EFIOGT OX PROF. ALEXANDER DALLAS BACHE, 



LATE SUPERINTENDENT OF THE UNITED STATES COAST SURVEY. 



By Prof. Joseph Heney. 



Prepared at the request of the Board of Eegcnts of the Smithsonian Instiiution, and also of 

 the National Academy of Sciences. 



Alexander Dallas Bache, wliose life and character form the sub- 

 ject of the following eulogy, was the son of Eicharcl Bache, one of eight 

 children of Sarah, the only daughter of Dr. Benjamin Franklin. His 

 mother was Sophia Burret Dallas, daughter of Alexander J. DaHas, and 

 sister of George M. Dallas, w^hose names are well knov,ni in the history 

 of this country, the former as Secretary of the Treasury, and the latter 

 as Yice-President of the United States, and subsequently as minister to 

 the Court of St. James. 



The subject of our sketch was born in Philadelphia, on the 19th of 

 July, 1806. At an early age he became a pupil of a classical school, 

 and was distinguished by an unusual aptitude in the acquisition of 

 learning. Shortly before arriving at the age of fifteen he was aj)- 

 l)ointed a cadet at the National Military Academy at West Point. 

 Here, though the youngest pupil, he soon attained a high grade of 

 scholarship, which he maintained during the whole of his course, and 

 was finally graduated in 1825, at the head of his class. His merit 

 was in this case the more conspicuous, iuasmucli as the class is 

 shown to have been one of unusual ability, by having numbered no 

 less than four successful candidates for the honor of adoption into 

 the Corps of Engineers. It has been mentioned as a solitary' in- 

 stance in the history of the Academy, noted for its rigid discipline, 

 that young Bache passed through the entire course of four years with- 

 out having received a mark of actual demerit, and, what is perhaps not 

 less uncommon, without having caded forth the least manifestation of 

 envy on the part of his fellow-pui)iis. On the contrary, his superiority 

 in scholarship was freely acknowledged by every member of his class, 

 while his unassuming manner, friendly demeanor, and fidelity to duty 

 secured him the affection as well as the respect of not ouly his fellow- 

 liupils, but also of the officers of the institution. It is also remembered 

 that his classmates, with instinctive deference to his scrupulous sense 

 of propriety, forbore to solicit his participation in any amusement wliich 

 in the slightest degree conflicted with the rules of the Academy. So 

 far from tins, they commended his course, and took x)r{de to themselves, 



