A Report on the Defenses of Washington, to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army; Professional Papers of the Corps of Engineers U.S. Army No. 20.

Washington: Government Printing Office, 1871. Hardcover. Format is approximately 9.25 inches by 12 inches. [8, and fold-out], 152 pages, and 30 plates [as listed]. Frontis illustration is a fold-out of Battery Kimble. Illustration on the half-title page is of Battery Rodgers. Fold-outs. Footnotes. Illustrations. Cover is worn, soiled with edges rubbed and corners bumped. Some page staining and discoloration noted. John Gross Barnard (May 19, 1815 – May 14, 1882) was a career engineering officer in the U.S. Army, serving in the Mexican–American War, as the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy and as a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He served as Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac, 1861 to 1862, Chief Engineer of the Department of Washington from 1861 to 1864, and as Chief Engineer of the armies in the field from 1864 to 1865. He also was a distinguished scientist, engineer, mathematician, historian and author. From May 31, 1855, through September 8, 1856, Barnard served as the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy,[14] succeeding Robert E. Lee.[15] He then returned to work on coastal defenses, especially in the New York and New Jersey area. During a leave, he studied construction projects in Europe. Soon after the outbreak of the Civil War, U.S. Army commander Lieutenant General Winfield Scott, bearing in mind Barnard's success at defending his Tampico-based supply lines during the Mexican–American War, assigned then Major Barnard to the Department of Washington. This was the Union Army unit in charge of defending Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Barnard was promoted to colonel in the Regular Army on December 28, 1865, and continued his career in the Army Corps of Engineers until January 1881. Soon after the close of the war, Barnard was made president of the permanent Board of Engineers for Fortifications and River and Harbor Improvements, a position which he held until his retirement from active service, in January, 1881. Barnard successfully recast the approach to coastal defenses which was required because of the obsolescence of wooden ships and muzzle loading guns. He also advocated the successful use of parallel jetties to improve the mouth of the Mississippi River. He was a prominent member of the United States Lighthouse Board from February 20, 1870, until his retirement on January 2, 1881. The production of scientific literature in the USA was fostered by Barnard: It was largely through the influence of General Barnard that David Van Nostrand was brought into close association with a group of young army officers who became his friends and later his authors and editorial consultants. Numbered among them were William T. Sherman, H. W. Halleck, Silas Casey, Philip St. George Cooke, Quincy Gillmore, Hugh L. Scott, George W. Cullum, Philip Sheridan and many others known to history. Barnard was an original member of the Aztec Club of 1847 as well as the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States. Barnard was a co-founder of the United States National Academy of Sciences, as were several other senior officers of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Fortifying the nation's capital became the Union's greatest concern after the defeat at Manassas in the summer of 1861. Major General John G. Barnard, a West Point graduate and respected expert on coastal fort construction, accepted the massive task. Armed with engineers, soldiers, former slaves, and other laborers, Barnard developed a connected system of fortifications occupying every prominent point around Washington. Rifle trenches linked each strategic site and doubled as communication lines. By the end of the Civil War, the "Father of the Defenses of Washington" had directed the construction of 68 forts, 93 gun batteries, 20 miles of rifle pits, and 32 miles of military roads around the capital. As a result, Washington, D.C, became one of the most fortified cities in the world. The Civil War Defenses of Washington parks connect crossroads from the nation's divergent past to our present pastimes. Nearly 40 years after most of the Civil War fortifications were dismantled. Congress reviewed a proposal for a "Fort Drive" around Washington, D.C. The 1902 McMillan Commission Report concept included a modern roadway winding through a landscaped corridor that linked the forts. Between 1930 and 1965 the fortification sites and land acquired for the Fort Drive were transferred to the National Park Service, but a continuous roadway eventually proved impractical. During the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) provided jobs while enhancing park facilities. Reconstruction of a parapet at Fort Stevens and construction of Fort Davis Drive are only two of the CCC's most visible contributions throughout the circle of parks. More than a century later, historic locations within the Civil War Defenses of Washington remain linked by a ribbon of recreational opportunities and significant natural and cultural resources. One of the nation's earliest urban planning efforts now provides open space for public enjoyment and important habitat for native plants and animals. . . . the points that are singled out by natural conditions as especially worthy of preservation are mainly hilltops from which extensive views may be obtained. —McMillan Commission Report, 1902. Condition: Fair.

Keywords: Urban Defense, Defenses of Washington, Fortifications, Fort Stevens, Gun Batteries, Rifle Pits, Military Roads, Military Engineer, Block-house, Armament, Fort March, Fort Ward, Fort Totten, Fort Reno, Benning's Bridge, Battery Rodgers

[Book #83623]

Price: $1,750.00

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