René Edward De Russy: Difference between revisions
m →Career: Category:CS1 maint: Date format fixes using AWB |
m Bot: removing misplaced special no-break space character and minor changes |
||
| Line 27: | Line 27: | ||
René Edward De Russy was born in the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] (now [[Haiti]]) on February 22, 1789.<ref name="Eicher2002">{{cite book|last1=Eicher|first1=John|last2=Eicher|first2=David|title=Civil War High Commands|date=2002|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|isbn=9780804780353|page=207|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fs0Ajlnjl6AC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207|accessdate=16 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> Two years later, the De Russy family moved to [[Old Point Comfort]], [[Virginia]].<ref name="Academy1902">{{cite book|last1=Academy|first1=United States Military|title=List of Cadets Admitted Into the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.: From Its Origins Till September 1, 1901, with Tables Exhibiting the Results of Examinations for Admission, and the Corps to which the Graduates Have Been Promoted|date=1902|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dM0_Sd75RIC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29|accessdate=16 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> |
René Edward De Russy was born in the French colony of [[Saint-Domingue]] (now [[Haiti]]) on February 22, 1789.<ref name="Eicher2002">{{cite book|last1=Eicher|first1=John|last2=Eicher|first2=David|title=Civil War High Commands|date=2002|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|isbn=9780804780353|page=207|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Fs0Ajlnjl6AC&pg=PA207&lpg=PA207|accessdate=16 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> Two years later, the De Russy family moved to [[Old Point Comfort]], [[Virginia]].<ref name="Academy1902">{{cite book|last1=Academy|first1=United States Military|title=List of Cadets Admitted Into the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.: From Its Origins Till September 1, 1901, with Tables Exhibiting the Results of Examinations for Admission, and the Corps to which the Graduates Have Been Promoted|date=1902|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=29|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1dM0_Sd75RIC&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29|accessdate=16 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> |
||
At the age of 18, De Russy enrolled into the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point]], [[New York (state)|New York]] on March 20, 1807, and graduated on June 10, 1812, at the bottom of his class.<ref name="uchicago">{{cite web|title=René |
At the age of 18, De Russy enrolled into the [[United States Military Academy]] at [[West Point]], [[New York (state)|New York]] on March 20, 1807, and graduated on June 10, 1812, at the bottom of his class.<ref name="uchicago">{{cite web|title=René E. de Russy • Cullum's Register • 89|url=http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Army/USMA/Cullums_Register/89*.html|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|accessdate=16 October 2017|language=en}}</ref> |
||
==Career== |
==Career== |
||
| Line 58: | Line 58: | ||
==See also== |
==See also== |
||
*[[Brooklyn Eagle]] |
* [[Brooklyn Eagle]] |
||
*[[Dyker Heights]] Historical Society |
* [[Dyker Heights]] Historical Society |
||
==References== |
==References== |
||
| Line 65: | Line 65: | ||
==External links== |
==External links== |
||
*{{Find a Grave|5949428}} |
* {{Find a Grave|5949428}} |
||
{{s-start}} |
{{s-start}} |
||
Revision as of 04:12, 30 October 2017
René Edward De Russy | |
|---|---|
 Brig. Gen. René Edward de Russy | |
| Born | February 22, 1789 Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) |
| Died | November 23, 1865 (aged 76) San Francisco, California |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States of America |
| Service/ | United States Army Union Army |
| Years of service | 1812 - 1865 |
| Rank |  Colonel Brevet Brigadier General |
| Unit | United States Army Corps of Engineers |
| Commands held | Superintendent of the United States Military Academy |
René Edward De Russy (February 22, 1789 – November 23, 1865) was an engineer, military educator, and career United States Army officer who was responsible for erecting many Eastern United States coastal fortifications. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy and was promoted to brigadier general during the American Civil War.
Early life
René Edward De Russy was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) on February 22, 1789.[1] Two years later, the De Russy family moved to Old Point Comfort, Virginia.[2]
At the age of 18, De Russy enrolled into the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York on March 20, 1807, and graduated on June 10, 1812, at the bottom of his class.[3]
Career
After West Point, De Russy worked as the assistant engineer for New York State’s defenses and helped to build Fort Montgomery, Rouses Point on the Canada–US border. In the late 1810s, he became the Superintending Engineer of the defenses of New York Harbor. However, after that he was sent south to build forts along the Gulf of Mexico, from 1821 to 1825.[4]
In 1825, he returned to New York City where he continued to build the Harbor’s defenses, specifically Fort Hamilton. The Brooklyn Eagle reported that De Russy was the “engineer under whose direction Fort Hamilton was built, the corner stone of which was laid on June 11, 1825, and which was first garrisoned by troops on November 1, 1831.”[5] During this stay in New York City De Russy inspected the construction of the New Utrecht Reformed Church in and built his home, which the Brooklyn Eagle referred to as “The Lookout” because it overlooked the harbor, situated as it was on the very top of the hill that became Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, New York.[1][6]
On July 1, 1833, he became Superintendent of the United States Military Academy, in which he supervised for five years.[7] Thereafter, he was sent south again to build forts in Virginia and Delaware. Because of his extensive career, De Russy became a member of the Atlantic Coast Defense Board from 1849 until 1854, when he was sent to San Francisco, where he built military forts and aptly became a member of the Pacific Coast Defense Board.[5] In 1857, he was sent back to the Atlantic Coast but returned to San Francisco in 1861. While in the military he rose to the rank of Brigadier General and invented the barbette depressing gun carriage.[5]
Personal life
De Russy was married to Harriet Elizabeth Taylor (1805–1834). Together, they were the parents of:[8]
- Gustavus Adolphus De Russy (1818–1891), a Brigadier General who served as quartermaster at Fort Monroe from 1848 until 1857, and who married Frances Clitz (1836–1901), sister of John Mellen Brady Clitz (1821–1897), commander of the Asiatic Squadron.
- John Allen De Russy (1826–1850), who died at Fort Monroe in Virginia in 1850.
- Clara Louise De Russey (1829–1900), who married Brevet Major General William Augustus Nichols (1818–1869)
- Emily Caroline De Russy (1831–1857), who married Brigadier General Henry Jackson Hunt (1819–1889)
After her death, he married Helen Augusta Maxwell (1832–1908). Together, they were the parents of:[8]
- Isaac Denniston De Russy (1840–1923), a Brigadier General who married Laura Requa (1859–1929).
- Laura De Russy (1853–1923), who married Washington Berry (1851–1921) in 1876.
- Helen Maxwell De Russy (1856–1901), who married Charles Hobart Clark (1851–1915) in a double wedding at the same time as her sister Sara married Arthur Murray.
- Fanny De Russy (1857–1925), who married Brigadier General Eli DuBose Hoyle (1851–1921). Their son was Brigadier General Rene Edward De Russy Hoyle (1883–1981)
- Sara Wetmore De Russy (1860–1926), who married Major General Arthur Murray (1851–1925). Their son was Major General Maxwell Murray (1885–1948), who commanded the 25th Infantry Division during the Attack on Pearl Harbor.
De Russy “died while on active duty at San Francisco on November 23, 1865, aged 75 years, the oldest graduate of the Military Academy on active duty.” He is buried at the United States Military Academy Post Cemetery.
Legacy
There are five Forts DeRussy in the United States. Fort DeRussy Military Reservation in Honolulu, two in Louisiana, one in Kentucky, and one in Washington, D.C. The latter four were all built during the American Civil War. All of the forts were named for two brothers, Lewis Gustave and René Edward De Russy. Lewis also graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1814. Lewis, as a colonel in the Confederate Army, was the oldest West Point graduate to serve on the Confederate side, while his older brother René served on the Union side.[9][10]
See also
- Brooklyn Eagle
- Dyker Heights Historical Society
References
- ^ a b Eicher, John; Eicher, David (2002). Civil War High Commands. Stanford University Press. p. 207. ISBN 9780804780353. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Academy, United States Military (1902). List of Cadets Admitted Into the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.: From Its Origins Till September 1, 1901, with Tables Exhibiting the Results of Examinations for Admission, and the Corps to which the Graduates Have Been Promoted. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 29. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "René E. de Russy • Cullum's Register • 89". penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Jackson, Andrew. "René Edward DeRussy to Andrew Jackson, September 5, 1821". loc.gov. The Library of Congress. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ a b c The Military Engineer, Vol. VII, No. 31. Society of American Military Engineers. January–February 1915. p. 758. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "DE RUSSY DRIVE, Dyker Heights". forgotten-ny.com. Forgotten New York. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "Civil War Defenses of Washington". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-04-19.
- ^ a b Long Island Source Records: From the New York Genealogical and Biographical Record. Genealogical Publishing Com. 1987. pp. 444–445. ISBN 9780806311784. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ Mayeux, Steve. "DeRussy Biography". www.fortderussy.org. The Friends of Fort DeRussy. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
- ^ "Fort DeRussy (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 16 October 2017.
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
