Samuel Breck ( general ) Samuel Breck ( February 25 , 1834 – February 23 , 1918 ) was an officer in the United States Army who served as Adjutant General of the U . S . Army from 1897 to 1898 . Early career . Born in Middleborough , Massachusetts to one of the oldest families in the state , Breck entered the United States Military Academy at West Point on July 1 , 1851 . He graduated seventh in his class on July 1 , 1855 and was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery . While with the 1st Artillery , he served in Florida during the Third Seminole War . Breck served at several forts along both the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from 1856 to 1860 . From 1856 into 1857 he was at the garrison at Fort Moultrie in South Carolina . He served at Fort McHenry in Maryland from 1857 to 1859 . In 1859 he marched from Helena , Arkansas to Fort Clark , Texas . Later in 1859 into 1860 , he was again in the garrison at Fort Moultrie , South Carolina . At Auburndale , Massachusetts on September 23 , 1857 , Breck married Caroline Juliet Barrett ( b . May 18 , 1832 ) , daughter of Samuel and Anne Juliet ( Eddy ) Barrett . They would have two children : Amelia , born August 25 , 1860 at Fort Moultrie , South Carolina , died in infancy ; and , Samuel , born August 8 , 1862 in Washington , D . C . , who became a practicing physician in Boston . From September 24 , 1860 to April 26 , 1861 Breck served at West Point as Assistant Professor of Geography , History and Ethics . From April 26 to December 3 , 1861 , he was Principal Assistant Professor of Geography , History , and Ethics , during which time he was a first lieutenant with the 1st Artillery from April 11 , 1861 to February 20 , 1862 . Breck was promoted to captain on November 19 , 1861 . Civil War . On November 29 , 1861 Breck became staff captain — assistant adjutant general of General Irvin McDowell ’ s division of the Army of the Potomac , which defended Washington , D . C during the American Civil War or , as it was characterized at the time by the Union , “ the Rebellion of the Seceding States . ” On March 24 , 1862 Breck became assistant adjutant general of the 1st Army Corps . From April 4 to June 20 , 1862 he was assistant adjutant general of the Department of the Rappahannock . On April 18 , 1862 he was engaged in the occupation of Falmouth , Virginia on the north side of the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg , Virginia He was commissioned major , additional aide - de - camp on May 23 , 1862 . In late May and early June , he was part of Union Brigadier General Irvin McDowell ' s unsuccessful expedition to the Shenandoah Valley to intercept the Confederate forces under General Stonewall Jackson and cut off their avenue of retreat from Winchester , Virginia . On July 2 , 1862 , Breck took the post of assistant in the adjutant general ’ s office in Washington , which he held until the end of the war . He was in charge of “ Rolls , Returns , Books , Blanks and business pertaining to the enlisted men of the Regular and Volunteer Forces , and of the records of discontinued commands and the preparation and publication of the ‘ Volunteer Army Register . ’ ” Samuel was successively brevetted lieutenant colonel ( September 24 , 1864 ) , colonel ( March 13 , 1865 ) and brigadier general ( appointed March 8 , 1866 and confirmed May 4 , 1866 to rank from March 13 , 1865 “ for diligent , faithful and meritorious service in the adjutant general ’ s department during the rebellion ” ) . Later career . Breck remained in the Adjutant General ' s Department following the end of the war . From 1879 , he served in California , New York , Washington , D . C . , and Minnesota . From 1885 he served as adjutant general for various departments , including the Department of the Platte , Omaha , Nebraska and the Department of Dakota . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel assistant adjutant general February 28 , 1887 . In August 1893 he returned to the Adjutant General ' s Department in Washington as a colonel , and on September 11 , 1897 , was elevated by President William McKinley and Secretary of War Russell Alger to Adjutant General of the U . S . Army with the rank of brigadier general . He retired in February 1898 , and died in February 1918 in Brookline , Massachusetts .