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Charles Ellet Jr.

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Charles Ellet Jr.
Born(1810-01-01)January 1, 1810
Bucks County, Pennsylvania, US
DiedJune 21, 1862(1862-06-21) (aged 52)
Cairo, Illinois, US
Buried
Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Allegiance United States
Union
Service / branchUnion Army
Years of service1862
Rank Colonel
CommandsUnited States Ram Fleet
Battles / warsAmerican Civil War
RelationsCharles R. Ellet (son)
Alfred W. Ellet (brother)
John A. Ellet (nephew)

Charles Ellet Jr. (1 January 1810 – 21 June 1862) was an American civil engineer from Pennsylvania who designed and constructed major canals, suspension bridges and railroads. He built the Wheeling Suspension Bridge, the longest suspension bridge in the world from 1849 to 1851. He conducted the first ever Federal survey of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers as part of the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers.

He published multiple books and essays on wide ranging topics including macroeconomic theory, suspension bridge construction, railroad construction, river flood control and steam powered battery rams.

During the American Civil War, he received a commission as colonel and created and commanded the United States Ram Fleet, a Union Army unit of ram ships converted from commercial steamers. His ram ships played a critical role in the Union naval victory at the First Battle of Memphis. He was wounded during the battle (the only casualty on the Union side) and died soon after.

Early life and education

Daguerreotype of Charles Ellet, Jr.

Ellet was born at Penn's Manor in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He was the sixth child of fourteen born to Charles Ellet Sr. and Mary Israel.[1] He studied at the Bristol school[2] and worked as a rodman, measuring for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and making drawings.[3] Benjamin Wright promoted him to Assistant Engineer of the Fifth Residency, but in 1830, he resigned to continue his studies in Paris. He studied civil engineering at École nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris.[4]

Family

Both his maternal and paternal grandfathers served in the American Revolutionary War. His father was a Quaker and a descendant of Samuel Carpenter who served as Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania.[4]

His maternal grandfather, Israel Israel, descended from a family of Jewish diamond cutters from Holland and was a member of Pennsylvania's Committee of Safety and a recognized active patriot. His maternal grandmother, Hannah Erwin, was from a Quaker family.

Ellet married Elvira Augusta Stuart Daniel on November 7, 1837 in Lynchburg, Virginia. Her father was Virginia justice William Daniel and her mother was Margaret Baldwin. Her family was one of the First Families of Virginia and owned enslaved persons, although Ellet would not. Judge Daniel's father had served as an ensign during the Revolutionary war under Captain Arda Allen, and his wife's maternal grandfather Dr. Cornelius Baldwin had served as a surgeon for the patriot cause throughout the conflict. The Ellets' Virginia-born daughter, Mary V. Ellet Cabell, helped found the Daughters of the American Revolution and became its member n. 6.[5] His brother Alfred W. Ellet served as a brigadier general in the Union Army during the Civil War.[6] Their son Charles Rivers Ellet also served as a colonel in the Union Army and commander of the United States Ram Fleet.

Engineering career

Wheeling Suspension Bridge circa 1850

After returning from Europe, he worked on the Utica and Schenectady Railroad and was appointed to conduct a survey of the Western New York section of the New York and Erie Railroad.[7] In 1832 he submitted a proposal to Congress for a suspension bridge across the Potomac River but it was rejected.[8] In 1842, he designed and built the first major wire-cable suspension bridge in the United States, spanning 358 feet over the Schuylkill River at Fairmount, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[9] In 1848, he built the record-breaking Wheeling suspension bridge over the Ohio River at Wheeling, West Virginia with a span over 1,000 feet. In the same year, he erected the first ever suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge[1] with a 770-foot span.[10]

His supervised construction of the James River and Kanawha Canal in Virginia.[11] From 1846 to 1847, he worked as president of the Schuylkill Navigation Company in Pennsylvania and led improvements to the canal used for transporting anthracite coal.[4] He also constructed railroads in those states. Ellet developed theories for improving flood control and navigation of mid-western rivers.[12] In 1849 he had advocated the use of reservoirs, built in the upper reaches of drainage basins, to retain water from the wet season that could be released during periods of low water to improve navigation;[13] to some degree this also would tend to lessen the level of flooding during high flow.

In 1850, the Secretary of War, conforming to an Act of Congress, directed Ellet to make surveys and reports on the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers with a view to the preparation of adequate plans for flood prevention and navigation improvement. His detailed report had considerable influence on later engineering thought and navigation improvements.[14] His Report of the Overflows of the Delta of the Mississippi River helped to reshape New Orlean's waterfront. George Perkins Marsh published Man and Nature fourteen years later, but it was Ellet who first noted in writing that the artificial embankments created an overflowing delta. However, only decades later would his assertions be taken seriously and used in flood control decisions.[15]

United States Ram Fleet

An engraving from Harper's Weekly depicting the United States Ram Fleet ships USS Monarch, USS Queen of the West, USS Lioness and USS Switzerland

In September 1854, while travelling overseas, Ellet learned that the 250-ton SS Vesta accidentally rammed and sank the 2,794-ton SS Arctic. This incident convinced Ellet that with the development of steam propulsion, ramming could be a very effective form of naval combat. The Crimean War was underway and Ellet offered his services to Russian government to build a fleet of ram ships to help them defeat the naval blockade in the Black Sea during the Siege of Sebastopol. He received interest from the Russian government but the plans were scrapped after the Russian Czar was assassinated. Ellet became enthusiastic about the possibility of a ram fleet and wrote to the U.S. Navy with his plan but was unable to persuade them of the benefit.[16] He published the pamphlet Coast and Harbor Defenses, or the Substitution of Steam Battering Rams for Ships of War in late 1855, hoping to gain the interest of the public.[17]

When the Civil War broke out, Ellet renewed his advocacy especially in light of the Confederate build up of ram ships. The Confederate forces captured the USS Merrimack at the Norfolk Navy Yard and converted her to a ram ship. Despite being bulky and slow-moving, the Union forces became convinced of the possibility of ram ships when the Merrimack, renamed CSS Virginia, sank the USS Cumberland and USS Congress at Hampton Roads.[3] The Navy still ignored him, but in March 1862, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, familiar with his work on the Wheeling Suspension Bridge among other projects appointed Ellet colonel of engineers, and authorized him to form the United States Ram Fleet on the Mississippi River. The Union Navy's Mississippi River Squadron and the Confederate River Defense Fleet were battling for control of the Mississippi and Stanton believed the Union Navy would benefit from the addition of ram ships.[18] Ellet and the ram fleet were outside of the naval command and reported directly to Stanton.[19]

Ellet purchased the nine fastest river steamboats available on the Ohio River and converted them to rams.[20] Ellet assigned family members as captains of the other rams, including his brother Alfred W. Ellet, his nephew John A. Ellet, and his son Charles Rivers Ellet.[19]

On May 25, Ellet and the ram fleet joined the Mississippi River Squadron, led by Charles H. Davis, on the Mississippi River north of Fort Pillow. Davis had little faith in the effectiveness of the rams but allowed the fleet to accompany his gunboats down the river to Memphis.[19]

Ellet's ram ships helped the Union achieve a decisive victory at the First Battle of Memphis

On June 6, Colonel Ellet led the rams in the Battle of Memphis as captain of USS Queen of the West with his brother Alfred W. in command of the USS Monarch. The Ellets had not coordinated a plan of attack with Davis and when the flotilla approached Confederate forces, the two rams steamed ahead of Davis' gunboats. The Queen of the West rammed and sank the Confederate flagship CSS Colonel Lovell. After the collision, the Queen of the West came under attack from the CSS Sumter and the CSS Beauregard. The attack sheared off one of the paddle wheels from the Queen of the West and forced her to ground on the riverbank. The Monarch rammed and disabled the CSS General Price and forced her to ground on the riverbank also. Ellet sent a boarding party and captured the General Price. Ellet was wounded in the knee by a Confederate sharpshooter during the battle. His wound was the only serious casualty received on the Union side during the battle.[19]

The Confederate forces suffered a severe loss at the Battle of Memphis with heavy casualties and the loss of seven of their eight ships.[19]

Death and legacy

Charles Ellet, Jr. gravestone in Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia

Ellet refused to consider amputation for his injury.[21] His wound became infected and he died 15 days later of a blood infection[22] in Cairo, Illinois.[23] His body was taken to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, he was given a state funeral[20] and interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.[24] Command of the ram fleet went to his brother Alfred W. Ellet.[25]

The U.S. Navy named a destroyer to honor the Ellet family. USS Ellet (DD-398) was in service in 1939-46 during World War II.[26]

In 1994, Stanford University received a gift of Ellet's Civil War letters from Elizabeth Ellet Nitz and Frances Ellet Ward. The papers are housed in the Department of Special Collections at Stanford University Library.[27]

On November 6, 1999, the Wheeling, West Virginia chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution placed a commemorative plaque on the western abutment of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge recognizing Ellet's accomplishments and his daughter, Mary Virginia Ellet Cabell's, role in founding the Daughters of the American Revolution.[27]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ a b Mahmoud 2015, p. 289.
  2. ^ Abbott 1866, p. 295.
  3. ^ a b Crandall 1907, p. 9.
  4. ^ a b c Unrau, Harlan D. (2007). Historic Resource Study: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal (PDF). Hagerstown, Md.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. p. 16. LCCN 2007473571. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
  5. ^ National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution 1901Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. ^ Eicher, John H.; Eicher, David J. (2001). Civil War High Commands. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press. p. 224. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  7. ^ Crandall 1907, p. 10.
  8. ^ Lewis 1968, p. 20.
  9. ^ Steinman, D. B. & S. R. Watson. 1957. Bridges and their builders. New York, Dover Publications. p.210
  10. ^ Steinman & Watson, p. 211
  11. ^ Appletons' annual cyclopaedia and register of important events of the year: 1862. New York: D. Appleton & Company. 1863. p. 412. Archived from the original on 2015-11-21.
  12. ^ Lewis 1968, p. 36,92.
  13. ^ Timeline: Development of US Inland Waterways System from Coosa-Alabama River Improvement Association, Inc.
  14. ^ "Federal Participation in Waterways Development". Archived from the original on December 30, 2011. Retrieved September 9, 2019.
  15. ^ Kelman, Ari (2003). A River and Its City: The Nature of Landscape in New Orleans. University of California Press. p. 162. ISBN 0-520-23432-4.
  16. ^ Crandall 1907, p. 11.
  17. ^ Nash, H. (1972). A naval history of the Civil War. New York: A. S. Barnes. p. 28. ISBN 9780498078415.
  18. ^ Crandall 1907, p. 16.
  19. ^ a b c d e Fowler 1990.
  20. ^ a b Joiner 2007, p. 68.
  21. ^ Abbott 1866, p. 803.
  22. ^ Hearn 2000.
  23. ^ Eicher, D. J. (2001). The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 253. ISBN 0684849445.
  24. ^ Crandall 1907, p. 84.
  25. ^ Laidig, Scott. "The Fighting Ellets: Ingenuity, Courage, Nepotism and Corruption?". www.ehistory.osu.edu. Retrieved 16 August 2020.
  26. ^ "Ellet (DD-398)". www.history.navy.mil. Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  27. ^ a b Coley, Jeanette Cabell (July 2000). "Recognition of a Pioneerng Engineer Building Bridges". Ancestry. 18 (4): 61–63. Retrieved 18 September 2020.

Sources

Further reading

Media related to Charles Ellet Jr. at Wikimedia Commons

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