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'''George Edmund Chase'''
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{{Infobox Biography
| subject_name =William H. Chase
| image_name =W-h-chase-family-portrait.jpg| image_size =200px
| image_caption =
| date_of_birth =[[June 4]], [[1798]]
==Early life & engineering career==
Chase was born in what is now [[Wikipedia:Buckfield, Maine|Buckfield, Maine]], then an exclave of Massachusetts. He graduated from West Point in 1815 and was assigned to the Corps of Engineers. He worked in repairing Fort Niagara from 1817 to 1818, then began constructing new defenses for New Orleans and other [[Gulf of Mexico]] ports, which had been shown to be vulnerable during the [[War of 1812]]. He engineered [[Wikipedia:Fort Pike|Fort Pike]], [[Wikipedia:Fort Macomb|Fort Macomb]], and other defenses at the [[Wikipedia:Rigolets|Rigolets]], [[Wikipedia:Chef Menteur Pass|Chef Menteur Pass]], [[Wikipedia:Bayou Bienvenue|Bayou Bienvenue]] and [[Wikipedia:Bayou Dupre|Bayou Dupre]]. He was made captain in 1825.
In [[1828]], the Army transferred Chase to Pensacola to oversee the construction of a fort to protect the new [[Navy Yard]]. The resulting venture, [[Fort Pickens]], was situated on the western end of [[Santa Rosa Island]] and provided easy targeting of any ship entering [[Pensacola Pass]].
Chase was promoted to brigadier general and later major general of the Florida forces, but due to his age and health, he had little active role in the war.
He died at his home at the southwest corner of [[Palafox]] and [[Wright Street]]s (now the site of [[Episcopal Day School]]) on [[February 8]], [[1870]].
==References==
[[Category:Confederate officers]] [[Category:Engineers|Chase, William]] [[Category:Railroad executives|Chase, William]] [[Category:Real estate developers|Chase, William]] [[Category:Street namesakes|Chase]]
