Philip Melanchthon
He was born Philipp Schwartzerdt on 16 February 1497, at Bretten where his father Georg Schwarzerdt was armorer to Philip, Count Palatine of the Rhine. His birthplace, along with almost the whole city of Bretten, was burned in 1689 by French troops during the War of the Palatinate Succession. The town's Melanchthonhaus was built on its site in 1897.
Melancthon Smith (Confederate officer)
Melancthon Smith was born in Mobile, Alabama on April 15, 1829. He was a soldier's son, his father an artillery Captain stationed at the Mount Vernon Arsenal. Smith received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point by the state of Alabama, and on July 1, 1845 the 16 year old Melancthon was admitted to the class of 1849. However, in his second year he was found deficient in mathematics, getting the worst grades in the class, and was turned back into the class of 1850. His grades became much better, though he was short of dismissal when he accumulated 196 demerits over the year (200 being the allowed maximum). In the next year Smith was suspended from the academy, and thus not examined.