry Regiment during theIndian Wars, theSpanish–American War and thePhilippine–American War. He was also a painter, inventor, and poet. The son of Edward Otho Cresap Ord, II and grandson of Edward Ord wasJames Garesche Ord, who commanded the28th Infantry Division and was Chairman of the Joint U.S.–Brazil Defense Commission inWorld War II.
At the outbreak of the Civil War in April 1861, Ord was serving as Captain of Battery C, 3rd U.S. Artillery, and also as post commander at the U.S. Army'sFort Vancouver in Washington Territory. On May 7, 1861, Ord led two companies of the 3rd Artillery from Fort Vancouver to San Francisco. After relocating to the east, Ord's first assignment was as abrigade commander in thePennsylvania Reserves. In this capacity, he figured prominently in theBattle of Dranesville in the fall of 1861.
On May 3, 1862, Ord was promoted to the rank ofmajor general of volunteers and, after briefly serving in the Department of the Rappahannock, was assigned command of the 2nd Division of theArmy of the Tennessee. Maj. Gen.Ulysses S. Grant sent Ord with a detachment of two divisions along with Maj. Gen.William S. Rosecrans's forces to interceptSterling Price at the town ofIuka. Due to a possibleacoustic shadow Ord's forces were never engaged and Rosecrans fought alone. Ord likewise missed the fighting atCorinth but engaged the Confederate forces in their retreat at theBattle of Hatchie's Bridge. There he was seriously wounded and had to leave field command only for a short time. When Grant relieved Maj. Gen.John A. McClernand from his command, Ord was conveniently situated to assume command of theXIII Corps during the final days of theSiege of Vicksburg.
From July 1863-February 1864, Ord continued to command the XIII Corps, operating in theDepartment of the Gulf.
In the spring of 1864, Ord was transferred back to theEastern Theater. He spent April-July 1864 assembling and commanding Union troops in West Virginia and Maryland, in the Middle Department.
On July 21, 1864, Ord was assigned command of theXVIII Corps, during the early stages of theSiege of Petersburg. His forces were present during theBattle of the Crater but did not actively participate in the fighting. In the fall of 1864, he was seriously wounded in the attack onFort Harrison and did not return to action until January 1865.
In March 1865, during a prisoner exchange in Virginia, Ord spoke with Confederate GeneralJames Longstreet. During their conversation, the subject of peace talks came up. Ord suggested that a first step might be for Lee and Grant to have a meeting. General Longstreet carried this idea back to General Lee, who wrote to Grant about the possibility of a "military convention" in the interest of finding what Lee called "a satisfactory adjustment of the present unhappy difficulties". Grant forwarded Lee's proposal to PresidentAbraham Lincoln, with a request for instructions. In the end, Lincoln directed Grant to decline all such offers unless it was for the explicit purpose of accepting the surrender of Lee's army.[9]
It was at this time, during the spring of 1865, that Ord's career peaked. He was assigned command of theArmy of the James during theAppomattox Campaign. Maj. Gen.John Gibbon's corps of Ord's army played a significant role in thebreakthrough at Petersburg. On April 9, he led a forced march toAppomattox Court House to relieve Maj. Gen.Philip H. Sheridan'scavalry and force Lee's surrender. General Sherman said that he "had always understood that [Ord's] skillful, hard march the night before was one of the chief causes of Lee's surrender."
Ord was present at the McLean house when Lee surrendered, and is often pictured in paintings of this event. When the surrender ceremony was complete, Ord purchased as a souvenir, for $40, the marble-topped table at which Lee had sat. It now resides in the Chicago Historical Society's Civil War Room.
After theassassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, many in the North, includingUlysses S. Grant, wanted strong retribution to be visited upon the Southern states. Grant called upon Ord to find out if the assassination conspiracy extended beyondWashington, D.C. Ord's investigation determined the Confederate government was not involved with the assassination plot. This helped greatly to quench the call for revenge on the former Confederate states and people.[10]
DuringReconstruction, Ord was assigned byLt. Gen.Ulysses S. Grant to command the Army of Occupation, headquartered atRichmond. Subsequently, he was assigned to theDepartment of the Ohio until he was mustered out of the volunteers in September 1866. On December 11, 1865, he received the commissions oflieutenant colonel andbrigadier general in theregular army for the Battle of Hatchie's Bridge and brevetmajor general of volunteers for the assault of Fort Harrison, all dating from March 13, 1865. Subsequently, he commanded theDepartment of Arkansas (1866–67), theFourth Military District (1867–68), and theDepartment of California (1868–71).
Ord commanded theDepartment of the Platte from December 11, 1871, until April 11, 1875, when he was reassigned as the commander of theDepartment of Texas. He served in that role until his retirement on December 6, 1880. While he was stationed in Texas, he supervised the construction ofFort Sam Houston.
In January 1872, Ord was a member of the buffalo hunting excursion with theGrand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia on the plains of southwestNebraska with American celebrities of the day. They includedPhilip Sheridan (second in command of the United States Army), Lt. Col.George Armstrong Custer,Buffalo Bill Cody,Wild Bill Hickok, andTexas Jack Omohundro.
During 1872, Ord and a soldier detachment were assigned to protect the survey parties of theWheeler Survey as they worked in the vicinity of northeastern Utah.[11]
In 1876, Ord was appointed military governor of the Fourth Military District which included Mississippi and Arkansas.[12]
Ord retired from the army in 1881 with the rank of brevet major general, and at this time, General Sherman wrote of him, "He has had all the hard knocks of service, and never was on soft or fancy duty. He has always been called on when hard duty was expected, and never flinched."
Later in 1881, Ord was hired by his former commander, U. S. Grant, president of theMexican Southern Railroad owned byJay Gould, as acivil engineer to build a railroad line from Texas toMexico City.
In 1882, Ord's daughter, Roberta, married a prominent Mexican generalJerónimo Treviño.[13]
While working in Mexico, Ord contractedyellow fever. He became seriously sick while on his way from Vera Cruz to New York. He was taken ashore atHavana, Cuba, where he died in the evening of July 22, 1883. On the occasion of his death, General Sherman said of Ord, "As his intimate associate since boyhood, the General here bears testimony of him that a more unselfish, manly, and patriotic person never lived". He was buried atArlington National Cemetery, inArlington, Virginia.[14]
Ord's son, Edward O. C. Ord, Jr., was also an Army officer. Ord, Jr. was a hereditary member of theMilitary Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, theSons of the American Revolution, and theSons of the Revolution.
| Insignia | Rank | Date | Component |
|---|---|---|---|
| No insignia | Cadet, USMA | 1 September 1835 | Regular Army |
 | Second Lieutenant | 1 July 1839 | Regular Army |
 | First Lieutenant | 1 July 1841 | Regular Army |
 | Captain | 7 September 1850 | Regular Army |
 | Brigadier General | 14 September 1861 | Volunteers |
 | Major | 21 November 1861 | Regular Army |
 | Major General | 2 May (accepted 12 May) 1862 | Volunteers |
 | Colonel | 19 September 1862 (brevet) | Regular Army |
 | Lieutenant Colonel | 11 December 1865 | Regular Army |
| Brigadier General | 13 March 1865 (brevet) 26 July (accepted 15 August) 1866 (permanent) | Regular Army |
| Major General | 13 March 1865 (brevet) 28 January 1881 (retired) | Regular Army |
| Military offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Commander of Army of the James January 8, 1865-August 1, 1865 | Succeeded by none |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
