Edward Davis Townsend was a career U.S. Army officer and a general in the Union army during the Civil War.

Born on August 22, 1817, in Boston, Massachusetts, Townsend was the grandson of notable American statesman Eldridge Gerry, who had served in the Continental Congress during the American Revolution and was the fifth vice president of the United States. Townsend attended the Latin School in Boston and then graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1837. He served as an officer in the U.S. Army through the 1840s and 1850s, participating in the Second Seminole War and the forced relocation of the Cherokee people from Georgia to modern-day Oklahoma.

In 1846, Townsend took an assignment in the Adjutant General’s Corps and, apart from four years on the Pacific Coast in the 1850s, remained in this administrative service in Washington, D.C., for the rest of his career. He is credited with proposing the idea of the Medal of Honor—the United States military’s highest award for valor—in 1861. Townsend was promoted to brigadier general to take the position of the U.S. Adjutant General in 1869. He remained in that position until he retired in 1880.

Townsend died on May 10, 1893, in Washington, D.C., following an accident (possibly electrocution) involving a cable car. He was married to Ann Wainwright and had at least four children. Townsend is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

(Wikipedia; FindaGrave)

Edward Davis Townsend belonged to the following social groups: