Charles Whittlesey

Charles Whittlesey (October 4, 1808 - October 18, 1886) was a soldier, geologist, historian, and an investigator of mounds relics of the United States. He is described by Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis in their book Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley as a "zealous investigator" in the field of "American antiquarian research." Biography Whittlesey graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1831, and was assigned to the 5th Infantry Regiment. In 1832 he was stationed at Fort Howard, Wisconsin, and after serving in the Black Hawk War, he resigned his commission on September 30 of the same year. After studying law, he followed that profession in Cleveland, Ohio and from 1836 to 1837, was editorially connected with the Cleveland Herald. In 1837 Whittlesey was appointed assistant geologist of the State of Ohio, under William W. Mather, and given charge of the topographical and mathematical parts of that survey, which disclosed the rich coal and iron deposits of eastern Ohio that are the foundation of its manufacturing industries. At this time, he also carefully examined and measured several of the works of the Mound Builders, and his plans and notes of twenty of these remains were embodied in Edwin Hamilton Davis and E. G. Squier's Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley. From 1847 until 1851 he was engaged by the U.S. Government in making a mineralogical and geological survey of the region about Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi River. Subsequently, he was professionally engaged as a mining engineer in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and in 1858 became associated in the geological work of the survey of Wisconsin. In February 1861, he was enrolled in a company that tendered its services to Gen. Winfield Scott to escort the President-elect Abraham Lincoln to Washington, D.C..