hide Sorting

You can sort these results in two ways:

By entity (current method)
Chronological order for dates, alphabetical order for places and people.
By position
As the entities appear in the document.

You are currently sorting in ascending order. Sort in descending order.

hide Most Frequent Entities

The entities that appear most frequently in this document are shown below.

Entity Max. Freq Min. Freq
Washington (United States) 172 0 Browse Search
Grant 96 20 Browse Search
United States (United States) 92 0 Browse Search
Stephen D. Lee 85 1 Browse Search
George B. McClellan 78 0 Browse Search
Yorktown (Virginia, United States) 72 0 Browse Search
Sherman 66 6 Browse Search
John Pope 63 1 Browse Search
Herman Haupt 58 2 Browse Search
Richmond (Virginia, United States) 53 3 Browse Search
View all entities in this document...

Browsing named entities in a specific section of The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 5: Forts and Artillery. (ed. Francis Trevelyan Miller). Search the whole document.

Found 484 total hits in 151 results.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ...
June 13th (search for this): chapter 12
he Confederates. On that date, Michler and Duane were ordered to select a line in rear of that occupied by the army, to be held temporarily by two divisions, which would enable the army to retire and move again by the flank, under cover. The lines were chosen by the engineers. Entrenchments were planned, and the troops began fortifying. At the same time, several of the engineer officers continued the reconnaissance to determine the best route for the contemplated movement. On the 13th of June, by direction of the commanding general, engineer detachments proceeded in advance of the army to the James River, to reconnoiter the ground along its banks for two purposes--first, to enable the army to cross to the south side, and second, to fight a battle, if necessary, to rotect the crossing. Lines covering the point of crossing were selected, entrenched, and held. Colonel Michler was Constructing a pontoon bridge. To construct a pontoon bridge the first boat launched was
June 15th (search for this): chapter 12
ircumvent Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia at Spotsylvania. The work shown in this photograph was but child's play compared with the undertaking just one month later, when Grant finally decided to cross the James. One hour before noon on June 15th, General Benham received orders to prepare a pontoon-bridge across the James River for the passage of the entire army. In anticipation of this order, pontoons had been sent from Fort Monroe, and the work was started under Major Duane. General 64 The group shifts — the sentry returns then directed to locate a line on the south side where the Second Corps, after crossing, could entrench and protect the remainder of the army during the dangerous movement. One hour before noon, on June 15th, General H. W. Benham, of the Engineer Corps, was ordered by General Grant to prepare a pontoon bridge across the James River for the passage of the army. In anticipation of this order, pontoons had been sent from Fort Monroe, and work was sta
June 16th (search for this): chapter 12
ter-level. It was ninety-three feet deep at the northwest end and thirty-six feet deep at the southeast end. The total excavation was nearly 67,000 cubic yards. The greater portion of the digging was done by colored troops who showed the utmost bravery under the constant fire of the Confederate batteries on the river. later. The repairs and the adjustments required during the continuous use of the bridge were attended to by the volunteers. Beginning at six o'clock in the morning of June 16th, a continuous column of wagons (nearly six thousand), nearly all the artillery, cavalry, and infantry present, together with more than three thousand head of beef-cattle for the Subsistence Department continued to cross the bridge for forty hours, without a single accident to man or beast. The officers and men in charge of the bridge were allowed very little sleep during this time, and General Benham relates that he had only about four hours sleep in the eighty that the bridge was in op
June 18th (search for this): chapter 12
ur hours sleep in the eighty that the bridge was in operation. He said it was in anxiety, not to say in trembling, that he saw the destinies of that whole army committed to the frail structure, with steamers and other vessels drifting against it, and with so much of its planking previously worn through by careless use on the Rappahannock; while he did not dare stop that stream of men and supplies for a moment, in order to make repairs. At length, the last animal was over by 7 P. M., on June 18th, and the guardians of the frail path commenced to breathe freely again, when, to their consternation, the Confederate artillery, about a mile away, began shelling. The pontoniers almost gave up hope of withdrawing the bridge in safety; but it was ordered up, and General Benham directed its removal in three rafts. This was successfully accomplished before three o'clock in the morning of the 19th, and the great bridge reached City Point, the Federal headquarters, about sunrise of that day,
June 25th (search for this): chapter 12
graphy of the country and the positions of the lines of both armies. A map was made by the engineers which was constantly used as a reference by all the officers concerned in laying out and constructing these works. The engineers planned the regular entrenchments and approaches as far as possible, but, because of the multiplicity of duties devolving upon them, much of this work was delegated to other officers, who closely followed the plans indicated on the maps furnished. At noon, on June 25th, a mine was begun by the troops in front of Petersburg. This was not undertaken by engineer troops, but was under the direction of Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pleasants, Forty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and was executed by his own men. General Meade and General Grant sanctioned the project, and plans were adopted for an assault on the entire Confederate line when the mine should explode. The majority of the men employed in the work were miners from the coal regions of Pennsylvania, and
July 23rd (search for this): chapter 12
n. General Meade and General Grant sanctioned the project, and plans were adopted for an assault on the entire Confederate line when the mine should explode. The majority of the men employed in the work were miners from the coal regions of Pennsylvania, and the necessary expedients were familiar to them, without special instructions from the engineers. The excavation was commenced without special tools, lumber, or any of the materials usually required for such work. By late afternoon, on July 23d, the excavations were deemed complete. Eighteen thousand cubic feet of earth had been removed. The mine was charged on the afternoon and evening of the 27th, with three hundred and twenty kegs of powder, each containing about twenty-five pounds. Altogether, there were eight magazines connected by wooden tubes which were half filled with powder. These tubes met at the inner end of the main gallery, and fuses were laid along this gallery to the exit. As Engineers. Thus the off
July 30th (search for this): chapter 12
es lived in bomb-proofs. Officers of the Fiftieth New York Engineers Celebrating the anniversary of Gettysburg and Vicksburg: Engineers on July 4, 1864 Group of company D, United States engineers, in front of Petersburg, August, 1864 there was not a sufficient length of fuse at hand to lay it in one piece, several pieces spliced together had to be used. An inspection of the work indicated that it was perfect. Orders were given to fire the mine at three o'clock in the morning of July 30th. The fuse was lighted at 3.15 A. M., but the charge failed to explode. The defect was repaired, the fuse again lit, and at twenty minutes to five the mine exploded. The shock was terrific. For nearly an hour the defenders of the adjacent works appeared paralyzed. Through a misunderstanding, the Federal assault was a failure, and many lives were sacrificed. From an engineering point of view, the enterprise was a success. Tactically, it was a failure. From the moment the Federal
August (search for this): chapter 12
ics were developed by heavy, constant manual labor. The operations in this campaign marked a development in field-fortifications, opened virtually a new era in warfare. The siege was not a bombardment of impregnable fortifications. It was a constant series of assaults and picket-firing on lines of entrenchments in the open. By July, 1864, the earthworks to the east had been almost finished, although much of this exacting labor had been performed at night and under a galling fire. During August, the engineer corps extended the lines south and southeast of the beleaguered city. But meanwhile the Confederates had been hard at work also. They had fewer men to hold their lines and to carry on the work, but it was accomplished with great devotion, and under able management and direction. The soldiers in the trenches lived in bomb-proofs. Officers of the Fiftieth New York Engineers Celebrating the anniversary of Gettysburg and Vicksburg: Engineers on July 4, 1864 Group of compa
August 18th (search for this): chapter 12
Major-General John Gross Barnard: the chief engineer of General Grant and the Fortifier of New York Brigadier-General O. M. Poe built by successive pontoons — placing the boats in the bridge, one at a time. A portion was built by rafts — i. e., by building a long section separately and placing it in position when complete. The floor was covered with straw to prevent wear. Competent authorities characterized this structure as one of the most extensive known to military history. On August 18th, after the army had crossed the river, dismantling was begun, the parts being placed in the pontoons, and, within five hours after the work was commenced, rafts of pontoons had been made up, and the whole was on the way to Hampton, near Aquia Creek, on the Potomac. These troops rendered invaluable service at the battle of Antietam. The night before the conflict they made three of the fords of Antietam Creek possible for artillery, by cutting down the banks and paving the bottom, where
September 29th (search for this): chapter 12
roofed to insure its finishing the work. This view is to the east, showing a Union lookout-tower on the north bank of the James River, and some monitors in the right distance. The digging of the canal was begun on August 10, 1864, and was intended to enable Union monitors and gunboats to pass up the James to Richmond. The bend of the river which it cut off was filled with obstructions placed there by General Butler himself, and was commanded by the Confederate Battery Dantzler. After September 29th, when the Confederate Fort Harrison, north of the James, was captured by the Union troops, the canal was not needed, but work was continued until some four months afterwards it was ready. After the war it was a welcome channel for vessels on the James. January 1, 1865, when the bulkhead at the northern end of the excavation was blown up with twelve thousand pounds of powder, the fallen earth and debris obstructed the entrance. It could be entered by small boats, but it was never used
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 ...