George Bomford George Bomford ( 1780 – 1848 ) was a distinguished military officer in the United States Army and an inventor and designer of weapons and defensive installations . Early life and education . Bomford was born on Long Island , New York in 1780 during the American Revolutionary War , the son of a British officer , Thomas Bomford of the 60th Royal Artillery . His birth records do not indicate an exact date of birth nor the name of his father . Bomford later told his son James the information , who reported it in records at Norwich University . By a chance meeting , Bomford befriended the first graduate of West Point Joseph Gardner Swift . Swift sought and received a " Cadet ' s Warrant " from General Henry Dearborn for his friend , and Bomford was appointed to West Point from the state of New York on 23 October 1804 , despite the circumstances of his birth . Career . After graduating from West Point in 1805 , as a lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers , he served as assistant engineer on the defenses of New York Harbor under West Point superintendent and Chief of Engineers , Jonathan Williams ( engineer ) until 1808 . From 1808 to 1810 , Bomford served on the defenses of Chesapeake Bay . From 1810 to 1812 he served as the superintendent engineer of works on Governors Island in the construction of Castle Williams . At the start of the war of 1812 - 1815 , Bomford was a staff major in the ordnance department and was appointed to the post of assistant Commissary general of ordnance on 18 June 1812 . On 6 July 1812 he was attached to the corps of engineers . After the war , on 9 February 1815 Bomford was promoted to Lieutenant colonel . As an engineer , he and Joseph Gardner Swift were called upon to help rebuild the U . S . Capitol in Washington D . C . , an effort that lasted from 1815 until 1819 . Bomford was attached to the artillery when the army was reorganized in 1821 and the Ordnance Department and Artillery Departments were merged in the interest of economy . In 1832 , the Ordnance Department was re - established as the Ordnance Corps ( United States Army ) . At that time he was promoted to full colonel and appointed as the third Chief of Ordnance , the first of the new department , on 30 May 1832 . When General Tadeusz Kościuszko died in 1817 , despite writing four wills , two executors ( including Thomas Jefferson ) failed to act . By time the U . S . Supreme Court declared in 1852 that the general died intestate and gave his money to his heirs , the value of his estate had decreased substantially ; this was attributed by a case attorney to Colonel George Bomford ' s use of the estate for his own purposes . In 1842 he became inspector of arsenals , ordnance , arms , and munitions of war . He held both positions until his death in 1848 . In 1844 , Bomford developed the heavy coastal defense howitzer s that would come to be referred to as Columbiad s . Columbiad gun . The heavy coastal defense howitzers designed by Bomford combined attributes of the gun , and the mortar , to produce a long - range , high - powered , anti - ship weapon . The first prototype guns of this type , pattern 1842 and earlier produced by the Alger foundry , came to be referred to as Columbiads since most originated from the Foxall or Columbiad foundry on the Potomac River . The Army stationed these guns in 1844 around the country as a part of the Second System of Defense . Bomford ' s design was improved by the Dahlgren gun , but the guns were superseded by the Rodman gun ( Thomas Jackson Rodman ) . It was considered an improved Columbiad , especially the later models with rifled barrel s . The Rodman gun was considered more reliable than the larger sized Parrott rifle s ( which were eventually pulled from inventory ) or the early Columbiads . Columbiads continued in operation until after the Spanish - American War when they were rendered obsolete by the breech - loading rifled cannon . Marriage and family . Shortly after graduating West Point , Bomford married Louisa Sophia Catton , daughter of the noted English artist Charles P . Catton . They had three children : George Catton Bomford , James Vote ( or Votey ) Bomford , and Louisa Sophia Bomford . George Catton was born 17 December 1807 . While a cadet at West Point , he was found guilty on four charges in a court martial on 2 March 1827 , resulting from the Eggnog Riot of December 25 , 1826 . Although expelled from the Academy , he was allowed to retire from the Army . James was born 5 October 1811 on Governors Island in New York Harbor . He graduated from Norwich University in ( Vermont ) England in 1828 . He gained an appointment at West Point , where he graduated in 1832 . He rose to a colonel in the 8th United States infantry , and was promoted to a brevet brigadier general in the American Civil War . During this time , he was held as a prisoner by the Confederates from April 1861 to May 1862 . After a career in the Army , he died Jan . 6 , 1892 , at Elizabeth , New Jersey at the age of 80 and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery , Hillside , New Jersey . James ' son , George N . Bomford , also had a military career . He was a Lieutenant Colonel of the 42nd New York Infantry , 3rd Brigade of the Second Division , under the command of Brigadier General Oliver O . Howard , and fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg during the Civil War . He died 5 September 1897 . Louisa Sophia Bomford was born on 3 May 1813 in Albany , New York . She died 19 April 1864 in Newport , Rhode Island . George Bomford married a second time 20 April 1816 to Clarissa " Clara " Baldwin ( died 10 December 1856 ) and they had three children . They were Ruth Theodora : born 1 January 1818 , married John ( Jott ) Stone Paine , and died 28 November 1895 ; Henry Baldwin : born 1823 or 1824 , died 9 September 1845 ; and George Erving Bomford , born 31 March 1829 , became a surgeon and married , and died 1864 during the Civil War . Death . George Bomford died in Boston , Massachusetts 25 March 1848 while on army business and was buried in a tomb in the family mausoleum on the " Kalorama estate " in Washington , D . C . In 1892 , due to construction of Sherman Circle on the site of the estate , the remains of George Bomford , his wife Clara , and son Henry Baldwin Bomford , were moved to Rock Creek Cemetery and placed under one headstone .