Herman Haupt, civil engineer and inventor, was born in Philadelphia in 1817. Appointed to the United States Military Academy at age 14, Haupt graduated in 1835 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the 3rd U. S. Infantry. He resigned his commission just two months later to become a railroad engineer. Haupt served as an assistant engineer on the survey for the Norristown & Valley Railroad in 1835 and located the line from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to the Potomac River, later incorporated as part of the Western Maryland Railway.

In 1838, Haupt married Ann Cecelia Keller. The couple would have 11 children.

Haupt served as a professor of mathematics and engineering at Pennsylvania College in Gettysburg from 1840 until 1847, when he accepted a position as construction engineer on the Pennylvania Railroad. He became the line's general superintendent in 1849. Two years later, Haupt was named chief engineer of the Southern Railroad of Mississippi. During this time, he published his most important book, General Theory of Bridge Construction (1851). Haupt returned to the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1853, serving as chief engineer until 1856, when he became chief engineer of the Hoosac Tunnel in western Massachusetts.

In early 1862 during the American Civil War, Haupt was appointed chief of construction and transportation for the military railroad system of the Union Army and was initially given the rank of colonel. In September, he was promoted to brigadier general but asked to serve without pay and to be allowed freedom to maintain his private business affairs. When this became impossible to do, he resigned in September 1863.

After the Civil War, Haupt worked as chief engineer or general manager for a number of railroads, including the Shenandoah Valley, the Richmond and Danville, and the Northern Pacific. He also served as president of the Dakota and Great Southern Railroad.

Herman Haupt died in 1905.