Humphreys

little tendency to compromise. Andrew Carnegie
was attracted to him, established endowments at
Stevens, and made him a trustee of the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching,
In 1903 he published Lecture Notes on Some
Business Features of Engineering. An unusual
interest for an engineer was his patronage of
American artists. His valuable collection of
paintings was sold in 1917 and brought nearly
$200,000. He was survived by his wife and one
daughter; his two sons were drowned in the Nile
in 1902 when the older tried to save the younger.

[Twenty-third Annual Report of the President and
of the Treasurer, Carnegie Foundation for the Advance-
ment of Teaching (1928) ; Morton Memorial, A Hist.
of the Stevens Inst. of Technology (1905), ed. by F.
DeR. Furman; Stevens Institute Indicator ; Oct. 1902;
Mechanical Engineering, Oct. 1927 ; Jour, of the Am.
Institute of Electrical Engineers > Sept. 1927 ; Electrical
World, Aug. 20, 1927 ; N. Y. Herald-Tribune and N. Y.
Times, Aug. 15, 1927; Who's Who in America, 1926-
27 ; Who's Who in New York, 1924 ; Who's Who in En-
gineering, 1925 ; J. McK. Cattell, Am. Men of Science

P.B.M.

HUMPHREYS, ANDREW ATKINSON

(Nov. 2, i8io-Dec. 27, 1883), engineer, scien-
tist, soldier, the son of Samuel and Letitia (At-
kinson) Humphreys, was born in Philadelphia.
His grandfather, Joshua Humphreys [#.*>.], was
an eminent ship-builder who during the admin-
istration of Washington designed the first large
warships for the United States Navy. His fa-
ther was chief constructor of the navy from 1826
until his death in 1846. His grandfather on his
mother's side was Andrew Atkinson, an officer
of the British navy who settled in Florida in
1784. Humphreys entered the United States
Military Academy in 1827 and on graduation
in 1831 was commissioned a lieutenant in the
artillery. As such he took part in the Seminole
War in Florida in 1836. After this campaign he
resigned his commission to follow the profes-
sion of engineering. He became a civil engineer
under the Topographical Engineers of the army
and was engaged in 1837 and ^S on plans for
Delaware River fortifications and harbor works.
This led to his appointment as lieutenant in the
Corps of Topographical Engineers when it was
increased in 1838. In 1844, at the request of
Alexander Dallas Bache [q.v."], the superintend-
ent, he was assigned to duty in the Coast Survey
and served under its distinguished head for six
years. He was commissioned captain in 1848.
In 1850, at the request of the chief of his corps,
he was relieved from duty in the Coast Survey to
take charge of the topographic and hydrographic
survey of the delta of the Mississippi River,
which had just been authorized by Congress.
He took charge of this work in October 1850 and

Humphreys

carried it on with his accustomed energy until
he was disabled by a sunstroke in the summer of
1851. The work was temporarily suspended, and
as soon as he was able to do so he was given au-
thority to visit Europe to study the methods of
improvement of the deltas of European rivers.
He returned to the United States in 1854, but be-
fore resuming work on the Mississippi was di-
rected by the Secretary of War to take charge
of the explorations and surveys ordered by Con-
gress "to ascertain the most practicable and eco-
nomical route for a railway from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean." His report, submit-
ted in the latter part of 1855 (Senate Executive
Document 78 and House Executive Document
91, 33 Cong., 2 Sess.) described five practicable
routes which are substantially the routes of five
of the present transcontinental railroads. In
1857 his work on the Mississippi River was re-
newed, in association with Lieut. Henry L. Ab-
bot [qw.], and was continued until the outbreak
of the Civil War in 1861. The Report upon the
Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River
(1861), submitted by Humphreys and Abbot,
was so valuable a contribution to the knowledge
of the hydraulics of great rivers that it was
translated into foreign languages and perma-
nently established the reputation of its authors
as investigators, scientists, and engineers of a
high order. It formed the basis for the flood
control and the improvement of the navigation
of the great river.

In the latter part of 1861, with the rank of ma-
jor, Humphreys was appointed to the staff of
General McClellan. He rendered valuable serv-
ice in the Peninsular campaign as brigadier-gen-
eral of volunteers and chief of the Topographical
Engineers. During the Antietam campaign he
commanded a division of new troops assigned to
the V Corps. In the battle of Fredericksburg he
led this division in a desperate attack on Marye
Hill for which he received the brevet of colonel,
United States Army. After the battle of Chan-
cellorsville he was assigned to the command of
a division of the III Corps and in the battle of
Gettysburg fought it with great skill in resisting
Longstreet's attack on the afternoon of July 2.
For this service he received the brevet of briga-
dier-general, United States Army. After the
Gettysburg campaign, at General Meade's ear-
nest request, he accepted the position of chief of
staff of the Army of the Potomac with the rank
of major-general, which position he held until
November 1864 when he was selected by Gen-
eral Grant to command the II Corps, In the final
campaign he won the brevet of xnajor-general,
United States Army, in the battle of Sailor's

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