Leffert L. Buck
Encyclopedia
Leffert L. Buck was an American civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...

 and a pioneer in the use of steel arch bridge structures. Leffert graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Stephen Van Rensselaer established the Rensselaer School on November 5, 1824 with a letter to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Blatchford, in which van Rensselaer asked Blatchford to serve as the first president. Within the letter he set down several orders of business. He appointed Amos Eaton as the school's...

 in Troy, NY in 1868. Some of his projects include:
  • the Verrugas Viaduct on the Oroya Railroad in Peru (in the early 1870s)
  • the steel suspension bridge over the Niagara Gorge
    Niagara Gorge
    Niagara Gorge is a gorge carved by the Niagara River along the US-Canadian border in New York and Ontario. As Niagara Falls recedes upstream toward Lake Erie, the river has gouged the hard dolomitic limestone of the Niagara escarpment to form the gorge...

  • one of New York City
    New York City
    New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

    's most notable landmarks: the Williamsburg Bridge
    Williamsburg Bridge
    The Williamsburg Bridge is a suspension bridge in New York City across the East River connecting the Lower East Side of Manhattan at Delancey Street with the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn at Broadway near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway...

     (with Henry Hornbostel
    Henry Hornbostel
    Henry Hornbostel was an American architect.He designed more than 225 buildings, bridges, and monuments in the United States; currently 22 are listed on the National Register of Historic Places....

    ). At 1,600 feet in 1903, it was the longest bridge in the world at the time and a key factor in opening Brooklyn up as a working class neighborhood for Manhattan
    Manhattan
    Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

    . The bridge is well known for its vast reach and massive symmetry.
  • the Pont De Rennes bridge
    Pont De Rennes bridge
    The Pont De Rennes bridge is located in the Brown's Race Historic District of Rochester New York at the base ofthe High Falls where itspans the Genesee River. The Pont De Rennes bridge formerly carried Platt Street over the...

     (former Platt Street bridge) that spans the Genesee River
    Genesee River
    The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester....

     in Rochester at the High Falls
    High Falls, Rochester New York
    The High Falls are one of three voluminous waterfalls on the Genesee River, that flow through the cityof Rochester in New York. The High Falls are located about 2 miles upstream from the...

    .


Before earning his civil engineering degree from RPI, Buck fought for the Union Army
Union Army
The Union Army was the land force that fought for the Union during the American Civil War. It was also known as the Federal Army, the U.S. Army, the Northern Army and the National Army...

 in the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 under General Slocum
Henry Warner Slocum
Henry Warner Slocum , was a Union general during the American Civil War and later served in the United States House of Representatives from New York. During the war, he was one of the youngest major generals in the Army and fought numerous major battles in the Eastern Theater and in Georgia and the...

, participating in the battles at Antietam
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam , fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek, as part of the Maryland Campaign, was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Northern soil. It was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with about 23,000...

, Chancellorsville
Battle of Chancellorsville
The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...

, Gettysburg
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg , was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The battle with the largest number of casualties in the American Civil War, it is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac...

, Lookout Mountain
Battle of Lookout Mountain
The Battle of Lookout Mountain was fought November 24, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Union forces under Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assaulted Lookout Mountain, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and defeated Confederate forces commanded by Maj. Gen. Carter L. Stevenson....

, Missionary Ridge
Battle of Missionary Ridge
The Battle of Missionary Ridge was fought November 25, 1863, as part of the Chattanooga Campaign of the American Civil War. Following the Union victory in the Battle of Lookout Mountain on November 24, Union forces under Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant assaulted Missionary Ridge and defeated the...

, Peachtree Creek
Battle of Peachtree Creek
The Battle of Peachtree Creek was fought in Georgia on July 20, 1864, as part of the Atlanta Campaign in the American Civil War. It was the first major attack by Lt. Gen. John B. Hood since taking command of the Confederate Army of Tennessee. The attack was against Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman's...

, Resaca
Battle of Resaca
The Battle of Resaca was part of the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War. The battle was waged in both Gordon and Whitfield counties, Georgia, from May 13 - 15, 1864. It ended inconclusively with the Confederate Army retreating. The engagement was fought between the Military Division of the...

 and
Ringgold Gap
Battle of Ringgold Gap
The Battle of Ringgold Gap was fought November 27, 1863, in northwest Georgia during the American Civil War. The Confederate victory by Maj. Gen...

.

A dormitory in the Quadrangle complex at Rensselaer is named after him.

External links

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