Abandoned stockpile bastion11/29/2022 ![]() ![]() The batteries could in turn serve as "a parallel from which to advance his trenches" and envelop the town with siege lines. Thayer warned that if the outer works were "penetrated at any point, or turned upon either flank, the whole line must in all probability be abandoned." Once taken by an approaching enemy, the outer works would provide the invader with sufficient cover to erect batteries. ![]() He found them both "badly flanked." Skeptical that these extensive outer works ever could be properly supported by flanking artillery or "completely manned by Infantry," he dismissed them as "of no use in the defense of the fort, and consequently of the town." He contended that the works would imbue Fort Norfolk's defenders with a dangerous "false security" that would "suppress the spirit of offensive enterprise" (COER 1812-1823:17-18). Moving outside of the main defenses, Thayer was dismayed at the location of the fieldworks "at the peach orchard in advance of Fort Norfolk" and at Fort Barbour, an earthen fort built in 1813 to protect the approaches to the town. Thayer conceded that constructing an additional flank position would be "very expensive," and he settled on the expedient of widening the ditch opposite the northeast bastion and "planting therein a row of pallisades" (COER 1812-1823:16). Compounding the weakness of the fort's north side was the absence of flank protection for the northeast bastion. ![]() This particular parapet was too narrow to "withstand a battery of a larger caliber than six pounders." He suggested widening it and capping it with a rampart capable of supporting artillery. Robinson defined a ravelin as "a work consisting of two faces with a salient angle closed at the gorge." Ravelins, such as the one constructed by Thayer at Fort Norfolk, were set off from the main portion of the work by ditches and were intended to protect otherwise weakly defended curtains (COER 1812-1823:18 Robinson 1977:198, 204).Īccording to Thayer, the "most exposed and vulnerable part of the fort" was the parapet on the "north wing," which faced the mainland. He could remedy "the prominent defects of Fort Norfolk" for less than $2,500, whereas rendering Fort Nelson serviceable would require "a very considerable expense" (COER 1812-1823:17-18).Ĭaptain Thayer proposed strengthening the rear or east "curtain" of Fort Norfolk, which then consisted of a "barrack-wall two & a half feet only in thickness." (A curtain is simply an unmodified section of a fortification extending between two bastions.) He recommended protecting the brick curtain "with an earthen Raveline" and installing an "Iron grate to the lower tier of windows." Willard B. Fort Nelson, Thayer contended, "is of little military importance except as a water battery." Thayer thought the fort a defenseless giant and argued that enemy infantry could approach Portsmouth by land, seize the Navy Yard at Gosport, and threaten Norfolk "without much annoyance from Fort Nelson." Thayer pressed his point in terms designed to catch the attention of frugal bureaucrats. "Badly designed and executed still worse," he called it. #ABANDONED STOCKPILE BASTION PROFESSIONAL#Thayer declared Fort Norfolk an "excellent position as it completely commands and enfilades the channel, and can prevent the enemy's fleet from acting in conjunction with his land forces in an attack upon the town." Mindful of Fort Norfolk's limitations, he cautioned that "the work was intended only as an enclosed water battery and not calculated to resist a regular siege." Nonetheless, Thayer found Fort Norfolk "susceptible of great improvements at a very trifling expense" (Corps of Engineers Reports 1812-1823:17).Īfter visiting the Portsmouth side of the harbor, Thayer dispensed with professional courtesy in his criticism of Fort Nelson. Army Corps of Engineers was sent to Norfolk to inspect the harbor defenses and make recommendations for their improvement. In May, Captain Samuel Thayer of the U.S. ![]()
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