Ellakim Parker Scammon

Educator, b. at Whitefield, Maine, U.S.A. 27 Dec., 1816; d. at New York, 7 Dec., 1894. Having received an appointment to the U. S. Military Academy at West Point he made the usual course there and graduated (1837) fifth in a class of fifty-two. He remained at the academy as a tutor in mathematics, having among his pupils the future Generals Grant, Rosecrans, Newton, and other famous army officers. During the Seminole war he saw active service and was one of General Scott's aides in the Mexican war (1846-47), his bravery at Vera Cruz winning him promotion Just before starting from New York for the war in 1846 he became a convert. From 1847 to 1854 he was attached to the topographical corps surveying the Upper Lakes. In 1856 he left the army. Later he taught mathematics at St. Mary's College , and at the Polytechnic College, Cincinnati, Ohio. He took an active part as a volunteer in the Civil War, receiving the commission of brigadier-general on 15 Oct., 1862. He was U. S. Consul at Prince Edward Island from 1866 to 1871, and, from 1875 until his retirement (1882), was professor of mathematics at Seton Hall College, South Orange, New Jersey.