1. Richard Delafield was a United States Army officer for 52 years.
16 Facts About Richard Delafield
1. 2.
Richard Delafield served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy for a total of 12 years.
3.
At the start of the American Civil War, then Colonel Delafield helped equip and send volunteers from New York to the Union Army.
4.
Richard Delafield was in command of defenses around New York Harbor from 1861 to April 1864.
5.
Richard Delafield retired from the US Army on August 8,1866.
6.
Richard Delafield later served on two commissions relating to improvements to Boston Harbor and to lighthouses.
7.
Richard Delafield served as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
8.
Richard Delafield was one of the 14 children of John Delafield and Anne Delafield.
9.
Richard Delafield's father had emigrated to New York from England in 1788 and made a fortune as a merchant.
10.
Richard Delafield was the first graduate of the United States Military Academy to receive a merit class standing, ranking first in the class of 1818.
11.
Richard Delafield designed the new buildings and the new cadet uniform that first displayed the castle insignia.
12.
Richard Delafield superintended the construction of coast defenses for New York Harbor from 1846 to 1855.
13.
Beauregard, who was dismissed shortly after Beauregard's home state of Louisiana seceded from the Union, and Richard Delafield returned as superintendent serving until March 1,1861.
14.
Richard Delafield stayed in charge of the Bureau of Engineers of the War Department until his retirement on August 8,1866.
15.
Richard Delafield died in Washington, DC, on November 5,1873.
16.
Richard Delafield is buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.