Redoubt 2

Redoubt 2. Constructing a Fortification. This is Redoubt 2 in the Confederate defensive line across the Peninsula at Williamsburg. Like the other fortifications in the line, Redoubt 2 included platforms for cannons and a magazine within the parapet walls. A ditch surrounded the redoubt. Beyond the ditch, abatis (interwoven branches) from trees felled to clear fields of fire in the direction of the Federals served to impede infantry assaults. Redoubt 2 did not come under direct attack during the Battle of Williamsburg on May 5, 1862., It took Confederate Capt. Alfred L. Rives, acting state engineer, the better part of a year to construct the line. When he arrived in Williamsburg on May 12, 1861, he found that the work ordered several weeks earlier had not begun. Although the local commander, Col. Benjamin S. Ewell, had surveyed a line, he had not yet selected defensive positions. Rives, on orders from Gen. Robert E. Lee, took over the project and by mid-July could report that Fort Magruder was "nearly finished, except the last closing line; front completed; platforms for guns, magazines, &c., in order." Other than the "defenses at Tutter's Neck [Redoubt 1]," however, most of the redoubts that were to flank Fort Magruder at quarter-mile intervals were either still under construction or had not yet been started. Rives was optimistic that they would "soon be completed." Despite Rives's prediction, the defensive line was not wholly completed during the year that followed., (Sidebar) , Alfred Landon Rives (1830-1903) was born in Paris, France, when his father, William Cabell Rives, was the U.S. ambassador to France. Rives was educated in engineering at Virginia Military Institute, the University of Virginia, and the French government engineering school. By the time the Civil War began, he had worked on the Virginia Midland Railway, the U.S. Capitol, and the Cabin John Bridge across the Potomac River. During the war, he became acting chief of the Confederate Engineer Bureau. Afterward, he served as the engineer of several railroads in the U.S., Panama, and Mexico., (captions) , Redoubt ("Camp Misery"), York County, 1862 Courtesy Library of Congress , Williamsburg Line, 1862 – Courtesy Library of Congress , Battery under construction, 1864 - Courtesy Library of Congress , Redoubt with abatis, 1864 Courtesy Library of Congress , Capt. Alfred L. Rives Courtesy Library of Congress