Civil War Field Fortifications
Reading List
The following books should serve as a very nice and quite efficient introduction to the ways and means of field fortifications as they were designed, constructed, and used during the American Civil War. The websites listed on the Links page serve as a supplement to this reading list. Many of the works listed here are available in original editions or recent reprints, all should be accessible through interlibrary loan.
Abbot, Bvt. Brig. Gen. Henry L. Siege Artillery in the Campaign Against Richmond. Rpt. Arendtsville, Pa. : Dean S. Thomas, 1986.
Barnard, George N. Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign. Rpt. New York : Dover Publications, 1977.
Bergeron, Arthur W. Confederate Mobile. Jackson, Ms. : Univ. Press of Mississippi, 1991.
Cooling, Benjamin Franklin, III and Walton H. Owen II. Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington. Shippensburg, Pa : White Mane Publishing Company, 1988.
Duane, Capt. J. C. Manual for Engineer Troops; Consisting of Part I.- Ponton (sic) Drill. Part II.- Rules for Conducting a Siege. Part III.- School of the Sap. Part IV.- Military Mining. Part V.- Construction of Batteries. 1862. Rpt. N.D., N. P.
Gibbon, Brig.- Gen. John. The Artillerist's Manual, Compiled From Various Sources and Adapted to the Service of the United States. 2nd Revised and Enlarged Edition. 1863. Rpt. Dayton, Oh : Morningside House, 1991.
Gillmore, Brig.- Gen. Q. A. Official Report to the United States Engineer Department, of the Siege and Reduction of Fort Pulaski, Georgia, February, March, and April, 1862. 1862. Rpt. Gettysburg, Pa : Thomas Publications, 1988.
Gorgas, Col. J., Chief of Ordnance. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the Confederate States Army. 1863. Rpt. Dayton, Oh : Morningside House, 1995.
Griffith, Paddy. Battle Tactics of the Civil War. New Haven : Yale Univ. Press, 1989.
Hagerman, Edward. The American Civil War and the Origins of Modern Warfare: Ideas, Organization, and Field Command. Bloomington : Indiana Univ. Press, 1988.
Jebb, Colonel C. B. Jebb's Treatises on Attack and Defence. London : William Clowes and Sons, 1857 - 1860.
Johnson, John. The Defense of Charleston Harbor Including Fort Sumter and the Adjacent Islands. 1863 - 1865. 1890. Rpt. Germantown, Tn : Guild Bindery Press, 1994.
Johnson, Robert Underwood and Clarence Clough Buel, Eds. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. 4 Vols. Rpt. Secaucus, Nj : Castle, N. D.
Mahan, D. H. A Complete Treatise on Field Fortification, with the General Outlines of the Principles Regulating the Armament, the Attack, and the Defense of Permanent Works. 1836. Rpt. New York : Greenwood Press, 1968.
McWhiney, Grady and Perry D. Jamieson. Attack and Die: Civil War Military Tactics and the Southern Heritage. University, Al. : University of Alabama Press, 1984.
Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Ed. The Photographic History of the Civil War. 10 Vols. 1911. Rpt. New York : Castle Books, 1957.
Ordnance Bureau. The Field Manual for the Use of Officers on Ordnance Duty. 1862. Rpt. Arendtsville, Pa : Dean S. Thomas, 1984.
Ripley, Warren. Artillery and Ammunition of the Civil War. 4th Rev. Ed. Charleston, Sc : The Battery Press, (c) 1984.
Ripley, Warren. Ed. Siege Train: The Journal of a Confederate Artilleryman in the Defense of Charleston. Columbia, Sc : University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
Russell, Andrew J. Russell's Civil War Photographs. 116 Historic Prints by Andrew J. Russell. New York : Dover, 1982.
Scott, Col. H. L. Military Dictionary: Comprising Technical Definitions; Information on Raising and Keeping Troops; Actual Service, including Makeshifts and Improved Materiel; and Law, Government, Regulation, and Administration Relating to Land Forces. 1864. Rpt. Yuma, Az : Ft. Yuma Press, 1984.
U. S. Navy Department. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of the Rebellion. 30 Vols. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1894 - 1927. Rpt. Harrisburg, Pa : The National Historical Society, 1987.
U. S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 128 Vols. Washington : Government Printing Office, 1880 - 1901. Rpt. N. P. : Historical Times, Inc., 1985.
Viele, Egbert L. Hand-Book for Active Service; Containing Practical Instructions in Campaign Duties. For the Use of Volunteers. 1861. Rpt. New York : Greenwood Press, 1968.
Helpful Non-Civil War Material
Duffy, Christopher. Fire & Stone : The Science of Fortress Warfare, 1660 - 1860. New Edition. Mechanicsburg, Pa : Stackpole Books, 1996.
Jones, Major General Sir John T. Journal of the Sieges Carried on By the Army Under the Duke of Wellington, In Spain, Between the Years 1811 & 1814. With an Account of the Lines of Torres Vedras. 3rd Edition. 3 Vols. Rpt. Cambridge, Eng. : Ken Trotman, Ltd., 1998.
Vauban, Sebastien LePrestre de. A Manual of Siegecraft and Fortification. George A. Rothrock, Trans. Ann Arbor, Mi : The University of Michigan Press, 1968.