Oswald Herbert Ernst
Oswald Herbert Ernst was an astronomer, engineer, military educator, and career officer in the United States Army who became superintendent of the United States Military Academy. Over a fortyyear career, Ernst served as an engineer during Shermans Siege of Atlanta during the American Civil War, commanded U.S. troops at Coamo during the SpanishAmerican War, Cuba and sat on the original commission for the Panama Canal after retirement from active service.
Oswald Ernst was born June 27, 1842 near Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of Sarah Otis and Andrew H. Ernst. His mother was descended from Richard Warren, who traveled to Plymouth Colony from Southampton, England on the Mayflower. Andrew Ernst was himself the son of a recent immigrant, a burgomaster who had fled Germany during the Napoleonic Wars and afterwards settled in the Ohio River valley. The younger Ernst was an excellent student, admitted to Harvard in 1858, left that place of learning to accept an appointment from Ohio to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1860.
Source: Wikipedia