He was educated in Lebanon, Ohio and afterward at West Point in 1825, where he was a classmate to Robert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston.

He was instrumental in establishing the college's law school, and on his first vacation, surveyed and recommended the route of the planned Little Miami Railroad between Cincinnati and Springfield, Ohio.

Conceiving a desire to possess a fine telescope, he began by striving to awaken interest in the subject of astronomy through a series of lectures.

Availing himself of the enthusiasm thus generated, he organized the Cincinnati Astronomical Society with 300 members at $25 each, and started for Europe to find his telescope.

Mitchel began the foundation of his building and John Quincy Adams, then more than 77 years of age, delivered an address at the laying of the cornerstone.

Therefore, he built a kiln and burned the lime; he purchased a sand pit also and often shoveled its contents into the wagon with his own hands.

He happened to be in New York when the news of the Battle of Fort Sumter came and, being asked to speak at a public meeting, gave an address, which along with his previous record, procured for Mitchel a high position in the Army and his second tour as a soldier began.

[8] During the American Civil War, he entered the Union Army with a commission as brigadier general of volunteers.

Although a military failure, the story of Andrew's Raid became known to American history as the Great Locomotive Chase, and has been retold in publications and film.

He seized the city of Huntsville, Alabama in April 1862 without a shot being fired, after he led his troops there from Shelbyville in a surprise maneuver.