Rifled Artillery Versus Third System Brick and Masonry Forts
Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2009 6:28 am
A couple of people have argued that the Fortifications in the game are too weak but most of the Coastal Forts were obsolete at the start of the war heres some histories of the forts on the Atlantic Coast that Union Forces captured through arms. Several of the Coastal Forts in the Game were captured without bloodshed because they were abandoned because forces had to be moved to other areas. The Rifled Artillery proved to be the downfall of Third System forts.
Fort Morgan North Carolina - In late March 1862, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside's army advanced on Fort Macon, a third system casemated masonry fort that commanded the channel to Beaufort, 35 miles southeast of New Berne. The Union force invested the fort with siege works and, on April 26, opened an accurate fire on the fort, which soon breached the masonry walls. Within a few hours the fort's scarp began to collapse, and the Confederates hoisted a white flag. This action demonstrated the inadequacy of masonry forts against large-bore, rifled artillery.
Fort Clark - On August 28th, 1861 while the navy bombarded Forts Clark and Hatteras, Union troops came ashore and attacked the rear of the Confederate batteries. On August 29, 1861 Colonel William F. Martin surrendered the Confederate garrison of 670. The Federals lost only one man. Butler returned to Fort Monroe, leaving the captured forts garrisoned
Fort Macon - On April 25, 1862, Parke's Union forces bombarded the fort with heavy siege guns for 11 hours, aided by the fire of four Union gunboats in the ocean offshore and floating batteries in the sound to the east. While the fort easily repulsed the Union gunboat attack, the Union land batteries, utilizing new rifled cannons, hit the fort 560 times. There was such extensive damage that Col. White was forced to surrender the following morning, April 26, with the fort's Confederate garrison being paroled as prisoners of war. This battle was the second time in history new rifled cannons were used against a fort, demonstrating the obsolescence of such fortifications as a way of defense. The Union held Fort Macon for the remainder of the war, while Beaufort Harbor served as an important coaling and repair station for its navy.
Fort Fisher - Unlike older fortifications built of brick and mortar, Fort Fisher was made mostly of earth and sand, which was ideal for absorbing the shock of heavy explosives. The sea face, equipped with 22 guns, consisted of a series of twelve foot high larger batteries bounded on the south side by two larger batteries forty-five and sixty feet high. Of the smaller mounds one served as a telegraph office and another was converted into a hospital bombproof. The land face was equipped with 25 guns distributed among its fifteen mounds. Each mound was 32 feet high with interior rooms used as bombproofs or powder magazines and connected by an underground passageway. Extending across the entire land face was a nine foot high palisade fence. In December 1864, Union Major General Benjamin Butler, together with the Expeditionary Corps of the Army of the James, was detached from the Virginia theater for an amphibious mission to capture Fort Fisher. He was joined by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter who commanded Union navy already in the region.After being informed about the large Union army heading toward Wilmington, General Lee ordered Major General Robert Hoke's Division to Fort Fisher. Also, Hoke took command of all Confederate forces in the Wilmington area.The Union attack started on December 24, 1864 with a naval bombardment. The firepower of Fort Fisher was temporarily silenced because some of its gun positions exploded. This allowed the Navy to land Union infantry. The landing force was intercepted by the arrival of Hoke's troops. The Union attack was effectively thwarted, and on December 27 Benjamin Butler ordered the withdrawal of his 1,000 soldiers who were still on the beach. This was in disobeyance of Grant's orders, which were to besiege the fort if the assault failed. Because Butler disobeyed his orders, he was relieved of command by Grant.After Butler's removal, he was replaced by Major General Alfred Terry, and the operation was dubbed "Terry's expedition." Admiral Porter was again in charge of the naval attack. They waited until January 12, 1865, for the second attempt.They started with a strong bombardment from 56 ships for two and a half days. This targeted both of Fort Fisher's fronts. On January 15 at 3 p.m., 8,000 Union soldiers landed at the Land Face. While ships shot over the uppermost batteries, the Union troops entered the fortification through Shepherd Battery. Thus, the Confederate soldiers found themselves battling behind their walls, and were forced to retreat.Altogether, the land battle lasted six hours. At nighttime, General Whiting, who had been injured during the battle, surrendered as Commander of the District of Cape Fear. He was then imprisoned, where he died March 10, 1865. The Confederates who had been captured were taken to prisons in New York.The battle was the largest amphibious operation until the Second World War.
Fort Pulaski - At 8:15 am on April 10, 1862, the batteries opened fire on Fort Pulaski and the Confederate contingent within. Within 30 hours a breach was made, and the troops within the fort surrendered. The secret to the siege was the use of Rifled Artillery by the Union artillery. These new weapons were able to fire their elongated projectiles farther and more accurately than the smoothbore cannons that Fort Pulaski was built to withstand. This one event transformed all the masonry forts built as a part of the Third System of United States Coastal Defense from impenetrable bastions of ingenious engineering to obsolete symbols of American paranoia and excess.
Fort Moultrie – Brick and Earth Fort. Between 1809 and 1860 Fort Moultrie changed little. The parapet was altered and the armament modernized, but the big improvement in Charleston’s defenses during this period was the construction of Fort Sumter at the entrance of the harbor. The forts ringing Charleston Harbor – Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson, and Castle Pinckney – were meant to complement each other, but ironically received their baptism of fire as opponents. In December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the Federal garrison abandoned Fort Moultrie for the stronger Sumter. Three and a half months later, Confederate troops shelled Sumter into submission, plunging the nation into civil war. In April 1863, Federal iron-clads and shore batteries began a 20-month bombardment of Sumter and Moultrie, yet Charleston’s defenses held. When the Confederate army evacuated the city in February 1865, Fort Sumter was little more than a pile of rubble and Fort Moultrie lay hidden under the band of sand that protected its walls from Federal shells. The new rifled cannon used during the Civil War had demolished the brick-walled fortifications.
Fort Morgan – Brick and Mortar Fort. Granger's soldiers landed at Pilot Town on August 9 and began moving siege artillery within range. The Union fleet also turned their guns on the fort. For the next two weeks Union forces kept up a heavy and consistent artillery fire. On August 16 the Confederates abandoned two batteries of the outer defenses and Granger moved his siege mortars within 500 yards of the fort and his 30-pounder rifled guns to within 1,200 yards. On August 23 General Page unconditionally surrendered the fort. Indignant, he broke his sword over his knee instead of surrendering his sword to the Federals. Page's situation was further worsened when he was suspected of destroying munitions and works within the fort after he had agreed to surrender. For this he was arrested by the Federal authorities and imprisoned once he personally surrendered.
Fort Morgan North Carolina - In late March 1862, Major General Ambrose E. Burnside's army advanced on Fort Macon, a third system casemated masonry fort that commanded the channel to Beaufort, 35 miles southeast of New Berne. The Union force invested the fort with siege works and, on April 26, opened an accurate fire on the fort, which soon breached the masonry walls. Within a few hours the fort's scarp began to collapse, and the Confederates hoisted a white flag. This action demonstrated the inadequacy of masonry forts against large-bore, rifled artillery.
Fort Clark - On August 28th, 1861 while the navy bombarded Forts Clark and Hatteras, Union troops came ashore and attacked the rear of the Confederate batteries. On August 29, 1861 Colonel William F. Martin surrendered the Confederate garrison of 670. The Federals lost only one man. Butler returned to Fort Monroe, leaving the captured forts garrisoned
Fort Macon - On April 25, 1862, Parke's Union forces bombarded the fort with heavy siege guns for 11 hours, aided by the fire of four Union gunboats in the ocean offshore and floating batteries in the sound to the east. While the fort easily repulsed the Union gunboat attack, the Union land batteries, utilizing new rifled cannons, hit the fort 560 times. There was such extensive damage that Col. White was forced to surrender the following morning, April 26, with the fort's Confederate garrison being paroled as prisoners of war. This battle was the second time in history new rifled cannons were used against a fort, demonstrating the obsolescence of such fortifications as a way of defense. The Union held Fort Macon for the remainder of the war, while Beaufort Harbor served as an important coaling and repair station for its navy.
Fort Fisher - Unlike older fortifications built of brick and mortar, Fort Fisher was made mostly of earth and sand, which was ideal for absorbing the shock of heavy explosives. The sea face, equipped with 22 guns, consisted of a series of twelve foot high larger batteries bounded on the south side by two larger batteries forty-five and sixty feet high. Of the smaller mounds one served as a telegraph office and another was converted into a hospital bombproof. The land face was equipped with 25 guns distributed among its fifteen mounds. Each mound was 32 feet high with interior rooms used as bombproofs or powder magazines and connected by an underground passageway. Extending across the entire land face was a nine foot high palisade fence. In December 1864, Union Major General Benjamin Butler, together with the Expeditionary Corps of the Army of the James, was detached from the Virginia theater for an amphibious mission to capture Fort Fisher. He was joined by Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter who commanded Union navy already in the region.After being informed about the large Union army heading toward Wilmington, General Lee ordered Major General Robert Hoke's Division to Fort Fisher. Also, Hoke took command of all Confederate forces in the Wilmington area.The Union attack started on December 24, 1864 with a naval bombardment. The firepower of Fort Fisher was temporarily silenced because some of its gun positions exploded. This allowed the Navy to land Union infantry. The landing force was intercepted by the arrival of Hoke's troops. The Union attack was effectively thwarted, and on December 27 Benjamin Butler ordered the withdrawal of his 1,000 soldiers who were still on the beach. This was in disobeyance of Grant's orders, which were to besiege the fort if the assault failed. Because Butler disobeyed his orders, he was relieved of command by Grant.After Butler's removal, he was replaced by Major General Alfred Terry, and the operation was dubbed "Terry's expedition." Admiral Porter was again in charge of the naval attack. They waited until January 12, 1865, for the second attempt.They started with a strong bombardment from 56 ships for two and a half days. This targeted both of Fort Fisher's fronts. On January 15 at 3 p.m., 8,000 Union soldiers landed at the Land Face. While ships shot over the uppermost batteries, the Union troops entered the fortification through Shepherd Battery. Thus, the Confederate soldiers found themselves battling behind their walls, and were forced to retreat.Altogether, the land battle lasted six hours. At nighttime, General Whiting, who had been injured during the battle, surrendered as Commander of the District of Cape Fear. He was then imprisoned, where he died March 10, 1865. The Confederates who had been captured were taken to prisons in New York.The battle was the largest amphibious operation until the Second World War.
Fort Pulaski - At 8:15 am on April 10, 1862, the batteries opened fire on Fort Pulaski and the Confederate contingent within. Within 30 hours a breach was made, and the troops within the fort surrendered. The secret to the siege was the use of Rifled Artillery by the Union artillery. These new weapons were able to fire their elongated projectiles farther and more accurately than the smoothbore cannons that Fort Pulaski was built to withstand. This one event transformed all the masonry forts built as a part of the Third System of United States Coastal Defense from impenetrable bastions of ingenious engineering to obsolete symbols of American paranoia and excess.
Fort Moultrie – Brick and Earth Fort. Between 1809 and 1860 Fort Moultrie changed little. The parapet was altered and the armament modernized, but the big improvement in Charleston’s defenses during this period was the construction of Fort Sumter at the entrance of the harbor. The forts ringing Charleston Harbor – Moultrie, Sumter, Johnson, and Castle Pinckney – were meant to complement each other, but ironically received their baptism of fire as opponents. In December 1860 South Carolina seceded from the Union, and the Federal garrison abandoned Fort Moultrie for the stronger Sumter. Three and a half months later, Confederate troops shelled Sumter into submission, plunging the nation into civil war. In April 1863, Federal iron-clads and shore batteries began a 20-month bombardment of Sumter and Moultrie, yet Charleston’s defenses held. When the Confederate army evacuated the city in February 1865, Fort Sumter was little more than a pile of rubble and Fort Moultrie lay hidden under the band of sand that protected its walls from Federal shells. The new rifled cannon used during the Civil War had demolished the brick-walled fortifications.
Fort Morgan – Brick and Mortar Fort. Granger's soldiers landed at Pilot Town on August 9 and began moving siege artillery within range. The Union fleet also turned their guns on the fort. For the next two weeks Union forces kept up a heavy and consistent artillery fire. On August 16 the Confederates abandoned two batteries of the outer defenses and Granger moved his siege mortars within 500 yards of the fort and his 30-pounder rifled guns to within 1,200 yards. On August 23 General Page unconditionally surrendered the fort. Indignant, he broke his sword over his knee instead of surrendering his sword to the Federals. Page's situation was further worsened when he was suspected of destroying munitions and works within the fort after he had agreed to surrender. For this he was arrested by the Federal authorities and imprisoned once he personally surrendered.
I think they all prove that the current system in AACW is faulty: In the game you don't need land-troops (ie infantry) to blow up forts, while in reality that was exactly what was needed