You stand on a part of the Potomac River once marred by unattractive, putrid mudflats. Hains Point forms just a part of the over 700-acre Potomac Park created in the 1880s from 12 million cubic yards of dredged river sediments. It is named for Maj. Gen. Peter Conover Hains, an illustrious United States Army soldier and engineer. With a distinguished career that stretched from the Civil War to the First World War, Hains remains better known for helping to design Potomac Park-one of the national capital's more famous landmarks.

(Time Line):
1840-Born in Philadelphia, Pa.

1857-1861-U.S. Military Academy, West Point, NY

1861-1865- U.S. Civil War.
Fired "first shot" at First Bull Run/Manassas
Helped design and map Vicksburg, MS siege works
Married Virginia Pettis Jenkins

1862-1863
Transferred to the Engineer Corps
Earned commendations from action in the battle and designing siege works at Vicksburg, MS

1865-1907-Engineering Projects
Lighthouse construction in South Carolina and Florida
Potomac River Reclamation Project
Surveyor for "national road" from Washington, D.C. to Mount Vernon
Nicaragua and Panama Canal Commissions
Baltimore, MD harbor defenses

1916-Appointed Major General by Act of Congress and became only Civil War veteran officer in the Great War

1921-Died in Washington at Walter Reed Army Hospital; laid to rest with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery

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