Andrew Atkinson Humphreys was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on November 2, 1810, the son of Samuel and Letitia (Atkinson) Humphreys. As a boy, he had ample opportunity to learn about engineering and construction from his father and grandfather (Joshua Humphreys) who both served as Chief Naval Constructors in the U.S. Navy. His grandfather was the first officer appointed to the position, and during his term designed the USS Constitution and five other sister frigates, which served in the War of 1812.
Humphreys was appointed to the Military Academy at West Point in 1827. Upon his graduation in 1831, Humphreys was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and assigned to an artillery company. He served chiefly in South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, during the Second Seminole War. In 1836, Humphreys resigned his commission due to poor health and took a position as a Civil Engineer in the private sector. Two years later, with his health recovered, he returned to the military as a First Lieutenant and joined a recently enlarged Topographical Engineering Corps in 1838. As a Topographical Engineer, Humphreys’ private sector engineering experience was highly prized, leading to assignments in surveys, harbor improvements, and bridge construction. After almost a decade, he transferred in 1844 to the Coast Survey for five years where he helped organize that institution.
In 1850, Humphreys began the work for which he would earn his fame. On September 28 of that year, Congress provided funds for reclamation along the flood-prone districts around the Mississippi Delta and dedicated $50,000 for a scientific Delta Survey to inform that effort. Humphreys’ previous experience made him perfectly suited to this new work and received responsible charge of the Survey.
Despite his deep knowledge and expertise, Humphreys’ charge was not a simple one. The questions of what flood control infrastructure should be built in the delta region and where they should be built involved complicated aspects of the region’s topography and the river’s hydraulics. Humphreys began with a detailed survey of the landscape to better understand which parts of the country would become inundated under different flood conditions. He directed the gathering of data related to channel cross-sections, slope, discharge volume, and suspended sediment at different points in the river at multiple times of the year. Humphreys prepared a report describing the Mississippi River’s flow characteristics, suggested equations for predicting its flow, and made recommendations for improvements of the Delta Region. From 1853 to 1857, he also worked on the Pacific Railroad Surveys with Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. Humphreys, along with 100 plus men (soldiers, scientist, and technicians) went west to find the most practical route for the First Transcontinental Railroad. In 1861, just before the outbreak of the Civil War, and after a decade of intense research and study, Humphrey and his chief assistant, Lt. Henry Abbott, published their Report upon the Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River. It received widespread acclaim, was translated into many foreign languages, and led to a monumental leap forward in the fields of hydraulics and water resources engineering.
During the Civil War, Humphreys served in multiple command capacities. Under General McClellan, Humphreys commanded troops during the battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg. With the cessation of hostilities in 1865, Humphreys was promoted to permanent Brigadier General and appointed Chief of Engineers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1866. As Chief of Engineers, Humphreys directed the work of more than 100 military and civilian engineers in the execution of public works all over the country for more than thirteen years. In 1879, at the age of 68, Humphreys retired his command and from public life.
Humphreys received many awards for his scientific and military achievements. In 1857, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society and in 1863, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received an Honorary LL.D. from Harvard University in 1868. In retirement, he studied philosophy and was one of the incorporators of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1871, he co-founded the scientific organization Philosophical Society of Washington. In 1873, Humphreys was elected an Honorary Member of ASCE.
Humphreys died in Washington, D.C., on December 27, 1883, at the age of 73 and is buried in the Congressional Cemetery. Andrew Humphreys married Rebecca Humphreys Hollingsworth, and they had one son. A military base in Virginia founded during World War I as Camp A. A. Humphreys was named for him. The post was renamed Fort Belvoir in the 1930s in recognition of the Belvoir Plantation that once occupied the site, but the adjacent United States Army Corps of Engineers Humphreys Engineer Center retains part of the original namesake. Humphreys Peak, Arizona's highest peak at 12,633 ft. is named in honor of General Humphreys.
References Abbot, Henry L. Memoir of Andrew Atkinson Humphreys 1810-1883. National Academy of Sciences. 1885.
Barry John, M. Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America. Simon & Schuster. 1998.
Humphreys, Henry H. Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, A Biography. John C. Winston Co. 1924.
