John A. Haydon (June 21, 1830 – September 26, 1902) was an American surveyor and civil engineer. As a self-taught civil engineer, Haydon made significant contributions to American railroading. Haydon's railroad career spanned the Baltimore and Ohio railroad expansion to the Ohio River in 1853 and several other railroads to the last transcontinental railroad, the Northern Pacific railway. Haydon led the 1872 Yellowstone River expedition, where he faced a Sioux Indian skirmish led by Sitting Bull, Red Cloud and Crazy Horse at the Battle of Pryor's Creek, Montana. He also served as a captain in the Confederate Army Corps of Engineers under Generals Tilghman and Beauregard; captured at the battle of Fort Henry, early in the Civil War in 1862, he was paroled at Aiken, South Carolina, in November 1862 to serve the rest of the war, including the Richmond–Petersburg Campaign. In the latter part of his life, he worked locating branch railroads such as the Pennsylvania railroad in Maryland and for the Western Maryland railroad.
Early life and career
Haydon was born on June 21, 1830, in Alexandria, Virginia."United States Census, 1900," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M32Q-4NK : 20 January 2015), John A Haydon, Frederick city (north part), Frederick, Maryland, United States; citing sheet 10A, family 219, NARA microfilm publication T623 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,240,622. Little is known of his education and early career. He married Alice M McSherry (1851-1927) on May 30, 1872, in Baltimore, Maryland.Maryland Union (Frederick, Maryland), June 6, 1872, page 2. They had six children of which only five survived, three of which were Gertrude (b1876), Alice (b1883) and John (b1886)."United States Census, 1900," op. cit.
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad In 1850, Haydon was part of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's engineering corps working on the railroad's extension west of Cumberland, Maryland.
Orange and Alexandria Railroad In 1852, Haydon worked as a resident engineer on the construction of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad middle section and Warrenton, Virginia.Virginia., & Virginia. (1852). Annual reports of officers, boards, and institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia, for the year ending September 30. Richmond: Supt. of Public Printing.
Louisville and Nashville railroad In 1854, Haydon was again a resident engineer, in this case, the fifth division of the Louisville and Nashville railroad from the Tennessee state line to Nashville.Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, (1854). Annual report of the Board of Directors of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company to the stockholders. Louisville, Ky., page 32. Accessed at HathiTrust This work, the Chief engineer wrote in its annual report consisted of "some of the heaviest work in Tennessee, consisting of two tunnels, and a succession of deep rock cuts, and high embankments." Haydon's work in this division was done in conjunction with the Edgefield and Kentucky railroad. The road was finished into Nashville in November 1859.American Society of Civil Engineers. "Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers." American Society of Civil Engineers., Vol XLI, 1899. "ALBERT PINK Past President Am Soc CE died 1897."Accessed at Google Books
Nashville, Tennessee - City Engineer Haydon lived in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1860, during this period as the civil engineer Mitchell, J. L. (1860). John L. Mitchell's Tennessee state gazetteer and business directory. Nashville, [Tenn.]: John L. Mitchell. Accessed at HathiTrustNashville city and business directory, for the city of Nashville : vol. IV., 1859, page 73, Compiled, 1855- , by the Rev. John P. Campbell. Accessed at Haithi trust. for the city of Nashville, Tennessee.United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8YM-Q4R : 30 December 2015), John A Hayden, 1860.
American Civil War service
In 1861 with the outbreak of the American Civil War, Haydon was appointed by Tennessee Governor Isham Green Harris in August 1861 as a captain in the Provisional Army of Tennessee as part of the Provisional Army of the Confederate States (PACS). United States Civil War Unfiled Papers of Confederate Soldiers, 1861–1865," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VQZF-7YQ : 4 December 2014), John A Haydon; from "Unfiled Papers and Slips Belonging to Confederate Compiled Service Records," database, Fold3.com (http://www.fold3.com : 2010); citing NARA microfilm publication M347 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1962), roll 177.
Battle of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson Haydon was assigned to Fort Henry under the command of General Lloyd Tilghman, another railroad engineer. With the first arrival of trained engineers in September 1861,Gott, Kendall D. Where the South Lost the War: An Analysis of the Fort Henry—Fort Donelson Campaign, February 1862. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2003. . his assignment was to assist Lt. Joseph Dixon acting as the engineering officer, in the oversight of the construction of its works. The work had been going slow due to a number of factors such as manpower and material shortages, losses to disease as well as soldiers refusing to work alongside slaves from Alabama plantations. On October 15, 1861, Major Jeremy Francis Gilmer who would later become famous for his defense of Atlanta, Georgia replaced Lt. Dixon and led the construction efforts at the fort. In February 1862, when Major Gilmer evacuated the fort, Haydon was the senior engineering officer. They left behind a gory mess. Writing after the battle, capture and release of paroled prisoners, a number of officers commented on Haydon's role in the defense of the fort. Colonel Milton Haynes, Army of Tennessee Corps of Artillery inspected Fort Henry the night before its surrender conducted with "Captain Haydon of the Engineers"; he then reported to General Tilghman that the fort was untenable and ought to be abandoned. Colonel Adolphus Heiman of Army of Tennessee commended Haydon as one of a cadre of Confederate officers (including Major J. F. Gilmer and Captain Miller fellow engineers) who deserved particular credit for their management of the fort's guns.
Captain John Haydon, 44th Division Engineers, was captured with the surrender of Fort Henry and sent to Johnson's Island in Ohio, at that time, a prisoner-of-war camp for Confederate officers, the only Union prison camp exclusively for Southern officers. Haydon observed that "...at last, we shall hear no more of Kentucky, Virginia and Missouri only, suffering from the absolute distress of actual conflict" Cooling, B. Franklin. Fort Donelson's Legacy: War and Society in Kentucky and Tennessee, 1862-1863. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1997. Later, Haydon would write that "the war will have reached every southern state both in the seaboard region and exposed river regions."
Haydon was paroled for the first time in November 1862 at Aiken, South Carolina
Engineer Bureau of the Confederate States Following his parole in late 1862, Haydon reported to Col. Walter Stevens in the Department of Richmond and worked on rebuilding the Pocahontas bridge over the Appomattox River near Petersburg, Virginia as well as performing reconnaissance on the Potomac river near Point of Rocks, Maryland. The following year in 1863, he was reporting to Col. Alfred L. Rives, acting chief of the Engineer Bureau of the Confederate States. Later, he was again reporting to General Tilghman and supported the removal of four miles of railroad iron from the Rogersville branch of the East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad as part of the East Tennessee Campaign. The next year in 1864, Haydon reported to Colonel Gilmer, Engineers in the defense of Charleston (South Carolina) harbor. Johnson, John. The Defense of Charleston Harbor: Including Fort Sumter and the Adjacent Islands, 1863-1865. Walker, Evans & Cogswell Company, 1890. Accessed at Google books.
Aftermath In April 1865, Haydon was serving with the 25th Engineer corps in Alston, South Carolina when he was paroled a second time as part of General Johnson's Army's surrender in North Carolina on April 26, 1865.
Thomas, J. W. 1855–1926.page 331 (1969). History of Allegany County, Maryland, Baltimore: Regional Pub. Co. Accessed at
Postbellum activities Haydon became chief engineer for the Edisto and Ashley Rivers canal company in South Carolina in 1866 as part of a scheme to provide the city of Charleston with a fresh water supply.The Charleston daily news. Charleston, S.C., November 12, 1867: Cathcart, McMillan & Morton, 1865-1873. Vol. 1, no. 1 (Aug. 14, 1865)-v. 10, no. 2255 (Apr. 5, 1873).10 v. : ill.; 55-68 cm., Newspaper ISSN 2163-4386. Accessed at . During this same period, Haydon also served as chief engineer for the Greenville and Columbia Railroad company.The daily phoenix, dated May 03, 1866, page 2.(Newspaper): (Columbia, S.C.). Accessed at .
Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad
In 1868, Haydon became chief engineer of the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad in Frederick, Maryland. Haydon completed construction of the railroad in June, 1872.
Northern Pacific Railway As of summer 1871, the railroad had only surveyed its route from Duluth, Minnesota westward to Bismarck, North Dakota. On the Western leg, the railroad had been located from Tacoma, Washington east to Bozeman, Montana. This left chief engineer William Milnor Roberts with the task of locating over 600 miles of railroad in Western Dakota and Eastern Montana what was known at that time as the "middle division" of the Northern Pacific.
Roberts planned surveys that included crossing the Bitterroot Mountain passes into Missoula, Montana, as well as a Yellowstone River survey. Robert's plan was for this last survey to start at Fort Ellis, a United States Army fort, east of present-day Bozeman, Montana, cross over Bozeman Pass and follow the Yellowstone River downstream. Roberts chose Edward D. Muhlenberg to head up this 1871 railroad survey party for the Yellowstone River portion. Muhlenberg ran into numerous difficulties executing the plan and producing maps. In November 1871, Roberts joined the effort and reached Muhlenberg's camp on November 8, 1871. Roberts continued the survey to the edge of the Lakota hunting grounds near Pompey's pillar on November 11, returning to fort Ellis on November 20, 1871. Muhlenberg, however, didn't return until November 28, where the military escort under Captain Edward Ball reported 57 soldiers injured by freezing weather. The same winter storm trapped 65 men in another army unit, the 7th infantry, resulting in 22 amputations.
The following year, 1872, Roberts was not able to start recruiting for the 1872 Western survey until June. Haydon had just completed the construction of the Frederick and Pennsylvania Line Railroad and was hired by Roberts. On July 23, 1872, Haydon led the railroad survey party from Fort Ellis, a United States Army fort, east of present-day Bozeman, Montana, consisting of Haydon, chief of party, two principal assistants, in charge of the compass and level, together with rodmen, chainmen, and others (altogether 20 men). Haydon supply train consisted of almost seventy wagons with rations for 105 days and a small herd of beef cattle. Haydon's military escort, commanded by Major Eugene Baker, Second Cavalry, consisting of four companies, 187 men, of the Second Cavalry, and four companies, 189 men, of the Seventh Infantry.Harper's Weekly, Volume 17, page 187, March 8, 1873, accessed at [Harper's Weekly, Volume 17]