Joseph Gilbert Totten
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Joseph Gilbert Totten (August 23, 1788 – April 22, 1864) was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He fought in the War of 1812, served as Chief Engineer, and was regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
He graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers on July 1, 1805. He resigned in 1806 to assist his uncle, Major Jared Mansfield, who was then serving as Surveyor General of federal public lands. Totten re-entered the Corps of Engineers in 1808 and assisted in building Fort Williams and Fort Clinton in New York harbor.
During the War of 1812, he was Chief Engineer of the Niagara frontier and Lake Champlain armies under General Stephen Van Rensselaer. He was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallant conduct in the Battle of Plattsburg. As a member of the first permanent Board of Engineers, 1816, he laid down durable principles of coast defense construction. In 1828, Totten oversaw the construction of Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island. He was appointed Chief Engineer in 1838, and served in that position for 25 years.
He was greatly admired by General Winfield Scott, for whom he directed the siege of Veracruz as his Chief Engineer during the Mexican-American War. He later served as a Civil War Union Army general, being brevetted as an US Army Brigadier General in 1847 and receiving his permanent appointment in 1863.
He was regent of the Smithsonian Institution and cofounder of the National Academy of Sciences. He died of pneumonia in Washington, D.C. and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery.
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This article contains public domain text from Brigadier General Joseph Gilbert Totten. Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. Retrieved on May 14, 2005.
