Whether it was salvage ships on the Mississippi River, ironclads that helped the Union win the Civil War, a key bridge across the Mississippi or jetties at the mouth of that great river that spurred commerce, James B. Eads solved some of the major engineering problems of his time. That led deans of American colleges of engineering to name Eads one of the five greatest engineers of all time in July 1932.
Early life
James Buchanan Eads was born in Lawrenceburg, Indiana, on May 23, 1820 to Thomas...