Henry Martyn Robert
An American military engineer born in Robertville, S.C. on May 2, 1837. Henry Robert graduated fourth at the United States Military Academy in 1857. In the Civil War, Robert was assigned to the Corp of Engineers and worked on the defenses of Washington, Philadelphia, and the coast of New England. He was appointed brigadier general, Chief of Engineers on April 30, 1901 and shortly after retired. He is most famous for his Pocket Manual of Rules of Order, a collection of rules regarding paliamentary procedure, published in 1876. He wrote the manual in response to his poor performance in leading a church meeting. He resolved that he would learn about parliamentary procedure before attending another meeting. The rules are loosely based on procedures used in the House of Representatives but the rule book was not intended for use in national and state legislatures.
