Jonathan Williams (engineer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other persons named Jonathan Williams, see Jonathan Williams (disambiguation).
Jonathan Williams (May 20, 1751 – May 16, 1815), American businessman, military figure, politician and writer, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, a grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin. He became Chief of Engineers of the Army Corps of Engineers, was the first superintendent of West Point, and was elected to the Fourteenth United States Congress.
Williams spent most of the period from 1770 to 1785 in England and France, where he assisted Franklin with business affairs and served as a commercial agent in Nantes. He joined the American Philosophical Society in 1788 and published articles on scientific subjects.
President John Adams appointed Williams a major in the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers in February 1801 and President Thomas Jefferson made him the Army's Inspector of Fortifications and assigned him to serve as the first superintendent of West Point in December 1801. The following year Jefferson appointed him to command the separate Corps of Engineers established by Congress on March 16, 1802.
From 1807 to 1812 Williams designed and completed construction of Castle Williams (the East Battery) and Castle Clinton (the West Battery) in New York Harbor. Castle Williams was the first casemated battery in the United States. He founded the U.S. Military Philosophical Society and gave it its motto, "Science in War is the Guarantee of Peace."
He resigned from the Army in 1812 and was heading a group of volunteer engineers building fortifications around Philadelphia when he was elected to the Fourteenth United States Congress from that city in 1814. He died in Philadelphia before the Congress assembled.
[edit] References
- This article contains public domain text from Colonel Jonathan Williams. Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. Retrieved on May 12, 2005.
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- The Political Graveyard
[edit] External links
| Preceded by none |
Superintendents of the United States Military Academy 1801–1803 |
Succeeded by William Amherst Barron |
| Preceded by William Amherst Barron |
Superintendents of the United States Military Academy 1805–1812 |
Succeeded by Joseph Gardner Swift |
| Preceded by Thomas Smith |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 1st congressional district 1815 |
Succeeded by John Sergeant |
