This particular book on US Civil War fortifications concentrates on those fortifications that were built along the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Basically these were Confederate fortifications built on the bluffs of the lower Mississippi (basically the area from the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers on south).

The majority of these fortifications were earthen works and the survived fairly well against the onslaught of Union forces, culminating on the biggest battle on the Mississippi with the siege of the forts at Vicksburg in 1863.

While there were fortresses at various places along the Mississippi such as New Orleans, Port Hudson and New Madrid, Vickburg in particular boasted a network of forts, rifle pits and canon embrasures all around the city that made it a particularly difficult nut to crack.

This book looks at both the up and down-river campaigns with a special concentration of effort at the Vicksburg fortifications and efforts to overcome them. There is a section on what it was like to live in Vicksburg while under siege and the eventual fate of these fortifications, many of which became Union forts after their capture.

A particularly nice part of this book is a glossary of terms as often times a reader will not be deeply knowledgeable of all the jargon pertaining to fortress construction. This is followed by a section on what these fortresses are like today. It is all superbly illustrated by not only period photos and art work, but also by the excellent illustrations of Adam Hook.

This book by Ron Field is an outstanding addition to the Fortress series and one that no student of the genre should be without.

November 2007

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