Sibert
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
WILLIAM LUTHER, an American soldier, born at Gadsden, Ala., from the United in 1860. He graduated States Military Academy in 1884 and was appointed 2nd lieutenant of engineers in the same year. In 1887 he graduated from the Engineering School of of Application. He was appointed captain in 1896, major in 1904, and lieutenant-colonel in 1909. From 1887 to 1892 he was engaged in engineering river work in Kentucky, to 1894 he was engaged and from 1892 in the construction of a ship channel connecting with the Great Lakes. He was later engaged in engineering work in Arkansas and in the Philippines. From 1900 to 1907 he was in charge of the engineerharbor districts, with ing of the river and headquarters at Louisville and Pittsburgh. In March of the latter year, he was appointed a member of the Isthmian Canal Commission, and as engineer of the commission he built the Gatun Locks and Dam, the west breakwater, and excavated the channel from Gatun to the Atlantic Ocean. After completion of the Panama Canal, he served in China under the auspices of the American National Red Cross and the Chinese Government, on the board of engineers for flood prevention. He was made brigadier-general was extended the thanks of in 1915, and Congress for his work on the Panama Canal. In 1917 he was promoted to be major-general and was appointed commander of the 1st Division of the American troops in France, under General Pershing. He organized and was the director of the Chemical Warfare Service of the United States Army. He received a Distinguished Service Medal and was made a commander of the Legion of Honor by the French Government.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 Sibert was newly retired; he died at Bowling Green, Kentucky, on 16 October 1935. The account passes over the awkward part of his war: Pershing removed him from command of the 1st Division in December 1917, judging him unsuited to lead troops in the field, and it was after that reversal that he built the Chemical Warfare Service he is now chiefly remembered for. That service became the Army's Chemical Corps in 1946, and Camp Sibert in his native Alabama trained chemical troops in the Second World War under his name. The Gatun Locks he built still lift ships, though the canal passed to Panamanian control in 1999 and a second, larger set of locks opened alongside them in 2016.
Written for this edition, 2026.