#junius b. wheeler

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: Wheeler vs. Mahan, Embrasures and Bonnettes

Fortification Friday: Wheeler vs. Mahan, Embrasures and Bonnettes

Last week we gave time to Junius B. Wheeler’s instructions about barbette batteries.  Now let us turn to his thoughts on embrasures, which were the alternative siting of artillery in a field fortification.  Wheeler offered this drawing of an embrasure for reference:

Perhaps a cleaner diagram than Mahan used, either in his pre-war or post-war texts, but generally the same features. The art and…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: Wheeler and the evolution of interior arrangements during and post-war

Fortification Friday: Wheeler and the evolution of interior arrangements during and post-war

I’ve mentioned on several occasions how the lessons on fortifications, used to teach cadets, demonstrate the evolution of doctrine from pre-war thinking into the post-war era.  We see some of this evolution when comparing pre-war and post-war versions of Mahan’s treatise.  But where the changes really come into play is when comparing Wheeler’s  1880 textbook.

An example of these changes is how…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: "Arrangements Intended for the Comfort and Health of a Garrison"

Fortification Friday: “Arrangements Intended for the Comfort and Health of a Garrison”

All well and good to build up a fort, complete with obstacles and defilements for to make the attacker’s job that much harder. Better still to have the interior arrangements for proper placement, and protection, of batteries, with bombproof magazines filled with ammunition at the ready.  And maybe even offer some bombproofs just so the garrison can seek shelter from enemy fire.  But we must…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: Barriers, Bridges, and Ramps ... the fort "communications" infrastructure

Fortification Friday: Barriers, Bridges, and Ramps … the fort “communications” infrastructure

Writing the instructions for cadets, almost two decades after the Civil War, Junius B. Wheeler focused more on the functional requirements of outlets in the fortifications, as opposed to the important details of construction.  The nuances here are, I think, important.  Mahan presented the outlet had important operational uses within fortifications, but proceeded to discuss the particulars…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: Outlets evolved in the post-war instructions

Fortification Friday: Outlets evolved in the post-war instructions

Earlier we considered the pre-war instructions offered by Mahan in regard to outlets, particularly how those would be constructed.  Training cadets before the war, Mahan covered the topic with a few paragraphs.  Later, after the war, he added a section about bridges associated with the outlets.  However, by the 1880s, Junius Wheeler’s instructions to cadets would sprawl over the better part of…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday:

Last week, we saw that prior to the Civil War, Mahan felt one paragraph of instructionwas sufficient for cadets to understand how traverses might be used between gun platforms of the batteries.  However, in 1882, Junius Wheeler, writing a textbook for cadets nearly two decades distant from the Civil War, felt the subject required much lengthier treatment.  Mahan used the “fancy” word Gabionade…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: Some final notes from Wheeler

It’s Black Friday… so the only fortifications you wish to consider are those shopping carts arranged to block the other shoppers from your desired flat screen TV…. So I’ll keep this installment short.

Just a few more points to touch upon from Junius Wheeler’s post-war lessons on field fortifications.  Not so subtly, I’ve beaten the drum that the practice of fortification changed with experiences…

View On WordPress

[markerhunter]

Fortification Friday: Torpedoes - Infernal machines or suitable obstacle?

Fortification Friday: Torpedoes – Infernal machines or suitable obstacle?

Last week we discussed mines, with some focus on command detonated mines.  Use of those sort of mines dated back to the invention of gunpowder.  The action of the mine was timed by the defender to effect. If triggered correctly, the mine could disrupt an attack.  Even rumors of mines might even dissuade an attack on a particular sector.  But as we saw there were drawbacks to the use of mine.…

View On WordPress