Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Fry, James Barnet

FRY, James Barnet, soldier, b. in Carrollton, Greene co.. Ill., 22 Feb., 1827; d. in Newport, R. I., 11 July, 1894. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1847. After serving for a short time as assistant instructor of artillery at West Point, he joined his regiment (3d artillery) at the city of Mexico, where he remained in 1847-'8. After doing frontier and garrison duty at various posts, he was again instructor at West Point in 1853-'4, and adjutant of the academy in 1854-'9. He was made assistant adjutant-general on 16 March, 1861, was chief of staff to Gen. Irwin McDowell in that year, and to Gen. Don Carlos Buell in 1861-'2, taking part in the battles of Bull Run, Shiloh, and Corinth, the movement to Louisville, Ky., and the pursuit of Gen. Bragg through the southeastern part of that state. He was made provost-marshal-general of the United States, with headquarters at Washington, on 17 March, 1863, and given the staff rank of brigadier-general, 21 April, 1864. Both these commissions expired on the abolition of the office of provost-marshal-general on 30 Aug., 1866; during that time Gen. Fry put in the army 1,120,621 men, arrested 76,562 deserters, collected $26,366,316.78, and made an exact enrolment of the National forces. On 13 March, 1865, he was brevetted major-general, U. S. army, for “faithful, meritorious, and distinguished services.” He was adjutant-general, with the rank of colonel, of the divisions of the Pacific in 1866-'9, the South in 1869-'71, the Missouri in 1871-'3, and the Atlantic from 1873 till 1 June, 1881, when he was retired from active service at his own request, and became a resident of New York city. Gen. Fry's “Final Report of the Operations of the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal-General in 1863-'6” was issued as a congressional document (2 parts, Washington, 1866). He has also published “Sketch of the Adjutant-General's Department, U. S. Army, from 1775 to 1875” (New York, 1875); “History and Legal Effects of Brevets in the Armies of Great Britain and the United States, from their Origin, in 1692, to the Present Time” (1877); “Army Sacrifices,” illustrating army life on the frontier (1879); “McDowell and Tyler in the Campaign of Bull Run” (1884); “Operations of the Army under Buell” (1884); and “New York and Conscription” (1885); “Military Miscellanies” (1889).