Washington Roebling
Encyclopedia
Washington Augustus Roebling (May 26, 1837 – July 21, 1926) was an American
civil engineer
best known for his work on the Brooklyn Bridge
, which was initially designed by his father John A. Roebling
.
, a town co-founded by his father and his uncle, Karl Roebling. His early schooling consisted of tutoring by Riedel and under Henne in Pittsburgh. He eventually attended the Trenton Academy and acquired further education at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, New York
, from 1854-57. While attending Rensselaer, Roebling became a member of the Pi Eta Scientific Society, now known as the Rensselaer Society of Engineers
. Following his graduation as civil engineer
(C.E.), he joined his father to work as a bridge
builder. From 1858 to 1860, he assisted his father on the Allegheny Bridge project, living in a boarding house on Penn Street. Following the completion of the bridge, he returned to Trenton to work in his father's wire mill.
On April 16, 1861, during the American Civil War
, Roebling enlisted as a private in the New Jersey Militia. Seeking more than garrison duty, he resigned after two months and re-enlisted in a New York artillery battery. He rose steadily in rank and was soon commissioned as an officer.
Roebling saw action in numerous battles: Manassas Junction (Second Bull Run
), Antietam
, Chancellorsville
, the Wilderness
, Siege of Petersburg
, and most notably Gettysburg
. Soon after Chancellorsville, he was perhaps the first to note the movement of Robert E. Lee
's Confederate
Army toward the northwest while conducting air balloon reconnaissance.
On July 2, 1863, Roebling was one of the initial officers on Little Round Top
. Observing signs of Confederate troops approaching, he hurried down the hill to report to Brig. Gen.
Gouverneur K. Warren
, for whom Roebling was aide-de-camp. General Warren and Roebling then descended the hill to find troops to secure this important tactical position. Roebling assisted in hoisting artillery up the hill, while Warren sent two of his aides, one of whom was Lt. Ranald S. Mackenzie
, searching for infantry support. The two aides were able to secure a brigade from the Union V Corps
. This brigade was commanded by Col. Strong Vincent
whose brigade immediately occupied the hill and defended the left flank of the Army of the Potomac
against repeated Confederate attacks. As Vincent's brigade began moving into position, Warren and Roebling had left the hill and Roebling was able to send the 140th New York Volunteers to the hill, not knowing that Vincent's brigade was already engaging advancing Confederate troops. However, the 140th New York provided much needed reinforcements.
Roebling was brevet
ted lieutenant colonel
in December 1864 for gallant service, ending his service brevetted to colonel
.
). While traveling in Europe to research bridges and caisson foundations, his only son, John A. Roebling, II, was born. After returning in 1868, Washington became assistant engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, and was named chief engineer after his father's death in mid-1869. He made several important improvements on the bridge design and further developed bridge building techniques. Thus, he designed the two large pneumatic caissons
that became the foundations for the two towers. In 1870 fire broke out in one of the caissons, and Roebling being in the caisson directed the fight against it. Working in compressed air in these caissons under the river caused him to get decompression sickness
("the bends
") shattering his health and rendering him unable to visit the site, yet he continued to oversee the Brooklyn project to successful completion in 1883. Beside the bends, he may have had additional afflictions, possible neurasthenia
, side effects of treatments, and secondary drug addition. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling
, becoming his nurse, companion, and confidant took over the day-to-day supervision and site visits, and successfully lobbied for retention of him as chief engineer. McCullough remarked that "nowhere in the history of great undertakings is there anything comparable" Roebling conducting the largest and most difficult engineering project ever "in absentia".
Roebling would battle the after-effects from the caisson disease and its treatment the rest of his life.
(RPI). When their son graduated, the Roeblings returned to Trenton, moving to 191 West State Street in 1892. From 1902-1903 Roebling served as President of the Alumni Association at Rensselaer. His wife Emily died in 1903 from stomach cancer. Roebling remarried in 1908 to Cornelia Witsell Farrow of Charleston, South Carolina
.
His namesake, Washington Augustus Roebling II, only son of his brother Charles G. Roebling, went down with the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Following the sudden death of his nephew, Karl Gustavus Roebling, in 1921, Roebling again became president of John A. Roebling's Sons Company at age 84. He died in 1926, after being bedridden for two months, at age 89.
Roebling's most passionate hobby was collecting rocks
and mineral
s. His collection of over 16,000 specimens was donated by his son, John A. Roebling, II, to the Smithsonian Institution
and became an important part of its mineral and gem collection.
A plethora of his manuscripts, photographs, and publications, can be found in the Roebling collections at Rutgers University
in New Brunswick, New Jersey
, and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
in Troy, New York
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
best known for his work on the Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. Completed in 1883, it connects the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River...
, which was initially designed by his father John A. Roebling
John A. Roebling
John Augustus Roebling was a German-born American civil engineer. He is famous for his wire rope suspension bridge designs, in particular, the design of the Brooklyn Bridge.-Early life:...
.
Education and military service
The eldest son of John Roebling, Washington was born in Saxonburg, PennsylvaniaSaxonburg, Pennsylvania
Saxonburg is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,629 as of the 2000 census.- History :Founded in 1832 by John A...
, a town co-founded by his father and his uncle, Karl Roebling. His early schooling consisted of tutoring by Riedel and under Henne in Pittsburgh. He eventually attended the Trenton Academy and acquired further education at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
in Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
, from 1854-57. While attending Rensselaer, Roebling became a member of the Pi Eta Scientific Society, now known as the Rensselaer Society of Engineers
Rensselaer Society of Engineers
The Rensselaer Society of Engineers was founded as the Pi Eta Scientific Society in 1866, and in 1873 was incorporated in New York State as The Rensselaer Society of Engineers...
. Following his graduation as civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
(C.E.), he joined his father to work as a bridge
Bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...
builder. From 1858 to 1860, he assisted his father on the Allegheny Bridge project, living in a boarding house on Penn Street. Following the completion of the bridge, he returned to Trenton to work in his father's wire mill.
On April 16, 1861, during the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
, Roebling enlisted as a private in the New Jersey Militia. Seeking more than garrison duty, he resigned after two months and re-enlisted in a New York artillery battery. He rose steadily in rank and was soon commissioned as an officer.
Roebling saw action in numerous battles: Manassas Junction (Second Bull Run
Second Battle of Bull Run
The Second Battle of Bull Run or Second Manassas was fought August 28–30, 1862, as part of the American Civil War. It was the culmination of an offensive campaign waged by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia against Union Maj. Gen...
), Antietam
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000...
, Chancellorsville
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...
, the Wilderness
Battle of the Wilderness
The Battle of the Wilderness, fought May 5–7, 1864, was the first battle of Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Virginia Overland Campaign against Gen. Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Both armies suffered heavy casualties, a harbinger of a bloody war of attrition by...
, Siege of Petersburg
Siege of Petersburg
The Richmond–Petersburg Campaign was a series of battles around Petersburg, Virginia, fought from June 9, 1864, to March 25, 1865, during the American Civil War...
, and most notably Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...
. Soon after Chancellorsville, he was perhaps the first to note the movement of Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee
Robert Edward Lee was a career military officer who is best known for having commanded the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War....
's Confederate
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...
Army toward the northwest while conducting air balloon reconnaissance.
On July 2, 1863, Roebling was one of the initial officers on Little Round Top
Little Round Top
Little Round Top is the smaller of two rocky hills south of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It was the site of an unsuccessful assault by Confederate troops against the Union left flank on July 2, 1863, the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg....
. Observing signs of Confederate troops approaching, he hurried down the hill to report to Brig. Gen.
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
Gouverneur K. Warren
Gouverneur K. Warren
Gouverneur Kemble Warren was a civil engineer and prominent general in the Union Army during the American Civil War...
, for whom Roebling was aide-de-camp. General Warren and Roebling then descended the hill to find troops to secure this important tactical position. Roebling assisted in hoisting artillery up the hill, while Warren sent two of his aides, one of whom was Lt. Ranald S. Mackenzie
Ranald S. Mackenzie
Ranald Slidell Mackenzie was a career United States Army officer and general in the Union Army during the American Civil War, described by General Ulysses S. Grant as its most promising young officer...
, searching for infantry support. The two aides were able to secure a brigade from the Union V Corps
V Corps (ACW)
The V Corps was a unit of the Union Army of the Potomac during the American Civil War.-1862:The corps was first organized briefly under Nathaniel P. Banks, but then permanently on May 18, 1862, designated as the "V Corps Provisional"...
. This brigade was commanded by Col. Strong Vincent
Strong Vincent
Strong Vincent was a lawyer who became famous as a U.S. Army officer during the fighting on Little Round Top at the American Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, where he was mortally wounded.-Early life:...
whose brigade immediately occupied the hill and defended the left flank of the Army of the Potomac
Army of the Potomac
The Army of the Potomac was the major Union Army in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.-History:The Army of the Potomac was created in 1861, but was then only the size of a corps . Its nucleus was called the Army of Northeastern Virginia, under Brig. Gen...
against repeated Confederate attacks. As Vincent's brigade began moving into position, Warren and Roebling had left the hill and Roebling was able to send the 140th New York Volunteers to the hill, not knowing that Vincent's brigade was already engaging advancing Confederate troops. However, the 140th New York provided much needed reinforcements.
Roebling was brevet
Brevet (military)
In many of the world's military establishments, brevet referred to a warrant authorizing a commissioned officer to hold a higher rank temporarily, but usually without receiving the pay of that higher rank except when actually serving in that role. An officer so promoted may be referred to as being...
ted lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, United States Air Force, and United States Marine Corps, a lieutenant colonel is a field grade military officer rank just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel. It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services.The pay...
in December 1864 for gallant service, ending his service brevetted to colonel
Colonel (United States)
In the United States Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps, colonel is a senior field grade military officer rank just above the rank of lieutenant colonel and just below the rank of brigadier general...
.
Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge
From mid-1865 to 1867, Roebling worked with his father on the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge (now the John A. Roebling Suspension BridgeJohn A. Roebling Suspension Bridge
The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When the first pedestrians crossed on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet main span. Today, many pedestrians use the bridge to get between...
). While traveling in Europe to research bridges and caisson foundations, his only son, John A. Roebling, II, was born. After returning in 1868, Washington became assistant engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge, and was named chief engineer after his father's death in mid-1869. He made several important improvements on the bridge design and further developed bridge building techniques. Thus, he designed the two large pneumatic caissons
Caisson (engineering)
In geotechnical engineering, a caisson is a retaining, watertight structure used, for example, to work on the foundations of a bridge pier, for the construction of a concrete dam, or for the repair of ships. These are constructed such that the water can be pumped out, keeping the working...
that became the foundations for the two towers. In 1870 fire broke out in one of the caissons, and Roebling being in the caisson directed the fight against it. Working in compressed air in these caissons under the river caused him to get decompression sickness
Decompression sickness
Decompression sickness describes a condition arising from dissolved gases coming out of solution into bubbles inside the body on depressurization...
("the bends
Bends
Bends, or the bends may refer to:* "The bends", the common term used to refer to decompression sickness* The Bends, a 1995 album by British band Radiohead** "The Bends", a song from the above album...
") shattering his health and rendering him unable to visit the site, yet he continued to oversee the Brooklyn project to successful completion in 1883. Beside the bends, he may have had additional afflictions, possible neurasthenia
Neurasthenia
Neurasthenia is a psycho-pathological term first used by George Miller Beard in 1869 to denote a condition with symptoms of fatigue, anxiety, headache, neuralgia and depressed mood...
, side effects of treatments, and secondary drug addition. His wife, Emily Warren Roebling
Emily Warren Roebling
Emily Warren Roebling was married to Washington Roebling, a civil engineer who was Chief Engineer during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge...
, becoming his nurse, companion, and confidant took over the day-to-day supervision and site visits, and successfully lobbied for retention of him as chief engineer. McCullough remarked that "nowhere in the history of great undertakings is there anything comparable" Roebling conducting the largest and most difficult engineering project ever "in absentia".
Roebling would battle the after-effects from the caisson disease and its treatment the rest of his life.
Later years
Following the Brooklyn project, Roebling and his wife lived in Troy, New York, from 1884–88, as their only child, John A. Roebling, II, also attended the Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteRensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
(RPI). When their son graduated, the Roeblings returned to Trenton, moving to 191 West State Street in 1892. From 1902-1903 Roebling served as President of the Alumni Association at Rensselaer. His wife Emily died in 1903 from stomach cancer. Roebling remarried in 1908 to Cornelia Witsell Farrow of Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
.
His namesake, Washington Augustus Roebling II, only son of his brother Charles G. Roebling, went down with the RMS Titanic in 1912.
Following the sudden death of his nephew, Karl Gustavus Roebling, in 1921, Roebling again became president of John A. Roebling's Sons Company at age 84. He died in 1926, after being bedridden for two months, at age 89.
Roebling's most passionate hobby was collecting rocks
Rock (geology)
In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids.The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock. In general rocks are of three types, namely, igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic...
and mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
s. His collection of over 16,000 specimens was donated by his son, John A. Roebling, II, to the Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...
and became an important part of its mineral and gem collection.
A plethora of his manuscripts, photographs, and publications, can be found in the Roebling collections at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in New Brunswick, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...
in Troy, New York
Troy, New York
Troy is a city in the US State of New York and the seat of Rensselaer County. Troy is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany and Schenectady, forming a region popularly called the Capital...
.