Class of 1880

Vol. IV
p324 [Supplement, Vol. IV: 1890‑1900]

Military History. — Served: Assistant to Lieutenant-Colonel Barlow, Oct. 23, 1889

(Captain, Corps of Engineers, Dec. 14, 1891)

to March 18, 1891. — In charge of improvement of Tennessee River, below Chattanooga, Ten., March 18, 1891 to Oct. 6, 1894. — Assistant to the Chief of Engineers, Washington, D. C., Oct. 8, 1894 to May 26, 1898.

(Lieut.‑Colonel and Chief Engineer, U. S. Volunteers, May 9, 1898)

— Chief Engineer, 1st Army Corps, May 30, 1898 to Oct. 20, 1898.

(Lieut.‑Colonel, 1st U. S. Volunteer Engineers, June 4, 1898 — Declined)

— At U. S. M. A., West Point, N. Y., in command of Engineer Company, as Instructor of Practical Military Engineering, and in charge of water works, Dec. 15, 1898 to –––––

(Major, Corps of Engineers, Feb. 7, 1900)

Vol. V
p303 [Supplement, Vol. V: 1900‑1910]

Military History. — Served: At U. S. M. A., West Point, N. Y., in command of Engineer Company, as Instructor of Practical Military Engineering, and in charge of water works, Dec. 15, 1898 to Aug. 28, 1900; in charge of river and harbor improvements and fortifications in Rhode Island and Southeastern Massachusetts, Aug. 31, 1900 to June 1, 1903; member Provisional General Staff, June 1, 1903 to Aug. 15, 1903; member General Staff, Aug. 15, 1903 to March 4, 1907.

(Lieut.‑Colonel, Corps of Engineers, March 2, 1907)

Member Isthmian Canal Commission, March 4, 1907, to April 1, 1907: Chairman and Chief Engineer, Isthmian Canal Commission, April 1, 1907 to –––––.

(Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Dec. 3, 1909)

Vol. VI
p287 [Supplement, Vol. VI: 1910‑1920]

(George Washington Goethals, Born June 29, 1858.)

Military History. —

Lieut.‑Colonel, Corps of Engineers, March 2, 1907.

Member Isthmian Canal Commission, March 4 to April 1, 1907: Chairman and Chief Engineer, Isthmian Canal Commission, April 1, 1907 to

(Colonel, Corps of Engineers, Dec. 3, 1909)

April 1, 1914; Governor, The Panama Canal, April 1, 1914, to

(Major-General, U. S. A., March 4, 1915)

Nov. 1, 1916;

Major-General, U. S. A., Retired, Nov. 1,º 1916,
At His Own Request After Over 40 Years' Service.

Received thanks of Congress March 4, 1915, for service in constructing the Panama Canal. Returned to Active Service Dec. 12, 1917; assigned to duty as Acting Quartermaster General: in addition to foregoing duties, Assistant Chief of Staff and Director of Storage and Traffic, Jan., 1918; relieved from duty as Acting Quartermaster General and assigned as Assistant Chief of Staff and Director of Purchase, Storage and Traffic, in charge of all purchases for the War Department, railroad transportation and shipment overseas of all troops and supplies, April, 1918.

Returned to Retired List, March 4, 1919.

Decorations: Commander of the Legion of Honor; Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George.

Awarded

Distinguished Service Medal

December, 1918;

"For especially meritorious and conspicuous services in reorganizing the Quartermaster Department and in organizing and administering the Division of Purchase, Storage and Traffic during the war."

Civil History. — Consulting Engineer in private practice, New York City, Feb. 1 to April 25, 1917; General Manager of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, U. S. Shipping Board, April 25 to July 27, 1917; joined engineering firm of Jamieson, Houston, Graham and Jay, subsequently absorbed by George W. Goethals and Co., Inc., and became its President, May 1, 1917; President of the Isthmian Service Corporation, subsequently known as Goethals, Wilford and Boyd, Inc.; elected President  p288 of the American Ship and Commerce Corporation, Oct. 15, 1919, retaining Presidency of George W. Goethals and Company, Inc.

Societies: Member of American Society of Civil Engineers; Honorary Member of Society of Mechanical Engineers, of Institute of Engineers, London, of Dutch Royal Society of Engineers, of Philosophical Society, of Society of Engineers at Panama; Fellow of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Medals: National Geographic Society; President's Medal of the Architectural League; New York Geographical Society; Geographical Society of Chicago; National Institute of Social Sciences; Civic Forum; Worlds Fair Medal; the John Fritz Medal, (1919).

Degrees: Doctor of Sciences, Columbia University; Doctor of Philosophy, Chicago University; LL. D. of Yale, of Harvard, of Princeton, of University of Pennsylvania, of Rutgers College.

Vol. VII
p166 [Supplement, Vol. VII: 1920‑1930]

Military History: —

Major-General, U. S. A., Retired, Nov. 15,º 1916,
At His Own Request, After Over 40 Years' Service.

Died, Jan. 21, 1928, at New York, N. Y.: Aged 69.

Portrait and obituary in Annual Report, Association of Graduates, for 1928.

Buried, West Point Cemetery, West Point, NY.