On Oct. 30, 1862, Maj. Gen. Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel - founder and director of the Cincinnati Observatory - died of yellow fever in Beaufort, S.C.
Known as "Old Stars," Mitchel was born in Kentucky and grew up in Lebanon, Ohio. A graduate of West Point, he taught math at the military academy before becoming a professor of astronomy, mathematics and philosophy at Cincinnati College. An attorney, he was instrumental in establishing the law school.
Also in Cincinnati, Mitchel built the second-largest refracting telescope in the world. He raised the money to build the only fully equipped observatory in the Midwest, atop Mount Adams.
During the Civil War, Mitchel organized the Northern Kentucky defenses of Cincinnati. Fort Mitchell - an aberrant spelling - was named for him. A trained engineer, he later oversaw Union reconstruction in captured territories - building schools and homes for ex-slaves. But yellow fever ravaged his troops and took his life at age 53.
Rebecca Goodman
E-mail rgoodman@enquirer.com or call (513) 768-8361
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