Claudius Crozet (1789-1864)
The information in this article was inspired by a website I found online. It is from the Albemarle
County Schools of Charlottesville, VA. Along with two other sources, which I identify under
my sources page, here is a brief description about the French engineer, Claudius Crozet.
Benoit Claudius Crozet was born in Villefranche, France on December 31, 1789. He entered the
École Polytechnique, on November 18, 1805, and graduated as a sub- lieutenant on October 1,
1807. In addition, he graduated from the Imperial Artillery School as a second lieutenant on
June 9, 1809. “Soon after the formation of the Empire, Napoleon decided that the school should
be reorganized on military lines in order to impose a strict discipline upon the students”(1).
Students received advanced training in military and civil engineering. While there, he studied
bridge-building at the School of Bridge and Roads. During the French invasion of Russia (1812),
Crozet was taken by the Russian Army as a prisoner of war at Borodino, outside Moscow. As a
prisoner of war, Crozet went to live with a Russian nobleman who took a liking to him. Crozet
learned to speak Russian and wrote a Russian textbook. When the French lost the Napoleonic
War and Napoleon was removed from power, Crozet resigned from military duty on April 11,
1816. Two months later he married Agathe Decamp in Paris on June 7, 1816; they had three
children—two girls and a boy.
In the fall of 1816, Crozet and his bride headed for America. The reason for his leaving France
is unknown. Almost immediately upon arriving in America, Crozet began work as a professor of
engineering at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. “One of Crozet’s fellow
voyagers was Simon Bernard, who met Capt. Thayer in France while the latter was looking for
books, charts, maps and equipment and models of fortifications. Bernard may have been
responsible for Crozet’s appointment to West Point.”(2). While at West Point, Crozet wrote a
textbook Treatise on Descriptive Geometry, published in 1821. He was the first teacher of
descriptive geometry in the U.S. It was also said “he redesigned the West Point uniform to
resemble those of the École Polytechnique”(3). Crozet also designed several West Point
buildings.
Jefferson was so impressed with Crozet’s book that he wrote to him:
Monticello Nov. 23. 21.
I thank you, Sir, for your kind attention in sending me a copy of your valuable treatise on
Descriptive geometry. I felicitate the student of the present day on this important supplement to
his knolege [sic] of the theory of geometry, and those of our country particularly on their
fortunate acquisition of so able an instructor in it. We are sometimes disposed to think with
regret that we have been born an age too soon for the luminous advance of sciences of which we
see the dawn. But justice suggests that our age has had it’s [sic] turn, and it’s [sic] honors too,
and that the enjoyment of advancing science which we have had more than those who have gone
before us, should not be envied to those who are to come after us. With my thankfulness for the
services you are rendering my young countrymen, accept the assurance of my great esteem and
respect.
Th. Jefferson
M. Crozet.” (4)
Thomas Jefferson referred to Claudius Crozet as “by far the best mathematician in the United
States”!
Crozet was an animated teacher and is credited by some as being the first to use the chalkboard
as an instructional tool. He had some difficult times at West Point, but he earned respect from
many people. There had been a confrontation between Captain Alden Partridge and Major
Sylvanus Thayer regarding Partridge’s position at the academy. Partridge had been accused by a
number of his peers that he had neglected the curriculum and had placed too much emphasis on
military drills. “Although Crozet was not one of the principle complainers against Partridge, he
was associated with those who were like Jared Mansfield and Andrew Ellicott” (5). Crozet also
felt slighted; being paid less than the philosophy professor, whereas his talents seem to be the
main focus of the military academy. Also the remoteness of West Point did not help. As
Thayer’s attitude changed from one of taking advice and ideas from the faculty to one of
absolute command and disrespect of the professors he found that he could no longer stay.
In early spring 1821, Crozet wrote to Mr. Jefferson requesting a job at the University of Virginia.
Jefferson responded that the University didn’t have any buildings yet and wasn’t ready to hire
professors.
“Monticello. Mar. 31.
Sir
Your favor from West Point has been duly received. We are as yet far from the time at which we
may think of procuring Professors for our University. The buildings indeed will all be finished
in the course of 2 or 3 years, but our funds will be left burthened with a heavy debt, which will
absorb them many years, if left to discharge it. Whether the legislature at some future day may
take it off their hands and enable it to commence its operations is quite uncertain. With my
regrets therefore that I can say nothing more satisfactory accept the assurance of my respect.
Th. Jefferson
M. Crozet” (6)
The University of Virginia, founded in 1819, did not receive students until several years later.
On April 9, 1823, Crozet was elected Principal Engineer and Surveyor of Public Works of
Virginia. The state was in need of a person who could design and build a more adequate system
of transportation to compete with New York and Pennsylvania’s expansion into the western trade.
He resigned from his duties at West Point shortly after this and began his new job in June.
Crozet brought his wife and children with him to live in Richmond, Virginia. “One of his first
jobs was the surveying of a straight road through some difficult terrain from Stouton to the
mouth of the Little Kanawha River at Parkersburg.” (7) This project would force Crozet to rely
upon his mathematical skills. This road became the Stouton-Parkersburg Turnpike. In the nine
years that Crozet was in Virginia he had accomplished much but he tired of the conservative
planter society legislators. They were not eager to expand transportation routes west for fear of
losing their control of economic power in the state. Therefore, he found an opportunity to use
his talents in a state that needed his expertise.
Crozet was happy to be in Louisiana for many reasons, one of which being that French was
widely spoken, plus the state was ready to build its first railroad west of the Appalachians. It
was a promising state for railroad construction. Crozet had a lot to deal with as the state
engineer in Louisiana - a lot of rivers and swamps. He recommended that some railways be built.
Once again, Crozet was being asked to compromise his beliefs and design a transportation
system he felt was not as good as it could be. He proposed a railway from New Orleans to
Washington D.C. by way of northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee because “once the
Tennessee River Valley was reached … the way through east Tennessee into Virginia was
provided by nature.”(8) However, the businessmen of New Orleans wanted to create an alliance
with Nashville and build a rail line through that town. The whole project failed when
Mississippi, influenced by the rivals of New Orleans—Vicksburg and Natchez—declined to
cooperate. Convinced he could do no more as an engineer in Louisiana he left his job and
became president of Jefferson College in St. James Parish, Convent, Louisiana in 1834. His stay
at Jefferson was short lived, perhaps due to the boredom of his work there. He only stayed a
year and a half.
Crozet returned to Virginia in 1837 as the Principal Engineer to work on roads, canals, and
railroads. In 1839, he surveyed the Blue Ridge Mountains and determined that the best way to
allow the railroad to cross the mountain would be through a series of tunnels. “The 4273’ tunnel
through the rock-solid mountain below Rockfish Gap carried traffic from 1858 - 1944. His
talents were tested in solving safety, drainage, and ventilation problems posed by the
construction of this tunnel. The town grew around a rail stop established on Wayland’s Farm in
1876. It was named for Col. B. Claudius Crozet.” (From historical marker W 170) (9)
Claudius Crozet died on January 29, 1864, at Midlothian, Virginia.
Sources:
1. Robert F. Hunter and Edwin L. Dooley, Jr., Claudius Crozet: French Engineer in America,
1790-1864, University Press of Virginia, Charlottesville, 1989, p. 2.
2. Ibid, p. 15.
3. Ibid, p. 17
4. ©Virginia Military Institute Archives:
http://www.vmi.edu/archives/Manuscripts/ms0059f4.html
5. Hunter and Dooley, Idem, p. 22.
6. ©Virginia Military Institute Archives:
http://www.vmi.edu/archives/Manuscripts/ms0059f4.html
7. Hunter and Dooley, Idem, p.36.
8. Ibid, p. 97.
9. http://www.k12.albemarle.org/technology/claudiuscrozet
Albemarle County Schools of Charlottesville, VA.
Sean Comfort
April 28, 2004