History of the Army Corp of Engineers at West Point - Essay Example

HISTORY OF THE ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS AT WEST POINT It was during the American Revolution, 1776 that George Washington first chose the engineer officers of the Army who had served in combat in all the successive American wars. It was under his order that Rufus Putnam was the first appointed Chief Engineer. One of the key tasks undertaken by Putnam was to strengthen the unfinished and inadequately positioned defenses built around the highlands of West Point in 1775 by a Dutch engineer, Bernard Romans.

The Corps of Engineers were made a separate official operating branch on March 16, 1802. The main responsibility delegated to these engineers was to operate the U.S Military Academy at West Point (Office of history, U.S, 2007). Thomas Jefferson established this Corps of Engineers by stating "that the said corps, when so organized, shall be stationed at West Point, and shall constitute a military academy" (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, web). It was up to 1866 that the West Point Academy Superintendent was also performing the functions of the Chief of Engineers.

It was during those times that all the members of the Corps had been West Point graduates. All the construction done at the U.S Military Academy was undertaken by the Corps till 1861. This construction was resumed after a gap in 1941. Jonathon William was the Chief of Engineers and the first controller of West Point in 1807. He was held responsible for strengthening the ramparts at the doorway of New York Harbor when the risk of British attach was high subsequent to England’s trade embargo.

During the 1812 war not a single defense built by an engineering graduate of West Point was overrun by the British. In the initial phase of the Civil War, the Corps constructed five structures, namely, the ‘Fort Hamilton, Schuyler, Totten, Tompkins and Wadsworth’ in the New York region (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, web). It was a water resource mission that took place in the 1820’s that led the Corps into the civil works field. It was in the 1850’s when the damage of over $2 million from ships going aground in a dangerous zone known as the Hell Gate was realized by General John Newton of the Corps.

He then developed a series of underwater explosions which reduced the amount of rocks leading to a lesser risk to navigation. These series of blasts were one of the major manmade explosions in that point of time and hence definitely recognized the Corps with a civil works undertaking (U.S Army Corps of Engineers, web). After the conclusion of the Cold War, the Corps was moving to aid the Army and the Nation. Some recent efforts by the Army engineers was to support the 9/11 recovery efforts and to aid in combating the Global War on Terrorism, through renovation in area’s such as Iran and Afghanistan. The U.S Army Corps of Engineers now plays an active role in catering to the country’s military as well as water resource needs.

References The Office of History, U.S. (2007). The U.S Army Corps of Engineers. Retrieved from: http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Documents/Brief/index.html U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/whoweare/history.htm