John Walbach Brevet Brigadier General John Baptiste de Barth Walbach , Baron de Walbach ( 1766 - 1857 ) was a career officer in the United States Army who served for over 57 years until his death . He was one of the few foreign born senior officers in the US Army prior to the Civil War . Biography . Early years in Europe . Walbach was born in Münster as the third son of Count Joseph de Barth . He received his military education at Strasbourg . He was a lieutenant in the Lauzun hussars from 1786 to 1792 . He returned to his native land to join the army of the Comte d ' Artois , brother of Louis XVI . He was present during the campaign of 1792 in Champagne in the advance of the Prussian army until it was disbanded at Maastricht , on 6 January 1793 , participated in the attack on Frankfurt , and subsequently served during the campaign of 1793 in attacks on the French lines at Germersheim , Langenkandel , and Weissenburg . In October 1793 , he accepted a captaincy in the Hussars de Rohan in the German service , and took part in covering the retreat of the Duke of York upon the Netherlands and Germany . Early United States military career . In 1798 he obtained a six months ' leave of absence , with a view of visiting his father , who had come to the United States at the opening of the French Revolution . But the father had died in Philadelphia , and his estate had been sold by the sheriff . Walbach resigned his commission in the Hussars de Rohan in April 1798 , and was appointed aide - de - camp to Gen . William Macpherson . He became 1st lieutenant of U . S . cavalry and adjutant on 10 January 1799 , was aide - de - camp to General Alexander Hamilton in May , assistant adjutant - general to General William North in September , and in December was assigned to the staff of General Charles C . Pinckney , whom he assisted in preparing regulations for the cavalry . In February 1801 , he was made 1st lieutenant in the regiment of artillerists and engineers , and on 25 October following he was appointed aide - de - camp to Brigadier General James Wilkinson , then the commanding general of the Army . Walbach was retained in the Army in April 1802 as 1st lieutenant of artillery , and became adjutant 1 December 1804 . He was promoted captain 31 January 1806 , made assistant deputy quartermaster general in March 1812 , assistant adjutant general , with the rank of major , in June 1813 , and on 6 August 1813 adjutant general of the Army with the rank of colonel . He took part in the Battle of Crysler ' s Farm , Canada , 11 November 1813 . General George W . Cullum , in his " Campaigns and Engineers of the War of 1812 - 1815 " says that the enemy , “ discovering our disorder and slackened fire , pushed vigorously forward and endeavored by a flank movement to capture our cannon , when Adjutant - General Walbach , a German veteran in our army who had seen much foreign service , gave the order to ' charge mit de dragoons , ' and thus saved the pieces . ” On 1 May 1815 , he received a brevet ( honorary promotion ) as a lieutenant - colonel “ for meritorious service . ” Later career . He spent much of his later career in command of coastal fortifications including Fort Constitution near Portsmouth , New Hampshire , Fort Trumbull in New London , Connecticut ( as of January 1 , 1825 to as of January 1st , 1827 ) , Fort Severn in Annapolis , Maryland ( as of January 1 , 1828 ) , Commandant , Artillery School of Practice at Fortress Monroe ( as of January 1 , 1830 ) , Frankford Arsenal in Pennsylvania ( as of January 1 , 1831 to as of January 1st , 1832 ) and Fort McHenry in Baltimore , Maryland ( as of January 1 , 1833 to as of January 1st , 1834 ) , and Fort Severn in Annapolis , Maryland ( as of January 1 , 1835 and as of January 1st , 1836 ) . ( Source - Official Army Registers 1825 to 1836 . ) While at Fort Constitution he oversaw construction of a Martello Tower to cover the land approaches to the fort . This fortification , commonly called the Walbach tower , was allowed to deteriorate over years of disuse but its ruins can be seen to this day . He was promoted to colonel and placed in command of the 4th Artillery Regiment on 15 March 1842 . He was not sent to Mexico during the Mexican War due to his age at the time ( 80 years ) . In May 1850 he received a brevet ( honorary promotion ) to the rank of brigadier general retroactive to 1823 . Walbach possessed mental and physical vigor until an advanced age . As there was no mandatory retirement age prior to the Civil War , he remained on active duty until he died , at the age of 90 , in Baltimore , Maryland on June 10 , 1857 . Family . He married in Philadelphia in 1807 , and had two sons , John de Barth , who entered the United States Navy in 1827 and resigned as a lieutenant in 1861 , and Louis Augustus de Barth , who was graduated at West Point Military Academy in 1834 , and died a captain of ordnance , 26 June 1853 .