Averell, William Woods, 1832-1900

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Averell was born in Cameron, New York. As a boy, he worked as a drugstore clerk in the nearby town of Bath, New York.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1855 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Mounted Rifles. George Custer was among his classmates. His early assignments included garrison duty at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, and the U.S. Army Cavalry School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During two years of service in New Mexico, he was wounded in action against the Indians in October 1858, and was placed on the disabled list until the outbreak of the Civil War.

After the capture of Fort Sumter, Lt. Averell made a risky solo journey across the country to the New Mexico Territory with a message to summon his old mounted rifle regiment back east to join the fighting.

Averell first saw action at the First Battle of Bull Run while acting as assistant adjutant general to Brig. Gen. Andrew Porter. In August 1861, he was appointed colonel of the 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry regiment, which he led through the Peninsula Campaign and the Seven Days Battles. Immediately after that campaign, on July 6, 1862, he was given command of the 1st Cavalry Brigade in the Army of the Potomac. He missed the Battle of Antietam and most of the Maryland Campaign as he recovered from a bout of malaria that was known at the time as "Chickahominy Fever". As Confederate Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's cavalry rode around the Union Army and raided Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Averell returned in time to lead his brigade in pursuit. President Abraham Lincoln appointed Averell a brigadier general of volunteers on September 26, 1862 to rank from that date. Lincoln had to nominate Averell three times before the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointment on March 11, 1863.

During the Battle of Fredericksburg, Averell commanded the Cavalry Brigade of the Center Grand Division of the Army of the Potomac. He ascended to division command—the 2nd division of the Cavalry Corps—on February 12, 1863. His division fought the first engagement in which Union cavalrymen claimed victory against their Confederate counterparts, the Battle of Kelly's Ford on March 17, 1863. But the 2nd Division's reputation was diminished as it participated in Maj. Gen. George Stoneman's fruitless cavalry raid in the Battle of Chancellorsville six weeks later. On May 2, 1863, army commander Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker relieved Averell of his command due to his slow performance during the raid. Hooker sent an angry telegram to the War Department informing them that Averell "seems to have contented himself between April 29 and May 4 with having marched ... 28 miles, meeting no enemy deserving of the name, and from that point reporting to me for instructions."

Averell left the Army of the Potomac after his relief at Chancellorsville and fought a series of minor engagements in the Department of West Virginia at the brigade and division level. In November 1863, he conducted what is called Averell's West Virginia Raid against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. He received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel in the regular army for the Battle of Droop Mountain in West Virginia on November 6, 1863, and to colonel for actions at Salem, Virginia, on December 15, 1863. In the spring of 1864, he led another cavalry raid toward Saltville but was stopped by Generals John Hunt Morgan and William E. "Grumble" Jones at Cove Gap. Returning to West Virginia, he later commanded a cavalry division under Maj. Gen. David Hunter in his failed raid on Lynchburg.

At a time when Lt. Gen. Jubal Early had invaded Maryland and defeated a series of Union commanders, Averell proved to be the only Union commander to achieve victory against the Confederates in the Shenandoah Valley. He routed Confederate Maj. Gen. Stephen D. Ramseur at the Battle of Rutherford's (Carter's) Farm on July 20, inflicting 400 casualties and capturing a four-gun battery, in spite of Averell's being significantly outnumbered. When Brig. Gen. John McCausland burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, to the ground on July 30, Averell tracked him down at Moorefield, West Virginia. Using intelligence gathered from his scouts, Averell routed McCausland in a sunrise attack upon the Confederate camp capturing hundreds of prisoners and another four-gun battery.

During the Valley Campaigns of 1864 against Early, Averell fought under Maj. Gen. Philip Sheridan. He was relieved of command a second time in his career on September 23, 1864, following a dispute with Sheridan about Averell's actions at the Battle of Fisher's Hill. This incident truly devastated him and he could not hide his misery. A staff officer wrote "I saw General Averell sitting in front of his tent ... He was dreadfully depressed and broken. I believe he started for the rear within a few moments after we left him, and never was employed again during the war." Averell resigned from the Union Army volunteers and from the U.S. regular army on May 18, 1865.

On July 17, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Averell for appointment to the grades of brevet brigadier general and brevet major general in the regular army, to rank from March 13, 1865, and the U.S. Senate confirmed the appointments on July 23, 1866. The latter appointment was in recognition of Averell's actions at the Battle of Kelly's Ford.

Following the Civil War, President Johnson appointed Averell as U.S. consul general to British North America from 1866 to 1869. In 1888, during Grover Cleveland's presidency, Averell was reinstated in the Army by a special Act of Congress and placed upon the retired list; he was also appointed as Assistant Inspector General of Soldiers Homes (1888-1898).

Averell was also an entrepreneur and an inventor, working in the fields of coal, steel and eventually paving materials. His businesses and his inventions of practical devices provided him with a handsome income. Among his inventions were methods for manufacturing steel castings and insulated electrical cable, but he is best known for his work with asphalt pavement. Averell had become interested in asphalt as early as 1870, when some experimental pavement, based on the procedures patented by Edward J. DeSmeldt, a Belgian engineer and chemist, was laid in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. Although he observed problems with these installations, he was convinced of the potential of asphalt paving, and, as president of the Grahamite Asphalt Pavement Company, he began studying the existing product and procedures and then experimenting with ways to improve them. Eventually, he developed improved techniques of laying pavement, which led to a patent in 1878 for "Improvement in Asphaltic Pavement."

Averell was the author of Ten Years in the Saddle (1978) and co-author of History of the Third Pennsylvania Cavalry, 60th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers (1905), both published posthumously.

General Averell died in Bath, New York, and is buried there. In 1976, Averell was one of the first class of ten inductees for the Steuben County (NY) Hall of Fame. Averell Street in Winchester, Virginia, marks the area where his former troops went into winter quarters in 1864.

Archival Resources
Role Title Holding Repository
referencedIn Thomas H. Sherwood Letters, 1862. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1805 - 1889 File Unit: Averell, Wm W - Maine - 1895 - File No. A286 National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn Sherwood, Thomas H. Papers, 1862. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
referencedIn Gen. Joseph Hooker letter, Gen'l, 3rd Army Corps, n.p, 1862 May 10 Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
creatorOf Averell, William Woods, 1832-1900. [Reminiscences. Newberry Library
referencedIn Gilmer, Francis Walker, 1790-1826. Papers of the Gilmer family [manuscript], 1781, 1820-1821, 1861-1865. University of Virginia. Library
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1805 - 1889 File Unit: Averell, Wm W - New York - 1855 - File No. A133 National Archives at Washington, D.C
creatorOf Michael N. Veres letter to Robert W. Hill, 1951 The New York Public Library. New York Public Library Archives.
referencedIn Powell, William H., 1825-1904. William H. Powell letters, 1864. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
referencedIn Anspach family. Papers : of the Anspach family, 1864, n.d. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Compiled Military Service Record of Colonel William W. Averell, 3rd Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment. National Archives at Washington, D.C
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1863 - 1917 File Unit: Averell, Wm W - State: New York - Year: 1866 National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Carded Records Relating to Civil War Staff Officers, 1890 - 1912 File Unit: Averell, William W. - Brigadier General National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn Augustus Mendon Lord collection, Lord (Augustus Mendon) collection, (bulk 1876-1908), 1778-1908 John Hay Library, Special Collections
referencedIn Imboden, George W. (George William), 1836-1922. Civil War letters of George W. Imboden, 1864 May 29-Dec. 11. Navarro College
referencedIn Gilmer family. Papers of the Gilmer family, 1781, 1820-1821, 1861-1865. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Philip Case Lockwood memorial collection of Civil War portraits and autographs, 1862-ca. 1886. Houghton Library
referencedIn Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1871 - 1894 File Unit: Consolidated Military Officer's File of Captain William W. Averell, Volunteers National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn Young, George C., fl. 1861-1865. Civil War correspondence of George C. Young and I.A. Young, 1861-1865. University of Virginia. Library
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1805 - 1889 File Unit: Averell, Wm W - New York - 1859 - File No. A160 National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn Gilmer, William Wirt, 1804-1879. Notes on the war of 1861-65 [manuscript], n.d. University of Virginia. Library
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1805 - 1889 File Unit: 1862 - Averell, Wm H - File No. A27 National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn [Hand-collared photograph of William Woods Averell] New York State Library
referencedIn Photographic Portrait File The Huntington Library
creatorOf Averell, William Woods, 1832-1900. Papers, 1836-1910; bulk, 1851-1898. New York State Library
referencedIn Diary of an unknown Union soldier [manuscript], 1864 March 9-May 9. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Autograph File, A, 1518-2002. Houghton Library
referencedIn Averell, William W - Unit: 3rd Cavalry, Company: F&S - Enlistment Rank: Col, Discharge Rank: Col United States. National Archives and Records Administration
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1805 - 1889 File Unit: Averell, Wm W - New York - 1859 - File No. A138 National Archives at Washington, D.C
referencedIn Donald Benham Civil War Collection, 1806-1916, (bulk 1850-1870) Library of Congress. Manuscript Division
creatorOf Abercrombie, John J., 1798-1877. Military officer correspondence, 1865-1903. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
referencedIn Hooker, Joseph, 1814-1879. Letter, 1862 May 10, Head Quarters, Hooker's Division, 3rd Army Corps, Williamsburgh [sic], Va., to C[hauncey] McKeever, Ass't Adjt. Gen'l, 3rd Army Corps, n.p. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library
referencedIn Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company. Miscellany, 1853, 1856. Wisconsin Historical Society, Newspaper Project
creatorOf Allibone, S. Austin (Samuel Austin), 1816-1889. Correspondence of Baltimore, Maryland merchants 1771-1885. University of Virginia. Library
referencedIn Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States Commandery of the State of Massachusetts Civil War collection, 1724-1933 (inclusive); 1861-1912 (bulk). Houghton Library
contributorOf Record Group 94: Records of the Adjutant General's Office, 1762 - 1984 Series: Letters Received, 1805 - 1889 File Unit: 1861 - Averell, Wm W - File No. A600 National Archives at Washington, D.C
Role Title Holding Repository
Place Name Admin Code Country
Bath NY US
West Point NY US
New Mexico NM US
Virginia VA US
Jefferson Barracks MO US
Steuben County NY US
Carlisle PA US
Canada 00 CA
Subject
Asphalt industry
Bull Run, 1st Battle of, Va., 1861
Cavalry
Chancellorsville, Battle of, Chancellorsville, Va., 1863
Civil war
Civil War, 1861-1865
Diplomatic and consular service, American
Diplomats
Electric conduits
Foreign relations
Fredericksburg, Battle of, Fredericksburg, Va., 1862
Indians of North America
Indians of North America
Kelly's Ford, Battle of, Va., 1863
Kiowa Indians
Navajo Indians
Pavements, Asphalt
Peninsula Campaign, 1862
Seven Days' Battles, Va., 1862
Shenandoah Valley Campaign, 1864 (May)
Soldiers
Soldiers' homes
Veterans
Zuni Indians
Occupation
Authors
Consuls
Inventors
Investors
Soldiers
Activity

Person

Birth 1832-11-05

Death 1900-02-03

Male

Americans

English

Information

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