Richard Delafield (September 1, 1798 – November 5, 1873) was a United States Army officer for 52 years. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy for 12 years. At the start of the American Civil War, then Colonel Delafield helped equip and send volunteers from New York to the Union Army. He also was in command of defenses around New York harbor from 1861 to April 1864. On April 22, 1864, he was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army of the United States and Chief of Engineers. On March 8, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Delafield for appointment to the grade of brevet major general in the Regular Army, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the United States Senate confirmed the appointment on May 4, 1866, reconfirmed due to a technicality on July 14, 1866. He retired from the US Army on August 8, 1866. He later served on two commissions relating to improvements to Boston Harbor and to lighthouses. He also served as a regent of the Smithsonian Institution. Early life Richard Delafield was born in New York City on September 1, 1798. He was one of the 14 children of John and Anne (née Hallett) Delafield. His father had emigrated to New York from England in 1788 and made a fortune as a merchant. Edward Delafield, a prominent American physician, Joseph Delafield, a lawyer and diplomant, and Rufus King Delafield, a banker and manufacturer, were among his brothers. He was the first graduate of the United States Military Academy to receive a merit class standing, ranking first in the class of 1818. During his time at West Point he also became the first cadet teacher detailed as acting assistant professor of mathematics in 1815. Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, he served as topographical draftsman for the American Boundary Commission, along with his brother Joseph Delafield. The commission established the northern boundary between the United States and Canada under the Treaty of Ghent. Military career Delafield served as assistant engineer in the construction of Hampton Roads defenses from 1819 to 1824 and was in charge of fortifications and surveys in the Mississippi River delta area in 1824–1832. While superintendent of repair work on the Cumberland Road east of the Ohio River, he designed and built Dunlap's Creek Bridge in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, the first cast-iron tubular-arch bridge in the