Buckingham, Catherinus P. (Catherinus Putnam), 1808-1888

Catherinus P. Buckingham (1808-1888) was born in Springfield, Ohio. He graduated in the military academy at West Point in 1829, served one year on topographical duty and another as instructor at West Point, and then resigned from the service to become professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Kenyon college, Gambier, Ohio. He then engaged in manufacturing and acquired a business interest in the Kokosing iron works at Mt. Vernon, Ohio. On May 3, 1861, he entered the United States service as assistant adjutant general of Ohio, was made commissary general on May 8, and on July 1, adjutant general with the rank of brigadier general, serving until April 2, 1862. He was detailed on special duty in the War Department in Washington from July, 1862, to February, 1863, and then resigned to go into business in New York. He built the Illinois Central railroad company's grain elevators in Chicago, and rebuilt those that had been destroyed by the great fire, being occupied in this work from 1868 to 1873, and then became president of the Chicago steel works. He died in Chicago, Illinois, in 1888.

From the description of Buckingham, Catherinus P. (Catherinus Putnam), 1808-1888 (U.S. National Archives and Records Administration). naId: 10611930