Born in Pennsylvania, Drum enlisted in the
Army as a private, Co. K, 1st Pennsylvania Volunteers, on December
16, 1846. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant, Ninth Infantry,
February 18, 1847. On April 9, 1847 he was assigned to the Ninth
Infantry. He was breveted* to 1st Lieutenant, September
13, 1847, for gallant and meritorious conduct in the Battle of
Chapultepec. He was transferred to the Fourth Artillery on March
8, 1848. Drum was promoted to 1st Lieutenant, September 16, 1850.
Drum was breveted to Captain, Assistant Adjutant General, March
16, 1861. He was promoted to Major, Assistant Adjutant General,
August 3, 1861 and Lt. Colonel, July 17, 1862. It was during
this time that our Barracks was named for him. This was
a common practice of the time to name camps and forts after living
officials, politicians, and officers of the Army and Navy. He
was assigned to the Pacific Division under Generals Sumner and
Wright, remaining until 1866, when he was transferred to the Atlantic
Division under General George Meade.
Richard Drum received a brevet to Colonel,
September 24, 1864, for meritorious and faithful service during
the Civil War. He received a brevet to Brigadier-General, March
13, 1865, for faithful and meritorious service in the Adjutant
General's Department during the War. On February 22, 1869, he
was promoted to Colonel, Assistant Adjutant General, and in 1873
assigned to the Missouri Division under Gen. Sheridan. During
the absence of Sheridan in 1877 he was in full charge of the Division
and so ably handled the railroad riots in Ft. Wayne and Chicago
that he received the personal thanks of the Secretary of War.
He was senior Assistant Adjutant-General on duty in the War Department,
Washington, D. C., in 1878-1880 and promoted to Brigadier-General,
Adjutant-General, June 15, 1880. Drum served in that capacity
until his retirement on May 28, 1889.
*A brevet rank was an honorary promotion
given to an officer (or occasionally, an enlisted man) in recognition
of gallant conduct or other meritorious service. They served much
the same purpose that medals play today (our modern system of
medals did not exist at the time of the Civil War).
Information from website of "The Aztec Club of 1847"
Veterans of the Mexican War
Edited by Floyd Farrar, Drum
Volunteer, November 2001
