Peter Smith Michie

Peter Smith Michie (March 24, 1839 - February 16, 1901) was a United States educator and soldier.

He was born in Brechin, Scotland, came to the United States in 1843, and was brought up in Cincinnati. He graduated second in the class of 1863 at West Point and entered the engineer corps. During the Civil War, he served in the campaign of 1864 against Richmond, Virginia; was chief engineer of the Army of the James (1865); and was at the head of all engineering operations of the left column at Hatcher's Run and in the pursuit of General Robert E. Lee's army.

After the war, having attained brevet rank of brigadier in 1865, he was for a year engaged in the government survey of the theatre of the war. From 1867 to 1869 he taught various branches at West Point; was member of a coastal fortification commission which visited Europe in 1870; and for the last thirty years of his life was professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. He was an overseer of the Thayer School of Civil Engineering at Dartmouth College (1871-1901).

• Elements of Wave Motion Relating to Sound and Light (1882)
• Life and Letters of Emory Upton (1885)
• The Personnel of the Seacoast Defense (1887)
• Analytical Mechanics (1887)
• Hydrodynamics (1888)
• General McClellan (“Great Commanders Series,” New York, 1901)