266 EULOGY ON THE LATE GENERAL JOSEPH G. TOTTEN. 



nological importance which has since been attached to them, he could yet appre- 

 ciate them as objects of high interest, as vestiges of the races which had inhab- 

 ited the country, and give his time to their examination and measurement. 



During the two years which he passed in the office of his uncle at Ludlow's 

 station near Cincinnati, he was a companion of several young men who subse- 

 quently became conspicuous, among whom were Nicholas Longworth, Samuel 

 Perry, Daniel Duke, Thomas Pierce, and Peyton Symmes, all of whom are now 

 dead. His tastes, however, led him back to the army, (from which he had re- 

 signed shortly after his promotion,) and, February 23, 1808, he was reappointed 

 a second lieutenant of engineers, his commission bearing the same date as that 

 of his subsequent friend, brother engineer officer, and professional associate, 

 Sylvanus Thayer, of national fame as for so many years superintendent of the 

 Militai-y Academy, and as the officer to whom is mainly due its present high 

 grade among the military and scientific institutions of the world. Lieutenant 

 Totten commenced his career as a military engineer under Colonel Jonathan 

 Williams, the first chief of the corps, and wa3 engaged on the construction of 

 Castles Williams and Clinton, New York harbor. 



At the commencement of the war with England Lieutenant Totten was as- 

 signed to duty as chief engineer of the army under Brigadier General Van 

 Rensselaer, in the campaign of 1812, on the Niagara frontier, and in that capa- 

 city took a conspicuous part in the battle of Queeustown. He was subsequently 

 chief engineer of the army under the command of Major General Dearborn, in 

 the campaign of 1813, and of the army under Major General Izard and Briga- 

 dier General Macomb, in the campaign of 1814, on Lake Champlain. Having 

 been promoted to a captaincy in 1812, he was in June, 1813, brevetted major, 

 for "meritorious services," and September 11, 1814, lieutenant colonel, for 

 " gallant conduct at the battle of Plattsburg ;" his efficient services as an engi- 

 neer in the defensive arrangements of that field having contributed powerfully 

 to the successful issue. 



The termination of the war may be considered as the close of one period in 

 the life and services of General Totten, and the commencement of another ; or 

 rather it may be said, that the events of which wc have traced a faint outline 

 were but the preparation and training of his mind for the real work of his life. 

 Beared under the eyes and guardianship of a relative distinguished for his 

 mathematical attainments, receiving as extensive a military and scientific educa- 

 tion as West Point at that early day could give, called by his position in Sur- 

 veyor General Mansfield's office, not only to exercise the science which the du- 

 ties involved, but to take extended views of our country as to the interconnec- 

 tion of its parts, and their relations to commerce or war, then practically taught 

 the duties of a military engineer in what concerns the defence of harbors, and 

 finally carried through the ordeal of actual war in the campaigns of armies in 

 the field, he was now prepared for the great work of his life — the fortification 

 of our seaboard frontier. When I call this the great work of his life, I am not 

 unaware that it is but a part of that work — still the most important part, and 

 one to which his other labors may be considered incidental. 



A brief reference to the condition and progress of sea-coast defence at that 

 period is here appropriate. Previous to the Revolution, our seaport towns had 

 not grown into large cities, nor were there great naval establishments or military 

 depots to invite the enterprises of an enemy. During that contest, the harbors of 

 Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, &c, had been, to a certain extent, 

 " fortified " against naval attack by slight earthen batteries, or in some few 

 cases by small and (as Ave would now call them) insignificant earthen forts. A work 

 of palmetto logs and sand on Sullivan's island, Charleston harbor, mounting 

 but 30 guns, decisively repulsed, early in the revolutionary war, the attack of 

 the British fleet under Sir Peter Parker, consisting of two frigates and six 

 Bloops-of-war, carrying about 270 guns, destroying four of the smaller vessels, and 



