“History teaches us that no man can be great unless a certain amount of vanity enters into his composition”: WAR considered his brother Ferdinand the perfect example of such vanity. The quote is from WAR’s draft of an obituary for Ferdinand, April 15, 1917, RUL; also quoted somewhat differently in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 307.
“a peculiarity of the Roebling mind”: WAR to JAR II, May 24, 1896. RUL.
“It might be argued if a man inherits everything”: WAR’s obituary for his brother Charles, October 1918, RUL; also in Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 324-325.
WAR’s passport: RUL.
“Roebling is a character”: Lyman, Meade’s Headquarters, p. 240; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 195.
“reverently chose…the name that most inspired him”: Steinman, The Builders of the Bridge, p. 41.
WAR named for Washington Gill: WAR to JAR II, July 4, 1904. RUL.
Baptized by postmaster Shilly: WAR, Early History of Saxonburg, p. 12.
“well-built, sturdy, quiet boy”: JAR to his brother Christel, undated. RUL.
“…a black bear walked down Main Street”: WAR, Early History of Saxonburg, p. 9.
Saxonburg social life: Ibid., p. 17.
Ferdinand Baehr and Waterloo stories: Ibid., p. 18.
WAR’s love of Saxonburg and disappointing return visit: WAR to JAR II, January 5, 1926. RUL.
“Being the ‘Roebling boy’”: WAR, Early History of Saxonburg, p. 20.
Story of Massy Harbison: “The Touching Narrative of Massy Harbison,” from Our Western Border, Charles McKnight, Philadelphia, 1875, pp. 685-695.
Pigeons, thunderstorms, and the great comet of 1843: WAR, Early History of Saxonburg, p. 21.
“In regard to the mustache you covet so”: Laura Roebling to WAR, December 7, 1856. RUL.
Courses at RPI: Greene, The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; also Steinman, The Builders of the Bridge, pp. 196-197.
“Under such a curriculum the average college boy of today”: Steinman, The Builders of the Bridge, p. 197.
“that terrible treadmill of forcing an avalanche of figures…unusable knowledge that I could only memorize, not really digest”: Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 173-174.
“My candle is certainly bewitched…no woman had sense enough to understand his love”: WAR to EWR, about April 14, 1864. RUL.
“Our temperaments are so very different”: RUL.
Letter written Thanksgiving Day: Ibid.
“left the school as mental wrecks”: Quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 174.
“Pittsburgh is getting along quite smart”: WAR to Charles Swan, April 11, 1859, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 182.
Penn Street boardinghouse: WAR to Charles Swan, May 2, 1858. RUL.
“There is a perfect mania here for improvements”: WAR to Charles Swan, April 11, 1859, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 182.
“dark, cloudy, smoky afternoons”: WAR to Charles Swan, November 13, 1858, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 179.
“This is my first letter to you in 1860”: WAR to Charles Swan, January 23, 1860, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 184-185.
“My enlistment was rather sudden”: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.
“Loafing in the camp”: Undated letter. RUL.
“This is a mean little town”: WAR to Elvira Roebling, July 19, 1861. RUL.
“This artillery business”: WAR to Charles Swan, July 31, 1861. RUL.
“could make a violin talk”: Letter of condolence written to the second Mrs. WAR by George R. Brown, president of the Eastchester Savings Bank, Mount Vernon, New York, August 2, 1926. RUL.
“My father being too old to rough it”: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.
Swims the Shenandoah with tape in his mouth: WAR to Ferdinand, June 8, 1892. RUL.
Surprised Jeb Stuart at his breakfast: WAR to JAR, August 24, 1862. RUL.
Describes bridge: WAR to Charles Swan, August 3, 1862. RUL.
Fate of Harpers Ferry bridge: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.
Incident with the statue of Washington’s mother: Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 193-194.
With Hooker at Chancellorsville: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.
Reconnaissance from a balloon: Ibid.; also Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 191.
Trip home for maps: WAR to Oliver W. Norton, July 13, 1915. RUL.
WAR’s account of his day on Little Round Top: Letter to a Colonel Smith of New York, July 5, 1913. RUL.
“Roebling was on my staff”: Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 193.
“I was the first man on Little Round Top”: WAR to James Rusling, February 18, 1916. RUL.
WAR and Warren before the Battle of the Crater: Ibid.
“…I was in the Civil War for four years and saw Lincoln on two occasions”: WAR to I. E. Boos, June 19, 1921, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, pp. 196—197.
“They must put fresh steam on the man factories…the rest think it is about played out to stand up and get shot”: WAR to EWR, June 23, 1864. RUL.
“…the conduct of the Southern people”: WAR to EWR, July 7, 1864. RUL.
Description of meeting Emily: WAR to Elvira Roebling, February 26, 1863. RUL.
JAR’s letter on the engagement: JAR to WAR, March 30, 1864. RUL.
“I like her very much”: JAR to WAR, November 17, 1864. RUL.
“I dare say you could not sleep”: WAR to EWR, August 14, 1864. RUL.
“This day might be signalized”: WAR to EWR, November 16, 1864. RUL.
“The town is horribly dull”: WAR to EWR, August 6, 1864. RUL.
“I have now more lasting memories”: WAR to EWR, September 10, 1864. RUL.
“I have been solacing myself”: WAR to EWR, April 11, 1864. RUL.
“…the greatest giver of us all [is] gone”: WAR to EWR, December 25, 1864. RUL.
Trip to Europe: Described in numerous lengthy letters from WAR to JAR, in both the RPI and RUL collections.
Letter to JAR describing Keystone Bridge works: WAR to JAR, October 11, 1868. RUL.
Family differences over Edmund: WAR, private memorandums dated July 20, 1898, and March 16, 1922. RUL.
Reminders and comments on stone: WAR’s personal notebook, 1869. RPI.
PART TWO
8 All According to Plan
“The foundations for the support”: JAR, Report of John A. Roebling, C.E., to the President and Directors of the New York Bridge Company, on the Proposed East River Bridge, p. 20. LER.
Dimensions of the Brooklyn caisson, as well as all other descriptive data: WAR, First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer of the East River Bridge, LER; WAR, Pneumatic Tower Foundations of the East River Suspension Bridge, LER.
Barometer analogy: Harper’s Weekly, December 17, 1870.
“The extreme rise and fall”: WAR, First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, pp. 8-9. LER.
Webb & Bell contract: Kingsley, First Annual Report of the General Superintendent of the East River Bridge, p. 23. LER.
“A pile which was sixteen inches in diameter”: WAR, First Annual Report of the Chief Engineer, p. 11. LER.
“The character of this material”: Ibid., pp. 11-12.
James B. Eads: There is no real biography of the remarkable Eads. The following have been used as general biographical background: Dorsey, Road to the Sea; Woodward, A History of the St. Louis Bridge; Gies, Bridges and Men; Dictionary of American Biography.
“Eads’s Turtles”: Catton, Grant Moves South, pp. 102-103.
JAR calls St. Louis people fools: JAR to WAR, November 10, 1867. RUL.
Carnegie, Linville, and the Keystone Bridge Company: Carnegie, Autobiography, pp. 119-121.
“an achievement out of all proportion”: Kirby and Laurson, The Early Years of Modern Civil Engineering, p. 162.
Material on early use of compressed air and resulting cases of caisson sickness is from The E
ffects of High Atmospheric Pressure, Including the Caisson Disease by Andrew H. Smith, M.D., pp. 4—10. LER.
“A workman walking about with difficult step”: Woodward, A History of the St. Louis Bridge.
“The fatigue of ascent added not a little”: Ibid.
Eads’s views on the problem of caisson sickness are contained in a long article in Scientific American, December 24, 1870.
The launching of the Brooklyn caisson was described in considerable detail by all of the following: Eagle, March 19, 1870; Engineering (London), June 10, 1870; Scientific American, July 9, 1870; Collingwood, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge, LER.
“more like a huge war leviathan”: Eagle, March 19, 1870.
The only known reference to Roebling’s visit to St. Louis and his sessions with Eads is an exchange of letters in Engineering (London) in the issues for May 16, June 27, and September 5, 1873.
“I do not want any news carried between myself and Mr. Ellet”: JAR to Charles Swan, April 21, 1849, RUL; also quoted in Schuyler, The Roeblings, p. 82.
“…one of the wonders of the nineteenth century”; “hidden from the gaze of mortal eyes”; “as placidly as a swan”: Eagle, May 3, 1870.
“…they had been upon the monster”: Ibid., May 4, 1870.
Roebling, Paine, and Collingwood go down for first time on May 10: WAR, Pneumatic Tower Foundations of the East River Suspension Bridge, p. 24. LER.
9 Down in the Caisson
The descent of the Brooklyn caisson and the work that went on inside it were the subjects of many articles in newspapers and technical publications in the year 1870. Of particular interest were those in the following: Eagle, June 20; Scientific American, July 9; Van Nostrand’s Eclectic Engineering Magazine, October; Journal of the Franklin Institute, October; and Harper’s Weekly, December 17. But nearly all of this chapter has been drawn from a paper read before the ASCE by Francis Collingwood on June 21, from Master Mechanic E. F. Farrington’s Concise Description of the East River Bridge, and from WAR’s own annual report to the directors of the Bridge Company. An excellent scale model of the caisson can be seen on display at the Smithsonian Institution.
“We have no precedent just like this bridge”: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, January 1, 1877, p. 5. LER.
“The material now became sufficiently exposed”: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer to the Board of Directors of the New York Bridge Company, June 5, 1871, p. 4. LER.
“Inside the caisson everything wore an unreal, weird appearance”: Farrington, Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 27-28.
“An unearthly and deafening screech”: Scientific American, July 9, 1870.
Use of limelights: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 35-37. LER.
Varieties of rock uncovered: Ibid., pp. 4—5.
“Moreover, a settling of the caisson of six inches”: Ibid., p. 6.
“The noise made by splitting blocks”: Ibid., p. 23.
“Levels were taken every morning”: Collingwood, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
Techniques for removing boulders from under the shoe: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 8-10. LER.
“five months of incessant toil…were almost tempted to throw the buckets overboard”: Ibid., pp. 15—17.
“When the lungs are filled with compressed air”: Ibid., p. 15.
Side friction: Collingwood, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
WAR “conspicuous for his presence and exertions”: Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company, p. 54. LER.
Lowering of air pressure gives added twelve hundred tons: Collingwood, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
Apprehensions about blasting: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 11-12. LER.
WAR uses revolver: Ibid., p. 12.
“For night is turned into day”: New York Herald, December 3, 1870.
Work schedule and work force: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 38—39; Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company, p. 52. LER.
Pneumatic water closet: Collingwood, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
Roebling follows Eads’s system, convinced increased oxygen intake is the heart of the problem: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 39-40. LER.
Steam coils in air locks: Ibid., p. 40.
Great Blowout: Ibid., pp. 20-21; Farrington, Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 20-21.
Weight variation in columns of water: Collingwood, A Few Facts about the Caissons of the East River Bridge. LER.
“To say that this occurrence was an accident”: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, p. 20. LER.
10 Fire
“When the perfected East River bridge”: Eagle, June 22, 1872.
Modifications in New York caisson: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer to the Board of Directors of the New York Bridge Company, June 5, 1871, pp. 45-49. LER.
“This bold and peculiarly American design”: Harper’s Weekly, November 19, 1870.
“the rapidity with which the work has proceeded”: Scientific American, November 12, 1870.
Cause of the fire and description of the fire itself have been drawn from the following: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 29-35, LER; Eagle, December 2, December 3, December 5, 1870; Farrington, Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 22-24; Engineering (London), December 30, 1870; Journal of the Franklin Institute, February 1871.
Attempts to extinguish fire: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5,1871, pp. 29-30. LER.
Boring into the roof: Ibid., p. 31.
WAR’s efforts “almost superhuman”: Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent, New York Bridge Company, p. 54. LER.
Discover mass of living coals: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, p. 31. LER.
“He appeared calm and collected”: Eagle, December 2, 1870.
Damage estimated at $250,000: New York Herald, December 3, 1870.
World charges sabotage: December 2, 1870.
Fire marshal’s hearing: Eagle, December 5, 1870.
Begin filling work chambers with concrete: Eagle, December 23, 1870.
Blowout of supply shaft: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, pp. 24-27. LER.
Repairing the fire damage: Ibid., pp. 32—35; Farrington, Concise Description of the East River Bridge, pp. 22—24.
Fresh-water springs: WAR, Report of the Chief Engineer, June 5, 1871, p. 28. LER.
11 The Past Catches Up
Launching of the New York caisson: Eagle, May 8-9, 1871.
Tweed’s daughter’s wedding: Werner, Tammany Hall, pp. 190-193; Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 359-360; New York Sun, June 1, 1871.
Activities of Matthew J. O’Rourke: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 354, 361.
Watson the nerve center of the Ring: Werner, Tammany Hall, p. 209.
“You must do just as Jimmy tells you”: Ibid., p. 161.
O’Rourke’s estimate of Ring thefts: Ibid., p. 160.
Attempt to bribe Jones: Ibid., p. 210.
Attempt to bribe Nast: Ibid., pp. 211-212.
Times attack: Callow, The Tweed Ring, pp. 256—261.
Orange riot: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 367-369; Swanberg, Jim Fisk: The Career of an Improbable Rascal, pp. 234—240; Strong, The Diary of George Templeton Strong, entries for July 1871.
Cooper Union meeting of September 4: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 370-371; Werner, Tammany Hall, pp. 217-218.
Cartoon of Tweed in the shadow of the gallows: Harper’s Weekly, October 21, 1871.
“At home again amidst the haunts of my childhood”: Lynch, “Boss” Tweed, pp. 377-378.
George Templeton Strong on the “Boss of New York”: Strong, Diary, entry for January 27, 1871.
>
Elections in Brooklyn: Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, 1865-1898, pp. 56-60.
Accident: C. C. Martin interview published in the Eagle, May 24, 1883.
“This has been the case from the first”: Kingsley, Report of the General Superintendent of the New York Bridge Company, p. 32. LER.
Six thousand illegal votes: Syrett, The City of Brooklyn, p. 59.
Kingsley interview in the World: Quoted in the Eagle, December 15, 1871.
Kingsley’s name a football: Beecher at Kingsley’s funeral, published in memorial book, W. C. Kingsley. LIH.
Tweed’s appearances at the meetings of the Executive Committee: “Exhibit J; A Full Synopsis of the Minutes of the Respective Executive Committees Thereof, From September 1869 to June 1st, 1883,” New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, 1867-1884, pp. 526-566.
“Resolved, That fifteen per centum on the amount of expenditure”: Ibid., p. 552.
“I had no understanding with him, sir”: Testimony in the Miller Suit to Remove the East River Bridge, “Exhibit A,” February 15, 1879, p. 62.
Kingsley’s “claim…liquidated”: New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 572.
Erasure made in the records: “Exhibit No. 4,” Minority Report by Demas Barnes, December 16, 1872, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 96.
Tweed indicted and arrested: Werner, Tammany Hall, p. 233.
Death of Fisk: Swanberg, Jim Fisk, pp. 271-278.
12 How Natural, Right, and Proper
“Although the bridge from every element of its use”: “Exhibit No. 4,” Minority Report by Demas Barnes, New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 100.
“It is true that Tweed, Connolly, and Sweeny are among the subscribers”: Eagle, April 10, 1872.
Kingsley’s letter to the Eagle and Union appeared April 17, 1872.
Committee of Fifty’s letter in answer to Kingsley: Eagle, April 22, 1872.
Kingsley’s second letter: Eagle, April 29, 1872.
Replacements for Tammany quartet: “Synopsis of the Minutes of Proceedings of the Corporators, Directors, and Stockholders of the New York Bridge Company and Also of the Trustees of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, Comprehending a Period of 16 Years, Viz.; From May 13th, 1867, to June 1st, 1883” (“Exhibit I”), New York and Brooklyn Bridge Proceedings, p. 332.