William B. Hazen

from The N.Y. Times, January 17, 1887, p. 5:

                        OBITUARY
          GEN. WILLIAM B. HAZEN.
 Chief signal officer William B. Hazen
died at 8 o'clock last evening in his room at No.
1,305 F-street, Washington. Although he had
been in bad health for a long time, his death was
wholly unexpected up to yesterday morning. A
short time ago Gen. Hazen obtained a leave of
absence for a year, which time he proposed
to spend in resting and recuperating his health.
He had been troubled for several years with an
affection of the kidneys, and had at times suf-
fered severely. Recently, however, he had
greatly improved, and it was hoped that a year's
cessation from work would result in his complete
recovery. On Thursday evening Gen. Hazen at-
tended the President's reception. In some
way he caught a hard cold that evening, and on
Friday he remained in bed with no thought that
his sickness was dangerous. On Saturday he
was so much better that he sat up during the
day, and said he should go to his office on Mon-
day. Late Saturday night the General felt
worse, and very early Yesterday morning
Dr. Philip F. Harvey, Assistant Surgeon
in the army, was sent for. The physi-
cian found his patient in an alarming con-
dition, and giving evidence that his
blood had been poisoned through diabetes.
Dr. Harvey felt that the situation was critical,
and at his suggestion Dr. David L. Huntington,
also of the army, was called in consultation.
Then the relatives of Gen. Hazen, now in Wash-
ington, were told that the Chief Signal Officer
could not hope for many more hours of
life, and they gathered in the sick room.
Their hopes were revived during the
middle of the day, when the General
rallied a little, but in the afternoon he grew
steadily worse, and finally sank into uncon-
sciousness. Dr. N.S. Lincoln was invited to as-
sist the other physicians at the request of the
patient's relatives, but the disease had passed
beyond the skill of the doctors, and Gen. Hazen
breathed his last at 8 o'clock. At the end he
suffered no pain, and he died, without a
struggle, of diabetic coma. By his bedside
were Mrs. Washington McLean, Gen. Hazen's
mother-in-law, and Capt. and Mrs. A.H.
Burgher, of Cincinnati, his brother-in-law and
sister-in-law. Washington McLean, his father-
in-law, was not well enough to attend. These are
all of Gen. Hazen's relatives now in Washington.
Mrs. Hazen is in the south of France, where she
went a few months ago for her health. With her
is the General's only son, a lad about 10 years
of age.
 Gen. Hazen had been in the military service
since 1855, when he was graduated at West
Point and was assigned to frontier duty at Fort
Reading, California. For two years he served at
different posts in that section of the country
and saw some indian fighting. Then he was
transferred to Texas, remaining there until 1859.
Disabled by wounds, he obtained leave of ab-
sence returning to duty in February, 1861, as
Assistant Instructor of Infantry Tactics at West
Point. During that service he was made a Cap-
tain. In October, 1861, he entered the field as
Colonel of the Forty-first Ohio. He remained
in the field throughout the war, becoming
a Brigadier-General in 1862 and a Major-
General in 1864. The brevet of Major-Gen-
eral in the regular army was bestowed upon him
in March, 1865. Shortly afterward he was regu-
larly commissioned Colonel of the Thirty-eighth
Infantry, from which he was transferred in 1869
to the Sixth Infantry. In November, 1869, he
went to Europe on leave of absence. He was
with the Prussian Army during the investment
of Paris, and on his return wrote a book called
"School and Army of France and Germany."
Frontier duty then occupied him until 1877,
when he became Military Attache of the United
States Legation at Vienna. In 1874 he wrote a
book on "Barren Lands in the Interior of the
United States." From his return from Vienna
until Dec. 15, 1880, when he was appointed
Chief Signal Officer, with the rank of Brigadier-
General, he spent most of his time in Washing-
ton.
 Gen. Hazen's temperament was aggressive and
disputatious. During the latter part of his ca-
reer, if not in early life, he made his way by a
display of these characteristics that did not help
his popularity among army officers. He mar-
ried a daughter of Washington McLean, of Cin-
cinnati, and social influences came to his aid in
getting the post of Signal Officer and perhaps in
retaining it. It had been filled by a Brigadier-
General. Much resentment was accordingly felt
in the army that a Colonel should be ele-
vated to it. The agitation at that time
in favor of transferring the Signal Service
to a civil department had many advocates
in the army as a consequence of Gen. Hazen's
promotion. His official life bore him a good deal
of trouble in various ways, particularly in con-
nection with the ventures into the arctic regions
which he undertook to relieve. Of late, how-
ever, he had been getting along quietly. He was
very pleasantly situated in Washington, living in
one of the finest houses in that city - a gift to his
wife from her father - and enjoying means for
all the social advantages to be had there, of
which he was fond.