Daniel
Phineas Woodbury was born in New London, New Hampshire, on December
16, 1812. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West
Point in 1836. As lieutenant of engineers, he was engaged in the construction
of the Cumberland road in Ohio, the repairing of fortifications at points
on the Atlantic coast, and as an assistant to the chief of engineers
at Washington until 1847, after which he superintended the construction
of Fort Kearny and Fort Laramie. He became captain of engineers on March
3, 1853, and major in August 1861, doing good service during the Civil
War. He rose to the rank of brigadier-general of volunteers on March
19, 1862, and commanded the engineer brigade of the Army of the Potomac,
constructing roads, bridges, and causeways for the advance upon Richmond.
At Fredericksburg, he distinguished himself by laying and removing pontoons
under the enemy's fire. He was brevetted major-general in the United
States Army in 1862. In March 1863, he was placed in command of the
district of Key West, where he died of yellow fever on August 15, 1864.
Adapted
from New Americanized Encyclopædia Britannica (Twentieth Century
Edition), 1907.
