Abert, John James
soldier, was born Sept. 17, 1788, in Shepherdtown, Va.
In 1829 he succeeded to the charge of the topographical bureau at Washington, and in 1838 became colonel in command of that branch of the engineers. He was retired in 1861 after long and faithful service. Colonel Abert was associated in the supervision of many of the earlier national works of engineering, and his reports prepared for the government are standards of authority. He was a member of several scientific societies, and was one of the organizers of the national institute of science, which was subsequently merged into the Smithsonian institute. He died Sept. 27, 1863, in Washington, D. C.