Engineers, East and West
When the war broke out, General John Gross Barnard had just published “Dangers and Defences of New York” (1859) and “Notes on sea-coast Defence” (1861). He was immediately summoned to Washington as chief engineer in charge of constructing the defenses. Later he became chief engineer of the Army of the Potomac with the rank of brigadier-general and chief engineer of General Grant. General Barnard had graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in the class of 1833, fought through the Mexican War, where he fortified Tampico, and was for four years in charge of the defenses of New York. At the close of the war he was brevetted major-general. General O. M. Poe did for Sherman in the West what General Barnard did for Grant in the East. He labored constantly in the construction of defenses for the numerous bridges along the line of railroad, fortified many strategic points, made surveys and issued maps, and secured an invaluable photographic record of the engineering in Sherman's campaigns. Many examples are reproduced in this History.
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