Trivia 1-16-18 Who am I?

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Washington Roebling was an honors graduate Engineer from Rennessler Polytechnic

Most people know he completed the Brooklyn Bridge after his father died in 1869.

The Suspension Bridge at Waco Texas was built by the Roeblings

Edit - You get credit for the correct answer, even though you joined the multitudes who have had difficulty spelling "Rensselaer" correctly.

The late Dr. Richard Folsom, who once served as the school's president, was known to begin his welcoming address to incoming freshmen along the following lines.

"I'd like to welcome you all to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute!

"Well, actually I wouldn't. I sort of wish we could change the name, because it has been found, over the years, that few people know how to spell Rensselaer...fewer yet know what polytechnic means... and who in the h**l wants to go to an institute?"

hoosier
 
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Washington Augustus Roebling (May 26, 1837 – July 21, 1926)
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Emily Warren met her future husband, Washington A. Roebling, when he served on her eldest brother, General G. K. Warren's staff as an engineering officer. Under Warren's command, Roebling built two strategically significant suspension bridges, one at the Rappahannock River and another on the Shenandoah River at Harper's Ferry. He is credited with several amazing feats during the Civil War. From a hot air balloon on a sunny late-June morning in 1863, Roebling was the first to spy Robert E. Lee's army heading toward Gettysburg. During the ensuing battle, when General Warren ordered that Little Round Top be reinforced, Roebling helped place the first cannon, which effectively defended the site and directly contributed to the subsequent Union victory. He was awarded three brevets for gallant conduct and ended his military career as a Colonel.

After the war when he and Emily married, Roebling returned to the family wire manufacturing and bridge building business, John A. Roebling's Sons, Co. His father, John A. Roebling, had begun the Brooklyn Bridge project in 1869; a massive undertaking which would not be completed for another 14 years. At his father's death, Washington took over the business and directly supervised construction of the underwater caissons upon which the bridge's massive towers would be built. Because of this underwater work, he was stricken several times with what we now know as decompression sickness, or the bends. In 1879 he became totally disabled from it and was no longer able to work....
 
I was born in Pennsylvania, the son of immigrants. After graduating from what is now Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Civil Engineering. I went to work for my father, also a Civil Engineer. At the start of the rebellion, I enlisted as a private and later became an aide of a prominent officer. I participated in several battles and had a key role in one of the best known. My manner was often seen as curt and direct: General Meade once asked me, “What's that redoubt doing there?” I answered, “Don't know; didn't put it there.” I left the service a brevetted Colonel and returned to work for my father, later finishing one of his best known projects and becoming president of the company.
Who am I?

credit: @WJC

Washington Augustus Roebling
I apologize for responding so late. I just realized the question was sent out at 7 am but I can't get to the computer till later and had not gone to the board for the question. You get enough responses without adding the late comers. I do enjoy the questions.
Regards
David

Edit - No need to apologize. You responded in plenty of time.

You can post your response to a trivia game question any time up until the time the thread is closed. As a general rule, the earliest time a trivia game question thread will be closed is 8:00 AM Eastern time on the second day after the question was posted. And if the question thread remains open longer than that, I will still accept answers as long as they were posted before the thread was closed.

hoosier
 
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Answer: Washington A. Roebling (1837-1926), who served as aide to Gouverneur K. Warren. Roebling first noted the importance of Little Round Top, alerted Warren and helped gather troops and move artillery to defend the site.

Source: David McCullough,The Great Bridge. (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1972), pp. 157-162.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Washington-Augustus-Roebling
Conversation with Meade is from Theodore Lyman, With Grant and Meade from the Wilderness to Appomattox, (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1922), p. 240.
 
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