Washington- Engineer and Engineer Advocate

Abstract

George Washington was a great early American engineer. Hundreds of books have been written about his accomplishments as a Virginia planter, a military commander, a noble statesmen, and a symbol for the new American nation. Although Washington's surveying achievements are fairly well publicized, almost nothing has been written about Washington the engineer and engineer advocate. In this article, I will show that the father of our country was an accomplished engineer who served as a strong proponent for establishing American engineering institutions. George Washington did not have a formal education. However, from the time he was a young man, he engaged in engineering activities. As he continued to mature, the same skills that made him a good surveyor, builder, and innovator were applied to other pursuits. These talents and experiences formed the solid foundation upon which Washington built his more notable achievements, much the way that Lee and MacArthur applied their engineering backgrounds to become two of the greatest American practitioners of operational art. As you will see, it is time to add Washington to the long list of great American engineers.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2003
Accession Number
ADA596623

Entities

People

  • John R. Boule Ii

Organizations

  • United States Army Engineer School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Space
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Corps Of Engineers
  • Civil Engineering
  • Congress
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Fortifications
  • Geography
  • Instructions
  • Law
  • North Carolina
  • Potomac River
  • Rivers
  • Schools
  • United States
  • United States Military Academy
  • Universities
  • Virginia

Readers

  • Academic Conference Management
  • Educational Psychology
  • Facility/Structural Engineering.