Charles Bendire: Difference between revisions
m Robot - Moving category Hessian immigrants to the United States to Category: Hessian emigrants to the United States per CFD at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2011 June 13. |
m Robot - Moving category American scientists of German descent to Category:American people of German descent per CFD at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2011 June 7. |
||
Line 32: | Line 32: | ||
[[Category:Hessian emigrants to the United States]] |
[[Category:Hessian emigrants to the United States]] |
||
[[Category:American military personnel of German descent]] |
[[Category:American military personnel of German descent]] |
||
[[Category:American |
[[Category:American people of German descent]] |
||
[[Category:United States Army officers]] |
[[Category:United States Army officers]] |
||
[[Category:American naturalists]] |
[[Category:American naturalists]] |
Revision as of 20:19, 26 June 2011
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/Charles_Bendire.jpg/150px-Charles_Bendire.jpg)
Major Charles Emil Bendire (April 27, 1836 – February 4, 1897) was a United States Army soldier and noted ornithologist. The Bendire's Thrasher is named for him.
Early life
Born Karl Emil Bender at König im Odenwald in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, he was the eldest of six children. Bender was home schooled until the age of twelve, after which he attended five years at a theological school at Passy, near Paris. Karl left school suddenly and returned home, and on the advice of a friend he and his brother Wilhelm Bender left for New York in 1853. Upon arrival they found that the new world did not meet their expectations. Wilhelm Bender soon sailed for home, but was lost overboard at sea.
Army career
After his brother's departure, Bender enlisted in the United States Army at the age of eighteen on June 10, 1854, changing his name to Charles Bendire, dropping his middle name altogether. Although Bendire would later start using his middle initial again in correspondence and public notes, his legally official name did not contain a middle name.
Bendire served for five years as a private and subsequently a corporal in Company D, First Dragoons. After his tour of duty ended Bendire left the army for one year, but re-enlisted on June 8, 1860 and was assigned to the 4th Cavalry, where he served successively as a private, corporal, sergeant, and a hospital steward until he was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 2nd Infantry on May 18, 1864. He transferred to the 1st Cavalry on September 9, 1864 and was eventually promoted to 1st Lieutenant (for "for gallant and meritorious services" at the battle of Trevilian Station during the American Civil War), and later to captain, and then major. He retired on April 24, 1886 for disability contracted in the line of duty.
During Bendire's service in the army he was sent to many locations, often isolated, across America, for example Virginia, Arizona, Washington and California. Bendire mainly fought against American Indians during the periods of the United States' expansions. It was during these travels across North America that he developed a fondness for all things wild, and particularly birds.
Ornithology
He initially sent letters containing his observations to other American naturalists such as Joel A. Allen, Thomas M. Brewer, Elliott Coues, and Robert Ridgway, who would publish them in American naturalist magazines like Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club and the American Naturalist. However in 1877, he began to publish articles under his own name.
He frequently donated samples, especially eggs, to the U.S. National Museum in Washington, D.C.. He made new discoveries about the migration habits of various birds and discovered several new species, including the Bendire's Thrasher, Toxostoma bendirei.