290 EULOGY ON THE LATE GENERAL JOSEPH G. TOTTEN. 



the time when, a first lieutenant of engineers, he saw and aided in the con- 

 struction of our first casemated fort, and when he, fully appreciating its merits 

 and recognizing the defects which a disregard and want of appreciation of the 

 illustrious projector's own principles had entailed upon it, set himself to the task 

 of enhancing the one and correcting the other. 



The ten years which have elapsed since 1S55 have witnessed changes in the 

 character of sea-coast and naval artillery, and an increase in the calibres and 

 weight of their projectiles, which no one at that date would have anticipated; 

 hence some doubt may be entertained whether our casemated masonry works 

 are adequate to contend with iron-clad vessels armed with the modern artillery. 

 This is a question which it remains for experiment or experience to decide. It 

 has, as yet, not been demonstrated that a masonry fort, constructed as our more 

 recent works are, will not, armed wiih the powerful guns now being introduced, 

 endure the contest quite as long as its iron-clad antagonist can protract it. 



In this connexion it is due to General Totten to say that he has himself been 

 ever the most strenuous advocate of "big guns," the most urgent instigator of 

 their production. The writer well remembers when, seated with him on the 

 piazza of the officers' quarters at Fort Jackson, our eyes resting on the mighty 

 stream flowing past us, upon the defence of which our thoughts and conversa- 

 tion had been turning, he exclaimed, "Wcmust have a 20-inch gun." The 

 idea was novel to me at that time, and I exhibited some surprise. He went on 

 to say that, thoroughly to prevent the passage or attempted passage of an armed 

 steamship, there must be not only danger but almost a certainty of destruction. 

 "Let us have guus such that (to use his own phrase) 'every shot shall be a 

 bird.'" The invention of armored ships, not then foreseen, has increased the 

 necessity of having such guns as he, on other grounds, so strongly auvocated. 

 He expressed the greatest confidence that a gun of the dimensions he named 

 would yet be made and introduced into our batteries, and added the interesting 

 statement that in his earlier days he had found much difficulty in impressing 

 upon the members of boards on which he had served the necessity of having 

 guns in our harbor defences larger than 24-pounders. To the labors and 

 genius of a Rodman we owe the actual invention of the art of constructing 

 flfteeu and twenty-inch guns; but without the unceasing stimulus of General 

 Totten's known and urged views, it is doubtful whether Rodman's labors would 

 have been called for or sustained. 



The preceding pages have been mainly devoted to the illustration of our de- 

 parted associate's career as an officer and as the Chief Engineer of the United 

 States. Before turning our attention to other spheres of his usefulness, it seems 

 fitting to quote from one of his eulogists the following summary of his official 

 characteristics : 



" In wielding the influence of his office as Chief Engineer, the prominent traits 

 exhibited by General Totten were strict justice and scrupulous integrity. No 

 sophistry, no blandishments, no arbitrary exercise ofsuperior authority could turn 

 him in the least from his steadfast adherence to his own sense of duty. Avoiding 

 all useless collisions with his official superiors, showing due respect to their 

 station, he never failed to call their attention to any errors committed by them 

 with respect to the department under his charge; nor did he ever leave them 

 any excuse for wilful wrong-doing by remaining silent, even when he knew 

 that his suggestions would not only be ill-received and of no use, but might be 

 visited by the exercise of those petty vexations which official superiors can em- 

 ploy against those under them who thwart their misdoings. 



"The individual traits of General Totten were strongly marked. Powerfully 

 built, of a constitution of the most vigorous stamp, cool, potent, and perseveri.ig, 

 of sound judgment and variety of intellectual capacity, nature seemed to have 



