Absalom Baird Major General, United States Army |
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grandson of a surgeon in Revolutionary Army, and the great-grandson of
a Lieutenant in the French and Indian Wars, he was born in Washington,
Pennsylvania, August 20, 1824. He graduated from Washington College and
then in 1849 from the United States Military Academy, ranking 9th in a
class of 43.
Assigned to the Artillery, he campaigned against the Seminoles in Florida, instructed for 6 years at West Point and did a tour of duty on the Texas frontier. He Transferred from line to staff duty at the outbreak of the Civil War and was present at First Manassas as adjutant of Tyler's Division. In the Spring of 1862, he took part in the Peninsular Campaign as Inspector General and Chief-of-Staff of the IV (Keyes's) Corps. Appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers, April 28 1862, his subsequent Civil War career was in the Western theater. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on April 22, 1896 for voluntarily leading a detached brigade in an assault on the enemy's works at Jonesboro, Georgia, on September 1, 1864. At the time of the assault he was serving as a Brigadier General of Untied States Volunteers. At end of the war he was breveted Major General in both the Volunteers and the Regular Army, and was mustered from the Volunteer service in 1866, reverting to his regular rank of Major, Assistant Inspector General. He Served at various times as Inspector General
of many military departments and, 1885, was appointed Inspector General
of the United States Army, first with the rank of Colonel and, in same
year, with that of Brigadier General. He retired in 1888 and died near
Relay, Maryland, June 14, 1905. He is buried in Section 1, Grave 55, with
his wife, Cornelia Wyntue Smith Baird, who was born at Oxford, New York,
May 31, 1828 and who died in Washington, D.C. on May 16, 1883. On their
tomb is written, "Whereas I was blind, now I see."
Rank and organization: Brigadier General, U.S. Volunteers. Place and date: At Jonesboro, Georgia, 1 September 1864. Entered service at: Washington, Pennsylvania. Birth: Washington, Pennsylvania. Date of issue: 22 April 1896. Citation: Voluntarily led a detached brigade in an assault upon the enemy's works. 
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