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| In formidable Fort Sumner April 5, 1864 Fort Sumner, a semi-closed work, lay highest up the river of all the forts defending Washington. It was northwest of the receiving reservoir, overlooking the Potomac, and commanded by the fire of its heavy guns the opposite shore in front of the works of the Virginia side. Its great armament made it a formidable fort. Of smooth-bore guns it had three 8-inch siege-howitzers and two 32-pounder sea-coast guns en embrasure, and six 32-pounder and four 24-pounder sea-coast guns en barbette. Its rifled guns were two 100-pounder Parrotts en barbette, four 4 1/2-inch rifles en embrasure, two 4 1/2-inch rifles en barbette, and six 6-pounder James rifles en embrasure. It also boasted three mortars, one 10-inch siege-mortar, and two 24-pounder Coehorns, and there were thirteen vacant platforms for field and siege-guns. The terrain on which the work was placed was such as to enable it to shelter a large body of troops with natural cover. The first gun on the right in this photograph is a 32-pounder sea-coast gun in an embrasure; the second is a 4 1/2-inch rifle in an embrasure; the third is a 100-pounder Parrott en barbette; and the gun on the left is a 4 1/2-inch rifle en barbette. The first and fourth guns are on wooden seacoast carriages; the second on a sieg-carriage; and the Parrott rifle on a wrought-iron sea-coast carriage. |
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| One of the heavy artillery regiments that Washington lacked in 1864 The Third Pennsylvania heavy artillerists, as they drill in Fort Monroe, April, 1864, are the type of trained big gun fighters that Washington needed by thousands when Early swept up to Fort Stevens, threatening to take it three months after this picture was taken. |
