Washington Roebling Washington Augustus Roebling ( May 26 , 1837 – July 21 , 1926 ) was an American civil engineer best known for his work on the Brooklyn Bridge , which was initially designed by his father John A . Roebling . Education and military service . The eldest son of John Roebling , Washington was born in Saxonburg , Pennsylvania , a town co - founded by his father and his uncle , Karl Roebling . His early schooling consisted of tutoring by Riedel and under Henne in Pittsburgh . He was also sent to stay with Professor Lemuel Stephens of the Western University of Pennsylvania ( now known as the University of Pittsburgh ) where Roebling also attended some classes . He eventually attended the Trenton Academy and acquired further education at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy , New York , from 1854 to 1857 . While attending Rensselaer , Roebling became a member of the Pi Eta Scientific Society , now known as the Rensselaer Society of Engineers . Following his graduation as civil engineer ( C . E . ) , he joined his father to work as a bridge builder . From 1858 to 1860 , he assisted his father on the Allegheny Bridge project , living in a boarding house on Penn Street . Following the completion of the bridge , he returned to Trenton to work in his father ' s wire mill . On April 16 , 1861 , during the American Civil War , Roebling enlisted as a private in the New Jersey Militia . Seeking more than garrison duty , he resigned after two months and re - enlisted in a New York artillery battery . He rose steadily in rank and was soon commissioned as an officer . Roebling saw action in numerous battles : Manassas Junction ( Second Bull Run ) , Antietam , Chancellorsville , the Wilderness , Siege of Petersburg , and most notably Gettysburg . Soon after Chancellorsville , he was perhaps the first to note the movement of Robert E . Lee ' s Confederate Army toward the northwest while conducting air balloon reconnaissance . On July 2 , 1863 , during Gettysburg , Roebling was one of the initial officers on Little Round Top . Observing signs of Confederate troops approaching , he hurried down the hill to report to Brig . Gen . Gouverneur K . Warren , for whom Roebling was aide - de - camp . General Warren and Roebling then descended the hill to find troops to secure this important tactical position . Roebling assisted in hoisting artillery up the hill , while Warren sent two of his aides , one of whom was Lt . Ranald S . Mackenzie , searching for infantry support . The two aides were able to secure a brigade from the Union V Corps . This brigade was commanded by Col . Strong Vincent whose brigade immediately occupied the hill and defended the left flank of the Army of the Potomac against repeated Confederate attacks . As Vincent ' s brigade began moving into position , Warren and Roebling had left the hill and Roebling was able to send the 140th New York Volunteers to the hill , not knowing that Vincent ' s brigade was already engaging advancing Confederate troops . However , the 140th New York provided much needed reinforcements . Roebling was brevet ted lieutenant colonel in December 1864 for gallant service , ending his service brevetted to colonel . After the war , he became a veteran companion of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States . Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge . From mid - 1865 to 1867 , Roebling worked with his father on the Cincinnati - Covington Bridge ( now the John A . Roebling Suspension Bridge ) . While traveling in Europe to research bridges and caisson foundations , his only son , John A . Roebling , II , was born . After returning in 1868 , Washington became assistant engineer on the Brooklyn Bridge , and was named chief engineer after his father ' s death in mid - 1869 . He made several important improvements on the bridge design and further developed bridge building techniques . Thus , he designed the two large pneumatic caissons that became the foundations for the two towers . In 1870 , fire broke out in one of the caissons ; from within the caisson , Roebling directed the efforts to extinguish the flames . Working in compressed air in these caissons under the river caused him to get decompression sickness ( " the bends " ) shattering his health and rendering him unable to visit the site , yet he continued to oversee the Brooklyn project to successful completion in 1883 . Besides the bends , he may have had additional afflictions , possible neurasthenia , side effects of treatments , and secondary drug addiction . His wife , Emily Warren Roebling , who had taken it upon herself to learn bridge construction , became his nurse , companion , and confidant and took over much of the chief engineer ' s duties including day - to - day supervision and project management . Although husband and wife jointly planned the bridge ' s continued construction , Emily successfully lobbied for formal retention of Washington as chief engineer . McCullough remarked that " nowhere in the history of great undertakings is there anything comparable " to Roebling conducting the largest and most difficult engineering project ever " in absentia " . Roebling would battle the after - effects from the caisson disease and its treatment the rest of his life . Later years . Following the Brooklyn project , Roebling and his wife lived in Troy , New York , from 1884 to 1888 , as their only child , John A . Roebling , II , also attended the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( RPI ) . When their son graduated , the Roeblings returned to Trenton , moving to 191 West State Street in 1892 . From 1902 to 1903 Roebling served as President of the Alumni Association at Rensselaer . His wife Emily died in 1903 from stomach cancer . Roebling remarried in 1908 to Cornelia Witsell Farrow of Charleston , South Carolina . His namesake , Washington Augustus Roebling II , born March 25 , 1881 , only son of his brother Charles G . Roebling , went down with the RMS " Titanic " in 1912 . Following the sudden death of his nephew , Karl Gustavus Roebling , in 1921 , Roebling again became president of John A . Roebling ' s Sons Company at age 84 . He died in 1926 , after being bedridden for two months , at age 89 . Roebling ' s most passionate hobby was collecting rocks and minerals . His collection of over 16 , 000 specimens was donated by his son , John A . Roebling , II , to the Smithsonian Institution and became an important part of its mineral and gem collection . Many of his manuscripts , photographs , and publications , can be found in the Roebling collections at Rutgers University in New Brunswick , New Jersey , and at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy , New York .