Frederick Vaughan Abbott

Frederic Vaughan Abbot (March 4, 1858 – September 26, 1928) was an American military officer who attained the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army. He was most notable for his World War I work as assistant to the Army's Chief of Engineers, a post in which he organized, trained, and deployed Engineer soldiers for service in France.

A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the son of Brigadier General Henry Larcom Abbot, Abbot was educated in the schools of Cambridge and at Flushing Institute in Flushing, Queens, New York. He graduated from high school in Cambridge in 1875, then attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. Abbot graduated first in the Class of 1879, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers.

Abbot specialized in rivers and harbors improvement and coast artillery defenses. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, he worked on projects including construction at Charleston Harbor in Charleston, South Carolina, and improvements to the coastal defenses of South Carolina. He later took charge of river improvements in the midwestern United States, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, as well as command of the Corps of Engineers' Sioux City District. Subsequent assignments included improving the coastal defenses of Boston Harbor and New York City.

During World War I, Abbot received promotion to brigadier general. He was in charge of enlisting and organizing divisional Engineer regiments for service in France, as well as enlisting, organizing, and training replacement troops for soldiers who became casualties in combat. He served as acting Chief of Engineers on several occasions, and received the Army Distinguished Service Medal in recognition of his wartime service.

Abbot retired in 1920, and was a resident of Washington, D.C., and Nonquitt, Massachusetts. He died in Nonquitt on September 26, 1928. Abbot was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge.

Early life Abbot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts on March 4, 1858, the son of Brigadier General Henry Larcom Abbot and Mary Susan Everett Abbot. He served on a combined civil and military board that planned improvements to the harbor of Brunswick, Georgia from November 1894 to June 1896. In September 1906, Abbot was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He died in Nonquitt on September 26, 1928. He was buried at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Abbot received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his World War I service. In 1930, the U.S. Congress passed legislation permitting the general officers of World War I to retire at the highest rank they had held. As a result, Abbot was posthumously promoted to brigadier general on the retired list.

Personal life In 1886, Abbot married Sara Julie Dehon of Charleston, South Carolina, the granddaughter of Theodore Dehon. They were the parents of three children—twin daughters Marion and Elinor, and son Henry.