The New International Encyclopædia/Michie, Peter Smith

MICHIE, mĭK′ĭ, Peter Smith (1839-1901). An American educator and soldier. He was born in Brechin, Scotland, came to the United States in 1843, and was brought up in Cincinnati. He graduated second in the class of 1863 at West Point and entered the engineer corps; served in the campaign of 1864 against Richmond; was chief engineer of the Army of the James (1865); and was at the head of all engineering operations of the left column at Hatcher's Run and in the pursuit of Lee's army. After the war, having attained brevet rank of brigadier in 1865, he was for a year engaged in the Government survey of the theatre of the war; from 1867 to 1869 he taught various branches at West Point; was member of a coastal fortification commission which visited Europe in 1870; and for the last thirty years of his life was professor of natural and experimental philosophy at West Point. He wrote: Elements of Wave Motion Relating to Sound and Light (1882); Life of General Upton (1885); The Personnel of the Seacoast Defense (1887); Analytical Mechanics (1887); Hydrodynamics (1888); and General McClellan (New York, 1901), in the “Great Commanders Series.”