Corps of Topographical Engineers

U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers
Active	1838 – 63
Country	United States of America
Allegiance	United States Army
Branch	Regular Army
Commanders
Notable commanders	John James Abert (1838-61) Stephen Harriman Long (1861-63)

The U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers was established by the United States Congress in 1838.^[1] It was made up of only officers who were hand-picked graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point.^[2] Their main purpose was to map and make military surveys for routes to the Pacific.^[2] They were at the center of the westward expansion of the United States between the War of 1812 and the American Civil War.^[1] They mapped the frontier regions of the West encouraging Americans to move into those areas.^[1] They laid out trails, roads, railroad routes and waterways.^[1] During the Civil War, the functions of the Corps of Topographical Engineers were transferred to the Army Corps of Engineers.^[3]

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} The Nation Builders: A Sesquicentennial History of The Corps of Topographical Engineers 1838-1863, ed. Frank N. Schubert (Fort Belvoir, VA: Office of History, United States Army Corps of Engineers, 1988), p. iii
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Marshall Trimble (18 April 2016). "Army Corps of Topographical Engineers". True West Publishing. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
3. ↑ Henry P. Beers. "A History of the U. S. Topographical Engineers, 1818-1863". U S Corps of Topographical Engineers. Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2016.