A. J. Pleasonton

Augustus James Pleasonton (January 21, 1808 - July 26, 1894) was an American soldier, active in Pennsylvania volunteer militia, particularly during the Buckshot War (1838) and Philadelphia Nativist Riots (1844), ultimately attaining the rank of brigadier general during the Civil War (1861-'65) and overseeing the home guard defence of Philadelphia. In his later years, Pleasonton championed a hypothesis that filtered blue-light would promote vegetative and animal growth, conducting experiments in greenhouses with blue glass, which he detailed in his book The Influence of the Blue Ray of the Sunlight (1876).