Guillaume-Tell Poussin

Guillaume-Tell de La Vallée-Poussin (1794–1876) first made his career in the United States as an engineer. Born at Poissy into an artistic family, he studied with the architect Charles Percier before crossing the Atlantic. He helped supervise rebuilding work at the Capitol after the War of 1812 and received a commission in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. Working with General Simon Bernard, he surveyed routes and prepared plans for roads, canals, coastal waterways, and fortifications. ^{1, 2}

After returning to France, Poussin used that experience in books on American public works and on the development of railways in Europe. He also wrote for Le National and studied Belgian railway construction. ¹

The Second Republic sent him back to Washington as its diplomatic representative. His mission ended in a dispute with Secretary of State John M. Clayton in 1849 over claims involving French property and shipping in Mexico. One concerned the salvage demanded after an American naval crew assisted the French vessel Eugène. The quarrel escalated from the merits of the claims to the language Poussin and American officials used about one another. Contemporary American reporting defended the administration’s decision to cease correspondence with him; historian Steven Rowan records his subsequent recall. ^{3, 2}

Poussin continued to write about American and European affairs after leaving diplomacy. He died in Paris in 1876. ^{2, 1}