Editing George Washington Goethals (section)

==Early life and education==
Goethals was born in [[Brooklyn, New York]], to [[Flemish people|Flemish]] immigrants from [[Stekene]], [[Belgium]],<ref>[http://people.zeelandnet.nl/vanput/genam.htm Genealogie van Egidius Goethals – HTML uitvoer van HAZA-DATA 7.2] (in [[Dutch language|Dutch]])</ref><ref>[http://people.zeelandnet.nl/vanput/belgoet.htm Belangrijke Goethals'en] (in [[Dutch language|Dutch]])</ref><ref name=CMH>{{cite book| url=http://www.history.army.mil/html/books/panama/panamacanal/| title=The Panama Canal:An Army's Enterprise| publisher=[[United States Army Center of Military History]]| year=2009| id=CMH Pub 70-115-1| pages=13–15| access-date=August 16, 2010| archive-date=October 15, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171015150613/https://history.army.mil/html/books/panama/panamacanal/| url-status=dead}}</ref> Johannes Baptista (John Louis) Goethals, a carpenter, and wife Marie Le Barron. Aged 14, he entered the [[City College of New York|College of the City of New York]]. In April 1876, after three years of college, he won an appointment to the [[United States Military Academy]] (USMA) at [[West Point, New York]] and entered there in June.<ref name="Cullum 1890">{{cite book |url=https://digital-library.usma.edu/digital/collection/p16919coll3/id/13642/rec/6|title=Biographical register of the officers and graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. from its establishment in 1802, to 1890: With the early history of the United States Military Academy|date=1891|volume=III|page=328|publisher=The Riverside Press|access-date=2022-02-08}}</ref> He graduated second in his class of 52 in June 1880,<ref name=CMH /> and was commissioned as a [[second lieutenant]] in the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Corps of Engineers]] of the [[United States Army]].{{sfn|McGovern|2019|pp=11-12}}<ref name="Cullum 1890"/>