The author argues that contrary to most historical interpretations, the Confederacy had an adequate corps of professional engineers who served with distinction throughout the Civil War. He points out that West Point–trained engineers and civil engineers, “slow to come of age,” performed well using their skills to construct small bridges and lay pontoons (xi). These efforts often proved pivotal later in the war when engineers skillfully built the Kennesaw Mountain Line and the fortifications around Atlanta and successfully threw three pontoons to extract General William J. Hardee’s forces from Savannah. Men like Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Wilson Presstman, Major John W. Green, Captain Lemuel P. Grant, and Captain John M. Wampler performed admirably as engineers.
Daniel takes an interdisciplinary approach to the subject, describing such technical engineering as the design and building of pontoons, the bridgework completed by the firm of Anthony L. Maxwell and Son of Knoxville, and the construction...