- Herman Haupt
Infobox Military Person
name= Herman Haupt
born= birth date|1817|3|26
died= death date and age|1905|12|14|1817|3|26
placeofbirth=Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania
placeofdeath=Jersey City, New Jersey
placeofburial=
caption=Gen. Herman Haupt
nickname=
allegiance= Union
branch=Union Army
serviceyears=1862–63
rank=Brigadier General
commands=U.S. Military Railroads
unit=
battles=American Civil War
awards=
laterwork=Herman Haupt (
March 26 ,1817 –December 14 ,1905 ) was an Americancivil engineer andrailroad construction engineer and executive. As aUnion Army General in theAmerican Civil War , he revolutionized military transportation in the United States and was one of the unsung heroes of the war.Early life
Haupt, whose first name was sometimes spelled Hermann, was born in
Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania , the son of Jacob and Anna Margaretta Wiall Haupt. Jacob, a merchant, died when Herman was 12 years old and Anna was forced to support her family of three sons and two daughters. Herman attended school by working part time to pay his tuition. He was appointed to theUnited States Military Academy at the age of 14 by PresidentAndrew Jackson . He graduated in 1835 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U.S. Infantry that July. However, he resigned his commission onSeptember 30 ,1835 , to become a civil engineer. He worked as a construction engineer on theNorristown Railroad and engaged in bridge and tunnel construction. OnAugust 30 ,1838 , he married Ann Cecelia Keller inGettysburg, Pennsylvania . They eventually had seven sons and four daughters. In 1839, he designed and patented a novel bridge construction technique that is known as the Haupt Truss; examples of bridges he constructed with this technique are in Altoona andArdmore, Pennsylvania , both from 1854.From 1840 to 1847, Haupt was a
professor ofmathematics andengineering atGettysburg College (which at that time was named Pennsylvania College). He returned to the railroad business in 1847, becoming a construction engineer on thePennsylvania Railroad , and then general superintendent from 1849 to 1851. He was the chief engineer of the Southern Railroad ofMississippi from 1851 to 1853, and the chief engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad until 1856; in the latter position he completed the Mountain Division with the Alleghany Tunnel, opening the line through to Pittsburgh. He was the chief engineer on the five-mile (8 km)Hoosac Tunnel project through the Berkshires in WesternMassachusetts from 1856 to 1861.Civil War
In the spring of 1862, a year after the start of the Civil War, the
U.S. War Department organized a new bureau responsible for constructing and operating military railroads in the United States. OnApril 27 , Haupt was appointed chief of the bureau by Secretary of WarEdwin M. Stanton , as acolonel andaide-de-camp to Maj. Gen.Irvin McDowell , then in command of the defenses ofWashington, D.C. He repaired and fortified war-damaged railroad lines in the vicinity of Washington, arming and training railroad staff, and improvedtelegraph communications along the railroad lines. Among his most challenging assignments was restoring theRichmond and Fredericksburg Railroad line, including the Potomac Creek Bridge, which he repaired in nine days. PresidentAbraham Lincoln was impressed with Haupt's work there. In a visit onMay 28 ,1862 , he observed: "That man Haupt has built a bridge four hundred feet long and one hundred feet high, across Potomac Creek, on which loaded trains are passing every hour, and upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but cornstalks and beanpoles."Haupt was promoted to brigadier general on
September 5 ,1862 , but he officially refused the appointment, explaining that he would be happy to serve without official rank or pay, but he did not want to limit his freedom to work in private business (and he privately bridled at the protocols and discipline of Army service). His appointment was eventually rescinded onSeptember 5 ,1863 , and he left the service onSeptember 14 . During that year as a general, however, he made an enormous impact on the Union war effort. The Civil War was one of the first wars in which large-scale railroad transportation was used to move and supply armies rapidly over long distances. He assisted the UnionArmy of Virginia andArmy of the Potomac in theNorthern Virginia Campaign , theMaryland Campaign , and was particularly effective in supporting theGettysburg Campaign , conducted in an area he knew well from his youth. His hastily organized trains kept the Union Army well supplied, and he organized the returning trains to carry thousands of Union wounded to hospitals. After the battle, Haupt boarded one of his trains and arrived at theWhite House onJuly 6 ,1863 , being the first to inform President Lincoln that GeneralRobert E. Lee 's defeated Confederate army was not being pursued vigorously by Union Major GeneralGeorge G. Meade .Postbellum
After his war service, Haupt returned to railroad, bridge, pipeline, and tunnel construction. He and his wife purchased a small resort hotel at Mountain Lake in
Giles County, Virginia . He invented a drilling machine that won the highest prize of theRoyal Polytechnic Society of Great Britain and was the first to prove the practicability of transporting oil in pipes.He was the general manager of Piedmont Air-Line Railroad (from
Richmond, Virginia , toAtlanta, Georgia ), 1872 to 1876; general manager of theNorthern Pacific Railroad , 1881 to 1885; president of theDakota and Great Southern Railroad , 1885 to 1886. He was a wealthy man from his investments in railroads, mining, and Pennsylvania real estate, but he eventually lost most of his fortune, in part due to political complications involving the completion of theHoosac Tunnel .Herman Haupt died of a heart attack at age 88 in
Jersey City, New Jersey , stricken while traveling in aPullman car named "Irma" on a journey from New York to Philadelphia. He is buried inWest Laurel Hill Cemetery inBala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania . [ [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=12883 Herman Haupt] ,Find A Grave . AccessedAugust 29 ,2007 .]elected works
* "Hints on Bridge Building", published in 1840
* "General Theory of Bridge Construction", 1851
* "Plan for Improvement of the Ohio River", 1855
* "Military Bridges", 1864
* "Report upon the System of the Holly Steam Combination Co. Ltd.", 1879
* "Reminiscences of General Herman Haupt", 1901ee also
*
United States Military Railroad References
* Eicher, John H., and Eicher, David J., "Civil War High Commands", Stanford University Press, 2001, ISBN 0-8047-3641-3.
* [http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/3234/BrigGeneralH.html Haupt online biography, which includes an excellent photograph of the Potomac Creek Bridge]
* [http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=653&subjectID=2 Haupt online biography]*Structurae person|id=d002006|name=Herman Haupt
Notes
External links
* [http://www.trainweb.org/horseshoecurve-nrhs/Haupt.htm Herman Haupt Bridge]
* [http://users.ce.ufl.edu/~historic/states/pa/Ardmore_Haupt/Ardmore.htm Ardmore Haupt Truss bridge]
* [http://www.webcemeteries.com/westlaurelhill/LH.asp?Id=448973&T=T Biography at West Laurel Hill Cemetery web site]
* [http://www.emmitsburg.net/achs/articles/people/herman_wooing.htm Adams County Historical Society] vignette about Haupt's early days in GettysburgFurther reading
* Frey, Robert L., ed., "Railroads in the Nineteenth Century (Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography)", New York: Facts on File, 1988, ISBN 978-0816020126.
*Gingrich, Newt, and Forstchen, William R., "". St. Martin's Press, 2003, ISBN 0-312-30935-X. This alternate history novel (and its sequel, "Grant Comes East ") is one of the few popular books related to the war to acknowledge the importance of Haupt's contributions.
* Ward, James A., "That Man Haupt: A Biography of Herman Haupt", Louisiana State University Press, 1973, ISBN 978-0807102251.Persondata
NAME= Haupt, Herman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH=
PLACE OF BIRTH=Philadelphia ,Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH=
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