The Corps of Engineers and the First Federal Disaster Response

BY USACE OFFICE OF HISTORY

The U.S. snagboat General Barnard, which was built in 1879.

OFFICE OF HISTORY HQUSACE

The Corps of Engineers received its first federal disaster recovery assignment in February 1882, when heavy floods along the Mississippi River forced thousands of people to flee their homes and seek refuge on levees and hilltops. Although Congress had generally left disaster relief and recovery to local and state interests, the scale of the flood in 1882 prompted a change in policy and an appropriation for $100,000 in recovery supplies. The federal legislature tasked the Army Quartermaster Corps with delivering desperately needed food and tents to the shivering refugees, but it lacked a means of delivery. Chief of Engineers Brig. Gen. Horatio G. Wright proposed that the Corps of Engineers use its large fleet of floating plant to deliver the supplies, but noted that these vessels could not be used for disaster recovery without congressional authorization. Congress quickly pushed through a disaster recovery authorization bill, and the engineer officer at Rock Island, Illinois, Maj. Alexander Mackenzie, sent the steamboat General Barnard and the towboat Coal Bluff to St. Louis, where they took on quartermaster supplies including 1,689 barrels of oatmeal, 383 boxes of bacon, and 17 bales of tents. Soon engineer vessels were steaming up and down the river, plucking people off levees and rooftops. Over a six-week period, Army engineer steamboats, snagboats, and towboats delivered hundreds of tons of desperately needed supplies to communities all along the Mississippi. That effort marked the beginning of the Corps of Engineers formal disaster recovery efforts. Today, USACE retains its mission to respond to disasters, including floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, or manmade emergencies, and to assist with rescue, relief, and recovery efforts alongside other federal, state, and private organizations. AE

Rescue of settlers at night during the floods on the Mississippi in 1882.

HARPER’S WEEKLY, MARCH 4, 1882.

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