James Chatham Duane

From 1848 till 1854 he served with the engineer corps, and as assistant instructor at West Point. He was then employed in the construction of fortifications till 1856, was lighthouse inspector at New York in 1856-58, commanded the engineer company in the Utah expedition of 1858, and was afterward instructor of engineering at the military academy till the beginning of the civil war.

He organized the engineer equipage of McClellan's army (1861-62) and commanded a battalion of engineers in the Peninsular campaign. Duane was chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac in the Antietam campaign (1862) and from July, 1863, to the end of the war. He was brevetted brigadier general for his service in the siege of Petersburg (1864). After the war he served on numerous engineering commissions and official boards.

In command of the Regular Engineer Battalion, attached to Headquarters, Army of the Potomac, and Chief Engineer of the AOP.

He was chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac on the Antietam campaign (1862) and from July 1863, to the end of the war. He was brevetted brigadier general for his service in the siege of Petersburg (1864).

From 1865 to 1868 he superintended the construction of the fort at Willet's Point, New York, receiving promotion as lieutenant colonel on 7 March 1867. He served subsequently as superintendent of fortifications on the coast of Maine and New Hampshire, as lighthouse engineer of the northeast coast, as a member of various engineer boards, and as president of the board of engineers in New York City. He was promoted colonel on 10 January 1883, and in the autumn of 1886 was appointed chief of engineers, with the rank of brigadier general. He has published a Manual for Engineer Troops (New York, 1862).

Info: Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, edited by James Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Six volumes, New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1887-1889;
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001.

See an excellent site about all US Army Chief Engineers, including General Duane, from the Army Corps of Engineers.

6/30/1824; Schenectady, NY

1897