USMA Class of 1849. Cullum No. 1419.

He was the son of James Henry Platt and Sophia Russell Platt.
The April 18, 1876 obituary of James H. Platt states, "He leaves four children, Colonel Edward R. Platt, Fifth United States Artillery, Adjutant General of the Department of Missouri, now stationed at Fort Leavenworth…."
He married Harriet Axtell sometime between the 1850 and 1860 Censuses.
They had no children.

Sixteenth Annual Reunion Of The Association of the Graduates Of The United States Military Academy At West Point, New York, June 12, 1885, Evening News Printers, East Saginaw, Michigan.
Edward R. Platt
No. 1419. Class of 1849.
Died, June 17, 1884, at fort Leavenworth, Kansas, aged 58.
Such is the brief mention which closes the career of a gallant officer, but it would ill befit his friends to allow this to be all that should appear in the annual volume of the Association, for while there were those who failed to see the kindliness of heart concealed behind an occasional outward seeming of official severity and austerity and were not of the number of his friends, those who knew him intimately respected him for his justice and integrity and loved him for the kindness of his disposition and the charity of his soul.

He was a man of varied talents and a wide scope of reading and associated a keen sense of humor with a quick and ready wit, while with all this existed a tenderness of heart and a wide-reaching, though well-concealed, charity, which, although not generally perceived, were well known to those whose intimate relations with him allowed them to see beneath the shell of official austerity, which too often shielded these noble attributes from general observation.

His official record is as follows: Graduated from United States Military Academy and promoted Brevet Second Lieutenant Third Artillery July 1, 1849; served in Florida against the Seminole Indians in 1849-1850 and again in 1854-1855; promoted Second Lieutenant Second Artillery July 8, 1850 and First Lieutenant October 8, 1853; at Military Academy as Assistant Professor of French 1855 to 1859 and on frontier service 1860-1861. His service during the rebellion began with the defense of Fort Pickens, Florida, from April 19 to June 27, 1861. He was promoted to Captain Second Artillery May 15, 1861 and participated in the first Battle of Bull Run, where he won the brevet of Major for gallant and meritorious service. He took part in the Peninsular campaign and in the other campaigns and battles of the Army of the Potomac up to July 1864, receiving the brevet of Lieutenant Colonel for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Fredericksburg. During this service he was, on September 4, 1862, appointed Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Inspector General of Volunteers and served as Inspector General of the Sixth Army Corps until November 2, 1863 and as Judge Advocate, Army of the Potomac, until detailed as Acting Professor of Spanish at the Military Academy, July 27, 1864. March 14, 1865, he was assigned to duty at the Academy as Assistant Instructor of Artillery Tactics, which position he held until the following July, when he joined his battery in San Francisco Harbor, with which he remained until April 1st, 1866. He was then detailed as Judge Advocate, Department of California and as Aide-de-Camp to the Department Commander. He commanded his battery and the post of Point San Jose, California, until November 18, 1872 and the post at Charlotte, North Carolina, until promoted Major and Assistant Adjutant General, March 6, 1873. From May 1873 to January 1876, he served as Assistant Adjutant General at headquarters Department of the Gulf, whence he was ordered to duty as Assistant Adjutant General at the headquarters Department of Missouri, where he served until death put an end to a long, varied and useful service.

In the order announcing his death General Augur, as whose Adjutant General he was swerving, says:
Graduated at the Military Academy in 1849, for thirty-five years his best abilities and efforts have been ardently devoted to the service of his country. Whether serving under his first commission as a Lieutenant of Artillery, against hostile Indians in Florida or saving his battery from capture in Texas at the outbreak of the rebellion or commanding it on the first fields of the war or as Chief of Artillery of a corps in the Virginia Peninsula or while Inspector General of a grand division of the Army of the Potomac and Judge Advocate of that army or after the termination of the war, returning to his lineal command of a battery or when acting as Professor at the Military Academy or in the discharge of the arduous and responsible duties of Adjutant General of large geographical departments, he has been found faithful, conscientious and fully equal to the discharge of every trust imposed upon him.

Benevolent, generously hospitable, with polished manners and cultivated literary tastes, loyal to relation, he illustrated many of the best qualities of a Christian gentleman and soldier and the great loss to the service suffered in his death will be deeply deplored throughout the Army.

For ourselves – his friends – all we can say, alas! Is,
Farewell! Old friend, for many a day;
May the sod lie light above thee
Until the final trumpet sounds,
And the dead from earth and sea
Shall answer the final roll call,
When we meet at the "last reveille."
D.M. Taylor
Captain of Ordnance, A.D.C.

At the request of the family of Colonel Platt the following order is added to the obituary:
Headquarters United States Military Academy
West Point, New York, March 4, 1865
Special Orders No. 36.
Professor Patrice de Janon having reported to the Superintendent by virtue of the order of the War Department, dated February 28, 1865, will relieve Major Platt as the head of the Spanish Department. In relieving Major Platt from his responsible position the Superintendent avails himself of the opportunity to express his high appreciation of the valuable services and untiring zeal of this meritorious officer and to acknowledge the indebtedness of the Military Academy to him for the masterly ability with which he has filled one of its most difficult departments of instruction.
By order of General Cullum
(Signed)
Edward C. Boynton,
Captain and Adjutant.
A true copy.
Eli D. Hoyle,
First Lieut. 2d Artillery, Adjutant, United States Military Academy.

+++++
His father, James Platt, made application to the United States Military Academy. Letters were signed by various members of the community who knew Platt, his father and maternal grandfather, Stephen Russell. A letter dated March 10, 1842, signed by three educators, associated Platt with the Burlington school system. A second letter, also dated March 10, 1842 signed by members of the community, indicated his age as "fifteen years old in December last," indicating an approximate date of birth as December 1826. The letter indicated both Platt and his father were citizens of Burlington. A third letter, dated February 2, 1843 for Platt's second application to the Academy, was signed by his Stephen Russell, his maternal grandfather, identified himself as a citizen of Burlington and the letter was signed by a citizen of the city who indicated he had known Russell "more than forty years" and that he was "one of our most worthy and respectable citizens".
Source: Contributor JP, 50938759.

USMA Class of 1849. Cullum No. 1419.

He was the son of James Henry Platt and Sophia Russell Platt.
The April 18, 1876 obituary of James H. Platt states, "He leaves four children, Colonel Edward R. Platt, Fifth United States Artillery, Adjutant General of the Department of Missouri, now stationed at Fort Leavenworth…."
He married Harriet Axtell sometime between the 1850 and 1860 Censuses.
They had no children.

Sixteenth Annual Reunion Of The Association of the Graduates Of The United States Military Academy At West Point, New York, June 12, 1885, Evening News Printers, East Saginaw, Michigan.
Edward R. Platt
No. 1419. Class of 1849.
Died, June 17, 1884, at fort Leavenworth, Kansas, aged 58.
Such is the brief mention which closes the career of a gallant officer, but it would ill befit his friends to allow this to be all that should appear in the annual volume of the Association, for while there were those who failed to see the kindliness of heart concealed behind an occasional outward seeming of official severity and austerity and were not of the number of his friends, those who knew him intimately respected him for his justice and integrity and loved him for the kindness of his disposition and the charity of his soul.

He was a man of varied talents and a wide scope of reading and associated a keen sense of humor with a quick and ready wit, while with all this existed a tenderness of heart and a wide-reaching, though well-concealed, charity, which, although not generally perceived, were well known to those whose intimate relations with him allowed them to see beneath the shell of official austerity, which too often shielded these noble attributes from general observation.

His official record is as follows: Graduated from United States Military Academy and promoted Brevet Second Lieutenant Third Artillery July 1, 1849; served in Florida against the Seminole Indians in 1849-1850 and again in 1854-1855; promoted Second Lieutenant Second Artillery July 8, 1850 and First Lieutenant October 8, 1853; at Military Academy as Assistant Professor of French 1855 to 1859 and on frontier service 1860-1861. His service during the rebellion began with the defense of Fort Pickens, Florida, from April 19 to June 27, 1861. He was promoted to Captain Second Artillery May 15, 1861 and participated in the first Battle of Bull Run, where he won the brevet of Major for gallant and meritorious service. He took part in the Peninsular campaign and in the other campaigns and battles of the Army of the Potomac up to July 1864, receiving the brevet of Lieutenant Colonel for gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Fredericksburg. During this service he was, on September 4, 1862, appointed Lieutenant Colonel and Assistant Inspector General of Volunteers and served as Inspector General of the Sixth Army Corps until November 2, 1863 and as Judge Advocate, Army of the Potomac, until detailed as Acting Professor of Spanish at the Military Academy, July 27, 1864. March 14, 1865, he was assigned to duty at the Academy as Assistant Instructor of Artillery Tactics, which position he held until the following July, when he joined his battery in San Francisco Harbor, with which he remained until April 1st, 1866. He was then detailed as Judge Advocate, Department of California and as Aide-de-Camp to the Department Commander. He commanded his battery and the post of Point San Jose, California, until November 18, 1872 and the post at Charlotte, North Carolina, until promoted Major and Assistant Adjutant General, March 6, 1873. From May 1873 to January 1876, he served as Assistant Adjutant General at headquarters Department of the Gulf, whence he was ordered to duty as Assistant Adjutant General at the headquarters Department of Missouri, where he served until death put an end to a long, varied and useful service.

In the order announcing his death General Augur, as whose Adjutant General he was swerving, says:
Graduated at the Military Academy in 1849, for thirty-five years his best abilities and efforts have been ardently devoted to the service of his country. Whether serving under his first commission as a Lieutenant of Artillery, against hostile Indians in Florida or saving his battery from capture in Texas at the outbreak of the rebellion or commanding it on the first fields of the war or as Chief of Artillery of a corps in the Virginia Peninsula or while Inspector General of a grand division of the Army of the Potomac and Judge Advocate of that army or after the termination of the war, returning to his lineal command of a battery or when acting as Professor at the Military Academy or in the discharge of the arduous and responsible duties of Adjutant General of large geographical departments, he has been found faithful, conscientious and fully equal to the discharge of every trust imposed upon him.

Benevolent, generously hospitable, with polished manners and cultivated literary tastes, loyal to relation, he illustrated many of the best qualities of a Christian gentleman and soldier and the great loss to the service suffered in his death will be deeply deplored throughout the Army.

For ourselves – his friends – all we can say, alas! Is,
Farewell! Old friend, for many a day;
May the sod lie light above thee
Until the final trumpet sounds,
And the dead from earth and sea
Shall answer the final roll call,
When we meet at the "last reveille."
D.M. Taylor
Captain of Ordnance, A.D.C.

At the request of the family of Colonel Platt the following order is added to the obituary:
Headquarters United States Military Academy
West Point, New York, March 4, 1865
Special Orders No. 36.
Professor Patrice de Janon having reported to the Superintendent by virtue of the order of the War Department, dated February 28, 1865, will relieve Major Platt as the head of the Spanish Department. In relieving Major Platt from his responsible position the Superintendent avails himself of the opportunity to express his high appreciation of the valuable services and untiring zeal of this meritorious officer and to acknowledge the indebtedness of the Military Academy to him for the masterly ability with which he has filled one of its most difficult departments of instruction.
By order of General Cullum
(Signed)
Edward C. Boynton,
Captain and Adjutant.
A true copy.
Eli D. Hoyle,
First Lieut. 2d Artillery, Adjutant, United States Military Academy.

+++++
His father, James Platt, made application to the United States Military Academy. Letters were signed by various members of the community who knew Platt, his father and maternal grandfather, Stephen Russell. A letter dated March 10, 1842, signed by three educators, associated Platt with the Burlington school system. A second letter, also dated March 10, 1842 signed by members of the community, indicated his age as "fifteen years old in December last," indicating an approximate date of birth as December 1826. The letter indicated both Platt and his father were citizens of Burlington. A third letter, dated February 2, 1843 for Platt's second application to the Academy, was signed by his Stephen Russell, his maternal grandfather, identified himself as a citizen of Burlington and the letter was signed by a citizen of the city who indicated he had known Russell "more than forty years" and that he was "one of our most worthy and respectable citizens".
Source: Contributor JP, 50938759.