Peter Conover Hains

Biography

Peter Conover Hains served from the Civil War through the dawn of the twentieth century, balancing combat leadership with an extraordinary talent for military engineering. He oversaw fortifications, sluices, and harbor improvements, and he famously directed the dredging of the Potomac and other waterways that connected the nation’s capital to the restless tides around it.

Hains devoted his later years to the Corps of Engineers’ professional development, sharing lessons on planning, maintenance, and teamwork, and his calm intellect and unwavering duty found final rest in Arlington’s hallowed grounds.