Letter, 1863 August 16, Suess to Brooks on methods of sapping
National Park Service
Item Details
TitleLetter, 1863 August 16, Suess to Brooks on methods of sapping
This resource is part of a series
This resource is part of a series
CreatorSuess
Dates
Date Created
Descriptive Information
LanguageEnglish
Letter to Brooks from Suess regarding the commencement of sapping operations. Suess writes that Capt. Walker has serious misgivings about the effectiveness of the fall sap, and that Capt. Walker proposes a different method of sapping, which was first used by the Turks in the 17th century.
Transcription[Letter, continued] the seige of Candia in the latter part of the 17th century. I distinctly recollect to have read in a detailed description of that celebrated siege (which lasted three years) that the Commander of the Turks, [illegible]-Pasha, after many fruitless attempts to approach the fortress (then defended by the [illegible], with a large French Auxiliary Corps, sent by King Louis XIV), finally concluded to carry forward a very wide trench, in a [illegible] line against one of the bastions, throwing up an immense mound of earth in front, which was constently kept moving forward, until he reached the immediate vicinity of the works, when he finished the job by mining, blowing up the bastion, and finally making himself master of the city. It is supposed, that French Engineers carried the idea back to France, where it probably came to the knowledge of the then living [illegible], who took note of the idea at the foundation of this somewhat clumsy and rudimentary operation and gradually developed his system of Parallels and Saps, which up to the present day has been in practice at sieges. While it is manifest that the most remarkable innovations and improvements in the different branches of military service has taken place during this century and up to the present period, it does not appear, that it has been found possible to improve upon the method of sapping. It is not very probable that want of ingenuity on the part of the Engineer Corps of the various [illegible] countries should be the cause of this conservatism, as it is generally supposed that this peculiar department contains its fair share of [illegible] and
TopicsSouth Carolina--History
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Artillery operations
Fort Sumter National Monument (Agency : U.S.)
United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865
Artillery operations
Fort Sumter National Monument (Agency : U.S.)
Physical Descriptions
Mediumcommercial correspondence
TypeStill Image
Formatimage/jpeg
Contributing Institutions
Identifiers
Digital Identifiersmt_brooks455_031_002
Permanent Linkhttp://purl.clemson.edu/46EEFD2EA522418710F0051170227B0B
Batch ID20180328174717