TOWNSEND, Frederick, soldier, born in Albany, New York, 21 September, 1825. He was graduated at Union college in 1844, and admitted to the bar. Having a leaning toward military matters, he became adjutant-general of the state in 1856. He found the militia in a most disordered condition and addressed himself to the task of making it what it ought to be. He prepared an annual report from this department for the first time, and he was reappointed by the next governor of the state. To his efficiency is due the fact that the state of New York sent so many troops to the field in the civil war. He declined a reappointment as adjutant-general in 1861, and organized a regiment, being commissioned colonel. He took part in the battle of Big Bethel, but soon afterward he was commissioned a major in the regular army and resigned his colonelcy. As major his duties led him to organize troops in Columbus, Ohio. Afterward he participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Stone River, and other engagements at the west. In 1863 he was detailed as assistant provost-marshal-general in Albany, which position he filled for several years, in 1867 he was ordered to California and made a thorough inspection of all the military posts in Arizona. In 1868 he resigned from the army, and he has resided in Albany since that time. In 1878 he was appointed a brigadier-general in the state militia, and he afterward became adjutant-general of the state under Governor Alonzo B. Cornell. In this post he again addressed himself to the condition of the citizen soldiers and increased their numbers to 12,000 effective men. He successfully urged the adoption of a state service uniform and a state military camp.--His brother, Howard, physician, born in Albany, New York, 22 November, 1823; died there, 16 January. 1867, was graduated at Union in 1844, and at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1847. Establishing himself in his native city, he was surgeon-general of the state in 1851-'2, and afterward professor in the Albany medical college. Dr. Townsend was the author of "The Sunbeam and the Spectroscope" (Albany, 1864) ; "Food and its Digestion" (1866); and "Sinai Bible" (1866).