Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I tohua ia mai i Pennsylvania ki te United States Military Academy i West Point, i puta i te tau 1822, i te 26 o tana akomanga o 40. I kawea ia e tana mahi ki Florida, ina koa ki te rohe o Pensacola. I pai ia ki tana wa i Pensacola, i tuhi pinepine ia mo tona oranga i reira hei tuarua tuarua. I whakatairangahia ia ki a 1st Lieutenant i muri i nga tau e whitu, a, i te tau 1846, ki te taumata o te rangatira. I whakawhiwhia ia ki te 1st U.S. Infantry, na te 4th U.S. Infantry i mua i tana mahi hei kaitohutohu ki a Gen. Edmund P. Gaines i te timatanga o te Pakanga Seminole Tuarua. I wehewehe ia i a ia ano i te Pakanga o Mexico-Amerika i raro i a Zachary Taylor, i whiwhi i nga whakatairanga mo te rangatira mo te toa i te
Ko Palo Alto me te Koronela mo Resaca de la Palma. I whakawhiwhia e nga rangatira o Philadelphia he hoari ki a ia i tana hokinga ki te taone i te tau 1847. I te 30 o Akuhata 1851, i te 49 o ona tau, i marenatia ia ki a Elizabeth McMurtrie. He harikoa te marena, ā, e rua ngā tama me tētahi tamahine i whānau mai ki te tokorua. I reti ia i muri i te 31 tau o tana mahi hei koroneela me te Kaitirotiro Matua o te Ope i te tau 1853.