Military engineer: born in
Sheffield, Mass., May 19, 1815; was graduated at the United States Military Academy in 1833, and entered the engineer corps.
He was made captain in 1838; major in 1858;
brevet brigadier-general of volunteers in 1861;
lieutenant-colonel of regulars in 1863;
brevet major-general of volunteers in 1864;
brevet brigadier-general and brevet major-general of regulars, March, 1865; and colonel of the corps of engineers, regular army, Dec. 28, the same year.
During the war with
Mexico he fortified
Tampico, and made surveys of the battle-fields around the capital.
In 1850-51 he was chief engineer of the projected Tehuantepec Railroad; and in 1855-56 he was superintendent of the United States Military Academy.
He was chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac, 1861-62; also chief engineer of the construction of the defences of the national capital from September, 1862, to May, 1864.
He was chief engineer of the armies in the field on
General Grant's staff, from May, 1864, until
Lee's surrender at
Appomattox in April, 1865.
At the close of the war he was brevetted major-general,
U. S. A. He published
The Gyroscopc and
Problems in rotary motions, which evince profound mathematical investigation; also other works concerning the
Civil War and its operations.
The degree of Ll.D. was conferred upon him by Yale College.
He died in
Detroit, Mich., May 14, 1882.
