Edgar Jadwin

Edgar Jadwin, C.E. (August 7, 1865 – March 2, 1931) was a U.S. Army officer who fought in the Spanish–American War and World War I, before serving as Chief of Engineers from 1926 to 1929.

Jadwin was born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania on August 7, 1865 as the son of Cornelius Comegys Jadwin, and graduated first in the United States Military Academy class of 1890. He was commissioned in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

After commissioning, Jadwin served with various engineer units between 1891 and 1895. He then fought during the Spanish–American War.

After serving as district engineer at the expanding ports of Los Angeles and Galveston, he was selected by General Goethals as an assistant in the construction of the Panama Canal, on which he worked from 1907 to 1911. Jadwin served in 1911–1916 in the Office of the Chief of Engineers focusing on bridge and road matters. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel on October 12, 1913.

He was promoted to colonel in the National Army on July 6, 1917. He received a brevet to brigadier general on December 17, 1917. Upon the United States' entry into World War I in 1917, he recruited the 15th Engineers, a railway construction regiment, and led it to France. He directed American construction and forestry work there for a year and received the Distinguished Service Medal.

At the conclusion of the war, President Woodrow Wilson appointed Jadwin to investigate conditions in Poland in 1919. This assignment was followed by an observer assignment in the Ukraine. From 1922 to 1924, Jadwin headed the Corps' Charleston District and Southeast Division. He then served two years as Assistant Chief of Engineers. As Chief of Engineers he sponsored the plan for Mississippi River flood control that was adopted by the United States Congress in May 1928. Jadwin retired as a lieutenant general on August 7, 1929.

The Vicksburg, Mississippi district of the Army Corps Of Engineers operates a large inland river dredge named after Edgar Jadwin. The dredge Jadwin is used to keep a federally mandated channel depth of no less than 9 feet and width of 300 feet. The Jadwin mainly operates on the Lower Mississippi River between the areas above Vicksburg, Mississippi to the ship channels of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and New Orleans, Louisiana. The dredge is one of 3 Corps owned dredges classified as a "dustpan" dredge, due to the shape of the suction/cutting head which resembles a dustpan.

Insignia	Rank	Component	Date
None	Cadet	United States Military Academy	1 July 1886
None in 1890	Second Lieutenant	Regular Army	12 June 1890
	First Lieutenant	Regular Army	10 May 1895
	Major	Volunteers	20 June 1898
	Lieutenant Colonel	Volunteers	15 September 1898
	First Lieutenant	Regular Army	17 May 1899
	Captain	Regular Army	29 January 1900
	Major	Regular Army	26 September 1906
	Lieutenant Colonel	Regular Army	12 October 1913
	Colonel	National Army	6 July 1917
	Brigadier General	National Army	17 December 1917
	Colonel	Regular Army	10 September 1919 (Discharged from National Army on 1 November 1919.)
	Brigadier General	Regular Army	19 June 1924
	Major General	Regular Army	27 June 1926
	Lieutenant General	Retired List	7 August 1929

Source:

Jadwin received the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Companion Order of the Bath from Great Britain, and the Commander in the Legion of Honour from France.

He died in Gorgas Hospital in the Panama Canal Zone on March 2, 1931, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.