Fortifications

[Greg Renault]

Re: Fortifications

Fort Ontario, located in Oswego, NY, hosts a number of living history events from the Seven Years' War on. It is a popular site for local ACW units' spring Camp of Instruction for all branches of service. The basic trace is a bastioned pentagon; the redans, ditch and outworks were leveled to provide space for military housing in the later 19th century, so as you approach the fort you see the masonry of the scarp. The manager there told me that a few years ago an engineer group rebuilt one of the redans as earthworks, using gabions.

Greg Renault

[Kevin O'Beirne]

Re: Fortifications

Most events are about more than just building works, so the time available to construct "works" that are more than just a small rifle pit or a trench that more resembles a sink than protection from enemy fire is usually pretty small. I haven't seen more than a very few events where anyone built more than "hasty works" and the "good works" were generally built by the event hosts beforehand, not by the participants themselves.

At the recent Alexander NY farbfest a few campaigners showed up with a half-dozen shovels and picks and enlisted about 15 'streamers to make 35 yards of snake-rail fence into a semi-respectable line of works, with a 3 to 3.5-foot deep trench behind the rail fence with a fire step in it, the earth heaped out front (after some instruction was given to "toss the earth onto the 'Yankee side' of the rails"), and in some places a head log. Frankly they were among the most formidible looking works I've ever seen reenactors construct themselves during the event.

I wasn't present at Averasboro 1999, where a good interp area of "campaigners" of both sides constructed some pretty intense works during the event. Saw pictures of it, but I wasn't there; maybe some folks who were at the Averasboro events in 1998-2001 can relate more about the works made by the participants during the event.

[ScottMcKay]

Re: Fortifications

Kevin,

Here's a link to the images the Confederate ditches from the 1999 Averasboro event:

http://members.aol.com/CoG10thTx/Photos/avers99.htm

[kemper_rifles]

Re: Fortifications

Thanks for the info......and now I have a followup question-

How many engineer renactors are out there-....staking out the work and setting the cuts and fills ?...

...-In other words doing it at the time of the event and using period equipment.

***

Tom Chance

I don't know about engineers, but at Spotsy, we were portraying poineers and were working on the works and abatis and stuff all weekend. Never done an engineer impression, always assumed they planned the works and the pioneers actually made them.