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REPORT

OF

THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS.

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,

Washington, D. C., October 20, 1874.

SIR: I have the honor to present for your information the following report upon the duties and operations in the Engineer Department during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1874.

OFFICERS OF THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS.

The number of officers holding commissions in the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, at the end of the fiscal year, was 105 on the active list, and 5 on the retired list; the latter, however, under the law of January 21, 1870, not being available for duty. In the duties devolv-' ing upon the corps by law, and its organization, the employment of a number of scientists and assistant engineers has been necessary.

Since my last report the corps has lost by death and retirement three officers, namely: First Lieut. Eugene A. Woodruff, who died at Shreve port, Louisiana, September 30, 1873, of the yellow fever, contracted while devoting himself to the care of the sick during the epidemic of that year; Brig. Gen. Richard Delafield, late Chief of Engineers, (retired,) who died in Washington November 5, 1873; and Colonel George W. Cullum, who was retired, January 13, 1874.

On the 30th of June, 1874, the officers were distributed to duties as follows:

On duty, Office of the Chief of Engineers. including the chief

On duty, projection and construction of fortifications .

On duty, construction of fortifications and light-house duty

On duty, construction of fortifications and river and harbor works, and surveys for

same

On duty, construction of fortifications and river and harbor works, and light-house duty, and surveys for same..

On duty, construction of river and harbor works, and surveys for same

On duty, survey of northern and north western lakes...

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On duty, construction of river and harbor works, and light-house duty, and surveys for same

On duty, explorations of country west of one hundredth meridian.
On duty, with battalion of engineers..

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On duty, public buildings and grounds, District of Columbia.. Detached, on duty with the General of the Army, generals commanding divisions, departments, light-house establishments, Military Academy, survey of northern boundary line under Department of State, superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory, and the board of commissioners of the District of Columbia.. 24 Recent graduates of the Military Academy on leave of absence.........

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105

Total.....

The officers detached were on duty as follows:

Col. I. C. Woodruff, engineer third light-house district

Lieut. Col. William F. Raynolds, engineer fourth light-house district

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Lieut. Col. R. S. Williamson, engineer twelfth light-house district
Maj. O. M. Poe, on staff of the General of the Army

Maj. H. M. Robert, engineer eleventh light-house district

Maj. F. Harwood, engineer fifth and sixth light-house districts.
Maj. P. C. Hains, engineer-secretary to the Light-House Board

Maj. G. L. Gillespie, on staff of Lieutenant-General commanding military division of the Missouri

Capt. Asa H. Holgate, ou staff of commanding general Department of Texas... Capt. William Ludlow, on staff of commanding general Department of Dakota... Capt. William S. Stanton, on staff of commanding general Department of Platte.. First Lieut. E. H. Ruffner, on staff of commanding general Department of the Missouri

First Lieut. J. G. D. Knight, on staff of major-general commanding Military Division of the Pacific...

First Lieut. R. L. Hoxie, chief engineer of the District of Columbia, under the direction of the board of commissioners..........

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Capts. William J. Twining, J. F. Gregory, and First Lieut. F. V. Greene, on duty under Department of State, upon joint commission for the survey of the boundary line along the forty-ninth parallel..

3

Capt. C. W. Raymond, First Lieuts. E. W. Bass, and S. E. Tillman, on duty under the superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory in connection with observation of the transit of Venus

3

Capts. A. M. Miller, T. H. Handbury, First Lieut. J. C. Mallery, and Second Lieut. C. F. Palfrey, on duty at the Military Academy.

4

Total....

24

The following principal civil engineers and geologists were employed. on the 30th of June:

General J. H. Wilson, member of board of engineers upon improvement of the Des Moines and Rock Island Rapids, and improvement of the Illinois River; Clarence King, geologist, in charge of geological exploration of the fortieth parallel; and S. Thayer Abert, in charge of river and harbor improvements on Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

SEA-COAST AND LAKE-FRONTIER DEFENSES.

The progress during the past year, of the works for the defense of our harbors from naval attacks, has been satisfactory, and some of the works for the protection of the harbors of our principal cities, are approaching completion.

As has been mentioned in my previous annual reports, the class of works now in progress are mainly earthen barbette and mortar batteries, having great thickness and height of parapets, and thorough protection from enfilade and reverse fires, by massive traverses and parados. The barbette-batteries for guns are being arranged for the new ordnancecarriage of increased height, but will also be available for the depressing-carriage when that shall have been provided.

Every step taken in the location, construction, or modification of our sea-coast defenses is in accordance with the general conclusions and principles agreed upon by the board of engineers in 1869. which received the approval of the Chief of Engineers, the General of the Army, and the Executive, and which have repeatedly commended themselves to the intelligence of Congress.

In comparison with the large number of harbors and anchorages along our coasts, but a limited number are being fortified, and appropriations are asked only for those having sufficient depth of water to admit the entrance of the enemy in iron-clad vessels carrying the pow erful rifled modern armaments, and where interests covering millions of dollars would be sacrificed by a successful invasion.

But a small number of our works are what could be called new; that is, planned entirely in accordance with the requirements for resisting

the modern heavy ordnance. Nearly all have been handed down from former periods, when small guns and wooden ships only were to be contended with, and the present operations at these works consist in enlarging and strengthening the earthen portions to resist the heavy rifled shot.

The eathern parts of modern fortifications have assumed such extensive proportions that they are no longer capable of being thrown up and constructed in short and limited periods, while the guns and armaments are of so great dimensions, and so massive, that special machinery, skilled labor, and considerable time are required to place them in posi

tion.

Unlike the armaments used in them, no two sea coast works are of the same model, plan, or tracé. Every work is a special one, which must be adapted to the peculiarities of the site, of the harbor, the channel-ways, and of the interests involved in the defense. The preparation of the plan for each site requires careful surveys, investigation, and study; and the time required for construction renders it now imperative that our sea-coast works should be planned and built before the sudden and decisive wars of modern times are either imminent, or actually in progress.

The appropriations for mortar-batteries have been judiciously distributed for the erection of these valuable auxiliaries against iron-clads in five of our principal harbors, and a further appropriation is asked for their continuance.

The trials with torpedoes, which have been in progress at Willet's Point for some years past, have developed a practical and efficient system for the location and operation of this most valuable obstruction to the entrances of our harbors, giving us a means whereby we can hold the enemy's vessels under the fire of our guns, and prevent their running past our batteries.

The system is described more in detail in the body of this report, and consists, as all systems for the defense of harbors should, of stationary torpedoes, both ground and buoyant, exploded either by the medium of the contact of the vessel or by the judgment of the operator. Moving torpedoes, alone, will not answer the purpose of barring the entrances to harbors. To operate this class of torpedo they must either be seen, or the enemy must be in view, and so, just in those periods of fogs or darkness when a daring commander would seek to penetrate a harbor, this class of torpedo would be of no avail against him.

To continue the purchase and storing of such portions of our torpedo apparatus as could not, in event of war, be speedily obtained, the sum of $150,000 is asked.

No plans of iron shields for casemated defenses have as yet been perfected. In several of our important harbors this class of works will be needed, but the cost of such structures renders it important that they should be designed only for the most powerful rifled ordnance practicable. And until this class of guns, with their carriages, shall have been determined upon by the proper Department, the plans must be delayed.

The progress made and anticipated upon the several works on the coasts is given in detail in the following portions of the report. The estimates submitted, based upon the estimates of the several officers in charge, which have been carefully revised, present those amounts which, in the judgment of this Department, are necessary for the completion, continuance, or commencement of projects for the coming fiscal

year.

FORTIFICATIONS.

Fort Wayne, Michigan, in charge of Maj. F. Harwood, Corps of Engi neers.--This work was in good condition at the close of the fiscal year. No operations were in progress during the year, and none beyond minor repairs are contemplated during the present year. The perishable equipment and material on hand were sold at public auction, and the watchman discharged. No preparations have been made or are intended for any change in the armament of the work.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Porter, Black Rock, near Buffalo, New York, in charge of Maj. F. Harwood, Corps of Engineers.-This work remains as last reported, excepting additional adornment of the grounds by the city of Buffalo, under act of Congress approved July 11, 1870. Nothing has been done upon the fort during the past year, and nothing is proposed for the present fiscal year.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Niagara, mouth of Niagara River, New York, in charge of Maj. John M. Wilson, Corps of Engineers.-This work is situated at the mouth of the Niagara River, commanding its debouch into Lake Ontario.

During the past fiscal year the operations in progress have been confined to those necessary for the proper care and preservation of the work and materials on hand.

During the present fiscal year it is proposed to relay the brick, where necessary, in the coping of the scarp-wall, to repair the slope-wall protection of the sea-wall at the salient angle of the north bastion, and to make the temporary repairs to the old shore-protection near the northwest angle.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Ontario, mouth of Oswego River, New York, in charge of Maj. John M. Wilson, Corps of Engineers.-This work protects the city of Oswego from a sudden attack or coup de main, or the levy of a contribution by a small force of an enemy on shipboard. The work in progress upon the fort is the replacing of the old timber-scarp by more durable materials and the modification of the barbette for the heavy modern ordnance. During the past year the operations in progress have been confined to those necessary for the proper care and preservation of the work and materials on hand. No operations are proposed for the present fiscal year other than are necessary for the preservation of the work.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Montgomery, outlet of Lake Champlain, New York, in charge of Lieut. Col. John Newton, Corps of Engineers.-This work occupies an important strategic point, and commands the entrance to Lake Champlain from Richelieu, or Saint John River.

No operations were carried on during the past fiscal year. Projects for the modification of this work to suit its armament to heavy guns have been prepared by the board of engineers for fortifications, and should be carried out.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Knox, Bucksport, Penobscot River, Maine, in charge of Lieut. Col. J. C. Duane, Corps of Engineers.-During the past fiscal year no work other

than that necessary for the care of the property having been performed, the condition of this work remains the same as at the close of the fiscal year previous.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Popham, Kennebec River, Maine, in charge of Lieut. Col. J. C. Duane, Corps of Engineers.-During the past fiscal year no operations were carried on, except for the care and preservation of the property, so that the condition of this work remains the same as at the close of the fiscal year previous.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Gorges, Portland Harbor, Maine, in charge of Lieut. Col. J. C. Duane,
Corps of Engineers.-During the past fiscal year the plastering of the
quarters and the iron-work for the balcony of the gorge were completed.
Stone and iron work for the barbette gun-platforms were well advanced.
No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
No appropriation asked for next fiscal year.

Fort Preble, Portland Harbor, Maine, in charge of Lieut. Col. J. C. Duane, Corps of Engineers.-During the past fiscal year two permanent platforms in the redoubt, one in the north battery, and one temporary wooden platform in the south battery, were made ready for guns; the traverses and parapets, exclusive of the breast-height walls of the south battery, were completed, and the concrete-magazine, parados, bombproofs, breast-height walls, the greater part of the embankments, and the roadway of the north battery were built. Amount appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875 Appropriation asked for next fiscal year

$20,000 40,000

During the present fiscal year it is proposed to construct all the breast-height walls of the south battery, and complete six additional gun-platforms.

Fort Scammel, Portland Harbor, Maine, in charge of Lieut. Col. J. C. Duane, Corps of Engineers.-During the past fiscal year the concrete bomb-proof covering, three-fourths of the superimposed embankments, the breast-height walls, and the long concrete communications of the east and west bastions were completed. In the upper level of the main work nearly all the slopes of traverses and parados upon fronts I, IV, and VI were sodded, and all but one of the remaining positions made ready for gun platforms.

Amount appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
Appropriation asked for next fiscal year

$30,000 50,000

During the present fiscal year it is expected to complete all but the barbette gun-platforms of the east and west bastions, together with the works in their rear, and to construct breast height walls and platforms for three guns in the main work.

Battery on Portland Head, Portland Harbor, Maine, in charge of Lieut. Col. J. C. Duane, Corps of Engineers.-This is a new work, upon the most commanding site at the entrance to the main ship-channel to the harbor, three miles below the city. Operations were commenced early in the past fiscal year. The parapet embankment for seventeen guns was mainly filled in, and four of the concrete traverse-magazines, with a greater part of their embankment, were built.

No appropriation was made for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1875.
Appropriation asked for next fiscal year.......

$50,000

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