Rosa, Rudolph Eduard Heinrich

Rudolph Eduard Heinrich Rosa (c. 1824 - June 29, 1901) was a surveyor and civil engineer active in New York City in the late 19th century. Born in Westphalia, Germany, Rosa emigrated to the United States at an uncertain date, but could well have come in the wake of the Revolutions of 1848 like so many others from the German-speaking lands. What is clear is that Rosa became an ardent patriot in his adopted homeland, organizing a volunteer regiment, the 46th New York Volunteers (nicknamed the Fremont Rifle Regiment, later officially 46th New York Infantry Regiment) at the start of the U.S. Civil War. A newspaper clipping digitized by the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center refers to 'General Rosa' (he was in fact only a Colonel) as being 'an engineer officer of great experience, formerly in the Prussian army, late of the United States Coast Survey.' The 46th New York Infantry Regiment was composed primarily of German emigrees living in New York City. The regiment saw action in some of the most important campaigns and battles of the war, including Antietam, Fredericksburg, Vicksburg, and Petersburg, and suffered commensurate casualties. For his part, Rosa was injured relatively early in the war in August 1862 at the Battle of Groveton and was discharged at the end of that year. Afterwards, he and his wife Marie Heynan Rosa had several children and Rosa worked as a city surveyor, initially at 31 Pine St. and then at 22 Pine St. in Manhattan, until about 1890.