Augustus E. (Augustus Ely) Silliman

Born in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1807, Silliman spent much of his working life in New York and became a prominent figure in banking. Reference works from the period describe him as connected with the Merchants' Bank of New York and later its president, and note that ill health led to his retirement in the late 1860s.

As an author, he is chiefly associated with A Gallop Among American Scenery; or, Sketches of American Scenes and Military Adventure, published in 1881. The book blends scenic description with historical storytelling, giving modern listeners a window into how 19th-century readers imagined American places, battles, and patriotic memory.

Silliman died in Brooklyn in 1884. He is also remembered for a bequest that later helped establish Yale's Silliman Memorial Lectures, linking his name not only to writing and finance, but to a longer legacy in American intellectual life.