The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 3, Volume 2. Page: 33
viii, 1007 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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UNION AUTHORITIES.
of April, on the subject of changes that may have become necessary
in forts and other means of defense, referred to this office for report,
and to submit the following remarks in reply to the call, with regret
that incessant occupations have not allowed me to bestow that care
upon the report which the importance of the subject demands, and
that the state of feeling in Congress and elsewhere seems to exact an
early response to the resolution, however imperfect and immatured
that response is, in consequence:
In order to arrive at definite satisfactory conclusions as to whether
any, and if so, what changes are necessary in the materials and con-
struction of our forts and border defenses "in view of the important
changes which have been made in ordnance and projectiles and in
the methods of naval warfare," it must first be clearly seen and
understood what purposes these defensive works are required and
designed to serve.
As a general rule, with hardly an exception, the permanent defen-
sive works of the United States were designed to forbid the passage
through the waters subject to their fire of hostile vessels, or to pre-
vent the use of such waters by an enemy in his vessels, or to secure
the use of the waters for our own vessels.
So long as these forts fulfill these conditions our fortified ports,
navy-yards, and harbors of refuge will be secure against injury from
an enemy's ships, and the waters protected by them will be available
for the use of our vessels and forbidden to those of an enemy; that
is to say, these forts are designed as defenses against hostile mili-
tary power afloat. They are not designed or expected to prevent
the landing, at points beyond the reach of their fire, below them, or
outside of them, of any hostile military array, or the movement of a
force so landed from the place of its debarkation to any point beyond
their scope. Provision against a land attack of the fortifications
guarding the water is therefore made only to the extent of resisting
assaulting columns that, landed from the ships and transports of the
enemy, should attempt to take the batteries in rear. This provision
is, of course, of greater magnitude, as the works are the more liable,
from their great importance or their distance from succor, to such
combined attacks.
A descent upon our coast and a march to the interior have always
been intended to be met by other means of resistance. The land army
of an enemy, transported to our shores and established upon them,
it has ever been designed should be encountered and repelled by a
like army of movable forces, mustered from the people and interposed
between their homes and the invading force. But no such body of
men, however numerous, however thoroughly appointed, armed, and
disciplined, would be of any avail against even one small vessel-of-
war armed with a few cannon of the most moderate caliber.
It is to afford competent resistance against this particular attack
that sea-coast permanent batteries are provided. These batteries must
have such armaments furnished them that an attempt by the vessels
to attack them, or to evade them, will result in failure. But if, on
the contrary, the vessels shall land siege trains and sufficient force of
men, then the forts must be succored by a superior force of men or
they will be overcome in due time.
The following principles have always been maintained by enginers,
viz:
Forts must fall before a competent land attack,
3 R R--SERIES III, VOL II33
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The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Additions and Corrections to Series 3, Volume 2. (Pamphlet)
Errata sheets for the Records of the War of the Rebellion include additions and corrections to the text and the index for Series 3, Volume 2.
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United States. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union And Confederate Armies. Series 3, Volume 2., book, 1899; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139264/m1/42/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.