Peter Conover Hains Peter Conover Hains ( July 6 , 1840 – November 7 , 1921 ) was a major general in the United States Army , and a veteran of the American Civil War , Spanish - American War , and the First World War . He is best known for his engineering efforts , such as the creation of the Tidal Basin in Washington , D . C . , and for laying out the Panama Canal . Early life and career . Hains was born in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . He was appointed to the United States Military Academy from New Jersey , and graduated from West Point ranking 19th in the Class of June 1861 . Among his classmates were Medal of Honor recipient First Lieutenant Alonzo Cushing , and Major General s George Custer , USA , and Pierce Manning Butler Young , CSA . Civil War . Commissioned and promoted second and first lieutenant in the 2nd U . S . Artillery on June 24 , 1861 , Hains briefly commanded Battery M , 2nd U . S . Artillery , in the U . S . Horse Artillery Brigade , until transferring to the Corps of Topographical Engineers on July 24 , 1862 . He won a brevet promotion to captain on May 22 , 1862 , for actions at Hanover Court House . Less than a year later , on March 3 , 1863 , Hains transferred again — this time into the Corps of Engineers . During the Siege of Vicksburg , Hains was cited for meritorious conduct ( serving as the acting / interim chief engineer of the XIII Corps ) , and was awarded a brevet promotion to major upon the capture of the city , July 4 , 1863 . Promoted to captain in the Engineers on July 18 , he served out the remainder of the war , and received a brevet promotion to lieutenant colonel for his service during the war . Postbellum career . Hains remained with the regular army following the war , and was promoted to major in September 1870 . Much of his notable post - war service was with the U . S . Lighthouse Bureau . Among other accomplishments , Hains designed the Morris Island and St . Augustine lighthouses . He became a lieutenant colonel in 1886 , and was promoted to colonel on August 1895 . He designed the Tidal Basin in Washington , D . C . , thus solving the drainage problems and foul smell of most of the Washington area marshlands . Still in the Army during the Spanish - American War , Hains served as a brigadier general of volunteers from August to November 1898 . He was promoted to brigadier general in the Regular Army on April 21 , 1903 . He successfully lobbied for the construction of the Panama Canal site over one proposed in Nicaragua . Hains retired from active service in 1904 . On August 15 , 1908 , two of his three sons , Peter C . Hains II and Thornton Jenkins Hains , a well - known author of sea stories , were involved in the murder of William E . Annis at the Bayside Yacht Club , Long Island . The crime , and the subsequent separate trials for the brothers , became one of the notorious cases of its day , front - page news across the country . Thornton was acquitted in January 1909 ; Peter was convicted of manslaughter in May 1909 and sent to Sing Sing , but , on General Hains ' appeal , was pardoned by the Governor of New York in 1911 . The General spent much of his savings financing the defense of his sons . General Hains was recalled and promoted to major general during the First World War , in 1916 . He died at Walter Reed Hospital . Honors . Hains Point in Washington is named in memory of General Hains . The honor of oldest Army officer to serve belongs to Hains , who was in uniform at the age of 76 . He was a classmate of George Armstrong Custer at West Point and ordered the first shot fired by the Union artillery at the Battle of Bull Run . He retired in 1904 , was recalled to duty twelve years later for service during WWI , the only Civil War Officer to see duty in WWI . Military family . His sons , John Power Hains and Peter Hains Jr . , were both army officers . His grandson and namesake , Peter C . Hains , III , was also a major general in the U . S . Army . All are buried at Arlington National Cemetery .