Engineers of Independence: A Documentary History of the Army Engineers in the American Revolution, 1775-1783
- ISBN-10
- 1410201732
- ISBN-13
- 9781410201737
- Category
- History
- Pages
- 420
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2002-08
- Publisher
- The Minerva Group, Inc.
- Author
- Paul K. Walker
Description
This collection of documents, including many previously unpublished, details the role of the Army engineers in the American Revolution. Lacking trained military engineers, the Americans relied heavily on foreign officers, mostly from France, for sorely needed technical assistance. Native Americans joined the foreign engineer officers to plan and carry out offensive and defensive operations, direct the erection of fortifications, map vital terrain, and lay out encampments. During the war Congress created the Corps of Engineers with three companies of engineer troops as well as a separate geographer's department to assist the engineers with mapping. Both General George Washington and Major General Louis Lebéque Duportail, his third and longest serving Chief Engineer, recognized the disadvantages of relying on foreign powers to fill the Army's crucial need for engineers. America, they contended, must train its own engineers for the future. Accordingly, at the war's end, they suggested maintaining a peacetime engineering establishment and creating a military academy. However, Congress rejected the proposals, and the Corps of Engineers and its companies of sappers and miners mustered out of service. Eleven years passed before Congress authorized a new establishment, the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers.
Get the book
Similar books
-
Washington's Engineer: Louis Duportail and the Creation of an Army Corps
By Norman DesmaraisThis is an unique biography about an overlooked, even obscure, French officer that was instrumental in the American cause for independence. As a complete biography, it covers his return to France and his service in the French army.
-
Engineering Manhood: Race and the Antebellum Virginia Military Institute
By Jonson Miller... Democratizing the Old Dominion, 66–69; Sutton, Revolution to Secession, 24–26, 45. 34. Proceedings and Debates, 59. 35. Ibid., 70. 36. Alexander Keyssar, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States, with a ...
-
A History of Electrical Power Engineering
By Percy DunsheathDr. Dunsheath has spent a long and full life as an electrical engineer, starting as an apprentice and finishing in the Board Room. He is also a Past President of...
-
From Colonies to Countries in the North Caribbean: Military Engineers in the Development of Cities and Territories
By Gene A. Smith, Pedro Luengo-GutiérrezSome of the newest approaches on Latin American Art History have partially forgotten the vast Spanish-speaking historiographical tradition on the topic, especially the ... América con tinta andaluza: historia del arte e historiografía.
-
Essayons: The Origins and History of the US Army Engineer School
"ESSAYONS: The Origins and History of the US Army Engineer School addresses the various challenges faced by the school, and provides some indications of the breadth, depth, and complexity of the Engineer School's efforts to train engineers ...
-
The Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession
By Edwin T. LaytonThe Revolt of the Engineers: Social Responsibility and the American Engineering Profession
-
Engineers Engaging Community: Water and Energy
By Stephen Dobbs, Carolyn Oldham, Andrea GaynorAs such, they offer outstanding opportunities for the development of socially just engineering practices. This work examines the engineering of water and energy systems with a focus on issues of social justice and sustainability.
-
Lives and Works of Civil and Military Engineers of America
By Charles Beebe StuartLives and Works of Civil and Military Engineers of America
-
Engineering Your Retirement: Retirement Planning for Technology Professionals
By Mike GoliorfpgidI8278, T Rowe Price Retirement Planning Worksheet http://www.analyzenow.com/, Analyze Now/Free Programs: Return Calculator http://www.analyzenow.com/, Analyze Now/Free Programs: Pre—Retirement Savings Planner Calculator Spending ...