TOTTEN, Joseph Gilbert, soldier, born in New Haven, Connecticut, 23 August, 1788; died in Washington, D. C., 22 April, 1864. He received his earliest TOTTEN 141 education under the direction of his maternal uncle, Jared Mansfield, by whom he was brought up after the death of his mother. After his uncle's occupation of the chair of mathematics at the United States military academy the boy received an appointment from Connecticut as cadet. Ill 1805 he was graduated and promoted 2d lieutenant in the corps of engineers Meanwhile Capt Mansfield, having been made surveyor-general of Ohio and the western territories, obtained the services of his nephew as secretary of the first systematic survey of any of the new states of the Union. While holding this place he resigned in 1806 from the army, but returned to the engineering corps two years later, and began his career as a military engineer under Colonel Jonathan Williams. His first work was on the construction of Castle Williams and Fort Clinton in New York harbor, of which he had special supervision in 1808-'12; and in July, 1810, he was promoted 1st lieutenant. During the war of 1819, he served as chief engineer of the army under General Stephen Van Rensselaer on the Niagara frontier, and participated in the battle of Queenstown. Subsequently he was chief engineer of the army under General Henry Dearborn in 1813, and of that under General Alexander Macomb in 1814. His services gained for him promotion to captain, and the brevets of major m 1813 and lieutenant-colonel for his conduct at Plattsburg in 1814. At the close of the war he returned to duties in connection with the National coast defences and served chiefly at Newport, Rhode Island, where he had charge of the construction of Fort Adams until 7 December, 1838, when, having passed through the grades of major in 1818 and lieutenant-colonel in 1828, he was appointed colonel and chief engineer of the United States army. In connection with the labors incidental to this office, he was intrusted with the inspectorship and supervision of the United States military academy, which duties he filled until his death. At the beginning of the Mexican war he was called by General Winfield Scott to take charge of the engineering operations of the army that was to invade Mexico. In this capacity he directed the siege of Vera Cruz, for which he was brevetted brigadier-general. He then returned to his official duties in Washington, and, in addition to his regular work, was a member of the light-house board in 1851-'8 and 1860-'4, also serving in 1855 as a state commissioner for the preservation of the harbor of New York, and later in similar capacity in Boston. In 1859-'61 he made a reconnoissance of the Pacific coast of the United States to determine the requisites for its defence, and inspecting fortifications. After the beginning of the civil war he had charge of the engineer bureau in Washington, and acted on various military commissions. When the corps of engineers and that of topographical engineers were consolidated in 1863, he was made brigadier-general on 3 March, and for his long, faithful, and eminent services was brevetted major-general on 21 April, 1864. He was one of the regents of the Smithsonian institution from its establishment in 1846 until his death. General Totten was interested in natural science and was an authority on the conchology of the northern coast of the United States, publishing occasional papers, in which he described hitherto unknown species. The Gemma Tottenii and the Succinea Tottenii were so named in his honor. He also published papers on mineralogy. The degree of A. M. was conferred on him by Brown in 1829, and, in addition to membership in other scientific societies, he was named by act of congress in 1863 one of the corporate members of the National academy of sciences. He published papers on scientific subjects, which appeared in transactions of societies of which he was a member, and various reports on national defences; and translated from the French "Essays on Hydraulic and Other Cements" (New York, 1842). See a sketch by General John G. Barnard in " Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences" (Washington, 1877).