Soldier and explorer Joseph Christmas Ives graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1852. In 1855, he married Cora Semmes Ives. From 1857 to 1858, Ives commanded an expedition to explore up the Colorado River to the lower end of the Grand Canyon. He then crossed the desert to Fort Defiance in Colorado. The Ives expedition produced one of the important early maps of the Grand Canyon. Ives served in the American Civil War for the Confederate Army and was promoted to aide-de-camp, with the rank of colonel. After the war he settled in New York City, New York where he died November 12, 1868.