His maternal grandfather was Baron John Cornelius van den Heuvel, the one-time governor of Dutch Guiana.

[4] He graduated from Columbia College, and at a "very early age he had the management of a large amount of real estate for the family and others.

When the Civil War broke out, he became the aide-de-camp to Major General Charles W. Sandford, and took part in active campaigns in Virginia.

[5][6] He was promoted to major general in the New York Militia for his use of a gas balloon constructed by Thaddeus S. C. Lowe for military observation during the war.

In 1890 he was elected a member of the New York Society of the Cincinnati, by virtue of descent from his grandfather Alexander Hamilton.