STRUCTURES IN THE STREAM: A HISTORY OF WATER, SCIENCE, AND THE CIVIL ACTIVITIES OF THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS, 1700-1861 (RIVERS, HARBORS, WATERWAYS, WATER RESOURCES, PUBLIC WORKS, UNITED STATES)

There existed in antebellum America a divided community of navigation engineers, part military and part civilian. Each faction looked to Europe for professional standards and solutions to obstructed navigation. Early graduates of the U.S. Military Academy, schooled in the scientific traditions of Napoleonic engineers, advanced a technology of hydraulic construction that placed jetties, wing dams, and other diversionary structures in the channels themselves--a technology sometimes at odds with the civilian preference for artificial waterways that avoided the natural channels. Within the War Department were more subtle distinctions of background and technique. Topographical engineers, a distinct bureau of the army after 1818, worked closely with civilians and occupied a middle ground between the orthodoxy of West Point science and expedients advanced by native engineers. Engineer officers secured a civil jurisdiction by promoting a historical concept of organizational mission, interpreting improvement legislation, and assisting Congress in the process of project evaluation. The political influence of Corps personnel, a divisive issue in 19th century America, remains a focus of controversy in modern policy science.