James Gadsden
James Gadsden (born May 15, 1788 in Charleston , South Carolina , † December 25, 1858 ibid) was an American diplomat and officer and namesake of the Gadsden purchase , in which the United States bought land from Mexico in 1853 .
Life
James Gadsden was a grandson of Christopher Gadsden , a prominent participant in the independence movement . In 1806 he made his bachelor's degree at Yale . In the British-American War he served as an officer in the US Army under General Andrew Jackson and was responsible for the construction of a former British fort in Florida in 1818, which Jackson then named Fort Gadsden .
In 1823 Gadsden was commissioned by the government to organize the deportation of the Seminoles on the path of tears to reservations. From 1840 to 1850 he was president of the South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company and was involved in a southern transcontinental route ( history of the railroad in North America ).
In 1853 he was commissioned as envoy to buy land from Mexico to make this railway route easier to build.
The city of Gadsden in Alabama and Gadsden County in Florida are named after him.
Web links
- James Gadsden in nndb (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Art. Gadsden, James . In: The New International Encyclopædia , Vol. 8: Fontanes - Goethe , 1906.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Gadsden, James |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American diplomat and officer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 15, 1788 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Charleston , South Carolina |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 25, 1858 |
| Place of death | Charleston , South Carolina |