George Bomford (1780 – March 25, 1848) was a distinguished military officer in the United States Army and an inventor and designer of weapons and defensive installations.

Swift sought and received a "Cadet's Warrant" from General Henry Dearborn for his friend, and Bomford was appointed to West Point from the state of New York on 23 October 1804, despite the circumstances of his birth.

When General Tadeusz Kościuszko died in 1817, despite writing four wills, two executors (including Thomas Jefferson) failed to act.

The heavy coastal defense howitzers designed by Bomford combined attributes of the gun, and the mortar, to produce a long-range, high-powered, anti-ship weapon.

The first prototype guns of this type, Model 1811 produced by the Alger Foundry, came to be referred to as Columbiads after the epic poem by, and in honor of, Joel Barlow, poet and diplomat married to Bomford's wife's sister.

The Rodman Gun was considered more reliable than the larger sized Parrott rifles (which were eventually pulled from inventory) or the early Columbiads.

While a cadet at West Point, he was found guilty on four charges in a court martial on 2 March 1827, resulting from the Eggnog Riot of December 25, 1826.

He rose to a colonel in the 8th United States infantry, and was promoted to a brevet brigadier general in the American Civil War.

He was a Lieutenant Colonel of the 42nd New York Infantry, 3rd Brigade of the Second Division, under the command of Brigadier General Oliver O. Howard, and fought at the Battle of Fredericksburg during the Civil War.

[13] George Bomford died in Boston, Massachusetts 25 March 1848 while on army business and was buried in a tomb in the family mausoleum on the "Kalorama estate" in Washington, D.C.