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79 
T have thus extensively quoted from the reports of Gen- 
eral Totten, because they are themselves the best expressio 
of the life labors and services of the subject of our memoirs 
and because I think they treat of matters which should be, in 
an eminent degree, interesting to the members of this National 
Academy, and which, moreover, should demand its attention. , 
To preserve the continuity of my subject, I have followed 
these reports down to a late date. It is necessary now to 
Tevert to an earlier period. It has already been observed, 
that, as soon as the original Board of Engineers had suffi- 
ciently matured the general system of defence, and complet- 
ed plans for the works first required, its members applied 
themselves to the duty of construction. In 1828, General 
(then Colonel) Totten took charge of the construction of 
Fort Adams, Newport harbor, and continued on this duty, 
making his residence in the town of Newport, until Decem- 
ber, 1838, the date of his appointment as Chief of the Corps 
of Engineers. This work, the second in magnitude of the 
fortifications of the United States, is one of the best monu- 
ments of his genius as a military engineer. From its pe- 
culiar relations to the land defence, it called for the applica- 
tion of most of those rules of the art, and many of those 
Special arrangements which form the themes of treatises 
upon “fortification,” and which, generally, have but a very 
limited application to works of harbor defence. In these 
Tespects it has no parallel with us, and in the treatment of 
the case and happy adaptation of means to the end, Colonel 
Totten exhibited a mastery of all the details of the art, which 
Proves his technical skill and minute knowledge to be fully 
-€qual to the power of broad generalization I have already 
endeavored to illustrate. But Colonel Totten found here 
Yet another field for professional usefulness, — another track 
‘o explore. The art of the civil engineer (I use the phrase 
