New York - Plan Section and Elevation of a Half Front of a Fortification with Dry Ditches on a Horizontal Site Drawn under the Direction of D H Mahan ....

[West Point Military Academy], 1850-1854. As accomplished.. Very good with some feint light spotting (inoffensive). Original watercolor and gouache rendering (with vertical orientation) within a thick black border line, on a sheet measuring appx. 590 x 880 mm.; thick, cream colored, watercolor paper stock.

A large, appealing, and impressive engineering drawing signed by cadet John Radcliff Smead (class of 1854) who upon graduation went to New Mexico. J R Smead was the son of Raphael Smead who was an instructor in mathematics during 1825/26 at the academy. The elder Smead left to take up duties in the regular army and died of yellow fever in 1848 returning from the Mexican War. D H Mahan (DAB XII, 209-210) was appointed prof. of engineering at West Point in 1832. Mahan had studied for years in France and was, at the time, among the pre-eminent engineers in the country. His appointment at West Point allowed him to establish and shape the course of instruction for the next half century. At the time of his employ it was his responsibility to educate the cadets in everything that pertained to the study of engineering. Over the course of his career he wrote about a dozen textbooks that became the "bibles" of engineering studies in America. It is not possible to over estimate his impact on the study of the engineering sciences in United States. The watercolor rendering offered here is no doubt the result of a student assignment; executed in an accomplished fashion to a high standard.