Charles Gratiot

President Thomas Jefferson personally appointed him (and 3 other young Missouri men) as a United States Military Academy cadet in July 1804. The U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, was the first school of engineering in the United States and graduated its first class in 1802.{{cite journal |last = Jenks |first = William A. |title = Fort Gratiot and Its Builder Gen. Charles Gratiot |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=LhMUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA144 |journal = Michigan History Magazine |location = Lansing |publisher = Michigan Historical Commission |date = January 1920 |volume = 4 |issue = 1 |pages = 144–46 |access-date = May 9, 2012 }} Gratiot was a member of the Class of 1806, the fourth graduating class, and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. He became a captain in 1808 and assisted Alexander Macomb in constructing fortifications in Charleston, South Carolina. He returned to his alma mater in 1810 to be commander of the Army garrison at West Point during 1810–1811.{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cChvv8l0FssC&dq=charles+gratiot+army&pg=PA1 |journal=The Engineer |location=United States |publisher=U.S. Army Engineer Center and Fort Belvoir |year=1974 |volume=12 |number=2 |page=1|title=Chief's Briefs |accessdate=February 17, 2023}}

As General William Henry Harrison's Chief Engineer in the War of 1812, he distinguished himself by planning and building Fort Meigs in 1813. He also rebuilt Fort St. Joseph, later renamed Fort Gratiot in his honor. In 1814 he took part in the attack of the Battle of Mackinac Island. He received the Thanks of Congress for his efforts during the war.

He served as Chief Engineer, 1817–1818, in Michigan Territory followed by assignment as the superintending engineer, 1819–1828, for the construction of defenses at Hampton Roads, Virginia.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LH1vfi4eDfMC&dq=Charles+Gratiot+engineer&pg=PA281 |pages=11, 281 |title=The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers: A History |type=Paperback |first1=William |last1=Baldwin |author2=United States. Army. Corps of Engineers |date=July 16, 2008 |publisher=Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Office of History |isbn=978-1410210593}}{{efn-ua|"He was superintending engineer of the construction of the defenses of Hampton Roads, 1819–1829. He became chief engineer of the army in May, 1828 and was brevetted brigadier. On the pretext of discrepancies in Gratiot's accounts, he was dismissed from the army in 1838. Thereafter, he worked as a clerk in the General Land Office in Washington. Lee was much shaken by Gratiot's dismissal and studied the matter closely. He came to the conclusion that Gratiot was an honest man, the victim of a cabal. See George W. Cullum, Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point (New York, 1868, 2 vols.), 1, 99–100. See also Douglas S. Freeman, R. E. Lee: A Biography (New York, 1934–1935, 4 vols.), 1, 157–158."{{cite web |url=https://leefamilyarchive.org/reference/essays/shackelford/notes.html/index.html |title=From the Society's Collections: Lieutenant Lee Reports to Captain Talcott on Fort Calhoun's Construction on the Rip Raps |first1=George Green |last1=Shackelford |work=Lee Family Digital Archive}}}}[https://www.usace.army.mil/About/History/Commanders.aspx Commanders of the Corps of Engineers] U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

On May 24, 1828, Gratiot was appointed colonel of engineers, brevet brigadier general, and Chief Engineer. For ten years he administered an expanding program of river, harbor, road, and fortification construction. He also engaged in a lengthy dispute with War Department officials over benefits, and in 1838 President Martin Van Buren dismissed him for failing to repay government funds that had been entrusted to him.

Prior to Gratiot's dismissal, he assigned Robert E. Lee to build wing dams in the Mississippi River at St. Louis, Missouri.

Gratiot became a clerk in the United States General Land Office from 1840–1855 and died in St. Louis.

Gratiot became a party to lengthy litigation against the United States government, in cases that were appealed twice to the U.S. Supreme Court.{{cite court |url = http://openjurist.org/45/us/80/charles-gratiot-v-the-united-states |litigants = Charles Gratiot, plaintiff in error, v. United States |date = 1846 |vol = 45 |reporter = U.S.|opinion = 80; Charles 4 How. 80; 11 L.Ed. 884 }}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4hh7qYZrZqMC&q=charles+gratiot+army |last1=Gratiot |first1=Charles |title=Memorial of Charles Gratiot: Stating that He Had Been Unjustly Dismissed from the Army of the United States, and Asking an Expression of the Opinion of the Senate as to the Legality of the Course Pursued Toward Him. January 15, 1852. Ordered to be Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and Printed in Confidence for the Use of the Senate.|location=United States |publisher=32nd United States Congress |year=1852}} It is said that the General of the Army, Alexander Macomb, was of the opinion that President Van Buren's actions were too harsh.

He married Ann Belin on April 22, 1819.{{cite web |url = http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=:354435&id=I17382151 |title = Jones-Walker GEDCOM |work = Ancestry.com |access-date = September 2, 2014 }} They had two children:

• Marie Victoire Gratiot (1820–1878). Married Charles-François-Frédéric, marquis de Montholon-Sémonville. Had issue.
• Julia Augusta Gratiot (1824–1895). Married Charles Pierre Chouteau. Had issue.

• His remains are interred in section 13 of Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.
• Fort Gratiot, Michigan, was named after Gratiot, who oversaw its reconstruction in 1814 to guard the mouth of the St. Clair River at Lake Huron. Fort Gratiot Park is located there.[https://www.stclaircounty.org/offices/parks/fort_gratiot.aspx Fort Gratiot County Park] St. Clair County, Michigan[https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g42210-d14927563-Reviews-Fort_Gratiot_County_Park-Fort_Gratiot_Michigan.html Fort Gratiot County Park] Trip Advisor
• Gratiot Avenue, an early roadway between Detroit and Port Huron, Michigan, was named for the fort near Port Huron, which was in turn named for Gratiot.{{cite book |last = Farmer |first = Silas |title = History of Detroit and Michigan |year = 1884 |url = https://archive.org/details/1268725.0001.001.umich.edu/page/940 |page = 940 |location = Detroit |publisher = S. Farmer & Co |oclc = 11182400 |access-date = March 5, 2020 |via = Archive.org}} Construction started in Detroit in 1829, and the roadway was completed in the same year to Mount Clemens. The rest was finished in 1833. Sections of the roadway are designated as state highways M-3 or M-19, and before I-94 was built, Gratiot Avenue was the main link between the two cities.{{cite book |last = Barnett |first = LeRoy |year = 2004 |title = A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan |location = Allegan Forest, Michigan |publisher = Priscilla Press |pages = 95–96 |isbn = 1-88616-7-24-9 }}
• Gratiot is the namesake of the village of Gratiot, Ohio.{{cite book|last=Overman|first=William Daniel|title=Ohio Town Names|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015015361465;view=1up;seq=69|year=1958|publisher=Atlantic Press|location=Akron, Ohio|page=53}}
• Point Gratiot, Point Gratiot Light (a/k/a Dunkirk Lighthouse){{cite news |url=https://buffalonews.com/multimedia/a-closer-look-the-dunkirk-lighthouse-shining-over-lake-erie-for-nearly-200-years/collection_7122cfe3-badf-5d24-b47e-9c51269ae8d1.html |newspaper=The Buffalo News |title=The Dunkirk Lighthouse, shining over Lake Erie for nearly 200 |quote=... light 27 miles out into Lake Erie. The structure were named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as the Point Gratiot Lighthouse Complex.}} and Point Gratiot Park in Dunkirk, New York[https://www.dunkirklighthouse.com/Point_Gratiot.htm Dunkirk Lighthouse] are also named for him.{{citation needed|date=February 2023}}
• Gratiot County, Michigan is named for Gratiot.{{cite book |title=General Charles Gratiot: Acres and Avenues Bear His Name |first1=Mildred L. |last1=Smith |year=1987 |publisher=Gratiot County Historical and Genealogical Society}} It was described by the Territorial Legislature in 1831. By 1837, the Territory had been admitted to the Union as a state; in 1855 the State Legislature authorized the organization of Gratiot County—the death year of the county's namesake.{{cite book |last = Tucker |first =Willard D. |year = 1913 |title = Gratiot County, Michigan: Historical, Biographical, Statistical. Chronicling the Events of the First Sixty Years of the County's Existence as the Abode of White Men; with County, Township, City and Village Matters Fully Detailed and with Miscellaneous Events of Importance Duly and Suitably Treated; by One who Has Been a Resident of the County Nearly Half a Century |location =Saginaw, Michigan |publisher =Press of Seemann & Peters |page = 25 |oclc = 497670 }}

• List of Michigan county name etymologies

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• This article contains public domain text from [https://web.archive.org/web/20050404183705/http://www.hq.usace.army.mil/history/coe.htm#10 Portraits and Profiles of Chief Engineers: Colonel Charles Gratiot].
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20071017032910/http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/LewisClark2/Circa1804/StLouis/BlockInfo/Block32AGratiot.htm Information about his parents at the Lewis and Clark Expedition page] from National Park Service.

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090522191037/http://www.usace.army.mil/History/Pages/Commanders.aspx U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Commanders of the Corps of Engineers, Charles Gratiot.]
• {{Cite web|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6133774/charles-chouteau-gratiot|title=Charles Chouteau Gratiot (1786-1855)|website=Find a Grave }} at Find a Grave

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| title = Chief of Engineers

| before = Alexander Macomb

| after = Joseph Gilbert Totten

| years = 1828–1838

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