Wikipedia

Thomas J. Cram

Thomas Jefferson Cram (March 1, 1804 – December 20, 1883) was an American topographical engineer from New Hampshire who served in the United States Army Corps of Topographical Engineers from 1839 to 1863 and the United States Army Corps of Engineers from 1863 to 1869.

Thomas Jefferson Cram
Born(1804-03-01)March 1, 1804
Acworth, New Hampshire, US
DiedDecember 20, 1883(1883-12-20) (aged 79)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Resting placeLaurel Hill Cemetery
OccupationTopographical Engineer
Known for

Cram served as general superintendent for harbor works on Lake Michigan and the construction of roads in Wisconsin Territory. He led surveys to determine the border of Michigan and Wisconsin Territory in the Upper Peninsula, to explore Oregon and Washington Territories, and to determine the feasibility of a water route to the Pacific Ocean through Central America. He served under Major General Zachary Taylor in the Army of Occupation during the Mexican-American War and conducted coastal and river surveys in Texas.

Cram participated in the United States Lake Survey and led the survey section between Green Bay, Wisconsin, and Chicago, Illinois. He conducted multiple river, canal, and harbor improvement assessments including for the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers in Wisconsin, the Ohio River in Louisville, Kentucky, and the harbor at St. Louis, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. He assisted the United States Coast Survey in New England from 1847 to 1855 and in North Carolina from 1858 to 1861.

During the American Civil War (1861–1865), Cram was promoted to lieutenant colonel and colonel and served as aide-de-camp to Major General John E. Wool.

Biography

edit

Cram was born in Acworth, New Hampshire.[1] He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1826 and taught mathematics and natural and experimental philosophy at the Academy from 1829 to 1836.[2] He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 4th U.S. Artillery Regiment. In 1835 he was promoted to first lieutenant, and he resigned his commission in 1836.[3]

Cram worked as an assistant engineer for the railroad industry in Maryland and Pennsylvania for two years and returned to United States Army service as a captain in 1838. In 1839, he was assigned as the general superintendent for harbor works in Lake Michigan and road construction in Wisconsin Territory with Howard Stansbury and Lorenzo Sitgreaves assigned to assist him.[4] He made improvements to the harbors of Chicago, Illinois, St. Joseph, Michigan, and Michigan City, Indiana, and built new harbors at Calumet in Illinois and at Kenosha, Milwaukee, and Racine, Wisconsin.[5] He built seven roads in Wisconsin and used timber truss bridges designed by Stephen Long for all bridge spans greater than 20 feet (6.1 m) in length.[6]

 
1849 Land Survey Map of Michigan Upper Peninsula

As part of the settlement of the Toledo War, between Michigan and Ohio, most of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was granted to Michigan. The United States Congress created the Wisconsin Territory in 1836 and appropriated funds to conduct a survey to determine the boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan.[7] In 1840, Cram and Douglass Houghton led the boundary survey team up the Menominee River to its source at Brule Lake. A previous map incorrectly listed Lac Vieux Desert as the headwater of the Menominee River and the Montreal River.[8] He negotiated a treaty with the Ojibwa Chief Ca-sha-o-sha which allowed the survey to continue. The survey could not be completed in 1840 due to errors in the map used by Congress to determine the boundary. Cram returned to the Upper Peninsula in 1841 to continue the survey. He identified Lac Vieux Desert as the source of the Wisconsin River[9] and recommended a different boundary between Wisconsin and Michigan.[8] Congress used the border Cram recommended when it passed the Wisconsin Enabling Act of 1846 prior to Wisconsin becoming a state in 1848. Michigan refuted the results of the survey and claimed that Cram's interpretation of the boundary cheated Michigan out of 800 square miles (2,072 km2) of land. The case reached the United States Supreme Court in 1926 and was decided in favor of Wisconsin.[10]

In 1841, Cram began work with the United States Lake Survey. His portion of its survey began at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and moved south toward Chicago while William G. Williams began his portion at Green Bay and moved north toward Mackinac Island.[11]

In 1843, Cram conducted work in Louisville, Kentucky, to improve navigation of the Falls of the Ohio on the Ohio River. He recommended the expansion of the Louisville and Portland Canal and construction of a second canal to provide two-way river traffic, but Congress did not approve his recommendations and they were not implemented.[12]

In 1844, Cram was assigned to improve the harbor works at St. Louis, Missouri. The harbor required improvements because the flow of the Mississippi River had formed sandbars that trapped ships or required long diversions to avoid them. He proposed several works to remedy the situation but they were deemed too experimental and expensive. The construction of a dam was selected and work began on it until it was interrupted by the outbreak of the Mexican-American War in 1846.[13]

In 1845, Cram served as chief topographical engineer in the Army of Occupation under Major General Zachary Taylor during the Mexican-American War. He conducted systematic topographic surveys of the Nueces River, the Laguna de la Madre, and Aransas Bay. He fell ill with dysentery and was replaced by George Meade.[14]

From 1847 to 1855, he worked as an assistant in the United States Coast Survey[2] and had the responsibility for the New England region.[15]

From 1855 to 1858 he was the chief topographical engineer for the Department of the Pacific.[2] He led survey teams on expeditions through the Oregon and Washington Territories and worked to determine the feasibility of a water route to the Pacific Ocean through Central America.[16]

 
A Union Army military reconnaissance map of Hampton Roads and Norfolk, Virginia, Cram made during the American Civil War.

The American Civil War broke out in April 1861. Cram was promoted to major in August 1861[17] and then to lieutenant colonel in September 1861.[18] He served as aide to Brigadier General — from May 1862 Major General — John E. Wool from 1861 to 1863 and was engaged in the campaign to capture Norfolk, Virginia, in May 1862. Cram transferred to the United States Army Corps of Engineers when the Topographical Engineers were disbanded in 1863, and was promoted to colonel at the end of the war in 1865. He was later brevetted to major general to recognize his war service, and served until his retirement in 1869.[3]

Cram died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was interred at Laurel Hill Cemetery.[2][19]

Bibliography

edit

Citations

edit
  1. ^ Granite State Monthly, Volumes 45-46. Concord, New Hampshire: The Granite Monthly Company. 1913. p. 270. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "Thomas Jefferson Cram". www.penelope.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  3. ^ a b Balch, Galusha Burchard (1897). Genealogy of the Balch Families in America. Salem, Massachusetts: Eben Putnam. pp. 149–150. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  4. ^ Larson 1979, p. 38.
  5. ^ Larson 1979, p. 42.
  6. ^ Schubert, Frank N. (1988). The Nation Builders - A Sesquicentennial History of the Corps of Topographical Engineers 1838-1863 (PDF). Fort Belvoir, Virginia: Office of History - United States Army Corps of Engineers. pp. 55–56. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 26, 2020. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
  7. ^ "General Map to Accompany the Report of Capt T.J. Cram on the Boundary Between Michigan and Wiskonsin [sic]". www.americanhistory.si.edu. National Museum of American History. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  8. ^ a b Rohde, William C. "Wisconsin-Upper Michigan State Boundary Surveys". www.wsls.org. Archived from the original on 8 February 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  9. ^ "Surveyor's Tree Blaze". www.wisconsinhistory.org. 23 April 2013. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  10. ^ Larson 1979, p. 49.
  11. ^ Larson 1979, pp. 50–51.
  12. ^ Johnson, Leland R. (1974). The Falls City Engineers: A History of the Louisville District Corps of Engineers United States Army. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. p. 100. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  13. ^ Manders, Damon (2011). Engineers Far From Ordinary - The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis (PDF). St. Louis: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. pp. 44–45. Retrieved 4 February 2021.
  14. ^ Traas 1993, pp. 117–120.
  15. ^ "South Wellfleet and the U.S. Coast Survey". www.southwellfleet.wordpress.com. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  16. ^ Davis, Jefferson (1856). Report of the Secretary of War, communicating, in compliance with a resolution of the Senate of the 5th instant, a copy of the report of Captain Thomas J. Cram, Corps of Topographical Engineers of November, 1856, on the oceanic routes to California. Washington, D.C. Retrieved 5 February 2021.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. ^ O'Brien 1864, p. 116.
  18. ^ O'Brien 1864, p. 181.
  19. ^ "Thomas Cram". Laurel Hill Cemetery. Retrieved May 26, 2022.

Sources

edit
edit
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thomas_J._Cram&oldid=1254614523"