William Trent Rossell

William Trent Rossell
Brigadier General William T. Rossell, Chief of Engineers 1913
Born	(1849-10-11)October 11, 1849 Mount Vernon, Alabama
Died	October 11, 1919(1919-10-11) (aged 70) New Brighton, New York
Place of burial	Congressional Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1873-1913, 1917-1918
Rank	Brigadier General
Commands	Chief of Engineers
Signature
Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia
In office October 15, 1891 – May 8, 1893
Preceded by	Henry Martyn Robert
Succeeded by	Charles Frances Powell

William Trent Rossell (1849–1919) was the Engineer Commissioner of the District of Columbia.

Biography

He was born in Mount Vernon, Alabama on October 11, 1849, the son and grandson of Army officers, and he graduated third in the United States Military Academy class of 1873. Commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, he served until 1880 at Willets Point and as Assistant Professor of Engineering at the Military Academy. He then engaged in river, harbor, and fortification work in regions around Portland, Maine; Jacksonville, Florida; and Vicksburg, Mississippi. Rossell served in 1891-93 as the Engineer Commissioner on the three-member governing board of the District of Columbia. After briefly commanding the Battalion of Engineers, he led Mobile District for six years. He then supervised lighthouse construction and repair in the New York area and, later, Ohio River improvements. He was a member of the Mississippi River Commission from 1906 to 1913, as well as Central Division Engineer in 1908-09 and Eastern Division Engineer in 1909–13. He retired October 11, 1913, but was recalled to active service in 1917. He led the Third New York and Puerto Rico districts and was Northeast Division Engineer. He again retired in 1918. He died October 11, 1919, in New Brighton, New York.

References

This article contains public domain text from "Brigadier General William Trent Rossell". Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers. Archived from the original on March 6, 2005. Retrieved August 26, 2005.

• "General William Trent Rossell" (PDF). Congressional Cemetery Obituaries. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 15, 2008. Retrieved January 12, 2009.