Crozet, Claudius
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Crozet, Claudius
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Claudius Crozet was a famous engineer and pro-slavery Confederate who designed the Afton Mountain tunnels and was the first president of the VMI Board of Directors.
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Claudius Crozet was a French-born civil engineer, the first president of the VMI Board of Directors from 1837-1845, and a pro-slavery Confederate. After graduating from Ecole Polytechnique in France in 1807, Crozet became a world-renowned engineer. He also fought in the French Army during Napoleon's invasion of Russia before immigrating to the United States in 1816. He thereafter joined the United States Army and taught engineering at West Point before moving to Richmond, Virginia in 1823. He was then elected as the principal engineer for the Virginia Board of Public Works during the 1830s.
In 1837, Crozet was appointed to lead the VMI Board of Visitors during the era when the Lexington arsenal was converted into VMI. He worked to instill a robust engineering curriculum at the antebellum institute. Crozet also worked with Virginia railroad companies. Crozet's crowning engineering achievement was the Blue Ridge tunnels, running under Afton Mountain not far from VMI. These tunnels helped the Confederate army move soldiers and supplies between the Shenandoah Valley and Richmond. This route was famously used by "Stonewall" Jackson to shift forces during the 1862 Valley Campaign.
Crozet supported the institution of slavery and employed slave labor in several engineering projects, including the Blue Ridge Tunnels and several railroad ventures. He also personally enslaved multiple individuals, including at least four individuals in 1840 and at least two individuals at the time of Crozet's death in 1864.
Crozet is memorialized at VMI through Crozet Hall, which houses the Engineering Department, as well as his gravesite. Crozet's body was reinterred in 1942 from Shockoe Cemetery in Richmond to a location near Preston Library at VMI. His grave was relocated in 2007 to a new gravesite near Crozet Hall. In 2021, the VMI Board of Visitors voted to retain the gravesite and the namesake building.
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31 December 1789
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29 January 1864
Position: 720 (9 views)