Joseph G. Totten, USMA 1805

• Born August 23, 1788 in New Haven, CT.
• Died April 22, 1864 in Washington, DC

• Cadet at USMA, November 4, 1802 to July 1, 1805
• Resigned March 31, 1806
• Surveyor Northwest Territory 1805-06 and 1806-08
• Reappointed to the Army February 23, 1808, in the Corps of Engineers, as a second lieutenant.
• Chief Engineer of the Army 1812-13
• Member, Board of Visitors, USMA, 1819, 1821, 1822, 1826, 1828
• Chief of Engineers, 1834-1864.
• Regent Smithsonian Institute, 1846-1864

Totten was raised by his uncle Jared Mansfield. Mansfield took Totten and his family to the newly founded Military Academy in 1802. At this time he must have met Joseph Gardner Swift, and they became lifelong fiends.

"Joseph G. Totten, aged fourteen, who had been examined at the request of his uncle, Captain Mansfield, and found duly qualified "in the elements of Arithmetic (vulgar and decimal), in English Grammar, and in Penmanship" by Captains Barron and Mansfield, was appointed a Cadet of Engineers." [Denton 1964, 33; citing Cullum's Register, III, 493. Denton, p. 41, says this examination "is the only one of which there is a record." This is ambiguous; is he speaking of entrance exams? Even if he is, there are other records.]

Totten resigned from the Army in 1806 to accompany his Uncle on the first systematic survey of Ohio and the Northwest Territory. "In addition to his regular duties on the survey, Totten carefully examined, measured, and mapped Native American burial mounds, sending the information to his friend Joseph Gardner Swift who was in the Corps of Engineers." Barnard notes that these studies may have been among the first systematically recorded; the first published account, by Caleb Atwater, did not appear until 1819 [Thomas 2002, p. 84]. It would be interesting to track down more detail on this. Which IHMT participant worked on this topic?

After rejoining the Army, Jonathan Williams appointed Totten an assistant engineer in the construction of the defenses of New York harbor. He would have known Wood, USMA 06, as a cadet, but did they serve together in NY Harbor? Totten then became special supervisor over the erection of Fort Clinton, at Castle Garden. This was designed by Jonathan Williams, who became a mentor to Totten. However, Williams resigned in 1812 in a dispute with Secretary of War William Eustice who had refused to give Williams command of Castle Williams at the beginning of the War of 1812 [Thomas 2002, p. 85].

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Barnard, "Biographical Notice," National Academy of the Sciences Obituary.   [Get exact reference and the paper.]
• Dictionary of American Biography
• Thomas, Mary Margaret, Science, Military Style: Fortifications, Science, and the the United States Corps of Engineers, 1802, 1861. PhD Dissertation, University of Minnesota, 2002.