René Edward De Russy

René Edward De Russy
Brig. Gen. René Edward de Russy
Born	(1789-02-22)February 22, 1789 Saint-Domingue (now Haiti)
Died	November 23, 1865(1865-11-23) (aged 76) San Francisco, California
Buried at	West Point Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army Union Army
Years of service	1812 - 1865
Rank	Colonel Brevet Brigadier General
Unit	United States Army Corps of Engineers
Commands held	Superintendent of the United States Military Academy

René Edward De Russy (February 22, 1789 – November 23, 1865) was an engineer, military educator, and career United States Army officer who was responsible for erecting many Eastern United States coastal fortifications. He served as superintendent of the United States Military Academy and was promoted to brigadier general during the American Civil War.

René Edward De Russy was born in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) on February 22, 1789. Two years later, the De Russy family moved to Old Point Comfort, Virginia. At the age of 18, De Russy enrolled into the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York on March 20, 1807, and graduated on June 10, 1812, at the bottom of his class.

After West Point, De Russy worked as the assistant engineer for New York State’s defenses and helped to build Fort Montgomery, Rouses Point on the Canada–US border. In the late 1810s he became the Superintending Engineer of the defenses of New York Harbor. However, after that he was sent south to build forts along the Gulf of Mexico, from 1821 to 1825. In 1825 he returned to New York City where he continued to build the Harbor’s defenses, specifically Fort Hamilton. The Brooklyn Eagle reported that De Russy was the “engineer under whose direction Fort Hamilton was built, the corner stone of which was laid on June 11, 1825, and which was first garrisoned by troops on November 1, 1831.” During this stay in New York City De Russy inspected the construction of the New Utrecht Reformed Church in and built his home, which the Brooklyn Eagle referred to as “The Lookout” because it overlooked the harbor, situated as it was on the very top of the hill that became Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, New York.