Volusia County, Florida

Orville E. Babcock

Orville E. Babcock was born in Franklin, Vermont, on December 25, 1835. He drowned near Mosquito Inlet (Volusia), Florida, on June 2, 1884. He graduated from West Point, served during the entire Civil War, was promoted to colonel in the regular army, and acted as aide-de-camp to General Grant. After the latter was inauguarated president, Colonel Babcock acted as his secretary and, in 1871, was appointed superintendent of buildings in the District of Columbia. In 1876 he was indicted by the Federal Grand Jury at St. Louis for complicity in the whisky-ring frauds but was acquited.

Adapted from New Americanized Encyclopædia Britannica (Twentieth Century Edition), 1907.