Ormsby M. Mitchel - Legacy

Legacy

• A persistently bright region near the Mars south pole that was first observed by Mitchel in 1846 is named in his honor – 'The Mountains of Mitchel'. It is located near 70°S, 40°E.

• An impact crater on Mars was named in his honor.

• The new town (and later city) of Mitchell, Indiana was name for him after he surveyed it for the owners while working on the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad in the 1850s. (The second "L" was added later).

• The first post-Civil War freedmen's town created in the United States (on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina), Mitchelville, was named for him.

• Fort Mitchell, Kentucky — an aberrant spelling — was also named for him.

• A descendant and namesake, Lt. Ormsby M. Mitchel, Jr., was awarded the Navy Cross in 1943 for extraordinary heroism in trying to save the crew of his doomed USS Plymouth after it had been struck by a torpedo fired by a German U-boat off the Virginia coast.