Lieut. Edward Coke Ross

Edward Coke Ross was a gifted mathematician. After graduating from West Point he taught math there as an assistant professor. He translated the standard French text user for Algebra at West Point and his book was used for about 100 years there. He served both in the Seminole Campaign in Florida and the Cherokee relocation after which he left the army and began a career as a math Professor at Kenyon College. He was the first professor of Math there. He died while occupied as the fist professor of math at College of the City of New York (City College).

Military service: November 27, 1826, First Lieutenant, 4th Artillery at Fort Hamilton 1834-1836; in the Florida War against the Seminile Indians, 1836-38; in Cherokee Nation, 1838; in the Florida War, 1838-39 - retired 7/31/1839.

The following below is from: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/Unit...

Edward C. Ross: in his eighteen years in the Army, he fought in the Second Seminole War; but he is known mostly for being a very good mathematics professor, at the Academy and at other schools later, as a civilian.

Edward Coke Ross: Born May 23, 1800, Milford, PA.a

Military History. — Cadet at the Military Academy, Sep. 7, 1817, to July 1, 1821, when he was graduated and promoted in the Army to

Bvt. Second Lieut., 4th Artillery, July 1, 1821.

Second Lieut., 4th Artillery, July 1, 1821.

Served: at the Military Academy, as Asst. Professor of Mathematics, July 23, 1821, to June 5, 1824; as Instructor Mathematics at the Artillery School for Practice, Ft. Monroe, Va., June 5 to Oct. 6, 1824; at the Military Academy, 1824‑33, as Asst. Professor of Mathematics, Oct. 6, 1824, to Oct. 4, 1825, — and as Principal Asst. Professor of Mathematics, Oct. 4, 1825, to Nov. 23, 1833; in garrison at Ft. Gratiot, Mich.,

(First Lieut., 4th Artillery, Nov. 27, 1826)

1834, — and Ft. Hamilton, N. Y., 1834‑35; on Engineer duty, Oct. 3 to Dec. 9, 1835; in garrison at Ft. Hamilton, N. Y., 1835‑36; in Operations in Creek Nation, 1836; in the Florida War against the Seminole Indians, 1836‑38, being engaged in the Combat of Locha-Hatchee, Jan. 24, p2691838; in Cherokee Nation, 1838, while transferring the Indians to the West; in garrison at Ft. Columbus, N. Y., 1838; and in the Florida War, 1838‑39.

Resigned, July 31, 1839.

Civil History. — Professor of Mathematics, Kenyon College, Gambier, O., 1840 to 1848. Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, Free Academy, New York city, Nov. 1, 1848, to May 16, 1851. Translator, from the French, of Bourdon's Algebra, 1831. Degree of A. M., conferred by Geneva College, N. Y., 1842; and of LL. D., by Kenyon College, O., 1849.

Died, May 16, 1851, at New York city: Aged 50.

The following is from WEST POINT FIFTY YEARS AGO by FRANCIS H. SMITH:

"There was associated with Professor Davies, fifty years ago, as his chief assistant in mathematics, having charge of the 4th class, Lt. Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Edward C. Ross, of the class of 1821. He was the best teacher of mathematics I ever knew, and it is singular too, that he had no faculty of demonstration. He gave to our class my extra discussions in the difficult points in algebra, particularly on what he called the "final equations," for he was not pleased with Farrar's translation of La Croix, our text-book in algebra, and he was preparing his translation of Bourdon. In putting upon the blackboards these extra demonstrations, every line appeared as if it had been printed, so neat was he in the use of his chalk pencil. But when he commenced to explain, he would twist and p10wriggle about from one side of the board to the other, pulling his long whiskers, and spitting out, in inordinate volumes, his tobacco juice. The class was as ignorant when he closed as when he began. We copied, word for word, what was written, well knowing that on the next day the first five would be called upon to make the discussion. We read to him what we had placed on the board. Then commenced his power as a teacher. In a series of orderly questions he would bring out the points of the discussion, step by step, sometimes occupying half an hour with each cadet, and when the three hours of recitation were over, we knew the subject thoroughly. He was an expert in his power of questioning a class. He did this without note or book, and gave such earnestness and vividness to his examinations, that he kept his class up to the highest pitch of interest all the time.

He had some peculiar ways, too, of making his class think. The superintendent, on one occasion, visited the senate room during one of the regular recitations in algebra. He brought with him some distinguished foreigners, who were visiting the academy on a tour of inspection. The lesson was in the Calculus of Radicals, and Lt. Ross had written upon the blackboards five complicated radical expressions, mingled with his peculiar, but most graceful flourishes, and he sent five of the section to the board to reduce them to the simplest terms. We worked earnestly, but with trembling hands, for we were still plebes, and had not yet passed our first January examination. I was the first called upon, and explained my work, step by step, and exhibited my result. His only remark was: "It's all wrong, sir." My confusion may be imagined. I trembled like an aspen leaf. But I rubbed out my work, and began again. In the meantime, my comrades, seeing my discomfiture, hugged closer to their boards, and seemed unwilling to try an ordeal after my failure. Carefully I went through my work a second time, rigidly examining each step in my process, and finally reached the same result as before. I became desperate, and in this state I said to him in a firm but nervous tone: "My result is right, sir." "It is right, and was right before, why didn't you stick to it?" This was not altogether a legitimate way of making the young algebraist self-reliant, but it was Ross' way, and as such I record it.

After his resignation from the army in 1839, Professor Ross had a hard time. He was poor, and the income given him at p11Kenyon College gave him a bare support. It was while there my correspondence with him commenced. I received a long letter from him, written with the affection of a father to a son, and begging me to give him a position as assistant to me in Mathematics in the Virginia Military Institute. My reply expressed repugnance as having one as my assistant, from whom I had learned all the Algebra I ever knew, and turned his attention to other positions. He replied, that he had no pride in regard to position. He wanted to be where there was military discipline. I tried to secure for him the Chair of Mathematics in the University of Virginia, made vacant by the death of Professor Bonnycastle, but Indicates a West Point graduate and gives his Class.Professor Courtenay was elected. My correspondence with him at this period was very touching. Let me read an extract from a letter written in April, 1842: "I received your letter yesterday. Please accept my thanks for the information contained in it, and the interest you take in your old instructor. The good feeling of my scholars towards me I have ever found to be the richest reward for services rendered to them. The pay, the mere dollars — they have vanished long ago, but the kind feelings of my pupils, God bless them, they remain as fresh as ever." He was finally appointed Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, in the Free Academy, New York City, in 1848, which Chair he held until his death.

If possible, let a portrait of this great Algebraist and teacher of Algebra, be added to our Library Collection. "