Whistler, George (Washington) (1800–1849)

US engineer and soldier. From 1840–42, as chief engineer of the Western Railroad, he located a difficult section of track through the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts. This feat attracted the attention of Russia's Tsar Nicholas I who hired him to be consulting engineer for a railroad between St Petersburg and Moscow. He began work on the project in 1842 but died of Asiatic cholera before he could finish the project. In 1847 he received the decoration of the Order of St Anne.

Whistler was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. At the US Military Academy from the age of 14, he distinguished himself as a draftsman. After graduating he assisted in various topographical projects and helped in the location of several railroads, including the Baltimore & Ohio. He resigned from the army to become the engineer to the Proprietors of Locks and Canals at Lowell, Massachusetts (1833–37). His son, George William Whistler, continued his father's work in Russia until his death in 1869. His other son, James A M Whistler returned to the USA and went on to become a renowned painter.