the spring of 1860 was a member of a board to revise the program of instruction at the United States Military Academy. He served in the Federal Army throughout the Civil War. On August 6, 1861, he was promoted to Major, Corps of Topographical Engineers, and from December 1, 1861, to March 5, 1862, he was on the staff of General McClellan. In the Peninsula Campaign he acted as chief topographical engineer of the Army of the Potomac, being engaged in the siege of Yorktown and the battle of Williamsburg, and in the operations before Richmond and on the James River. He selected the position and located most of the troops on the Union side at Malvern Hill.

He was appointed colonel and aide-de camp on March 5, 1862, and brigadier-general of volunteers April 28, 1862. In September, 1862, he was placed in command of a division of new troops at Washington, and served in the Maryland Campaign with the Army of the Potomac from September to November, 1862, which included the battles of Frederick and Antietam, and remained with that army through the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. He was made brevet colonel, U. S. Army, December 13, 1862, "for gallant and meritorious services at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va.," and was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, Corps of Engineers, March 3, 1863.

He served with the Army of the Potomac through the Gettysburg Campaign and was appointed chief of staff of the army under General Meade July 8, 1863, and major-general, U. S. Volunteers, on the same day. He continued as chief of staff of the Army of the Potomac through the campaign of 1864. On the 26th of November, 1864, he was assigned to command of the Second Corps and continued in that command to the end of the war.

After the close of the war he was assigned to command of the District of Pennsylvania in the Middle Department from July 28 to December 9, 1865, and then returned to duty with the Corps of Engineers. He was engaged on examination of the levees of the Mississippi until August 8, 1866, when he was promoted to Brigadier-General and Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army, in which position he served until July 3, 1879, when he was retired from active service. He was appointed brevet brigadier-general, United States Army, on March 13, 1865, "for gallant and meritorious service at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pa.," and brevet major-general, U. S. Army, on the same date for the same service at Sailors Creek, Va. In addition to his famous report on the Mississippi River,

General Humphreys wrote "The Virginia Campaigns of '64-'65," and "From Gettysburg to Rapidan." Anyone who has read his history of the Virginian campaign must necessarily measure its writer by his impressions gained from that book, and one always reads it with a feeling of regret that all history can not be written in the same way.

General Humphreys was a member of the American Philosophical Society, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, one of the incorporators of The National Academy of Sciences, an LL. D. of Harvard University, and an honorary member of the Royal Imperial Geographical Institute of Vienna, and of the Royal Institute of Science and Art of Lombardy, Milan, Italy. He died at Washington, D. C., December 27, 1883.

ADDITIONAL DISCUSSION

A CIVILIAN'S SUGGESTIONS FOR A TECHNICAL

RESERVE FOR THE ARMY*

Dr. C. P. STEINMETZ

Consulting Engineer, General Electric
Company

I have read with great interest Mr. C. D. Haskins' address on the establishment of a technical reserve, but find it difficult to add anything to the discussion, as Mr. Haskins has treated the subject so exhaustively that to any intelligent American who reads his address the matter must appear obvious and requiring no further discussion, and we can only wonder that nothing has been done before in this direction. This is explained by our national tendency we are all so occupied with our private interests that we neglect the public interests until it is too late, and we have to pay the penalty, as was the case in the Civil War, in the Spanish War, etc.

:

War has long ceased to be a question of patriotism and bravery alone; and an army of patriotic heroes, untrained and unorganized, without an efficient engineering staff, would be a mob, which had no more chance of success than the fanatic followers of the Mahdi against a modern army, and, worse than that, against disease.

War has become an engineering problem, requiring the highest class of engineering skill and training, civil and military, and this can not be acquired on short notice. It is true, engineering skill, without patriotism and bravery, is of no value either, but this we do not need to fear; but when an emergency arises, there will always be enough patriots-including those who now talk arbitration and internal peace. There are things which no nation can arbitrate, without abandoning its right of existence.

I believe it would be very desirable if the question of cooperation of engineers in civil life with the engineering problems of the national defense, would be taken up by representatives and committees of the great national engineering societies, and of the large engineering manufacturing companies and the public service and operating companies.

This article, by Mr. Caryl D. Haskins, appeared in PROFESSIONAL MEMOIRS, Vol. III, No. 11.

Mr. PAUL HANSEN

M. Am. Soc. C. E., State Sanitary
Engineer of Kentucky

Mr. Haskins' paper is certainly a most interesting one, and if the Government's present policy of maintaining a small Regular Army is to be accepted as a fixed policy it would seem almost imperative that some means must be found for securing a large body of suitably trained officers that may be called upon in time of emergency. Mr. Haskins' suggestions for a technical reserve seem to offer a highly satisfactory solution for the present difficulty, and I can see no reason why they should not work out satisfactorily in practice. There is one thought that occurs to me after reading the paper and the discussions which I did not see specifically stated by any one else, namely, that this technical reserve might be kept up after its establishment by increasing the scope of the military academy at West Point so that a much larger number of men might be educated there in a manner that would equip them for practicing engineering or possibly other professions in civil life, and by giving the students the option of entering the regular service or entering the reserves. The thorough education which is given at both Annapolis and West Point is a matter of common knowledge, and I think it will be conceded that if opportunities such as the above are laid open, it would be possible to secure any number of men by competitive examination, thus insuring a high standard. Should a student elect to enter the reserves it would, of course, be understood that he would be permitted to engage in any form of civil practice for which he is fitted, yet he would be expected to devote a sufficient amount of time to the service to maintain a proper degree of preparedness in time of emergency. Officers obtained as above suggested, it appears to me, would assuredly be thoroughly trained military men, and in addition would have advantageous experience which comes from specialization in civil practice.

I may be very much in error with regard to the above suggestions, yet from the point of view of a non-military man they would seem to have some advantages.

Mr. CARYL D. HASKINS

The nature of the comments which have appeared in regard to the paper which it was recently my privilege to read to the Student Officers of the Engineer School, appear to me to call for only the briefest comment.

I am gratified at the favorable tone which characterizes all of the discussions both from within and without the service. The views expressed by Major Wooten, Corps of Engineers, and by Mr. Paul Hansen alone seem to call for any comment other than an expression of my thanks and appreciation.

I find myself unable to agree with the views expressed by Major

Wooten, for in my conception of the situation I find substantially no similarity between the plan of registration of civilians as possibly suitable officer material and the scheme which I have presented. I am naturally somewhat familiar with the regis tration plan which is now technically in force, and I venture to gravely doubt its beneficial results. Many civilian engineers of the class from whose cooperation the service could secure the greatest measure of help, either do not know of it at all, or do not regard it with favor. It has been my effort to present (crudely to be sure) a far more comprehensive, and I have ventured to hope, a far more effective scheme-a scheme which should provide instantly a group of amateur officers who would know in advance what was expected of them, what they had to do, to whom to report and how to respond; and above all, a group whose efficiency should be very far above the standard of that of the amateur officers who under past methods have joined the colors in times of emer

gency.

Especially from the standpoint of the well being of the service, it is my purpose to suggest the creation of a large body of highly influential and highly educated men, who would feel that they were of the service and would form a solid supporting influence in civil life.

In regard to Mr. Hansen's comments: The plan which Mr. Hansen suggests commends itself to me highly. Without having had sufficient time to study the suggestions from all points of view, I nevertheless have no hesitation in expressing the opinion that the adoption of such a course would result in the greatest good to the service and the nation. I see but one difficulty, which should, I believe, be weighed with care. It is necessary and important that the sympathy and support of the very many engineering colleges. of high standing throughout the country should be secured and maintained solidly for the support of the technical branches of the army. It would be regrettable to adopt any sweeping plan of broad education at a government school, which could be construed as infringing upon the proper activities of the country's great technical schools. It would seem to me, however, to be perfectly feasible to elaborate Mr. Hansen's suggestions along lines which would involve close cooperation and sympathetic intersupport of and with the nation's great colleges.

That some definitely helpful result may follow the discussions which have been had on this entire question of a technical reserve, it is my present plan to take up actively with the great national engineering societies definite initiative work looking toward the achievement of some tangible results at some reasonably early time.