Brigadier General
Daniel W. Flagler

Daniel Webster Flagler was born in Lockport, New York, on 24 June 1835. He graduated fifth in his West Point class on 24 June 1861 (this was the second of two classes graduated that year), and one week later, he was drilling volunteer soldiers in Washington. On 21 July 1861, he participated in the Battle of Bull Run. During the Civil War period, he served in a variety of posts, including that of Chief of Ordnance for General Ambrose Burnside's invasion of North Carolina 1861 to 1862) when only a first lieutenant and as Chief of Ordnance for the Army of the Potomac while still only a captain. In this latter capacity, he had charge of the supply trains during the Battle of Gettysburg. Though he received three brevets for his Civil War service, he was not promoted to the rank of major until June 1874. For five and a half years following the close of the war. Flagler had charge of a succession of former Confederate ordnance establishments, including depots and storage facilities; his task in essence having been the disposition of unneeded surplus materiel.

In June 1871, he began his longest assignment, that of commandant of Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois, a position he held for fifteen years. When he arrived at his new post, he found that the vast plans for a massive arsenal complex conceived by his predecessor, General Thomas, J. Rodman, had gotten no further than the preliminary stages. Flagler not only developed and completed the major portion of Rodman's great enterprise, but he also authored a highly respected history of the arsenal and its operations, which was published in 1877. By 1881, he had been advanced to the grade of lieutenant colonel. His service at Rock Island was punctuated by a series of shorter temporary assignments, including membership on the Board of Heavy Gun Carriages in New York (January-March 1873); special inspection duty at Fort Union Arsenal, New Mexico Territory (September 1880), with the specific assignment of winding down the work of that agency; and finally inspection duty at several posts in California, Texas, and New Mexico, completed in February and March 1883.

A permanent transfer to the command of Frankford Arsenal occurred at the end of May, 1886. Flagler's three-and-a-half years in Philadelphia were frequently interrupted by a variety of special tasks, including presidency of a board designated to testrifled cannon and projectiles in 1889. By November 1889, Flagler had begun what was to be a tour of nearly thirteen months as commandant of Watertown Arsenal, during which period he was promoted to the rank of colonel on 15 September 1890.

Flagler was named Chief of Ordnance and promoted brigadier general on 23 January 1891. He entered on his new duties admirably equipped by reason of his wide experience, but the Congresses of the 1890s were not disposed to grant the appropriations he considered necessary for the maintenance and upgrading of the Ordnance Department. He therefore did what he could with what he was allotted. Efforts were made to improve the nation 's coastal defense posture. Considerable testing was done on Gatling guns, the Colt machine gun, gun carriages, armor-piercing projectiles, rifled cannon, various types of gunpowder, and pneumatic dynamite guns.

During his tenure, the Army's first smokeless powder and its first bolt action, magazine rifle, the model 1892 Krag, were adopted. This weapon was first issued to the Fourth Infantry in 1894. Despite failing health in the spring of 1898, General Flagler was able to overcome the problems of low peacetime production during the brief war with Spain. He orchestrated the country's production facilities in such a manner as to make it possible for the Ordnance Department to meet and exceed production quotas. General Flagler also oversaw the Army's first efforts to ship needed materiel overseas, using, in many instances, new depots in California and Florida for this purpose. Overburdened by these responsibilities, General Flagler did not long survive the war, dying in office on 29 March 1899, at the age of 63.