Ferguson, Harley B. (Harley Bascom), 1875-1968

Harley Bascom Ferguson (1875-1968), of Waynesville, N.C., graduated from West Point in 1897 and served in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. During his military service he was stationed in Cuba, 1898; the Phillippines, 1899; and as chief engineer of the China Relief Expedition, 1900, of the Boxer War. He was also district engineer in Montgomery, Ala., 1907-1909; the executive officer in charge of the U.S.S. Maine in Havana harbor, 1910-1911; and district engineer in Milwaukee, Wis., 1913-1916. During World War I, he served in France as brigadier general and chief engineer of the 2nd Army, and on his return commanded the Newport News (Va.) port of embarkation. He was district engineer in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1920. He was in charge of organization of industrial mobilization, working with the assitant secretary of war, Dwight F. Davis, and served as director of the Army Industrial College, 1921-1927. He also served as division engineer of Gulf Division, New Orleans, La., 1928; of the Ohio River Division, 1928-1930; and of the South Atlantic Division, Norfolk, Va., 1930-1932. From 1932 until his retirement as major general in 1939, he was division engineer of the Lower Mississippi River Division and president of the Mississippi River Commission, with headquarters in Vicksburg, Miss. He was a member of special engineering boards concerned with rivers and harbors, 1930-1932; the St. Lawrence Waterway, 1930-1931; Muscle Shoals; the Delaware River; the Lexington Dam; the mouth of the Columbia River; and the mouth of the Mississippi River.

From the guide to the Harley Bascom Ferguson Papers, ., 1892-1941, (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection.)

Ferguson, of Waynesville, N.C., graduated from West Point in 1897 and served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, retiring in 1939 as a major general.

From the description of Harley Bascom Ferguson papers, 1892-1941 [manuscript]. WorldCat record id: 24416855