Thomas Hutchins Thomas Hutchins ( Monmouth County , NJ 1730 – April 18 , 1789 , Pittsburgh ) was an American military engineer , cartographer , geographer and surveyor . In 1781 , Hutchins was named Geographer of the United States . He is the only person to hold that post . Biography . Hutchins was born in New Jersey . " When only sixteen years of age he went to the western country , and obtained an appointment as an ensign in the British Army . " " He joined the militia during the French and Indian War and later took a regular commission with British forces . " . . . he fought in the French and Indian War ( 1754 - 1763 ) . By late 1757 , was commissioned a lieutenant in the colony of Pennsylvania , and a year later he was promoted to quartermaster in Colonel Hugh Mercer ’ s battalion and was stationed at Fort Duquesne near Pittsburgh . " " In 1763 General Henry Bouquet , a British officer then in command at Philadelphia , was ordered to the relief of Fort Pitt , now Pittsburgh , and setting out with 500 men , mostly Highlanders , found the frontier settlements greatly alarmed on account of savage invasions . He has some fighting with the Indians along the way , but succeeded in reaching Fort Pitt with supplies , losing , however , eight officers and one hundred and fifteen men . Hutchins was present at this point , and distinguished himself as a soldier , while he laid out the plan of new fortifications , and afterwards executed it under the directions of General Bouquet . " In 1766 , he started working for the British army as an engineer . That year , Hutchins joined George Croghan , deputy Indian agent , and Captain Henry Gordon , chief engineer in the Western Department of North America , on an expedition down the Ohio River to survey territory acquired by the 1763 Treaty of Paris . Hutchins worked in the Midwestern territories on land and river surveys for several years until he was transferred to the Southern Department of North America in 1772 . He spent about five years working on survey projects in the western part of Florida . During this time he also occasionally traveled north , often to Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . His advancements in the fields of topography and geography led him to be elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in the spring of 1772 . In 1774 , he participated in a survey of the Mississippi river from Manchac to the Yazoo River . This was a mapping expedition led by George Gauld , with Dr . John Lorimer and Captain Thomas Davey , Captain of HMS Sloop Diligence . Also along on part of the expedition was Major Alexander Dickson , commander of the 16th Regiment in West Florida . Much of the data used by Hutchins in preparing his 1784 book , " Historical , Narrative and Topographical Description of Louisiana and West Florida " came from his experiences on this expedition . Despite his years of service with the British Army , he sympathized with the American cause during the American Revolution . He resigned from his position in 1780 . He was arrested , charged with treason , and imprisoned . In 1780 , he escaped to France and contacted Benjamin Franklin in the United States with a request to join the American army . In December of 1780 , Hutchins sailed to Charleston , South Carolina . " By resolution on May 4 , 1781 , Congress appointed him geographer of the southern army . On July 11 , the title was changed to ' Geographer of the United States . ' " Hutchins was the first and only Geographer of the United States ( see Department of the Geographer to the Army , 1777 - 1783 ) from 1781 . He became an early advocate of Manifest Destiny , proposing that the United States should annex West Florida and Louisiana , which were then controlled by Spain . In May 1781 , Hutchins was appointed geographer of the southern army , and shared duties with Simeon DeWitt , the geographer of the main army . Just a few months later , a new title was granted to both men , geographer of the United States . When DeWitt became the surveyor - general of New York in 1784 , Hutchins held the prestigious title alone . " Although Congress balked at the idea of a postwar establishment with an engineering department , it did see the need for a geographer and surveyors . Thus , in 1785 , Thomas Hutchins became geographer general and immediately began his biggest assignment - surveying " Seven Ranges " townships in the Northwest Territory as provided by the Land Ordnance Act of 1785 . For two years Josiah Harmar ' s troops offered Hutchins and his surveyors much needed protection from Indians . " Hutchins died on assignment while surveying the Seven Ranges . " The Gazette of the United States concluded a commendary memorial notice by the remark , ' he has measured the earth , but a small space now contains him . ' " He was interred at the cemetery of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh .