Isaac F. Quinby

         FULL OF YEARS AND HONOR
        Death of Gen. Isaac F. Quinby
          in This City, Yesterday.
         CLASSMATE OF GEN. GRANT
  After a Long and Painful Illness He Passed
          Away at His Home on Prince
           Street--A Sketch of His
                 Busy Life.
 After a lingering illness of six months'
duration General Isaac F. Quinby died at
his home on Prince street, between 6 and 7
o'clock yesterday morning. For a month
or more it had been known that General
Quinby could not recover, and his death
was daily expected. At 2:30 o'clock, yes-
terday morning, the General awoke from
sleep and asked to be moved. He con-
versed for a moment with his attend-
ants and then went to sleep again.
At 5 o'clock he was resting easily
but at 6 o'clock the little life
that was left began to ebb rapidly away,
and although it is not known exactly at
what time he died, as he was unconscious,
it is thought that it was about 6:30
o'clock.
 He was suffering from a complication of
diseases, including pleurisy, dropsy, and an
affection of the brain. He took to his bed
last April. His strong vitality enabled him
to withstand the ravages
of disease to a remarkable degree,
but a month ago he succumbed to
the strain and during the most of that
time was in a semi-conscious condition,
from which he rallied only at rare intervals
and for a short time. He suffered intense
pain through all his illness.
 Isaac Ferdinand Quinby was birn near
Morristown, N.J., January 29, 1821. He
was graduated at the United States Military
Academy in 1843, standing first in engineer-
ing. He was a classmate and close friend
of General Grant. He was assistant profes-
sor at West Point in 1845-7, and took part
in several skirmishes on the Rio Grande and
Vera Cruz lines at the close of the Mexican
war. He came to Rochester in September,
1851, to become professor of mathematics
in the newly founded university and re-
signed from the army March 16, 1852. He
held his professorship until the civil war
and then became acolonel of the Thirteenth
New York regiment. Under his command
it marched through Baltimore on the 30th of
May, being the first body of national troops
to pass through that city after the attack
upon the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment on
April 19th. Colonel Quinby resigned his
commission August 2, 1861, and resumed
his chair; but he was appointed brigadier-
general of volunteers March 17, 1862, and
in the following month was assigned to the
command at Columbus, Ky. In October,
1862,  he was relieved to take command of
the Seventh Division of the Army of the
Tennessee. The division was sent to take
part in the movement to turn the Confed-
erate right flank at Vicksburg by Yazoo
Pass, the Coldwater, Tallahatchie and Yazoo
rivers. Amid great difficulties General
Quinby pushed on to Fort Pemberton where
he arrived on March 23d. Finding that
there was no ground suitable for camping or
moving a large body of troops, and the fire
of the small gunboats being ineffectual, he
conceived the idea of going around to the
east side of Fort Pemberton, crossing the
Yallabusha river on a pontoon bridge, cut-
ting off the communications of the fort and
compelling its surrender; but he also con-
structed works for a direct attack and sent
back to Helena for heavy guns. The boat
that brought them brought orders from
General Grant to abandon the movement
by Yazoo Pass and General Quinby with-
drew his forces from before Fort Pem-
berton on the 5th of April. The fatigues
and anxieties of this expedition in a 
malarious region brought on a severe illness
and he was ordered home on a sick leave
May 1, 1863. But learning, a few days
after reaching home, the progress of Grant's
movement to the rear of Vicksburg he
hastened back, assuming command of his
division on the 17th, and taking part in
the assault on the 19th and the subsequent
movements. On June 5th illness again
rendered him unfit for duties in the field,
and he went to the North under Grant's
orders, remaining in Rochester until July
1st. He then commanded the rendezvous at
Elmira till December 31st, 1863, when,
convinced that he would not again be able
to go to the front, he resigned his
commission and resumed his duties as
professor in the university. In May, 1869,
he was appointed United States Marshal for
the Northern District of Neew York, and he
held that office during Grant's two terms,
holding his professorship also until Septem-
ber, 1884. In May, 1885, he was appointed
city surveyor of Rochester, and he held
that office two terms. He was a trustee of
the Soldiers Home, at Bath, and vice-
president of the board from the foundation
of the institution in 1879 til his resigna-
tion in 1886. In addition to his official
duties he was frequently employed as con-
sulting engineer. He revised and rewrote
several of the works in the Robinson course
of mathematics, and the treatise on the
"Differential and Integral Calculus," in
that series, is altogether his.
 In the spring of 1886 General Quinby
was elected by the Common Council as city
surveyor, and in 1888 he was re-elected for
another term of two years.
 General Quinby married Elizabeth G.
Gardner, daughter of General John L. Gard-
ner of the Fourth Artillery, at Old Point
Comfort, Va., October 6th, 1848. Twelve 
children were the result of this union, eight
of whom are living: John, of the United
States navy; Isaac, of this city; Harry, of
Kettle Falls; Arnot, of New Brunswick, 
N.J.; Edwin, of Mt. Vernon, N.Y.;
Mrs. L.G. Scranton, of Mt. Vernon;
Ruth, Lois and Carrie Quinby, of Roches-
ter. Two brothers and two sisters also sur-
vive him. They are Dr. G.A. Quinby, of
New York; Eugene Quinby, of Parsip-
pany, N.Y.; Mrs. Davis Vail and Mrs.
Girney, both of Brooklyn.