THE INCORPORATORS 155 



$50,000 each, the Delta Survey was formed, and Captain 

 Humphreys undertook with what would now be considered 

 inadequate means, the task of solving the problems of controlling 

 the mighty river, which the sufferers from flood personified 

 as " an evil spirit, which periodically reared his tawny front 

 from the chasm where he writhed in uneasy slumber at low 

 water." " Captain Humphreys conducted for ten years a series 

 of researches which accomplished their object, and which have 

 placed his name high on the list of the distinguished hydraulic 

 engineers of the world." (Abbot.) His arduous labors per- 

 formed under a burning sun, caused a " coup de soleil " in the 

 summer of 1851, which obliged him to suspend work. When 

 somewhat recovered, he obtained permission to visit Europe for 

 the purpose of studying methods of protection against inundation 

 and returned in 1 854 ready to renew operations on the Mississippi. 

 In the meantime, however, the question of a railroad to the 

 Pacific Coast had arisen, and the Secretary of War, appreciating 

 Humphreys' great ability, insisted upon having him as his con- 

 fidential adviser. In this work, and in preparing reports on the 

 Mississippi enterprise, he was occupied until the Civil War. 

 He served throughout that war with the Army of the Potomac, 

 and rose to the command of an Army corps. The two corps 

 of engineers having been consolidated during the war, he was ap- 

 pointed brigadier-general and chief of engineers, discharging 

 the duties of this office until, at his own request, he was placed 

 on the retired list on June 30, 1879. After his retirement he 

 contributed to the Scribner's Series a history of his campaigns in 

 two small volumes based on an analysis of the official records of 

 both armies, that has been said by General Abbot " to be worthy 

 of a place beside Caesar's Commentaries or Xenophon's Ana- 

 basis." 



In 1857 General Humphreys was elected a member of the 

 American Philosophical Society. He was also an honorary 

 member of the Imperial Geological Institute of Vienna, and a 

 fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 



