David du Bose Gaillard (September 4, 1859 – December 5, 1913) was a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

engineer instrumental in the construction of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

. During the years of the US Canal Zone (c. 1915–2000), the

Culebra Cut The Culebra Cut, formerly called Gaillard Cut, is an artificial valley that cuts through the Continental Divide in Panama. The cut forms part of the Panama Canal, linking Gatun Lake, and thereby the Atlantic Ocean, to the Gulf of Panama and henc ...

in the Panama Canal bore his name in his memory.

Biography

Lieutenant Colonel David DuBose Gaillard was born in Fulton Crossroads,

South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...

, which is located in what is now the Manchester State Forest near Sumter. Gaillard graduated from

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

in 1884. After promotion to first lieutenant in 1887, he married Katherine Ross Davis. The couple had one child, David St. Pierre Gaillard. By 1903 he was a Captain in the Army Corps of Engineers. In 1908 Gaillard was placed in charge of construction of the central portion of the Panama Canal, crossing the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not c ...

. He was in charge of the notorious

through the backbone of the isthmus. Men who worked with him said he gave 12 hours every day to the Culebra Cut, besides which, he took his share in the labor of general administration of the Canal Zone. He checked up expenses, even on small things, and once it was computed he had saved the government $17,000,000. Gaillard died nine months before the Panama Canal opened. He returned to the US suffering from what was thought to be nervous exhaustion brought on by overwork and died of a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seco ...

on December 5, 1913 at

Johns Hopkins Hospital The Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, located in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. It was founded in 1889 using money from a bequest of over $7 million (1873 ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, aged 54. He is buried at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

. (Copy of a 1903 New York Times article)

Family

Gaillard married Katherine Ross Davis at Winnsboro on October 6, 1887. She accompanied him to Panama and while there collected plant specimens for the

United States National Herbarium The United States National Herbarium is a collection of five million preserved plant specimens housed in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. It represents about 8% of the ...

. While in Panama she was also an orchid collector.

References

External links

Picture of historical marker, from Historical Marker Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaillard, David 1859 births 1913 deaths United States Military Academy alumni Panama Canal American canal engineers