Trivia 10-17-16 Magnets

[Trivia Master]

I graduated first in my class in West Point and became an engineer. When the civil war began I rose high in the east, sunk down to the water level and rose again in the west on the grandest stage of them all. Later in the war I helped to crack the last strongholds in the east and south. Afterwards I participated in the Great Trial until I was ousted and continued my army service. As a scientist I was quiet fond of magnets, as you can still see every 5 years. I also became a partial inspiration for certain elements of a 2013 video game. Who am I?

credit: @GELongstreet

 

[Wallyfish]

I was Cyrus Ballou Comstock.

Source Wikipedia.

 

[Copperhead-mi]

Cyrus B. Comstock

 

[LoriAnn]

Alexander Dallas Bache

Source

Edit - Bache did graduate first in his class at West Point and he did have something to do with magnetism, but he doesn't match with all the rest of the clues.

Hoosier

 

[UCVRelics]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock

 

[adisciu9]

William Petit Trowbridge

Edit - Trowbridge, like Alexander Dallas Bache, graduated first in his class at West Point and had something to do with magnetism, but does not match with the rest of the clues.

Hoosier

 

[Stony]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock
source-wiki

 

[Northern Light]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock (February 3, 1831 – May 29, 1910) was a career officer in the Regular Army of the United States. After graduating from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1855, Comstock served with the Army Corps of Engineers. At the beginning of the American Civil War, he assisted with the fortification of Washington, D.C. In 1862, he was transferred to the field, eventually becoming chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac. In 1863 during the Siege of Vicksburg, he served as the chief engineer of the Army of the Tennessee.[1]

The most significant phase of Comstock's career began in November 1864 when he was appointed to the staff of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, becoming Grant's senior aide-de-camp. In 1865, Comstock was appointed the senior engineer in the assault on Fort Fisher, North Carolina, and the assault on Mobile, Alabama, both of which were successful. By the end of the war, Comstock had earned the awards of the honorary grades of brevet major general in the Volunteer Army and brevet brigadier general in the Regular Army.[2]

After the close of the war, Comstock served on the military commission for the trial of the conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He was dismissed from the commission for his criticism of the proceedings.[3] Later Comstock continued with the Army Corps of Engineers, took part in several engineering projects, and served on the Mississippi River Commission, of which he was president.[2]

 

[MajGenl.Meade]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock is your name. The Comstock Prize is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "for recent innovative discovery or investigation in electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy, broadly interpreted." Honorees must be residents of North America. Named after Cyrus B. Comstock, it has been awarded about every five years since 1913.

The Great Trial was of course that of the Lincoln Assassination conspirators and Cyrus B was fired from the panel for being too critical of its work. Earlier during the war poor old Cyrus received the brunt of the blame for Burnside's boats not showing up on time at Fredericksburg. The 2013 game was part of the Bioshock series and Cyrus B. was probably the inspiration for the character Father Zachary Hale Comstock.

 

[FarawayFriend]

You are General Cyrus Comstock

https://historicaldigression.com/2011/02/07/gen-cyrus-comstock-and-the-lincoln-assassination-trials/

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cyrus_B._Comstock&oldid=744767390
Whoah, I had nearly given up, that was a tough one!!!!

Just for the records:
The video game character is Zachary Hale Comstock, character in the video game BioShock Infinite
"One source of inspiration for the character and the setting might have been Cyrus B. Comstock (February 3, 1831 – May 29, 1910), a U.S. army engineer. He served on the trial of the Lincoln conspirators until he was dismissed because of his criticism of the proceedings. He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and supported an award to scientists conducting innovative work in the investigation of electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy. Today this award is known as the Comstock Prize in Physics. He also had a wife and a daughter named Elizabeth."
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_characters_in_the_BioShock_series&oldid=742841252

 

[JOHN42768]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock (February 3, 1831 – May 29, 1910) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_the_Tennessee

source:

 

[Seduzal]

Herbert Hoover

Edit - Hoover was a fine engineer, but he graduated from Stanford, not West Point.

Hoosier

 

[Brenal]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock.

 

[GELongstreet]

My perpetration. Should be rather easy with the first sentence giving the way and the rest simply there for narrowing down the number and final varification. Though the answer can be found without it, too. Just don´t let the second sentence confuse you ... I wrote it specifically to do so with the second section's meaning being different to the geographical one that the others have.

 

[roberts]

Cyrus B. Comstock

 

[donna]

Cyrus B. Comstock.

 

[CadmusWilcox]

Cyrus Comstock, Class of 1855.

 

[chellers]

James B. McPherson

Edit - McPherson, like Bache and Trowbridge, graduated first in his class at West Point and became an engineer, but does not match up with the rest of the clues.

Hoosier

 

[57th Indiana Infantry]

Cyrus Ballou Comstock

 

[lelliott19]

Cyrus B. Comstock who graduated from West Point - first in the class of 1855

• Rose high in the East - became Chief Engineer of Army of the Potomac.
• Sunk down to Water Level - responsible for construction of the pontoon bridges at Fredericksburg; removed from Chief Engineer AotP Spring of 1863.
• Rose again in the west on the grandest stage - transferred to Army of Tennessee and appointed Chief Engineer at Vicksburg; then Grant's senior aide-de-camp
• Great Trial -In May 1865, he was called to serve as one of the nine military commissioners to oversee the trial of the conspirators in the Lincoln assassination until he began to openly argue for the case to be transferred to a civilian court. President Johnson removed Comstock from the commission due to his protests.
• Magnets - He established a fund for the National Academy of Science known as the Comstock Prize in Physics which supports an award of $20,000 granted every five years to a scientist conducting innovative work in the investigation of electricity, magnetism, or radiant energy.

wiki/List_of_United_States_Military_Academy_top-ranking_graduates
wiki/Cyrus_B._Comstock