American military engineer, born in New Haven, CT, on the 23rd of August 1788; died on the 22nd of April 1864. He graduated at the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1805, and entered the department of engineering in the United States army; in 1806 resigned his commission and became secretary to his uncle, Jared Mansfield, who was engaged upon the first official survey of Ohio and the Western territories; rejoined the army two years later, and was employed upon the construction of Castle Williams and Fort Clinton, in New York harbor; during the second war with England served as chief engineer of the army under General Van Rensselaer in the Niagara campaign, and subsequently in the armies of Generals Dearborn and Macomb, gaining the brevet of lieutenant-colonel in the battle of Plattsburg. After the war he supervised the construction of Fort Adams, at Newport, RI, and was raised to the rank of colonel and chief engineer of the United States army in 1838. At the beginning of the war with Mexico he took charge of the engineering operations of the invading army, and directed the siege of Vera Cruz, for which he received the brevet of brigadier. Returning to Washington, he became a member of the Lighthouse Board, and was chosen state commissioner for the preservation of New York harbor. In 1859–61 he made a trip to the Pacific coast in the interest of its fortification and defense, and in 1863 was raised to the rank of brigadier-general, receiving in the following year the brevet of major-general. General Totten was a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, one of the founders of the National Academy of Sciences, and until his death a member of the Lighthouse Board. He was especially interested in conchology, the Gemma Tottenii and the Succinca Tottenii being named in his honor. He invented an embrasure for casemated batteries, which was used by the government for a long time.
