Andrew Gray

Who was Andrew Gray?

Andrew Belcher Gray was an American surveyor.

Born in Norfolk, Virginia, he studied engineering and surveying under Andrew Talcott, and surveyed the Mississippi Delta with him in 1839, before joining the Texas Navy as a midshipman. Remaining in the Republic of Texas, he was appointed a surveyor for the Texas-U.S. boundary commission led by Memucan Hunt. In 1844–1846, he served as U.S. government mineral surveyor, mapping the rich copper country of the Keeweenaw Peninsula in Michigan and leasing out the government's mineral lands.

He returned to the new state of Texas during the Mexican–American War. Following the war, he served as chief surveyor of the US–Mexican commission which established the border after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. When the U. S. Commissioner, John Bartlett, a Yankee, gave away the Rio Grande's Mesilla Valley because of a map error, which had been disputed by the Mexican Delegation, the fiery Southerner Gray opposed the unacceptable compromise, and was removed from the commission.