SWIFT, Joseph Gardner, soldier, born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, 31 December, 1783; died in Geneva, New York, 23 July, 1865. He was a descendant of Thomas Swift, one of the first settlers of Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1630, and his father, Dr. Foster Swift, was a surgeon in the United States army. Joseph was educated at Bristol academy, Taunton, Massachusetts, and was the first graduate of the United States military academy, 12 October, 1802. He entered the army as 2d lieutenant of engineers, and was promoted captain in October, 1806, and major, 23 February, 1808. He was aide to General William Pinckney in 1812, became lieutenant-colonel, 6 July, 1812, and colonel and principal engineer, 31 July, 1812. He was chief engineer in planning the defences of New York harbor in1812-'13, and of the army during the campaign of 1813 on St. Lawrence river. He was brevetted brigadier-general, 19 February, 1814, for meritorious services, and was superintendent of the United States military academy from November, 1816, till January, 1817, but resigned in November, 1818, with other officers, on the appointment of the French general, Simon Bernard, to the charge of investigating and modifying the coast defences. He was United States surveyor of the port of New York in 1818-'27, then a civil engineer in the United States service, and superintendent of harbor improvements on the lakes in 1829-'45. In the winter of 1830-'1 he constructed the railway from New Orleans to Lake Pontehartrain over an almost impassable swamp, in 1839 he was chief engineer of the Harlem railroad in New York, and in 1841 he was appointed by President Harrison on an embassy of peace to the governors of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. In 1851-'2, with his son. McRae, he made the tour of Europe, and recorded his observations in a diary, in which is also a complete history of West Point academy. He contributed valuable articles to the scientific journals. See Charles B. Stuart's "Lives and Works of Civil and Military Engineers of America" (New York, 1871).--His brother, William Henry, engineer, born in Taunton, Massachusetts, 6 November, 1800; died in New York city, 7 April, 1879, was graduated at the United States military academy in 1819. He had previously been ordered, as a cadet, in 1818, to join Major Stephen H. Long's Rocky mountain expedition, with which he served till 1821. He was employed in the early surveys for the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, and for various railroads, and in constructing a map of post-offices and post-roads, and in 1832 became brevet captain and assistant topographical engineer. For the next ten years he was employed on the geodetic survey of the Atlantic coast, being in charge of river and harbor improvements in New England in 1837-'42, and resident and constructing engineer of the Massachusetts Western railroad (now part of the Boston and Albany) in 1836-'40, and becoming full captain in 1838. From 1844 till 1849 he was assistant to the chief of topographical engineers, and during this period, with Governor John Davis, of Massachusetts, he made an examination of the Illinois and Michigan canal, of whose board of trustees he was president from 1845 till 1871, and which he assisted to complete. In 1847-'9 he was engaged in designing and constructing the first Minor's ledge light-house, which was swept away in a gale in April, 1851. This was the first iron-pile light-house in the United States. In 1849 Captain Swift resigned from the army, and he was afterward successively president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, the Massachusetts Western, and the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroads. During his last fifteen years he resided in New York city.--Another brother, JOHN, became brigadier-general of New York militia, and was killed, 12 July, 1814, after cutting off a picket of the enemy near Fort George, Canada.