Daniel Tyler

Daniel P. Tyler IV was born on January 7, 1799, in Brooklyn, Connecticut. His father, Daniel P. Tyler III, was a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and his mother, Sarah Edwards Tyler, was a granddaughter of the theologian Jonathan Edwards. Tyler was related to Civil War general Robert O. Tyler, who was his nephew.

He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1819 and became known as an authority on artillery, serving as an inspector of arms from private contractors. Despite his expertise, he did not advance beyond the rank of first lieutenant in the U.S. Army. On May 18, 1832, Tyler married Emily Lee of Norwich, Connecticut. The couple had five children: Alfred Lee, Gertrude, Edmund Leighton, Mary Law, and Augustus Cleveland. Gertrude was the mother of Edith Carow Roosevelt, who later married President Theodore Roosevelt.

Tyler resigned from the United States Army in May 1834 and pursued a career in iron manufacturing, developing blast furnaces and rolling mills. In addition to his industrial pursuits, he held leadership roles in railroad development, serving as president of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad and the Macon and Western Railroad in Georgia for five years. He also worked as the superintending engineer for the Dauphin and Susquehanna Railroad and the Allentown Railroad, eventually becoming president and engineer of the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Railroad after its reorganization. His efforts in the railroad industry were more successful than his ventures in pig iron manufacturing.

During the American Civil War, Tyler volunteered in April 1861 as an aide-de-camp to Brigadier General Robert Patterson. He briefly served as colonel of the 1st Connecticut Infantry and was appointed brigadier general in the Connecticut Militia on May 10, 1861. Tyler commanded a division in Brigadier General Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia and participated in the First Battle of Bull Run. He was mustered out of service on August 11, 1861. Despite some attribution of blame for the Union defeat at Bull Run, he was appointed as a brigadier general of volunteers on March 13, 1862.

In the western theater, Tyler commanded a brigade in the Army of the Mississippi during the siege of Corinth between May 1 and July 22, 1862. He participated in the Battle of Harpers Ferry on September 15, 1862, where a significant number of Union troops surrendered to Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. These soldiers, after being paroled, were sent to Camp Douglas, a detention camp that also held Confederate prisoners earlier. Under the parole exchange system, they were required to stay at Camp Douglas until formally exchanged. In late September 1862, Tyler was ordered to assume temporary command of the camp, where conditions were deteriorated and compared unfavorably to those of Confederate prisoners. He was relieved of this command on November 20, 1862.

Later, Tyler held commands in Baltimore, at Harper's Ferry between June 13, 1863, and July 3, 1864, and in the District of Delaware from July 3, 1863, to January 19, 1864. He resigned from the Union Army on April 6, 1864, citing his age, which exceeded the retirement threshold of 65 years. Subsequently, Tyler moved to New Jersey, and in the 1870s, relocated to Alabama, where he founded the town of Anniston, named after his daughter-in-law. He established an iron manufacturing company and served as president of the Mobile and Montgomery Railroad. He also acquired substantial landholdings in Guadalupe County, Texas.

Daniel P. Tyler died on November 30, 1882, while visiting New York City. He was interred in Hillside Cemetery in Anniston, Alabama. His granddaughter, Edith Carow Roosevelt, later became First Lady of the United States through her marriage to President Theodore Roosevelt.