Engineer Assets in the Overland Campaign

Abstract

This chapter shows how the Federal government entered the war in 1861 with a minuscule cadre of engineer officers and one company of engineer troops. By the spring of 1864, the commanders of the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia could rely on three years of experience with organizing and using their respective engineer assets. As such, both engineer groups in the war of 1861 were enlarged in the ensuing years. The Confederate government had started the war with nothing, but soon created a small corps of engineer officers that was later expanded. The Southerners, on the other hand, waited until 1863 to organize engineer troops. One thing both Union and Confederate armies in Virginia had in common was that they tended to be allocated the lion's share of engineering resources available to their respective governments.