Washington's Engineer

January 15, 2021
A biography of the French general who established the principals on which the Army Corps of Engineers was founded. Desmarais, a prolific writer on the American Revolution, draws much of his material from reports that Louis Duportail (1743-1802) and his fellow officers delivered to George Washington. Born in a small town near Orleans, France, Duportail was a younger son of a minor noble. At age 18, he enrolled in a college for military engineers. Promoted to captain at age 30, he was chosen by the minister of war to compile a new edition of the training manual for the Royal Corps of Engineers. Impressed at the result, the minister recommended him to Benjamin Franklin, who sought to recruit French engineers for the Continental Army. In 1777, with the king's approval, Duportail sailed to America, where he reported to Washington's headquarters. He quickly proved his worth; in November, Congress promoted him to brigadier general. He oversaw the defenses of Valley Forge, advised on a number of proposed actions, including an attack on British forces occupying Philadelphia, and helped construct the plans for what became the Army Corps of Engineers. Duportail was also instrumental in designing the defenses at West Point and in the preparations for the siege of Yorktown, which effectively ended the war. Following the French Revolution, he returned to America and bought a farm near Philadelphia. He died while returning to France after Napoleon recalled exiled officers. The author gives a solid picture of Duportail's career--about which many readers may be unfamiliar--but there is little sense of the man himself other than in formulaic commendations from Washington and other colleagues. The narrative is also repetitive, citing some documents almost verbatim several times. For Revolutionary War die-hards and those interested in the history of military and civil engineering.

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