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Building Texas: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

This Primary Source Adventure (PSA) will expose the learner to the important role that the United States Army Corps of Engineers had on Texas and America.

    To explore how the Civil Corps of Engineers have had a significant impact on Texas citizens and Texas lakes, students are presented images and documents from the Portal to Texas History. Army Corps of Engineers image

    Worksheet questions stem from a variety of learning styles so that each student has the opportunity to shine. Teachers may also modify and easily incorporate these worksheets into their predesigned lesson plans.

    The web links provided will help each instructor prepare, present, and highlight primary sources.

 

Building Texas: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

by Vale Fitzpatrick

In 1794 Congress organized the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers, but it was not until 1802 that it established a separate corps of engineers; the Corp’s existence dates from this year. At the same time Congress established a military academy at West Point, New York. During the first half of the 19th century West Point was the major and for a time, the only engineering school in the country. It was not until 1866 that a non engineer was appointed superintendent of West Point.

The young American nation depended on commerce, and its waterways were the lifeblood commerce. The Corps of Engineers, with its work on canals, rivers, and roads created routes from western farms to eastern markets and passages through the Appalachian Mountains to the frontier facilitating settlement.

The Corps of Engineers contributed to many aspects of United States development. They constructed the National Road between Cumberland, Maryland, and Vandalia, Illinois, throughout 1811-1841, in which the first cast iron bridge in the United States was constructed. In 1819 John C. Calhoun, then Secretary of War, recommended that the Corps of Engineers improve waterway navigation and other transportation systems to facilitate Army movements while facilitating national growth. Congress passed the General Survey Act which authorized the President to use army engineers to survey road and canal routes, and appropriated funds for improving navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. By 1829, the Corps of Engineers were using snag boats to clear the rivers. This marked the beginning of the Corps’ dual role of civil and military engineering projects. The Corps would build dams, deepen and widen rivers, and create cannels and shipping locks. Such improvements proved crucial to the economic growth of the young nation. The Corps began to create detailed reports on rivers such as the Mississippi which allowed levees and dams to be built for flood control, a task they continue to execute. By 1852 the Corps of Engineers had assumed responsibility for supervising lighthouse construction.

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