This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: maryachtrh Surnames: Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.griffin/6752/mb.ashx Message Board Post: Taken from the Flake's Bulletin, Texas, 26 September 1867 MAJOR GENERAL CHARLES GRIFFIN, UNITED STATES ARMY >From New York Herald, September 16 Major General Charles Griffin, whose death, as having occurred yesterday morning, is elsewhere announced in a telegraphic report from Galveston, Texas, that officer having been temporarily invested with the command of the Fifth Military District upon the removal of General Sheridan, was born in Ohio, graduated at West Point in 1847, and was a classmate of Generals Burnside and Ayers. Entering the artillery service, he was soon after his graduation ordered to Mexico, and commanded a company under General Patterson in the campaign from Vera Cruz to Puebla. Soon after he was ordered to Florida, (in January 1848), and in the ensuing December to Old Point Comfort. In July, 1849, he was promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant, and, having been placed in command of a company of cavalry, was ordered to New Mexico, where he remained until 1854, serving with distinction in the Navajo campaigns, and taking part in other expeditions. Joining a light battery at Fort McHenry, the y! oung Lieutenant was ordered to Fort Hamilton early in the spring of 1857, remaining, however, but a few months, and afterward being ordered westward to Minnesota his command was ordered to Kansas, and thence, in October of the same year, he revisited New Mexico in command of an escort to the Governor of that Territory, whence, returning through Texas, he joined his own proper command at Fort Leavenworth. In April following, having been assigned with his company to form a portion of the command of Colonel Burke at Fort Riley, he reported at that place for duty, remaining until 1859, when he was sent to Fortess Monroe, where after he received an appointment as Instructor of Artillery at West Point, in which capacity he served until the breaking out of the war in 1861. In January of that memorable year he received orders to cross the mountains with his battery (known as the West Point Battery) to the railroad, and thence to proceed direct to Washington. In command of this ba! ttery, which was organized as Battery D of the 5th Artillery, the youn g officer fought with heroic bravery at the first battle of Bull Run, remaining until June 26, 1862, in the capacity of captain of the artillery, when he was commissioned as a brigadier general, and bore on honorable part in McClellan's campaign on the Peninsula, winning distinction at at the battle of Gaines' Mill and commanding even the admiration of the enemy. Again at Malvern Hill, General Griffin in command of the artillery supported his brigade against the impetuous assault of Magruder, hurling back the masses of the enemy and contributing most signally to the success of the day. The army of the Potomac having been ordered to the assistance of the beleaguered General Pope, General Griffin's command relieved a portion of Pope's worn-out legions at Ely's Ford, and subsequently at Warrenton Junction. About the 1st of October, having been promoted to the command of a division, he took part with distinguished success in the battle of Antietam, fought subsequently under G! eneral Burnside at Fredericksburg, and still later accompanied General Hooker across the river and bore himself gallantly through that general's brief and unfortunate campaign. Under date of November 1, 1864, General Griffin, in company with Generals Ayres and Crawford, was made Brevet Major General. General Griffin was present at the battle of Gettysburg, but subsequently obtained leave of absence, his health having been considerably impaired, and rejoined the Army of the Potomac just before the battle of the Wilderness. From that time General Griffin bore a conspicuous part in every action in which the Army of the Potomac was engaged, and at the battle of Five Forks so distinguished himself as to be assigned to the command of the Fifth Army Corps, which position he held with honor until the final triumph of the Army of the Potomac. It was General Griffin who superseded the impetuous Warren, and the former had proved himself in every way worthy to wear the mantle of the latter, having been identified with the corps from its organization and being in many respects similar to Warren in the quality of his military leadership. Both, too, were men of volcanic and irascible temper, and used oaths and artillery with equal facility, though the nervousness and ill health of G! eneral Griffin, no doubt, contributed not a little to render his temper of unsteady poise. In personal courage Warren and Griffin were peers, and peers of any in the service, and both had an inanimate dislike of pretension and braggadocio, which rendered them men to give no quarter to either weakness so common among men of overweening vanities or of vanity transcending their merit. In the spring of 1865, for gallant and meritorious service during the war, Brevet Major General Griffin, of the volunteer service, being in rank, by virtue of his rank in that service, Brevet Lieutenant Colonel United States Army, was promoted to the rank of Brevet Colonel, and, under date of August 10, 1865, was assigned to the command of the District of Maine, having his headquarters at Portland. In January, 1866, (January 13) by an order reducing the military forces of the United States, General Griffin was among those mustered out of the volunteer service, being reduced thereby to the rank of Captain in the regular army. Subsequently, however, being reinstated, he was assigned to the command of the Department of Texas, long under the command of the gallant Weitzel, which, by Act of Congress, became part of the Fifth Military District. As sub-commander, General Griffin served under Sheridan, having his headquarters at Galveston, Texas. On the 26th of August, 1867, General Griffin superseded General Sheridan in temporary command of the District, pending the arrival of Sheridan's appointed successor, still, at his own request, retaining his headquarters at Galveston. General Griffin has always been almost an invalid, and his career presents a brilliant example of what may be accomplished by force of will under adverse physical circumstances. He was appointed to West Point from Ohio, his native State and leaves a military record of which the State of vineyards may well be proud. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. 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