Anthony Wayne Vogdes was born on April 23, 1843, in West Point, New York.

He was an army officer, geologist, and paleontologist. As a student at the Sanders Institute in Philadelphia on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, he enlisted in the Union Army. In 1863, Vogdes received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 100th New York Infantry. During 1864-1865, he served with the First U.S. Artillery. At the end of the Civil War, he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Infantry. In 1868-1869, he guarded construction camps of the Union Pacific Railroad from Indian attacks in Wyoming. While stationed there, Vogdes and his wife Ada met and entertained many famous Sioux, Cheyenne, and Arapahoe leaders. She later published “The Journal of Ada Vogdes 1868-1870,” describing their life on the frontier. While posted in Wyoming, Vogdes began the study of geology and the collection of fossilized shells. He taught himself to read French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Norwegian. In 1875, he was transferred to the 5th U.S. Artillery. In 1882, he graduated from artillery school at Ft. Monroe, Virginia. In 1889, he was promoted to Captain and served in Puerto Rico in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. As Major (1900) and Colonel (1903), he commanded the artillery districts of San Diego, California and Key West, Florida. Vogdes retired in 1904 as Brigadier General in the U.S. Army. His library of more than 40,000 volumes was donated to the San Diego Society of Natural History. He served as president of the San Diego Academy of Sciences, was a Fellow of the American Geological Society, and a member of the New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, and California Academies of Science.

In 1867, he married Ada Adelaide Adams (1844–1919). He died on February 8, 1923, in San Diego, California.