Edward Burd Grubb , Jr . Edward Burd Grubb , Jr . ( known as E . Burd Grubb ) ( November 13 , 1841 – July 7 , 1913 ) was a Union Army regimental commander in the American Civil War who was later appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as United States Ambassador to Spain . He served in three regiments , commanded two of them , and became a brevet Brigadier General of Volunteers . He was also a noted foundryman , business owner and New Jersey politician who was close to Woodrow Wilson . Biography . Edward Burd Grubb , Jr . was born in Burlington , New Jersey , to a fourth - generation member of the Grubb Family Iron Dynasty , Edward Burd Grubb and his wife Euphemia Parker . The Grubb family was descended from John Grubb who came from Cornwall , England and settled in Delaware in the early 1680s . He was educated at St . Mary ' s Hall - Doane Academy and graduated in 1860 , just five months before Abraham Lincoln was elected as President . War service . In May 1861 , he enlisted in the 3rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry . Commissioned as a first lieutenant , he would ultimately be promoted to Captain and served as an aide to Brig . Gen . George W . Taylor during the 1862 Peninsula Campaign , where he contracted typhoid and was confined to a hospital ship shortly after the Battle of Malvern Hill . He would not rejoin the brigade until shortly before their successful assault on Crampton ' s Gap , during the lead - up to Battle of Antietam . The VI Corps ( ACW ) was mostly held in reserve during the battle , though Edward later wrote that his men were convinced they could have finished Lee ' s army if properly employed . In November 1862 , Grubb was promoted to Major , and was transferred to the 23rd New Jersey Volunteer Infantry , a nine - month enlistment unit made up of men from his hometown of Burlington and various parts of Burlington County . In March 1863 , despite his youth , he was promoted to Colonel and commander of the regiment when its previous leader , Col . Henry O . Ryerson , left to take command of the 10th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry . He led his regiment , nicknamed " The Yahoos " , as it participated in his brigade ' s assault on Confederate positions at Salem Church during the May 1863 Battle of Chancellorsville . Wounded in action , he was mustered out when his regiment ' s enlistment expired by law in June 1863 . After a year spent in recruitment and recruit training , Grubb was re - commissioned as colonel and appointed commander of the 37th New Jersey Volunteer Infantry , a 100 - day enlistment unit . The new regiment then served in the trenches of Petersburg , Virginia , and in garrison duty until it was mustered out in October 1864 . One night after arriving in the trenches , with few arms and little ammunition , the regiment came under fire and took some casualties . Their helplessness in this situation gave rise to the nickname they would bear in the New York Times , " Grubb ' s Game Chickens " . His younger brother , Parker Grubb , serving as the 37th New Jersey ' s regimental adjutant , died of disease during the regiment ' s service . In recognition of his service , Grubb received a brevet promotion to Brigadier General , United States Volunteers on March 13 , 1865 , for " gallant and meritorious services during the war . " Post war . After mustering out later in 1865 , Grubb returned to Burlington and established himself as a prominent iron manufacturer , taking over the family ' s business that went back to his great great grandfather , Peter Grubb , Jr . He was president of the Lebanon Valley Furnace Company from 1867 until about 1911 . In 1868 , he married Elizabeth Wadsworth Van Rensselaer ( 1848 – 1886 ) , daughter of an important family in the area . Together they had one daughter . He was elected to the Burlington City Council where he served as its president for two years . He and his wife found time to travel extensively in Europe and accompanied Baron de Lesseps through the Suez Canal . His 1869 account of the canal and its technical aspects was the first such article to be published in the United States . In 1872 , he had fellow veteran Frank Furness design a house on the river , still known as " Grubb Cottage " . In 1874 , he built a estate at Edgewater Park Township , New Jersey , called " Grassmere " , where he annually entertained the survivors of the 23rd regiment . In February 1874 , Grubb was elected into the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry ( an independent Company of the PA National Guard that had once been George Washington ' s personal bodyguard during the American Revolution ) . He was elected as the 16th Captain of the Troop , a position in which he served for 14 years with a break during his foray into politics . This period saw many critical reforms of the National Guard structure that helped ensure an effective mobilization and deployment for World War One . He resigned from the troop in 1896 , but later regretted the decision and requested a commission as a colonel in the Expeditionary Force that went to Cuba in 1898 . Grubb was also a colonel in the New Jersey National Guard . His main contribution came during the 1881 centennial celebration of the Siege of Yorktown , where he commanded the New Jersey regiment that won a ceremonial silver cup for being the best drilled unit . He stayed active in veterans affairs , serving as New Jersey Department Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic , as well as hosting the annual reunions of his veterans . Grubb was on a safari in Africa when his wife died in 1886 . Upon his return , he proposed to his long time friend , Harriet Hubbard Ayer , the noted woman ' s rights activist who made a fortune manufacturing beauty creams . However , she declined his proposal . Political career . In 1889 , Republicans nominated for Grubb for governor , hoping that the war hero could beat Leon Abbett , a popular former Governor . During that year ' s convention , Grubb broke with tradition and addressed the gathering to thank them for his nomination . In his campaign , he called for ballot reform to break the power of the political machines . While Abbett was expected to easily beat the political novice , the election was close except in Hudson County where that county ' s machine did not take any chances . For example , more votes were counted in Jersey City ' s Irish wards than registered voters . Sixty - nine election workers were convicted of fraud and sent to prison . Abbett was still declared the winner even though his entire statewide margin came from Hudson , which sent a large delegation to the inauguration to remind the new Governor of that fact . In the hall , they even placed a banner that read " Hudson 13 , 515 " , referring to Abbett ' s margin from the county . When Abbett used his speech to call for ballot reform himself , a breeze caused the banner to fold and obscure the margin of victory . Senator Wertz was observed to exclaim " See ! " , as he pointed to the banner , " See how Abbett ' s majority shrinks as he advocates ballot reform . " Also that year , Benjamin Harrison had been inaugurated as President and selected a friend of Grubb , James G . Blaine , as Secretary of State . Blaine arranged for Grubb to be one of Harrison ' s seven appointees to the 1890 Board of Visitors to West Point Military Academy ; he was elected Vice President . Among other things , his committee suggested the purchase of the Academy ' s first Hotchkiss gun . Blaine then arranged for Grubb to be appointed as Ambassador to Spain . During his term , he negotiated a trade reciprocity treaty . In 1892 , he resigned and returned to New Jersey . Grubb remained politically active and left the Republican Party to become a reformer . He lost an election for Congress in 1908 . He later actively campaigned for Woodrow Wilson when he ran for Governor two years later . Wilson and Grubb became close and the Governor often stayed at Grubb ' s home on the river . Later years . While in Spain , Grubb met Violet Sopwith ( 1865 – 1958 ) , the daughter of an English mining engineer working in Spain . Violet ' s younger brother was Thomas Sopwith , who would later became a famous aviation pioneer . Burd and Violet married before their return to New Jersey and would go one to have three children , although one died young . Their son , Edward Burd Grubb III was the President of the New York Curb Exchange during the critical period after the creation of the SEC . Burd was especially interested in the family ' s history and met with his distant cousin , Delaware Supreme Court Justice Ignatius Cooper Grubb , who was the family ' s historian during the period . The General made national news in 1908 - 1909 after meeting the commander of the 8th Alabama Regiment . Two units that once met as enemies at Salem Church , met again as friends at the " Yahoos Reunion " at Grubb ' s Grassmere estate . In 1911 , Grubb lost his fortune due to a bad investment and was appointed by then Governor Wilson as Superintendent of the New Jersey Home for Disabled Soldiers in Kearney , New Jersey . He died in Newark , New Jersey , and was buried in Saint Mary ' s Episcopal Churchyard in Burlington . Violet moved back to " Grubb Cottage " , then owned by Grubb ' s brother . During the First World War , Violet chaired the British Emergency Aid Committee in Philadelphia and later retired to Maryland to live with her daughter .