Abbot, Henry L.

Henry Larcom Abbot (1831-1927), army officer and engineer, was born in Beverly, Massachusetts. He was the older brother of Francis Ellingwood Abbot, an influential religious radical. Upon his graduation from West Point in 1854, Abbot was commissioned in the engineers and assigned to duty with the Pacific Coast Railway. For several years from 1857, he was associated with Captain Andrew A. Humphreys in a study of flood control and navigation improvement of the Mississippi River. During the Civil War Abbot saw varied service. He was wounded at the first battle of Bull Run, served as an engineer with General George G. McClellan on the Peninsula and as chief topographical engineer with the New Orleans expedition under General Nathaniel P. Banks, and commanded the 1st Connecticut Heavy Artillery of which he had been appointed colonel in the Spring of 1863, and the siege artillery before Richmond, Virginia. Placed in command of the engineer battalion at Willett's Point, New York, he organized there the Engineer School of Application, a combined advanced training and research facility for military engineers. He devoted much of his time to the improvement of coastal defenses by means of submarine mines and of other forms of ordnance and equipment, serving as well on numerous engineering boards. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1880 and to colonel in October 1886, and he retired at that rank in 1895. In 1904, Congress voted him rank of brigadier general, retired. As a civilian engineer, Abbot drew plans for the harbor at Manitowoc, Wisconsin, and served on the technical committee of the New French Panama Canal Company. He later was a member of the board of engineers appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt to plan the American canal in Panama. He served on the graduate engineering faculty of George Washington University from 1905 to 1910. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Henry Larcom Abbot (1831-1927) was a military engineer who graduated from West Point in 1854 and served in the United States Army until 1895.

Henry L. Abbot served in the Army in the Civil War. He developed the Army's Engineer School of Application, making it a research center for problems of military engineering.

American army engineer. Co-author of "Report upon the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River"(1861).

Biographical Note

Henry L. Abbot

Henry Larcom Abbot was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1831. The descendent of Revolutionary War veterans, he graduated from West Point in 1854, joining the Army Topographical Engineers soon after. He was part of the Pacific Railroad Survey led by Lieut. R.S. Williamson, exploring routes in California and Oregon in 1855-56. He next investigated flood control and channel improvement on the Mississippi River. During the Civil War he was wounded at Bull Run, and eventually received seven brevets, ending as major-general of volunteers. After the war Abbot was placed in charge of the engineer battalion and established the Army's Engineer School of Application in New York. He became an authority on high explosives and, following his retirement from the Army in 1895, became involved in the building of the Panama Canal. He was a member of the engineer board, and actively championed a lock canal over the sea level design favored by others. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1927 at age 96.

Henry Larcom Abbot (1831-1927) was a military engineer who graduated from West Point in 1854 and served in the United States Army until 1895.

Army officer. Full name: Henry Larcom Abbot. Born 1831; died 1927.

Henry Larcom Abbot was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1831. The descendent of Revolutionary War veterans, he graduated from West Point in 1854, joining the Army Topographical Engineers soon after. He was part of the Pacific Railroad Survey led by Lieut. R.S. Williamson, exploring routes in California and Oregon in 1855-56. He next investigated flood control and channel improvement on the Mississippi River. During the Civil War he was wounded at Bull Run, and eventually received seven brevets, ending as major-general of volunteers. After the war Abbot was placed in charge of the engineer battalion and established the Army's Engineer School of Application in New York. He became an authority on high explosives and, following his retirement from the Army in 1895, he became involved in the building of the Panama Canal. He was a member of the engineer board, and actively championed a lock canal over the sea level design favored by others. He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1927 at age 96.