Silas Casey, USMA 1826
- Born: July 12, 1807, East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
- Died: January 22, 1882, Brooklyn, New York. Buried in the
family plot. Today this is a National Historical Site in Connecticut.
Despite his considerable mathematical talent he graduated near the bottom of
his class, 39th of 41. Cullum (vol. 1) says of him: "Casey was a reserved,
unassuming gentleman, a gallant soldier, a skilled tactician, and a proficient
scholar in the higher mathematics, particularly the application of calculus and quaternions."
This is a very curious claim, for quaternions were not created by William Rowan
Hamilton until 1843.
Publications:
- Casey's 1862 Infantry
Tactics is available on line.
- Infantry Tactics for Colored Troops.
Genealogy:
- His son, Thomas Lincoln Casey, born May 10, 1831, graduated first in the USMA class of 1852.
Cullum # 1536. He receives notice in the Smithsonian's excellent exhibition
West Point
in the Making of America. It notes that "In
1856, while teaching engineering at West Point, he married Emma Weir, daughter
of eminent artist Robert W. Weir, who taught at West Point. The Caseys had
three sons [four?],
the oldest following his grandfather and father to West Point (1879)."
He was the engineer in charge
of the completion of the Washington Monument in 1884 and of the construction
of the Library of Congress, completed 189, the year he died. His son, Thomas Lincoln Casey, Jr., graduated second in the USMA
class of 1879.
- His son, Frederick Cummings Casey was born March 11,
1833 and died January 13, 1834.
- His daughter Abby Pearce Casey, born March 9, 1838 married Captain Louis
Hunt.
- His son, Silas
Casey III (1841-1913), born September 11, 1841, graduated from the Naval Academy in 1860 and rose
through the ranks to Rear Admiral. His last position was Commander in Chief,
Pacific Fleet, 1901-1903.
- His daughter Elizabeth Goodale Casey, born February 16, 1844, married
Lieutenant Robert Scott.
- His son, Edward Wanton Casey, graduated from West Point in 1873. Cullum
#2501. Born December 1, 1850; died 1897.