Army Corps of Engineers (U.S.)

Following the revolutionary war, where military engineering proved important to American independence, President George Washington and Congress recognized the need for a group of experts to help the American armed forces and the early Republic. The Continental Congress had organized this corps of the army in 1775, and the U.S. Congress followed suit with its formal legal creation in 1802. Over the next 40 years, the corps was repeatedly disbanded and reestablished according to need. While the corps distinguished itself in military activities throughout the 19th century, the corp's development coincided with the great period of westward expansion and economic growth, especially through the development of harbors and waterways, which would become the agency's central task for the next century and a half.

In its early ...