It was at this time that the Emperor Nicholas of Russia sent a commission of officers to the United States to study the American railroad system, with a view of introducing it into the empire if better adapted to its needs than the English system, which they had already investigated. Colonels Menlikoff and Krofft not only reported emphatically in favor of the American system, but spoke in terms of highest admiration of the impression made on them by the ability and courtesy of Whistler. The emperor made up his mind that Whistler was the one man to introduce the railroad system into Russia, and he made a flattering offer for his services, among many other inducements being that of an annual salary of $12,000. Major Whistler accepted the offer of the emperor and sailed for St. Petersburg in 1842, in company with Major Boultattz of the Russian Engineer Corps, who had been sent to escort him to Russia.
An extraordinary task lay before Whistler in Russia, and one that might have made an ordinary man hesitate. The route had to be surveyed for the contemplated road between Moscow and St. Petersburg, the road-bed had to be constructed, the tracks laid, bridges, stations and engine-houses designed and built, gauges considered and decided upon, machine shops constructed, mechanics trained, locomotives and rolling-stock planned and built, and, in fact, every detail of the immense undertaking had to be deliberated over, thought out and carried to completion under this one man’s supervision. It was an herculean task that his marvelous executive capacity was to meet and conquer.
The jealousies of officials, suspicious of a foreigner and imperial favorite, the impediments thrown in his way by a corrupt officialdom, the delays of the bureaus, the greed of contractors, the importunities of inventors and the solicitations of a horde of corrupt harpies that gather round such an enterprise, had to be reckoned with; and these he did with consummate skill and tact, taxing the resources of his urbane but firm diplomacy and exhausting the vitality of his physical being. He overcame all obstacles, he earned the respect, admiration and affection of his Russian associates, he smoothed the friction of bureaus and officials, he made the fortune of his American associate, Winans, and others, he obtained the sincere regard and respect of the autocrat of the empire and was content to remain a poor man and an honest man. His monument was the finest and best-equipped railroad on the continent of Europe. The Emperor Nicholas, anxious to show his admiration and esteem for the American, urged him in vain to accept a high commission in the Russian army, but he refused everything, contenting himself with the decoration of the Order of St. Anne.
But Whistler’s work was nearly done; he had worked too hard and too faithfully. Beside his railroad work he planned many important improvements in the fortifications at Cronstadt, which balked the British under Napier a few years later; he made useful and needed changes in the naval school and docks at St. Petersburg, and planned many other public works. In November, 1848, he had an attack of Asiatic cholera, which precipitated upon his already exhausted system a complication of diseases, and he lingered along until April, 1849, when he died in the Russian capital in his 49th year.
Posthumous honors were paid the distinguished dead by the emperor; Whistler’s family were treated with great kindness and consideration by the government, and it was ordered that no changes of any nature would be permitted in completing the great railroad enterprise he had created.
Major Whistler’s first wife was Mary, daughter of Dr. Foster Smith of the United States army, who fell in love with him as a cadet at the academy where her father was stationed. The son by this marriage, George William Whistler, followed in his father’s footsteps and became a famous railroad engineer. His second wife was Anna Matilda McNeill, a daughter of Dr. C. D. McNeill of Wilmington, N. C., and a sister of William Gibbs McNeill, his friend and associate. She was the mother of the artist, James Abbot McNeill Whistler.
Major Whistler’s body was carried to America and deposited in St. Paul’s church, Boston, but it was subsequently buried at Stonington, the place of all places that this wanderer loved best and which he called home. A beautiful monument stands in Twilight Dell, in Greenwood cemetery, erected to his memory by the Society of American Engineers, which bears upon it this inscription:
“In memory of George Washington Whistler, Civil Engineer. Born at Fort Wayne, Indiana, May, 1800. Died at St. Petersburg, Russia, April, 1849. Educated at the U. S. Military Academy. He retired from the army in 1833 and became associated with William Gibbs McNeill. They were, in their time, acknowledged to be at the head of their profession in this country. He was distinguished for theoretical and practical ability, coupled with sound judgment and great integrity. In 1842 he was invited to Russia by the Emperor Nicholas, and died there while constructing the St. Petersburg & Moscow Railroad. This cenotaph is a memorial of the esteem and affection of his friends and companions.”
It can well be said that Whistler, the artist, has come honestly and honorably by his brilliant gifts, and it can be stated with equal emphasis that the Genesis of a Genius is seldom as great and worthy.