This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1846 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XII. MILITARY COMMUNICATIONS. 300. Despatch is of the first importance in all military operations; and nothing contributes more to it than the means of opening practicable and easy communications in every direction. 301. Among the various obstacles by which the free movements of an army may be embarrassed, water courses, marshes and swamps, hold the first rank, owing to the difficulty of finding suitable means at hand to pass them, or of transporting those means in the train of an army. 302. For the passage of water courses, bridges must be constructed; the character of the construction depending on the nature of the river, the particular locality selected for the bridge, and the means at hand. 303. Before adopting definitively the particular locality, the officer charged with the construction should endeavor to gain the most accurate information, on every point, which might in any manner bear upon this selection; for which purpose he will cause a reconnaissance to be made, to determine the breadth and depth of the river, and the character of its bed;--the velocity of the current, the seasons of freshets, with their usual extent and effects;-- the character of the banks, their absolute and relative heights, their slope, the approaches to them, the distance between them and the water way, and finally, if they are wooded or otherwise;--the position and size of islands, whether wooded or not; --the extent of fords, their depth of water, and the nature of their bottom;--the form and dimensions of elbows and indentations;--the artificial obstructions, or dams, &c, the possibility of their being destroyed by the enemy, and the practicability of applying them to the purposes of artificial inundations;--the position, extent, and...

Excerpt from A Treatise on Field Fortification: Containing Instructions on the Methods of Layingout, Constructing, Defending, and Attacking, Intrenchments; With the General Outlines Also of the Arrangement, the Attack and Defence of Permanent Fortifications Much that appertains to the Engineer's Art is but an affair of feet and inches; facts which are the results of long usage, holding, in many instances, the important position of principles. His experience has taught him that those authors are the clearest who enter into the minutiae of their subject; and that with pupils of superior minds, a thorough knowledge of details is an invaluable aid in unravelling the difficulties, and retaining the principles of the Art; whilst, with those of limited capacities, a want of such detail leaves them with the most vague and unsatisfactory notions. Having said thus much of the plan of the work, a few words, respecting its object, may not be misplaced. The importance of a knowledge of Field Fortification, to officers of all arms in the regular army, need not be insisted upon; the daily occurrences of a campaign demonstrate this too clearly. To the militia officer, this knowledge is even of more importance than to the regular; for called upon, in many cases, to act without the co-operation of regular troops, in the defence of his own fire-side, he will require all those conservative means which add strength and confidence to irregular forces when brought for the first time before an enemy. To suppose irregular forces capable of coping on equal terms with disciplined troops, is to reason, not only against all probability, but against a vast weight of testimony to the contrary. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."