Henry L. Abbot
August 13, 1831 - October 1, 1927
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Membership Type:
Member
(elected 1872)
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Military engineer Henry Abbot advised several geological studies and projects. He conducted research on the Mississippi River’s hydrological structure from the Ohio River to the Gulf of Mexico. In 1855, he was assigned to work on the Pacific Railroad Survey in California and Oregon. His most notable work was as a consultant on the Panama Canal where he served on the Board of Consulting Engineers and proposed a lock canal over the favored sea-level canal.
Abbot graduated with honors from West Point in 1854 and was commissioned into U.S. Army that same year. He joined the Army Corps of Engineers where he conducted geological surveys. He served in the Union Army during the Civil War, was wounded in the First Battle of Bull Run, and became a Topological Engineer. Appointed to the rank of brevet brigadier general, he commanded a brigade of siege artillery during the Second Battle of Fort Fisher. After the War he was promoted to Major in the U.S. Army Engineers.
