| William Price Craighill | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1833-07-01)July 1, 1833 Charles Town, Virginia |
| Died | January 18, 1909(1909-01-18) (aged 75) Charles Town, West Virginia |
| Allegiance |  United States of AmericaUnion |
| Service | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1853–1897 |
| Rank |  Brigadier General |
| Commands | Chief of Engineers |
| Battles / wars | American Civil War |
| Signature | .png){kind=small} |
William Price Craighill (July 1, 1833 – January 18, 1909) was born in Charles Town, Virginia (now West Virginia), son of William Nathaniel Craighill & Sarah Elizabeth Brown. He was an author, Union Army officer in the American Civil War, and later served as Chief of Engineers.
Army Corps of Engineers
A classmate of Philip Sheridan, John Bell Hood, and James B. McPherson, Craighill ranked second in the United States Military Academy class of 1853 and was commissioned in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. After working on several Atlantic coast forts including Fort Delaware, he taught engineering at the Military Academy from 1859 to 1862.
Civil War
As a Virginian who stood for the Union Army, Craighill was division and department engineer during the American Civil War and worked on the defenses of Pittsburgh, Baltimore, San Francisco, and New York City.
Craighill wrote the 1862 Army Officer's Pocket Companion: A Manual for Staff Officers in the Field, one of the first Army field manuals. He also translated Antoine-Henri Jomini's the Art of War from French, with George H. Mendell in 1862.
Post war
After the Civil War, Craighill superintended construction of defenses at Baltimore Harbor and Hampton Roads. He headed the Engineer Office in Baltimore from 1870 to 1895, overseeing river and harbor work in Maryland and parts of Virginia and North Carolina. When the Corps began to build locks and dams on the Kanawha River in West Virginia in 1875, Craighill assumed charge there as well. He completed the first of the moveable wicket dams built in the United States, after visiting France to study their use. He became the Corps' first Southeast Division Engineer. He was a member of the Board of Engineers from 1886 to 1889. He was appointed Chief of Engineers by President Grover Cleveland in 1895.
He retired two years later and died in Charles Town, West Virginia.
References
This article contains public domain text from "Brigadier General William Price Craighill". Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. Retrieved May 27, 2005.
External links
- Works by William Price Craighill at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about William Price Craighill at the Internet Archive
- Example of Movable Wicket Dam
- "William Price Craighill". Find a Grave. Retrieved May 8, 2009.
| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded byThomas Lincoln Casey | Chief of Engineers 1895–1897 |
Succeeded byJohn Moulder Wilson |
| Presidents of the American Society of Civil Engineers | |
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| 1853–1879 |
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| 1880–1899 |
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| 1900–1919 |
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| 1920–1939 |
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| 1940–1959 |
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| 1960–1979 |
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| 1980–1999 |
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| 2000–present |
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- 1833 births
- 1909 deaths
- 19th-century American male writers
- American military writers
- Burials at Zion Episcopal Churchyard (Charles Town, West Virginia)
- Engineers from West Virginia
- Military personnel from Charles Town, West Virginia
- People of West Virginia in the American Civil War
- Union army officers
- United States Army Corps of Engineers Chiefs of Engineers
- United States Army generals
- United States Military Academy alumni
- United States Military Academy faculty
- Writers from Charles Town, West Virginia