Andrew Talcott
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Andrew Talcott (1797–1883) was an American
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
and close friend of
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...
General
Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...
. He did not serve during the Civil War, as he could not fight against the Union, nor fight against his brothers in the South. He traveled to Veracruz, Mexico, to work on the railroad. Coming back with the President to New York for supplies he was arrested and placed at Fort Lafayette accused of being a spy for the Confederate States of America. He was moved to Fort Warren in Boston harbor under orders of General John E. Wool. General John A. Dix was placed in the command of the Eastern Military Department. Knowing Captain Andrew well and believing his loyalty to the Union he was released.


Early life

Talcott was born on April 20, 1797, in
Glastonbury, Connecticut Glastonbury ( ) is a town in the Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, Capitol Planning Region, Connecticut, United States, formally founded in 1693 and first settled in 1636. It was named after Glastonbury in Somerset, England. Glastonbury is ...
.Wilson, James Grand and John Fiske, ed. (1889
"Andrew Talcott"
''Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography'' vol. vi, D. Appleton and Company, New York. p.24.
He attended
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
and graduated second in his class in 1818. As an officer in the Corps of Engineers, he was garrisoned at Fort Atkinson and explored the passage to Fort Snelling in 1820.Watkins, Albert (1919). "Three Military Heroes of Nebraska"
''Nebraska History and Record of Pioneer Days'' V.2 nr.4
Nebraska State Historical Society
Some notable relatives include his brother General George Talcott, Chief of the Ordnance Corps from 1848 to 1851; granddaughter Lucia Beverly Talcott (born 1865), who married the famous statistician and inventor
Herman Hollerith Herman Hollerith (February 29, 1860 – November 17, 1929) was a German-American statistician, inventor, and businessman who developed an electromechanical tabulating machine for punched cards to assist in summarizing information and, later, in ...
in 1890; first cousin three times removed Joseph Talcott, Governor of the Colony of Connecticut from 1724 to 1741; and third great-grandfather John Talcott, one of the founders of
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
.Stiles, Henry R
(1904) ''The History of Ancient Wethersfield Connecticut'', v 2. p 696


Career

Talcott's career was as a military and civil engineer building forts, roads and railroads both in the States and Mexico. He started the 1824 construction of
Fort Adams Fort Adams is a former United States Army post in Newport, Rhode Island, Newport, Rhode Island, that was established on July 4, 1799, as a Seacoast defense in the United States#First System, First System Coastal defence and fortification, coas ...
in
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
. In 1833 he extended a previously invented method of finding latitudinal direction. He rediscovered the method to determine a place's
latitude In geography, latitude is a geographic coordinate system, geographic coordinate that specifies the north-south position of a point on the surface of the Earth or another celestial body. Latitude is given as an angle that ranges from −90° at t ...
from the stars, a method originally invented by the Danish astronomer Peder Horrebow. On further developing Horrebow's method, it subsequently came to be known as the ''Horrebow-Talcott Method''.Captain Albert E. Theberge, Albert. (2001
''The Coast Survey 1807-1867''
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Library.
The so-called Horrebow-Talcott method fixed latitude "by observing differences of
zenith The zenith (, ) is the imaginary point on the celestial sphere directly "above" a particular location. "Above" means in the vertical direction (Vertical and horizontal, plumb line) opposite to the gravity direction at that location (nadir). The z ...
distances of stars culminating within a short time of each other, and at nearly the same
altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...
, on opposite sides of the zenith." He was hired as superintending engineer for construction on the
Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...
at Fort Calhoun and
Fort Monroe Fort Monroe is a former military installation in Hampton, Virginia, at Old Point Comfort, the southern tip of the Virginia Peninsula, United States. It is currently managed by partnership between the Fort Monroe Authority for the Commonwealth o ...
becoming a superior and friend to the future general,
Robert E. Lee Robert Edward Lee (January 19, 1807 – October 12, 1870) was a general officers in the Confederate States Army, Confederate general during the American Civil War, who was appointed the General in Chief of the Armies of the Confederate ...
and married Harriet Randolph Hackley at
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
, in 1832. (His wife was also to become a close platonic companion to General Lee.) Talcott surveyed the
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
-
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
border with Lee in the spring of 1835.Price, Andre
"Robert E. Lee: The Engineer"
With the rank of captain, he resigned his commission in 1836 and by 1839 he was a
civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...
and surveyor of the Mississippi river delta together with a young A. B. (Andrew) Gray.Reconnaissance of the Passes of the Delta of the Mississippi, Louisiana U.S. Coast Survey map (1852) In 1838, Talcott was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
. Talcott was considered for the post of Superintendent of the Coast Survey which was subsequently filled by Alexander Bache in 1843, but he went on to supervise construction of the Richmond and Danville Railroad in 1849, where he was later appointed general manager. Talcott became chief engineer and superintendent of the Ohio and Mississippi Railroad and later appeared as a consultant at the Coroner's jury for the Desjardins Canal disaster,
Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...
, 1857."The Desjardins Bridge Catastrophe". (1857) ''Scientific American''. May 2. pp. 265-272


Mexican Railroad

He was engaged as an engineer late in 1857 by A. Escandon who, with English financing, planned to connect
Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...
with
Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
by rail via Cordova and Orizaba, supervising W. W. Finney of the
Pony Express The Pony Express was an American express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders between Missouri and California. It was operated by the Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. During its 18 months of opera ...
. When Escandon purchased the fourth concession from Mosso brothers in 1856, two routes were considered and Talcott was assigned the far more difficult southern passage probably due financial stakes held near Orizaba by the project's investors. The Northern passage was explored b
Pascual Almazán
It was supposed to be the steepest railway undertaken up to that time, rising in a distance of and to span the Metlac River was an English-made iron bridge high.García Dávila, Carlos
"The Mexican Railways"
"A Great Railway Enterprise" (1866) ''Scientific American''. July 7)
Burgess, Jack. (1934) . ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'', December 2


Civil War

At the request of Lee, Talcott accepted the positions of Colonel and State Engineer of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
in 1861. Talcott was charged with the coastal defense of Richmond and
James River The James River is a river in Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows from the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson Rivers in Botetourt County U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowli ...
.Official correspondence. ''The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies''. (1880) p.781-783, p791, p851, p864 After rebuilding the star-shaped Fort Boykin and building Fort Huger, the forts were later crippled by the ironclad corvette USS Galena's squadron.Guttman, Jon
"Rebel's Stand at Drewry's Bluff"
. ''America's Civil War Magazine''
Talcott was arrested in New York, March 1863, only to be held at Fort Warren in Massachusetts as a Mexican citizen.''The war of the rebellion: a compilation of the official records of the Union and Confederate armies''. (1899) p135 He returned to a French-reorganized Mexican project in the late 1860s under a new concession where he remained until Juárez defeated Maximilian's conservative regime in 1867.


Personal life

As a co-claimant he filed an unsuccessful suit before the
Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
in 1853, regarding
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
land deeded to his father-in-law Richard S. Hackley by the Duke of Alagon in 1819. In his later years, along with his son, Thomas Mann Randolph Talcott, Talcott invested in development in Bon Air, VA.


Death

Talcott died on Sunday, April 22, 1883, at his residence, 519 East Leigh Street in Richmond, Virginia, at the age of 85 and was remembered in his obituary for building the Richmond and Danville Railroad.''Daily Dispatch'' (Richmond, Va.). Biography (p. 1, c. 3). Obituary. "Died at his residence, 519 East Leigh Street, on Sunday the 22d instant, Colonel Andrew Talcott, in the eighty – seventh year of his age. (He built the Richmond & Danville Railroad)". (p. 2, c. 4 ). Publication Tuesday, April 24, 1883.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talcott, Andrew 1797 births 1883 deaths People from Glastonbury, Connecticut United States Military Academy alumni People of Virginia in the American Civil War American engineers American Civil War prisoners of war Engineers from Connecticut Members of the American Philosophical Society