Joseph Gilbert Totten (August 23, 1788 – April 22, 1864) fought in the War of 1812, served as Chief of Engineers and was regent of the Smithsonian Institution and cofounder of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1836, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society. Early life and education Joseph G. Totten was born in New Haven, Connecticut, to Peter Gilbert Totten and Grace Mansfield. He was the tenth person to graduate from the United States Military Academy, being one of three graduating members of the class of 1805. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers on July 1, 1805. He resigned in March 1806 to assist his uncle, Major Jared Mansfield, who was then serving as Surveyor General of the Northwest Territory. He was a cousin of Joseph K. Mansfield, who rose to the rank of major general and died at the Battle of Antietam. Military career Totten re-entered the Corps of Engineers in February 1808 and helped build Castle Williams and Castle Clinton in New York harbor. During the War of 1812, he was chief engineer of the Niagara frontier and Lake Champlain armies under General Stephen Van Rensselaer. At the Battle of Queenston Heights, he fought alongside Winfield Scott, who used Totten's cravat as a white flag to signal the American surrender. He was brevetted lieutenant colonel for gallant conduct in the Battle of Plattsburgh. As a member of the first permanent Board of Engineers, to which he was appointed in 1816, along with General Simon Bernard, he laid down durable principles of coast defense construction in a report to Congress in 1821. From 1825 until 1838, Totten oversaw the construction of Fort Adams in Newport, Rhode Island. Fort Adams was the second-largest construction project attempted by the army in the 19th century, after Fort Monroe in Virginia. Totten employed recent graduates of West Point as assistant engineers at Fort Adams, and taught them advanced engineering techniques. Totten's apprentices included John G. Barnard, George W. Cullum, Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and Alexander D. Bache, all of whom earned distinction during the Civil War. While at Fort Adams, Totten conducted experiments with various mortar compositions and published a paper of his findings: Brief Observations on Common Mortars, Hydraulic Mortars and Concretes. In 1833, Totten purchased the Francis Malbone House on Thames Street in Newport. At that time, it was the