John E. Curry collection

David H. Vinton (1803-1873), a career military officer, was a West Point graduate (1822). After initial service in ordnance, he specialized in quartermaster duties from 1835 until his retirement at the end of the Civil War. He served on the Canadian frontier of New York (1838-1843), during a period of Anglo-American tensions. From 1846-1848 he was Quartermaster at New York, efficiently organizing shipments to the US Army in Mexico. He was Chief Quartermaster of the Department of the West, headquartered at St Louis (1851-1856). Imprisoned briefly at San Antonio when Texas seceded from the Union, Vinton was paroled, and again served as Chief Quartermaster in New York City throughout the Civil War. He was brevetted to brigadier general before his 1865 retirement.

Josiah Gorgas was born in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. He was graduated from West Point in 1841 and was assigned to the Ordnance Department. He served in the Mexican-American War and was promoted to captain in 1855. In 1853, he married Amelia Gayle, daughter of former Alabama governor John Gayle. Gorgas served in arsenals in different parts of the country before the Civil War broke out. Early in his career, Gorgas served at Watervliet Arsenal near Troy, New York, and at the Detroit Arsenal. Following the Mexican-American War, Gorgas served in Pennsylvania and in November 1851 was transferred to Fort Monroe in Virginia. There he began his association with the Tredegar Iron Company, which would become an important Southern foundry once the Civil War began. Gorgas went on to serve at the Mount Vernon Arsenal north of Mobile, Alabama beginning in 1853. He was commanding the Frankford Arsenal when he resigned from the United States Army on March 21, 1861 (effective April 3). He was one of the few Northern-born Confederate generals and was later president of the University of Alabama.