Miscellaneous Intelligence, ' 295 



then quit the Point ; but remained under orders as Assistant Professor, 

 for which his attainments in descriptive geometry and his artistical 

 taste and skill in plans and drawings peculiarly fitted him. This fit- 

 ness, indeed, extended itself to the fine arts generally ; his aptness for 

 the arts of design was associated equally with a predilection for music, 

 which upon more than one instrument raised him to the first rank of am- 

 ateur performers. It is remarkable that such tastes should have co-ex- 

 isted with an almost irresistible fondness for the associations of a mili- 

 tary life; whose results (at least in time of war) are rather those of 

 destruction than of creation. It is not less remarkable that they should 

 have continued to be developed till past the meridian of life, amid all 

 the pressure of graver employments and momentous exertions. 



His employment as Professor continued for nearly two years. In 

 1821, although commissioned in the artillery, he was detailed on to- 

 pographical duty under Major (now Colonel) Abert ; the present chief 

 of the Bureau of Topographical Engineers. For such service, the 

 taste and attainments just spoken of peculiarly fitted him ; and they 

 were recognized and still farther usefully applied the following year, 

 when he was detailed as Draughtsman to the Northern Boundary Com- 

 mission. 



It was in the interval between these two engagements, that he con- 

 tracted another in the marriage with his first wife, the lovely daughter 

 of the late Dr. Swift, U. S. A. Death dissolved this tie in 1828. 



His labors with the surveyor, connected with the Boundary Com- 

 mission, between the Lake of the Woods and Lake Superior, continued 

 for four years ; extending from 1822 to 1826. And subsequent duties 

 in the Cabinet of the Commission employed nearly two years more. 



About this period, the stimulus which the interest manifested by the 

 general government in internal improvements had given to works of 

 that character, created a new demand for the services of persons com- 

 petent as surveyors and engineers ; which the class of such persons 

 existing in civil life was not able to supply. To the army, therefore, 

 whose officers had had opportunity for the requisite education, and es- 

 pecially to those who had already been familiar with topographical duty, 



frequent applications were made. 



Among others, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, one of 

 the earliest corporations for such a purpose in this country, had been 

 successful in obtaining the aid of several officers who were then em- 

 ment or have since become so. The names of Doctor Howard, who 

 though not a military man, was yet attached to the Corps of Engineers 

 °f the Army, of Lt. Col. Long, and of Capt. McNeill, appear in the 

 Proceedings of that company as Chiefs of Brigade ; and those of Fes- 

 senden, Gwynn and Trimble among the assistants. In Oct., 1828, this 

 company made further special request (or the services of Lt. Whistler ; 

 and this, it may be supposed, from his known capacity and the compa- 

 ny's need, not so much for general purposes as for particular aid. The 

 directors had resolved upon sending a deputation to England to exam- 

 ,r >e the characteristics of railroad undertakings there; and no one 

 could have been better calculated to serve on such a mission than 

 Whistler. The other members were Capt. McNeill and Jonathan 

 knight, Esq. 



