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 [decorative delimiter] Class of 1853

Vol. II
p528 1589

(Born O.)

Thomas M. Vincent

(Ap'd O.)

11

Thomas McCurdy Vincent: Born Nov. 15, 1832, Cadiz, OH.

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, July 1, 1849,  p529 to July 1, 1853, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut. of Artillery, July 1, 1853.

Served: in Florida Hostilities against the Seminole Indians, 1853‑55;

(Second Lieut., 2d Artillery, Oct. 8, 1853)

at Tampa, Fla., employed in compiling a sketch of South Florida, Aug. 22 to Oct. 22, 1855; on various Staff duties in Florida, Oct. 23, 1855, to

(First Lieut., 2d Artillery, Oct. 20, 1855)

Mar. 15, 1856; in garrison at Ft. Hamilton, N. Y., 1856‑59, — and Plattsburg Barracks, N. Y., 1859; at the Military Academy, as Principal Asst. Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy, and Geology, Aug. 31, 1859, to July 1, 1861.

Captain, 18th Infantry, May 14, 1861: Declined.

Served during the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1861‑66: as Quartermaster, 2d Artillery, June 1 to July 1, 1861; as Asst. Adjutant-General

(Bvt. Captain, Staff — Asst. Adjutant-General, July 1, 1861)

in the Army of Northeastern Virginia, July 21‑29, 1861, being engaged in the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; as Assistant in the

(Captain, 2d Artillery, July 25, 1863, to June 11, 1864)

Adjutant-General's Office at Washington, D. C., in charge of the Recruiting service for the Regular Army, July 30, 1861, to June 29, 1862, and

(Captain, Staff — Asst. Adjutant-General, Aug. 3, 1861)

of the Volunteer Armies, June 30, 1862, to May 1, 1863, and in charge of the Organization, Muster-out,​1 and Miscellaneous Business of the Volunteer Armies of the United States, June 30, 1862, to Nov. 15, 1865.

Major, Staff — Asst. Adjutant-General, July 17, 1862.

Bvt. Lieut.‑Col., and Bvt. Colonel, U. S. Army, Sep. 24, 1864,
for Meritorious and Faithful Services during the Rebellion.

Bvt. Brig.‑General, U. S. Army, Mar. 13, 1865,
for Faithful and Meritorious Services during the Rebellion.

Served: as Assistant in the Adjutant-General's Office, at Washington, D. C., Nov. 15, 1865, to Jan. 23, 1878, being especially engaged in examining, under the Joint Resolution of Congress, approved July 28, 1866, the Colorado Militia Claims, Aug., 1866, to Oct. 21, 1867, — in the immediate supervision of completing and closing the affairs of the Bureau of the Provost Marshal General of the United States, Aug. 20, 1866, to Oct. 9, 1875, — on duty at the Headquarters of the Army, Apr. 23, 1869, to July 22, 1870, and Apr. 6, 1876, to Jan. 7, 1878, — in charge of the Bureau for Colored Troops, Jan. 14, 1868, to Jan. 7, 1878, — in charge of the Appointment, Commission, and Personnel Division, Adjutant General's Office, July 21, 1870, to Jan. 7, 1878, — as President of the Board of Officers, "to examine into and report upon the existing methods of keeping the records and transacting the current business of the War Department and its Bureaux, with a view to their improvement by the adoption of a simple, efficient, and uniform system in lieu thereof," July 7 to Oct. 1, 1870, — on special service, under orders from the Secretary of War, in connection with "a system of General Regulations for the administration of the affairs of the Army," Nov., 1871, to Jan., 1872, — in completing and closing up the affairs of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, June 27, 1872, to Jan. 7, 1878, — and in charge, under Sec. 1331, Revised Statutes, of the Military Academy Division of the War Department, Mar., 1877, to Jan. 7, 1878; and as Adjutant-General of the Department of Texas, Feb. 1, 1878, to Jan. 31, 1881, during critical  p530 relations with Mexico, — of the Division of the Gulf, Feb. 1, to May 31, 1881 (Member of Retiring Board, Nov. 13, 1879, to July 16, 1880), — of the Department of Texas, June 1, 1881 (on various tours of inspection

(Lieut.‑Colonel, Staff — Asst. Adjutant-General, July 1, 1881)

and observation), to June 1, 1885, — and of the Department of Dakota, June 19, 1885 (on various tours of inspection and observation), to Sep. 21, 1888; as Member of Retiring Boards at Ft. Snelling and St. Paul., Min., Oct. 28, 1885, to July 13, 1888; and as Asst. Adjutant-General, on the Staff of the General-in‑Chief, Sep. 24, 1888, to —.

Civil History. — Author of "Staff Organizations, — a Plea for the Staff;" "Compensation of Army Officers;" "The Military Power of the United States;" and several official reports on Army and Staff Organizations.

Vol. IV
p89 [Supplement, Vol. IV: 1890‑1900]

Military History. — Served: as Adjutant-General and Chief of Staff, Headquarters of the Army, Staff of General-in‑chief, to Oct. 2, 1895, being engaged in the various headquarters duties extending to all parts of the service, inclusive, under special instructions, of tours of observation and inspection along and near northern boundary of the United States, from Maine to Montana, 11 posts and stations, Sept. to Oct., 1889, — from Fort Sheridan, Ill., through

(Colonel, Staff — Asst. Adjutant-General, Aug. 2, 1890)

Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, to Fort McPherson, Ga., 10 posts, Dec., 1891, — through Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Oklahoma, 14 posts, Nov., 1892, to Jan., 1893, — to the Canadian boundary and special points in New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts, 5 posts, Sept. to Oct., 1895; as member Board of Officers "to consider whole subject relative to granting Medals of Honor and Certificates of Merit, and to formulate plans and rules to hereafter govern in the issue of such Medals and Certificates," Jan. 14 to April 23, 1893; and as Acting Adjutant-General U. S. A., at various times, 1893‑96. — Commended to the War Department by the General-in‑chief, as "very able, faithful, and devoted to duty . . . thoroughly qualified for the highest duties of his department . . . has enjoyed, in an unusual degree, the confidence of the distinguished Secretaries of War, and Commanding-Generals of the Army under whom he has served, since 1861." — Recommended, in 1893, by the General-in‑chief, for appointment as Adjutant-General of the Army; and, in 1895, as Brigadier-General U. S. A. — Served: In charge of the War Department Division of Military Information, Oct. 7, 1895, to Nov. 15, 1896, being specially engaged in the collection and classification of military information of our own and foreign countries, and its dissemination throughout the service, — in the final consummation of a scheme for the preparation of a progressive map of military information covering the United States, — in consummation of a plan for special and confidential field-work in the Department of the East, — in the extension of the field-work connected with "the concentration of the military forces of the United States at the various strategic points and or near the frontiers of the country," — in the collection and distribution of copies of United States military publications to foreign governments, in order to stimulate the exchange of their books, and to facilitate the acquirement of information, — the supervision of six publications — numbers 7 to 12, inclusive — covering various military subjects, and the printing and distribution of five of said numbers; and, July to Sept., 1896, observation in the vicinity of the northern frontier  p90 of the United States, thus, in connection with prior observations, completing a tour along and in the vicinity of the northern boundary, from near the region of Halifax, N. S., to that of Vancouver and Victoria, B. C.; and, in Oct., 1896, preparing for the Secretary of War a history of the War Department Division of Military Information, with suggestions for its enlargement and improvement.

Retired from Active Service, Nov. 15, 1896,
by Operation of Law, Sec. 1, Act of June 30, 1882.

Civil History. — Author of Lincoln and Stanton; Lincoln; Florida Indians in the Day of De Soto, and the Florida Seminole Wars; and of numerous professional reports, 1853‑96. — Member of the National Geographic Society; of the Commandery-in‑chief; of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States; of the Grand Army of the Republic; and of the Sons of the American Revolution, — delegate (several times) to National Congress of latter Society. — Residence, Washington, D. C.

Vol. V
p79 [Supplement, Vol. V: 1900‑1910]

Military History. — Retired officer. — Residence, Washington, D. C.

Died, Nov. 30, 1909, at Washington, D. C.: Aged 77.

Buried, Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA.

The Author's Note:

1 These musters-out of volunteers were so admirably conducted that the movement homeward commenced May 29, 1865, and, had it been practicable to spare all the forces, the entire number could easily have been mustered out and returned to their homes within three months. Six hundred and forty-one thousand were out within about two months, seven hundred and forty-one thousand within two and one half months, and eight hundred thousand nine hundred and sixty-three were discharged by Nov. 15, 1865.

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