Harry Burgess (governor)

Harry Burgess ( born February 22, 1872 in Starkville, Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, † March 18, 1933 in Hot Springs, Arkansas) was an American officer. Between 1928 and 1932 he was Governor of the Panama Canal Zone.

Career

Between 1888 and 1891 Harry Burgess graduated from the Mississippi Agricultural and Mechanical School. Then he studied until 1895 at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Then he began a military career in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. During the First World War, he gave France the railway infrastructure to the needs of the American Expeditionary Force to. In 1920 he was promoted to colonel. At the end of his career he had brought it up to brigadier general. Between 1924 and 1928 he was responsible for the maintenance of the Panama Canal.

Between 1928 and 1932, Burgess was Governor of the Panama Canal Zone. This was a time when the traffic increased on the channel. Therefore, he advocated for an increase in the capacity of the channel. He also planned the construction of new school buildings and dormitories for nurses. At that time was in the Canal Zone also a public library. He died on March 18, 1933 in Hot Springs and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.