As a popular tourist destination, most North Dakotans are familiar with Fort Totten. Located near Devils Lake, the frontier military post was built to protect American interests in the region. It was briefly commanded by Major Marcus A. Reno, visited by General Sherman, and later turned into a school. But what may be less familiar to North Dakotans is who the “Totten” of Fort Totten was.

Joseph Gilbert Totten was born on August 23, 1788 in New Haven, Connecticut. Upon graduation from the military academy, Totten entered the Corps of Engineers, and after a brief period in civilian life returned to the Corps, assisting in the construction of Castle Williams and other New York Harbor defenses. During the War of 1812, Totten was made Chief Engineer of the Niagara frontier and Lake Champlain armies, and assisted in attacks against British interests in Canada. In the Battle of Plattsburg, Totten earned two brevets, honors conferring a temporary increase in rank, for his “meritorious and distinguished services.”

Totten remained in the Corps following the end of hostilities between the US and Great Britain, and as a member of the Board of Engineers continued his work fortifying America’s coastline against attack. He developed enduring principles of defense construction, and his plans became the backbone of the nation’s coastal defenses. In 1838, Totten was promoted to Chief Engineer of the Army’s Corps of Engineers. During the Mexican-American War, Totten was again called into combat. His work assisting General Winfield Scott with the siege of Veracruz earned him another brevet, to Brigadier General.

When Totten wasn’t constructing America’s costal defenses, or lending his engineering expertise in times of war, he worked to advance the country’s intellectual interests by serving as regent of the Smithsonian Institution, cofounder of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Harbor Commissioner for both New York and Boston. His life having been well filled, it was on this date, April 22, 1864, that Brigadier General Joseph Gilbert Totten passed away in Washington D.C.

Three years later, when General A. H. Terry advanced into the Devils Lake region and began construction of a temporary fort on the south shore of the lake, he immediately named it Fort Totten in honor of the late Chief Engineer. Five other military posts around the nation have been also named in his honor including those in New York, Washington, D.C., Missouri, North Carolina, and Georgia. Although the memory of General Totten has faded through the years, his name continues to live on in the forts bearing his name.

Written by Lane Sunwall

Sources:
Website of the US Army Corps of Engineers
http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/coe.htm#11
Fort Totten State Historic Site Pamphlet, printed for “Living History Field Day,” September 13, 2004.
“The Death of Maj.-Gen Totten,” The New York Times, May 1, 1864.

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