imported>Rodrigo5260: added Category:Accidental deaths in Washington, D.C. using HotCat

2025-06-10T19:01:48Z

added Category:Accidental deaths in Washington, D.C. using HotCat

New page

{{short description|United States Army general (1817–1893)}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=Edward D. Townsend
|birth_date= {{birth date|1817|8|22}}
|birth_place=[[Boston|Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S.
|death_date= {{death date and age|1893|5|10|1817|8|22}}
|death_place=[[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
|placeofburial= [[Rock Creek Cemetery]]<br />Washington, D.C., U.S.
|placeofburial_label= Place of burial
|image=Edward D Townsend.jpg
|caption=Townsend, 1865–80
|allegiance=[[United States|United States of America]]
|branch= [[United States Army]]
|serviceyears=1837–1880
|rank= [[File:Union Army brigadier general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brigadier general (United States)|Brigadier General]]<br>[[File:Union Army major general rank insignia.svg|35px]] [[Brevet (military)|Brevet]] [[Major general (United States)|Major General]]
|commands=[[List of Adjutants General of the U.S. Army|Adjutant General of the U.S. Army]]
|battles=[[Second Seminole War]]<br/>[[American Civil War]]<br/>[[American Indian Wars]]
|relations=[[Elbridge Gerry]] (grandfather)
}}

'''Edward Davis Townsend''' (August 22, 1817 – May 10, 1893) was an American military officer who was [[Adjutant General of the U.S. Army|Adjutant General of the United States Army]] from 1869 to 1880. In 1861, then-Lieutenant Colonel Townsend was the first to propose the idea for the [[Medal of Honor]].

== Biography ==
The son of David S. & Eliza (Gerry) Townsend and grandson of Vice President and Founding Father [[Elbridge Gerry]], Townsend was educated at Boston's [[Boston Latin School|Latin School]] before graduating from the [[United States Military Academy]] in 1837.

He was commissioned a [[Second Lieutenant#United States|second lieutenant]] in the Second U. S. Artillery and served as that regiment's [[adjutant]] and participating in the [[Second Seminole War]] and the relocation of the [[Cherokee Nation]]. In 1846 he was transferred to the Adjutant General's Corps and assigned to duty in [[Washington, D.C.]] He served on the Pacific coast from 1851 to 1856, after which he returned to Washington for the remainder of his career. In February 1869 he was promoted to [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] and became adjutant general.

Townsend retired in 1880. He died in Washington in 1893 after an accidental shock from a [[Cable railway|cable car]] and is buried at [[Rock Creek Cemetery]] in Washington, D.C.

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[List of Adjutants General of the U.S. Army]]
*[[List of Massachusetts generals in the American Civil War]]

==References==
*{{cite book |title=Twenty-Fourth Annual Reunion of the Association of Graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, June 9, 1893 |last=Association of Graduates|year=1893 |publisher=Seeman and Peters |location=[[Saginaw, Michigan]]|pages=133–137 }}
*{{cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/05/12/106864241.pdf |title=Obituary, Gen. Edward D. Townsend |accessdate=2009-03-10 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=May 12, 1893 }}

==Further reading==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*{{cite book |title=Anecdotes of the Civil War in the United States |last=Townsend|first=Edward D.|year=1884 |publisher=[[D. Appleton and Company]]|location=[[New York City]]|url=https://archive.org/details/anecdotescivil00townrich|accessdate=2009-03-10}}
{{Commons category|Edward D. Townsend}}

==External links==
*{{find a Grave|38919843}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-mil}}
{{Succession box|title=[[List of Adjutant Generals of the U.S. Army|Adjutant Generals of the U. S. Army]]|before=[[Lorenzo Thomas]]|after=[[Richard C. Drum]]|years=February 22, 1869-June 15, 1880}}
{{S-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Edward Davis}}
[[Category:1817 births]]
[[Category:1893 deaths]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths by electrocution]]
[[Category:Adjutants general of the United States Army]]
[[Category:Boston Latin School alumni]]
[[Category:Burials at Rock Creek Cemetery]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Boston]]
[[Category:People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:American people of the Seminole Wars]]
[[Category:United States Army generals]]
[[Category:United States Military Academy alumni]]
[[Category:Union army colonels]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths in Washington, D.C.]]

{{US-army-bio-stub}}
{{Mil-hist-stub}}
{{AmericanCivilWar-bio-stub}}

Edward D. Townsend - Revision history

imported>Rodrigo5260: added Category:Accidental deaths in Washington, D.C. using HotCat