US Navy Rear Admiral. Rousseau graduated from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1891. Following graduation he worked as a civil engineer in the private sector. His work became so well known that the United States Navy took note and sought him out for civil engineering duties. He entered the Navy's corps of civil engineers in 1898 and was appointed a lieutenant. For the next three years he was the engineer in charge of drafting and designing in the Bureau of Yards and Docks. He was next assigned to the Mare Island Navy Yard where he spent three years overseeing the deepening of the Mare Island Strait. In 1904 he was selected by President Roosevelt as a member of the Navy's civil engineering officers corps as a member of the seven man Panama Canal Commission. He was assigned the task of building the Panama canal under the supervision of General Goethals, specifically in charge of the design and construction of all terminals and associated projects. He was so effective in his duties in the building of the Panama Canal that in January 1907 he was advanced in grade from lieutenant to rear admiral by a special act of Congress. The rank came with the position of Commander of Yards and Docks of the Navy Department. Only two other naval officers had been so advanced for peace time services, the other two being Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Rear Admiral Raymond Perry. At the time of his promotion to rear admiral he was thirty six year old and the youngest man in the service of his country to obtain the rank of rear admiral. In 1918 he was the admiral in charge of the Division of Shipyard Plants for the Navy. In 1924 he became the director of the Panama railroad and in 1930 while enroute to the Panama Canal Zone aboard the U.S.S Cristobal suffered a heart attack and died. At the time of his death, in addition to being the Director of the Panama railroad he was the director of the Navy's petroleum reserve and chief coordinator of the budget.
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Navy Cross Citation
The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Navy Cross to Rear Admiral Harry H. Rouseau, United States Navy, for exceptionally meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility in charge of plant extension work at the many industrial establishments where naval funds were utilized to increase facilities for the production of war material. Also as a Member of the Navy Yard Commission and as an Assistant to the Bureau of Yards and Docks.
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There is an extensive biography, written by Frank A. Blazich Jr., Historian, U.S. Navy Seabee Museum. The website is: https://seabeemagazine.navylive.dodlive.mil/2016/04/19/profile-rear-adm-harry-harwood-rousseau-cec-usn-1870-1930/