Charles W Raymond

Charles Walker Raymond (14 January 1842 – 3 May 1913) was a United States Army civil engineer and brigadier general. In 1869, he was the first U.S. government representative to visit the Yukon River Valley after the 1867 Alaska Purchase. Raymond later supervised the design engineering for the National Harbor of Refuge breakwater near the mouth of the Delaware River and the New York Tunnel Extension project for the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Early life and education Raymond was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and raised in New York City. Raymond and his older brother Rossiter W. Raymond attended the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute where their uncle John H. Raymond was serving as president. After graduating, Charles Raymond entered the United States Military Academy in July 1861. As a second-year cadet, he was selected along with his classmates Reuben W. Petrikin and William Krause to serve as aides-de-camp to Major General Darius N. Couch in June and July 1863. General Couch was supervising the defense of the Susquehanna River Valley and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during that summer's Gettysburg campaign. Returning to West Point, he graduated first in his class in June 1865 and was directly commissioned as a first lieutenant in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Among his classmates who did not become general officers was Henry B. Ledyard Jr.

Family and later life Raymond married Clara Wise (9 February 1842 – 30 November 1901) in Brooklyn in November 1866. They had fives sons and a daughter. After his wife's death, he remarried with Alice Denniston (Higgins) Krause (26 October 1853 – 12 May 1924), the widow of his West Point classmate William Krause, in Philadelphia in February 1904.

After his retirement, Raymond continued to serve as chairman of the Board of Engineers for the New York Tunnel Extension project. He lost his sight in 1912 and died in Washington, D.C., after going there for various medical treatments. He was buried at the West Point Cemetery on 5 May 1913.

Legacy His name is listed on the memorial plaque at the Seventh Avenue entrance to Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan. Fort Raymond (1942–1945) in Seward, Alaska was named in his honor. His great great grandson General John W. Raymond was the first commander of the United States Space Force.