[Orville Elias]. Soldier, born in Franklin, VT, on the 25th of December 1835; drowned on the 2nd of June 1884, at Mosquito Inlet, FL; graduated at West Point in 1861; participated in the battles of Vicksburg and Blue Lick Springs, and at the siege of Knoxville. Promoted from captain of engineers to lieutenant-colonel, he was placed on the staff of General Grant, and subsequently served with the Army of the Potomac. At the close of the war he was breveted brigadier-general of volunteers, and then colonel in the regular army, still serving on the staff of the general of the army. When General Grant became President, Colonel Babcock was assigned to duty with him and was his secretary. As superintending engineer of public buildings and grounds he supervised many prominent works, among them constructive work on the Washington aqueduct, the Potomac chain-bridge, and the east wing of the state, war, and navy departments building. Being accused of complicity in revenue frauds, and indicted by the grand jury of St. Louis in 1876, he was tried and acquitted.
