William F. Raynolds

William Franklin Raynolds (March 17, 1820 – October 18, 1894) was a U.S. Army officer, explorer, engineer, Mexican War and Civil War veteran who is best known for leading the 1859-1860 Raynolds Expedition while serving as a member of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers. Raynolds was also promoted to temporary Brevet Brigadier General in 1865 for meritorious services during the Civil War and retired from the Corps of Engineers a full Colonel on March 17, 1884, after a 40-year military career.

During the 1840s and 1850s, and again after his participation in the American Civil War, William Raynolds was the head engineer on a number of lighthouse construction projects as well as riverway improvements. In 1846, while stationed in Veracruz, Mexico immediately after the Mexican-American War, Raynolds and several other U.S. Army personnel were the first to summit Pico de Orizaba, the tallest mountain in Mexico, and inadvertently set what may have been the American alpine altitude record for the subsequent 50 years. In 1859, Raynolds was placed in charge of the first U.S. Government sponsored expedition to venture into what was to later become Yellowstone National Park. A heavy snowpack from the preceding winter forced the expedition further south than originally planned. Consequently, the expedition become the first federally organized party to cross what is known as Union Pass, enter Jackson Hole and see the Teton Range, now within Grand Teton National Park.

Early life
Born in Canton, Ohio, William Raynolds was appointed from his native state and entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York on July 1, 1839. Raynolds graduated fifth out of 39 classmates in his class of 1843, which included William B. Franklin, friend Joseph J. Reynolds and future United States President Ulysses S. Grant.

Military career
Initially appointed a Brevet Second Lieutenant in the 5th U.S. Infantry, Raynolds was transferred to a new branch of the Corps of Engineers, the Topographical Engineers, an officer-only unit which made surveys and maps for army use. Raynolds would serve in this branch for his entire career.

Raynolds's first assignments involved improving navigation on the Ohio River and surveying the northeastern boundary of the United States. When war with Mexico seemed likely, topographic engineers were sent to the border to assist the army's preparations. Raynolds accompanied Winfield Scott and his staff to rendezvous off the port of Veracruz.

Mexico War
Raynolds served in Scott's Mexican-American War campaign from Veracruz to the Mexican capital district but received no brevet promotions, unlike his West Point classmates Franklin and Grant. After the completion of the war, the American army occupied Mexico City for some months. Looking for adventure, Raynolds and a few of his fellow soldiers obtained permission to explore and map nearby mountains. Raynolds's party was credited for being the first to climb to the summit of Pico de Orizaba 19.03°N, -97.27°W which at 18491 ft, is the tallest mountain in Mexico. This feat may have been the American mountaineering altitude record for the following 50 years.

Lighthouse engineer
After returning from Mexico, Raynolds resumed the uncompleted task of mapping the Canadian border he'd been surveying before the war, then embarked on a project to develop water resources for the nation's growing capitol at Washington, D.C. Next Raynolds traveled the Great Lakes for several years surveying and mapping shorelines while identifying potential lighthouse locations. After promotions to First Lieutenant and Captain, in 1857 Raynolds undertook the construction of a number of lighthouses along the Jersey Shore and Delmarva Peninsula. In less than two years Captain Raynolds supervised construction of the Fenwick Island Light, the Finns Point Front Range Light, the Cape May Light and the Absecon Light.

Raynolds Expedition
In early 1859 Raynolds was charged with leading an expedition into the Yellowstone region of Montana and Wyoming to determine, "as far as practicable, everything relating to . . . the Indians of the country, its agricultural and mineralogical resources . . ., the navigability of its streams, its topographical features, and the facilities or obstacles which the latter present to the construction of rail or common roads....". The expedition was carried out by a handful of technicians, including geologist/naturalist F.V. Hayden, who led several later expeditions to the Yellowstone region, and topographer James D. Hutton. The expedition was supported by a small infantry detachment and was funded with $60,000 by the U.S. Government. Experienced mountain man Jim Bridger was hired to guide the expedition. Though the Raynolds Expedition was unsuccessful in exploring the region that later became Yellowstone National Park, they were the first U.S. Government sponsored party to cross the mountain pass in the Wind River Range that Raynolds named Union Pass and enter Jackson Hole in 1860. In 1859, Raynolds reported that the once abundant Bison were being killed for their hides at such an alarming rate, that they might soon become extinct. The outbreak of the American Civil War and a severe illness afterwards delayed Raynolds from presenting his report on his 1859-1860 expedition until 1867.

American Civil War
Raynolds returned to Washington at the outbreak of the war, and was made chief topographic engineer of the Department of Virginia in July, 1861. The army lacked adequate maps for military use, so Raynolds and his team of engineers began to survey and draw useful maps of Virginia and the newly created loyal state of West Virginia. In 1862, Raynolds was engaged as part of John C. Frémont's Mountain Department in chasing Stonewall Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley, being surprised by and losing to Jackson's forces at Battle of Cross Keys.

Raynolds spent two months recovering from illness after the Valley Campaign, then was assigned as chief engineer of Middle Department and VIII Corps in January 1863. Promoted Major in the Corps of Engineers from March 1863, Raynolds found himself in charge of the defenses of vital Harpers Ferry, West Virginia during Robert E. Lee's second Confederate invasion of the north before the Gettysburg Campaign.

As the end of war approached and hostilities with Sioux Indians loomed, Raynolds's knowledge and experiences of the Great Lakes area became more important to the army than his abilities commanding an ordnance depot. From April 1864, while his classmate U.S. Grant was planning his Overland Campaign, Raynolds returned to the Great Lakes as superintending engineer of surveys and lighthouses. Raynolds supervised the siting of lighthouses like the Alpena Breakwater Light in Alpena, Michigan and dozens of others.

Post war career
Raynolds was brevetted Brigadier General for his Civil War service and promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Corps of Engineers. He continued serving with the Corps of Engineers in a variety of harbor and river navigational improvements until his retirement in 1884. Raynolds sited and oversaw the installation of dozens of lighthouses in the Great Lakes area. He erected more lighthouses along the Gulf Coast and again in New Jersey, such as the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse built in 1874 and the original New Castle Range Front and New Castle Range Rear Lighthouses in 1876.

After the Civil War, the Corps of Engineers undertook a massive program of river and harbor improvements. Raynolds supervised the dredging and improvement of navigation on western waterways of commerce like the Arkansas, Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. He was involved in harbor dredging and construction in Buffalo, New York, Harbor of Refuge in New Buffalo, Michigan, Erie Harbor in Erie, Pennsylvania, and the river harbors of St. Louis, Missouri and Alton, Illinois.

As he approached retirement, Raynolds was elected trustee of the Presbyterian Church.

Legacy
According to USMA classmate Joseph Reynolds, who saw William Raynolds at the USMA Association of Graduates reunion in 1893, Raynolds had maintained a vigorous and healthy appearance even in extreme age, his brown hair "then but slightly sprinkled with gray..." Raynolds left his widow a substantial estate, estimated at his death in 1894 between $50,000 and $100,000. After providing for his widow, his will directed that after her death, the entire estate would create a trust fund to assist Presbyterian churches in need.

For a lifelong soldier who was engaged in few actual battles, Raynolds spent much of the first part of his career exploring the American western frontier, negotiating successfully with local Indian tribes, and drawing the first maps of areas now called the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. His improvements to harbors and navigation were undertaken to and undoubtedly did save lives. Hundreds of lighthouses sites selected by Raynolds are still in use; dozens of lighthouses built by Raynolds still stand, and many still operate.

The mountain gap where Raynolds's party crossed Continental Divide between Southwest Montana and Northeast Idaho is named Raynolds Pass 44.71°N, -111.47°W in his honor, as is Raynolds Peak °N, °W in the Teton Range.