<p style="text-align:center"><strong>FREDERICK EDWARD PRIME</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>No. 1450 · Class of 1850</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Died August 12, 1900, at Litchfield, Conn., aged 72 years.</strong></p><p style="text-align:center"><strong>Interred at Greenwood Cemetery, Long Island.</strong></p><p>Frederick Edward Prime, who was of New England descent, was born in Florence, Italy, on the 24th of September 1828. He was the eldest son of Rufus Prime and Augusta Temple Palmer of the City of New York. He was, through his mother, a great-grandson of Sir John Temple, Baronet, and of Elizabeth, daughter of Governor Bowdoin of Massachusetts. The former was British Consul General in New York from 1785 to 1798.</p><p>Colonel Prime's early youth was spent in New York, and at the age of seven years he was sent to a French school kept by the brothers Peugnet, two gentlemen who had served as officers under Napoleon I. In 1843 the Colonel went to Europe and after spending six months at school at Paris, was placed at school in Geneva, Switzerland, in which he remained until 1846, when he returned to America and entered the United States Military Academy, graduating at the head of his class. His early education made him a finished French scholar.</p><p>After his retirement from over twenty years of active service, Colonel Prime resided in New York until the spring of 1874, when he moved to Litchfield, Conn.</p><p>Colonel Prime died at Litchfield on the 12th of August 1900. His funeral was held at Grace Church, New York, and his remains were placed with those of his relatives in Greenwood Cemetery, Long Island.</p><p>On the occasion of Colonel Prime's death, the Engineer Department issued the following order:</p><p>HEADQUARTERS, CORPS OF ENGINEERS, UNITED STATES ARMY, WASHINGTON, August 14, 1900.</p><p>GENERAL ORDERS No. 40.</p><p>It becomes the painful duty of the Chief of Engineers to announce to the Corps of Engineers the death of a brother officer, Major Frederick E. Prime, Corps of Engineers, retired, which occurred at Litchfield, Conn., August 12, 1900.</p><p>Major Prime was born in Italy in 1829. He was graduated from the United States Military Academy July 1, 1850, and promoted in the army to Brevet Second Lieutenant, Corps of Engineers, and passed through all the intermediate grades to that of Major, receiving the brevets of Major, October 4, 1862, "for gallant and meritorious services at the Battle of Corinth, Miss.;" of Lieutenant Colonel, July 4, 1863, "for gallant and meritorious services during the siege of Vicksburg, Miss.;" of Colonel, March 13, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services during the Rebellion," and of Brigadier General, United States Army, March 13, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious services during the Rebellion," declined.</p><p>He served as Assistant Engineer in making repairs to Fort Wood, Bedloes Island, New York, 1850-52; in building Fort Schuyler, at the eastern entrance to New York Harbor, 1852; on improvement of Hudson River, New York, 1852-53; and in the construction of the fortifications of Alcatraz Island, San Francisco Harbor, California, 1853-57; and as Superintending Engineer of the defenses of Alcatraz Island, California, 1857; of the repairs of Fort Morgan and construction of Fort Gaines, for the defense of Mobile Bay, Alabama, 1858-61; of the fortifications of Pensacola Harbor, Florida, 1858-61, and of the construction of the fort on Ship Island, Mississippi, 1859-61.</p><p>During the Rebellion of the Seceding States, 1861-66, he served: As Assistant Engineer in the construction of the defenses of Washington, D.C., April 28 to July 3, 1861; on the staff of Colonel Dixon S. Miles in the Manassas campaign, being engaged in the Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861; in erecting temporary works for the defense of Baltimore, Md., July 1861; as Chief Engineer of the Department of Kentucky, July to August 15, 1861; of the Department of the Cumberland, August 15 to November 15, 1861, and of the Department of the Ohio, November 15 to December 5, 1861, being wounded and captured while on a reconnaissance near Mill Spring, Ky., December 5, 1861; as prisoner of war, December 5, 1861, to February 8, 1862; as Superintending Engineer of the defenses of Washington, D.C., March 18 to May 1, 1862; as Assistant Engineer, Department of the Mississippi, May 22 to July 18, 1862, being engaged in the siege of Corinth, May 22-30, 1862; as Chief Engineer in Major General Grant's Mississippi campaign, July 18, 1862, to June 27, 1863, being engaged in constructing the defenses of Memphis, Tenn., July to September 1862; in Battle of Corinth, October 3-4, 1862; in flank movement to Oxford, Miss., November and December 1862; in descent of the Mississippi to Youngs Point, January 1863; in opening cut-off canal at Millikens Bend, January to May 1863, and in siege of Vicksburg, May 22 to June 27, 1863; on sick leave of absence, June 27 to October 5, 1863; as Superintending Engineer of temporary defenses at New Haven, Conn., and of the West Pass into Narragansett Bay, and of columbiad battery exterior to Fort Trumbull, Connecticut, October 5, 1863, to March 19, 1864; of construction of fortifications on Staten Island, March 19, 1864, to August 3, 1865; of repairs of Forts Lafayette and Hamilton, New York, and building battery exterior to the latter, March 19, 1864, to November 16, 1865, and construction of fort at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, March 19, 1864, to August 29, 1866; on temporary duty at Baltimore, Md., while threatened by General Early's raid, July 1864; on engineer recruiting service at New York City, November 2, 1864, to January 23, 1866; as member of special Board of Engineers for work at Willets Point, New York, April 7 to June 20, 1865, and of the Board of Engineers, June 20, 1865, to September 1, 1866, to carry out in detail the modifications of the defenses in the vicinity of New York, as proposed by the Board of January 27, 1864; on leave of absence in Europe, September 1, 1866, to September 1, 1867.</p><p>He also served as Superintending Engineer of Fort on Ship Island, Mississippi, and of the defenses of Pensacola and Mobile harbors, September 1867, to May 1869; of Eighth Light House District, east of Pearl River, September 1868, to May 1869, and west of Pearl River, December 1868, to April 1869; of defenses of New Orleans, La., improvement of mouth of Mississippi, and survey of Galveston Harbor, Texas, November 1868, to April 1869, and of the defenses of Provincetown Harbor, Massachusetts, February 4, 1870, to September 5, 1871, upon which latter date he was retired from active service for disability contracted in the line of duty.</p><p>During the entire period of his service on the active list of the army, Major Prime exhibited that skill, energy and scientific ability which won for him the confidence of his superiors and the admiration of all with whom he came in contact.</p><p>The Corps of Engineers deplored the fact that his ill health in 1871 deprived the country of the active services of so valued and accomplished an officer, and today it pays its tribute of affection to the memory of a noble man and beloved comrade.</p><p style="text-align:center"><a href="https://usmalibrary.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/aogreunion/id/12777">Annual Report, June 8, 1901, pp. 58�62 · U.S. Military Academy Library</a></p>