The American Civil War saw a massive development in the use of field fortifications, the result of the practical application of antebellum West-Point teaching, and the deadly impact of rifled infantry weapons and artillery. Both the Federal and Confederate armies began to develop far more sophisticated systems of field fortification, and the larger field works and fortifications surrounding Washington, DC and Richmond, VA were redesigned and rebuilt several times. This volume explores the role of land and field fortifications in the eastern and overland campaigns of the Civil War between 1861 and 1865. Particular attention is devoted to the nine-month siege of Petersburg, where daily life within the redoubts, lunettes, redans, bomb-proofs, trenches and rifle pits is vividly described.

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