Charles Gratiot

President Thomas Jefferson personally appointed him (and 3 other young Missouri men) as a United States Military Academy cadet in July 1804. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, was the first school of engineering in the United States and graduated its first class in 1802. Gratiot was a member of the Class of 1806, the fourth graduating class, and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. He became a captain in 1808 and assisted Alexander Macomb in constructing fortifications in Charleston, South Carolina. He returned to his alma mater in 1810 to be commander of the Army garrison at West Point during 1810–1811.

As General William Henry Harrison's Chief Engineer in the War of 1812, he distinguished himself by planning and building Fort Meigs in 1813. He also rebuilt Fort St. Joseph, later renamed Fort Gratiot in his honor. In 1814 he took part in the attack of the Battle of Mackinac Island. He received the Thanks of Congress for his efforts during the war.

He served as Chief Engineer, 1817–1818, in Michigan Territory followed by assignment as the superintending engineer, 1819–1828, for the construction of defenses at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

On May 24, 1828, Gratiot was appointed colonel of engineers, brevet brigadier general, and Chief Engineer. For ten years he administered an expanding program of river, harbor, road, and fortification construction. He also engaged in a lengthy dispute with War Department officials over benefits, and in 1838 President Martin Van Buren dismissed him for failing to repay government funds that had been entrusted to him.

He assigned Robert E. Lee to do engineering in the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri.

Gratiot became a clerk in the General Land Office from 1840–1855 and died in St. Louis.

Gratiot became a party to lengthy litigation against the United States government, which was appealed twice to the U.S. Supreme Court.[3][4]

He married Ann Belin on April 22, 1819.[5] They had two children:

• Marie Victoire Gratiot (1820–1878). Married Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville. Had issue.
• Julia Augusta Gratiot (1824–1895). Married Charles Pierre Chouteau. Had issue.

• His remains are interred in section 13 of Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Fort Gratiot, Michigan, was named after Gratiot, who oversaw its reconstruction in 1814 to guard the mouth of the St. Clair River at Lake Huron. It was formerly known as Fort St. Joseph. It sports Michigan's oldest lighthouse, Fort Gratiot Light, constructed in 1829 to replace an older one.[6]
• Gratiot Avenue, portions of which are designated as state highways M-3 or M-19, is an important roadway between Detroit and Port Huron, Michigan — named for Fort Gratiot, the destination of the road going north. Before the Interstate Highway System (I-94) was built, Gratiot Avenue was the main link between the two cities, other than the railway.[7][8][9][10]
• Gratiot is the namesake of the village of Gratiot, Ohio.[11] (Gratiot, Wisconsin, near the site of an early lead-mining settlement called Gratiot Corners for its founder, was named for Charles' brother Henry, also significant in regional history.)
• Point Gratiot Park in Dunkirk, New York is also named for him.[12]
• Gratiot County, Michigan is named for Captain Gratiot. It was described by the Territorial Legislature in 1831. By 1837, the Territory had been admitted to the Union as a state; in 1855 the State Legislature authorized the organization of Gratiot County – the death year of the county's namesake.[13]

• List of Michigan county name etymologies

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charles Gratiot.

• U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Commanders of the Corps of Engineers, Charles Gratiot.
• "Charles Chouteau Gratiot (1786-1855) - Find A..." Find a Grave.