American Army officer and engineer born in Sumter County, South Carolina, who took over the construction of the Panama Canal between Gatun and Pedro Miguel (1908). He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy (1884) and, after studying two and a half years at the Engineer School of Application, entered the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and worked in rivers, ports, fortifications, borders, aqueducts and dams in various states until the outbreak of war with Spain (1898) when he was appointed commander of the third U.S. Volunteer Engineers. He was chosen to serve on the new Army General Staff (1903). The 44-official corps also included George Washington Goethals who would later become his superior as chief engineer on the construction of the Panama Canal (1907).
With his wife, Katherine, he headed for the town of Culebra, where Goethals reorganized the 32-mile construction effort, from Pedro Miguel Locks to the Gatun Dam, including the Culebra Court (1907-1913), where about 6,000 men worked. Promoted to lieutenant colonel (1909), he successfully led an army of workers and machines that completed a seemingly insurmountable task. The cut was filled with water and the Panama Canal opened almost a year later, on August 15th (1914), six months ahead of schedule. But he did not see this inauguration, as he was victim of a brain tumor and after surgery and hospital treatment, he died in Baltimore on December 5th (1913), aged just 54 and having been promoted to colonel for a month. before. In memory of him the famous Court of Culebra was renamed Court of Gaillard (1915).
Source: http://www.dec.ufcg.edu.br/biografias/
Order D - Biography - Brazil School
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/biografia/david-du-bose-gaillard.htm
