American Civil War Fortifications (1): Coastal brick and stone forts (Fortress) [Paperback]

Angus Konstam (Author), Donato Spedaliere (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 20, 2003 | Series: Fortress (Book 6)

The 50 years before the American Civil War saw a boom in the construction of coastal forts in the United States of America. These stone and brick forts stretched from New England to the Florida Keys, and as far as the Mississippi River. At the start of the war some were located in the secessionist states, and many fell into Confederate hands. Although a handful of key sites remained in Union hands throughout the war, the remainder had to be won back through bombardment or assault. This book examines the design, construction and operational history of those fortifications, such as Fort Sumter, Fort Morgan and Fort Pulaski, which played a crucial part in the course of the Civil War.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Angus Konstam hails from the Orkney Islands and is the author of over 15 books, many of which are published by Osprey. Formerly the Curator of Weapons in the Royal Armouries at the Tower of London, he also served as the Chief Curator of the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum in Key West, Florida. He is now based in London, where he combines a freelance museum consultancy business with a career as a historian and writer.

Product Details

• Paperback: 64 pages
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing (April 20, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1841764426
• ISBN-13: 978-1841764429
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.2 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #183,121 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

With over 50 history books in print, Angus is a widely recognised and much-published historian. While he specialises in military and naval history he has also written numerous more general history books, designed to make the subject more accessible to a wider audience. Uniquely he has been able to draw on his expertise as a senior museum curator who has worked on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as on his academic training as a historian and as a maritime archaeologist.

His latest book is a full-length biography: Blackbeard: America's Most Notorious Pirate, which is published by Wiley & Sons. of New York (June 2006)

Angus is also just finished writing a history of the Allied landings at Salerno in September 1943 for the British publisher Pen & Sword, and he is currently working on a new project, with the working title of Supership: The Quest for the Renaissance Battleship.

Angus lives in Edinburgh, in Scotland.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Book, August 16, 2003

By 

Ryan Haas (Gary, IN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Civil War Fortifications (1): Coastal brick and stone forts (Fortress) (Paperback)

This new addition to the Osprey Fortress series is very well written. It covers the history of Stone and Brick Coastal Forts of the Civil War from their design and construction in the early 1800s till their combat in the Civil War. The first section is on the design and the development of American Coastal fortifications and it covers the three systems of coastal fortification. The second section gives a tour of the fortificatins covered in the book. This section talks in detail about each section of the fort critical to its defence, including the outer defences and redouts. The next section documents garrision life at the fort telling about the dull life of a garrision soldier and giving examples for garrions at forts. This section also talks about the particulaur guns that defended these forts. After this is a section of the principles of defense that give information on the plans and stratagies for defending the forts. The next section gives war histories on some of the more important forts including, forts Sumter, Pulaski, Macon, and Jackson. This is the one disapointing section. Not only does it leave out several important forts,(Fort Morgan-Battle of Mobile Bay, Fort Monroe-Penisular campaign and defense of Hampton Roads,and Fort Moultre- defense of Charleston) but it has incomplete histories. For instance, the section on Fort Sumpter only covers the opening battle of the Civil War neglecting the ironclad attack on the fort and the union bombardments that occured latter in the war. The last section covers post civil war coastal fortifications. The art work of this volume is very good. There are ten one page plates. The first plate shows Forts Marion and McHenry. The other plates are Forts Jackson and McRee, Fort Clinch, Fort Sumpter, Fort Moultrie, Fort Zachary Taylor, The main Confederate Battery at Fort Macon, Fort Pulaski, artillery casemate at Fort Pulaski, and artillery at Fort Morgan. A glossary and information on ever stone and brick Civil War fort's present condition and location is also included. This is very useful. Overall this is a great reference book on researching these important Civil War forts. I hope Osprey publishes furthur volumes on sand and wood coastal forts (Fort Wagner) and Mississippi River Forts (Vicksburg) in this new series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful illustrations, but many problems, January 30, 2006

By 

"The History Man" (Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Civil War Fortifications (1): Coastal brick and stone forts (Fortress) (Paperback)

The book documents well the development of American coastal forts of what was known as the Third System. These Civil War forts were impressive works built of stone and brick. The drawings are excellent, but there are numerous historical errors in the details and several forts are mislabeled. A revised edition would be appreciated and make this a 5 star work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Useful resource, January 12, 2007

By 

David F. Zarth (Hammond, In. USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Civil War Fortifications (1): Coastal brick and stone forts (Fortress) (Paperback)

This book is a good overview of U.S. Coastal forts. Good for the general interest or the military enthusiast.