Builder of the Brooklyn Bridge:  Washington August Roebling, the Son Part 1

Fortunately, his son, Washington Augustus Roebling, was determined not only to follow his father’s plans but was flexible enough to modify them as unanticipated problems occurred.   And in turn, he had the support and the partnership of his wife Emily Warren Roebling.

You may ask, who was Washington Augustus Roebling the son? John Augustus Roebling. The father, had taught his son to work hard and to be self-reliant. He had trained Washington Roebling to follow in the family business as both a businessman and as an engineer. Washington studied engineering at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute of Troy, New York. After the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, Washington Roebling fought for the Union in the Civil War. He reconnoitered by air balloon, constructed pontoon bridges as an engineering officer, and was the first man on top of Little Round Top during the Battle of Gettysburg.

7 Walking on the uncompleted bridge

Washington met Emily Warren at the Second Corps Officers Ball given by her brother, the commanding general, Gouvernor K. Warren. Warren had ordered the Union troops to occupy Little Round Top. After they married in January 1865, Roebling resigned from the army. They accepted the elder Roebling’s offer to pay for their honeymoon if they would observe the latest bridge-building techniques in America and Europe.   Upon his father’s death, Washington Roebling became the chief engineer of the bridge.

NYC Walks Blog 24 Builder of the Brooklyn Bridge:  Washington August Roebling, the Son Part 1 © 2018 by Dr. Philip Ernest Schoenberg