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<span class=prefix>Col</span> Edgar Wales Bass

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Col Edgar Wales Bass

Birth
Prairie du Chien, Crawford County, Wisconsin, USA
Death
6 Nov 1918 (aged 75)
New York, New York County, New York, USA
Burial
West Point, Orange County, New York, USA GPS-Latitude: 41.3996766, Longitude: -73.9669165
Plot
Section XXI, Row D, Sites 61-62.
Memorial ID
View Source
USMA Class of 1868. Cullum No. 2222.
The WPAOG website states Interment not reported to WPAOG. Information regarding his interment was sent to the WPAOG on January 1, 2021, but the website has yet to be updated.

He was the son of son of Jacob Wales Bass and Martha Darrah Bunson Bass.
On June 26, 1879 as Edgar W. Bass, he married Adele Smith at Manhattan, New York.
They had no children.

Fiftieth Annual Report of the Association of Graduates of the United states Military Academy At West Point New York
June 10th, 1919
Edgar Wales Bass
No. 2222. Class of 1868.
Died November 6, 1918, at New York City, aged 75 years.
Colonel Bass was born in Wisconsin on October 30th, 1843; son of Jacob Wales Bass and Martha Darrah (nee Bunson) Bass. He entered the military service by enlistment in the 8th Minnesota Volunteers, on August 13th, 1862; was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant in December of the same year; served against the Sioux Indians and was discharged June 30th, 1864, to enter the Military Academy. He entered the Academy on July 1st, 1864; was graduated on June 15th, 1868, No. 4 in a class of fifty-four and was appointed Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers as of the same date. He was promoted to be Second Lieutenant on February 15th, 1869; to be First Lieutenant on February 14th, 1871 and was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the Military Academy on April 17th, 1878. He was retired from active service, at his own request, after thirty-six years' service on October 7th, 1898. During his service in the Engineer Corps he was detailed as Acting Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the Military Academy, a selective assignment, on August 28th, 1869, just over a year after his graduation, which was an unusually early return to duty there and served in that capacity until he was detached to go as assistant astronomer of the United States expedition to New Zealand to observe the transit of Venus, which position he filled March 1874 till September 1875. Upon his return he commanded the Engineer Company and then was the Battalion Adjutant at Willet's Point, New York. In September 1876, he returned to West Point to serve as Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy until he was appointed Professor of Mathematics.

On May 2, 1878, Professor Bass succeeded as head of the Department of Mathematics an honored incumbent, Professor Albert E. Church, who had held the office something like forty years. During this long period Professor Church had had occasion to rewrite most of the textbooks used in the course of instruction and had produced a set of volumes whose clearness of language and simplicity of method had commended them to teachers of mathematics at many other institutions besides the Military Academy. But the very excellence of these aids to instruction had contributed towards their retention in use, both at West Point and elsewhere, after progress in the art of instruction in the science of mathematics had led to changes in certain fundamental definitions which the student encounters early in this study. Professor Bass perceived that inaccuracies in these definitions started the student off with wrong conceptions, which would often perplex him in his subsequent progress through the course and in his utilization of mathematics as an instrument for the solution of problems in physics and would also raise doubts in his mind as to the rigidity of important demonstrations in which inaccuracy of original definition was compensated by the neglect of certain values, said to be too small to be significant; the result being given him as without error, however small. . .

Similarly, with the differential calculus, Professor Bass brought back the method of instruction at West Point to the idea of the discoverers, that it is the science of rates. . . .

It may interest the graduates now in active service to know the handicaps under which their predecessors of forty years ago commenced the study of these useful branches of mathematics and to whose enterprise they are indebted for the removal of them.

A professor at the Military Academy has other functions besides the superintendence of instruction in the department of study of which he is the head. He is an important agency in forming the character of the cadet and in confirming that of the still impressionable officers who in considerable numbers serve under his direction as instructors. Professor Bass' own character was particularly suited to this side of his duty. Alert, decided, punctilious, his standards of performance and of deportment were high and he had no toleration of slackness in either. His daily life and precept evidenced sterling probity and high minded views and his continued effort was to inculcate a spirit which would leave the officer satisfied with no kind of low order of existence but would impel him to the maintenance of high personal qualities and the outward evidence thereof. He believed in manly exercises and in the sanity of mind which is promoted in a healthy body and he realized that physical health is worth the trouble which its maintenance requires and was willing to take it and afford others the opportunity to do so. He encouraged everything tending to broaden the life and liberalize the education of the cadet of the officer and he did not always view with patience the voluntary assumption by which the young graduate of family cares and responsibilities at a time when, through lack of other resources, these absorbed a larger share of his thought and attention than was compatible with his best improvement or the seizure of opportunities for helpful service. The officers and cadets who served at West Point during the twenty years of Colonel Bass' professorship could not fail to be influenced advantageously for themselves and for the service by his teaching and example.

He was a member of the American Mathematical Society, of the Archaeological Institute of America and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. His Clubs were the Century Association and the Union League, of New York. He was the author of an Introduction to the Differential Calculus, in 1888 and of the Elements of the Differential Calculus, in 1896.

Although of sound physique and full of vigor during his active career, his health unaccountably failed after his retirement and his later years were passed more quietly than accorded with the energetic industry of his character. He made his home in New York and Bar Harbor and died in the former city.

He married, in 1879, Adele Smith, of New York, who survives him.
William Crozier
USMA Class of 1868. Cullum No. 2222.
The WPAOG website states Interment not reported to WPAOG. Information regarding his interment was sent to the WPAOG on January 1, 2021, but the website has yet to be updated.

He was the son of son of Jacob Wales Bass and Martha Darrah Bunson Bass.
On June 26, 1879 as Edgar W. Bass, he married Adele Smith at Manhattan, New York.
They had no children.

Fiftieth Annual Report of the Association of Graduates of the United states Military Academy At West Point New York
June 10th, 1919
Edgar Wales Bass
No. 2222. Class of 1868.
Died November 6, 1918, at New York City, aged 75 years.
Colonel Bass was born in Wisconsin on October 30th, 1843; son of Jacob Wales Bass and Martha Darrah (nee Bunson) Bass. He entered the military service by enlistment in the 8th Minnesota Volunteers, on August 13th, 1862; was appointed Quartermaster Sergeant in December of the same year; served against the Sioux Indians and was discharged June 30th, 1864, to enter the Military Academy. He entered the Academy on July 1st, 1864; was graduated on June 15th, 1868, No. 4 in a class of fifty-four and was appointed Brevet Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers as of the same date. He was promoted to be Second Lieutenant on February 15th, 1869; to be First Lieutenant on February 14th, 1871 and was appointed Professor of Mathematics at the Military Academy on April 17th, 1878. He was retired from active service, at his own request, after thirty-six years' service on October 7th, 1898. During his service in the Engineer Corps he was detailed as Acting Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy at the Military Academy, a selective assignment, on August 28th, 1869, just over a year after his graduation, which was an unusually early return to duty there and served in that capacity until he was detached to go as assistant astronomer of the United States expedition to New Zealand to observe the transit of Venus, which position he filled March 1874 till September 1875. Upon his return he commanded the Engineer Company and then was the Battalion Adjutant at Willet's Point, New York. In September 1876, he returned to West Point to serve as Assistant Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy until he was appointed Professor of Mathematics.

On May 2, 1878, Professor Bass succeeded as head of the Department of Mathematics an honored incumbent, Professor Albert E. Church, who had held the office something like forty years. During this long period Professor Church had had occasion to rewrite most of the textbooks used in the course of instruction and had produced a set of volumes whose clearness of language and simplicity of method had commended them to teachers of mathematics at many other institutions besides the Military Academy. But the very excellence of these aids to instruction had contributed towards their retention in use, both at West Point and elsewhere, after progress in the art of instruction in the science of mathematics had led to changes in certain fundamental definitions which the student encounters early in this study. Professor Bass perceived that inaccuracies in these definitions started the student off with wrong conceptions, which would often perplex him in his subsequent progress through the course and in his utilization of mathematics as an instrument for the solution of problems in physics and would also raise doubts in his mind as to the rigidity of important demonstrations in which inaccuracy of original definition was compensated by the neglect of certain values, said to be too small to be significant; the result being given him as without error, however small. . .

Similarly, with the differential calculus, Professor Bass brought back the method of instruction at West Point to the idea of the discoverers, that it is the science of rates. . . .

It may interest the graduates now in active service to know the handicaps under which their predecessors of forty years ago commenced the study of these useful branches of mathematics and to whose enterprise they are indebted for the removal of them.

A professor at the Military Academy has other functions besides the superintendence of instruction in the department of study of which he is the head. He is an important agency in forming the character of the cadet and in confirming that of the still impressionable officers who in considerable numbers serve under his direction as instructors. Professor Bass' own character was particularly suited to this side of his duty. Alert, decided, punctilious, his standards of performance and of deportment were high and he had no toleration of slackness in either. His daily life and precept evidenced sterling probity and high minded views and his continued effort was to inculcate a spirit which would leave the officer satisfied with no kind of low order of existence but would impel him to the maintenance of high personal qualities and the outward evidence thereof. He believed in manly exercises and in the sanity of mind which is promoted in a healthy body and he realized that physical health is worth the trouble which its maintenance requires and was willing to take it and afford others the opportunity to do so. He encouraged everything tending to broaden the life and liberalize the education of the cadet of the officer and he did not always view with patience the voluntary assumption by which the young graduate of family cares and responsibilities at a time when, through lack of other resources, these absorbed a larger share of his thought and attention than was compatible with his best improvement or the seizure of opportunities for helpful service. The officers and cadets who served at West Point during the twenty years of Colonel Bass' professorship could not fail to be influenced advantageously for themselves and for the service by his teaching and example.

He was a member of the American Mathematical Society, of the Archaeological Institute of America and of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion. His Clubs were the Century Association and the Union League, of New York. He was the author of an Introduction to the Differential Calculus, in 1888 and of the Elements of the Differential Calculus, in 1896.

Although of sound physique and full of vigor during his active career, his health unaccountably failed after his retirement and his later years were passed more quietly than accorded with the energetic industry of his character. He made his home in New York and Bar Harbor and died in the former city.

He married, in 1879, Adele Smith, of New York, who survives him.
William Crozier



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  • Created by: SLGMSD
  • Added: Jan 4, 2014
  • Find a Grave Memorial ID:
  • Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/122766902/edgar_wales-bass: accessed ), memorial page for Col Edgar Wales Bass (30 Oct 1843–6 Nov 1918), Find a Grave Memorial ID 122766902, citing United States Military Academy Post Cemetery, West Point, Orange County, New York, USA; Maintained by SLGMSD (contributor 46825959).