SKETCH OF GENERAL JOHN NEWTON. 835 



neer, which may be found all along our Atlantic sea-coast, and par- 

 ticularly in the clearing of the channel of Hell-Gate, he has shown 

 himself a man who held the resources of science in his hand, and 

 knew exactly what to do with them ; and in the use he made of them, 

 to promote the greatest public benefit, the originality of the devices 

 which he contrived, and the certainty with which he accomplished his 

 designs, he has shown himself to possess the highest title to scientific 

 recognition. 



John Newton was born in Norfolk, Virginia, August 24, 1823. 

 His father, Thomas Newton, represented the Norfolk district in Con- 

 gress for thirty years, and was, when he retired, the oldest member in 

 service in the United States House of Representatives. After having 

 been given such instruction as the schools of Norfolk could confer, 

 young Newton, when about twelve years old, was placed under private 

 tuition, especially in mathematics, for which he showed a marked 

 taste, with the purpose, already formed, apparently, of making a civil 

 engineer of him. He entered the Military Academy at West Point 

 in July, 1838, where, w r e are informed, his worth as a careful and com- 

 prehensive student was known and recognized by his superiors, and 

 his natural bent and acquirements were at once given opportunity for 

 play. Upon his graduation from the Academy in 1842, he was ap- 

 pointed a second-lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He served as 

 assistant to the Board of Engineers in 1842 and 1843 ; and in the 

 Academy, first as assistant professor and afterward as principal assist- 

 ant Professor of Engineering, from 1843 to 1846. In the latter year 

 he was designated as assistant engineer in the construction of Fort 

 "Warren, Boston Harbor, and Fort Trumbull, New London, Con- 

 necticut. From this work he was transferred to be superintending 

 engineer of construction of Forts Wayne, Michigan, and Porter, 

 Niagara, and Ontario, New York. In 1852 and 1853 he was engaged 

 in superintending the surveys of Cobscook Bay, Kennebec River, and 

 Matinicus Islands ; and for the breakwater at Owl's Head, in Maine. 

 Next we find him in Florida on similar work, looking to the improve- 

 ment of St. John's River, the Haul-over Canal, and the repair of the 

 sea-wall at St. Augustine ; in Georgia, looking after Forts Pulaski and 

 Jackson, and the improvement of lighthouses on Savannah River ; at 

 Sullivan's Island, attending to the trial and inspection of the dredge- 

 boat for the bar ; and again in Florida, supervising the fortifications 

 and lighthouses of Pensacola Harbor, from 1855 to 1858. 



He was appointed in 1853 a member of the commission for devis- 

 ing a project for the improvement of St. John's River ; in 1856, of 

 the board to examine Pensacola dock ; and of the special board of en- 

 gineers to select sites and prepare projects for the coast-defenses of 

 Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas. There also appears, under the date 

 of July 1, 1856, a record of Lieutenant Newton's appointment as 

 captain of engineers, for fourteen years' continuous service. He was 



