General and inventor, born at Cameron, NY, on the 5th of November 1832; graduated at West Point in 1855; served in garrison at Carlisle, PA, until 1857; from then until 1861 did frontier duty against the Kiowa Indians; was promoted to be lieutenant of mounted riflemen in 1861; appointed colonel in August 1861; was with the army of the Potomac in most of its campaigns; conducted cavalry raids in 1863; was breveted through all ranks to major-general; resigned May 18, 1865. He was consul-general to the dominion of Canada from 1866 to 1869, at which time he became president of a large manufacturing company. In 1869–70 he discovered a process of obtaining cast-steel direct from the ore; in January 1879 invented the American asphalt pavement; in 1884–85 invented the Averell insulated conduit for electric wires, and also a machine for laying electric conductors underground.
