WRIGHT, Benjamin Hall, engineer, born in Rome, New York, 19 October, 1801 ; died there, 13 May, 1881. He was graduated at the United States military academy in 1822, and served as 2d lieutenant in the 2d infantry on garrison duty in Sackett's Harbor until his resignation on 1 June, 1823. The profession of civil engineering then engaged his attention, and he prompted the first establishment of railroads on the island of Cuba. In 1834 he conducted the preliminary survey and subsequent construction of the line from Havana to Gaines, the first railroad in Cuba. He was in 1836 engineer of the Cardenas and Bemba railroad, and in 1837-'42 engineer of the Nuevitas and Puerto Principe railroad. For a time he was associate principal engineer of Cuba, in the service of the Spanish government. He then returned to this country, and was one of the first to conceive the idea of introducing steam as a motive power for canal-boats, building several experimental engines, which were operated successfully.