of that fort was as brave an officer as the war developed, he would not keep his men in the fort after dark, but withdrew them quietly to the flanks of the work, where they not only would be safe from an explosion, but would be ready to fall upon the enemy in case he should blow up the fort and rush in to capture the line, as our troops had attempted to do at Petersburg.  No explosion took place, however, and after our countermining work was completed, the garrison became reassured and remained in the fort at night as well as in day time.  A few months later, when the enemy was driven from his lines, I went through his works to see whether any mining had been attempted, and found that a gallery leading toward Fort Harrison had been carried quite a distance, but was still incomplete, and it is barely possible that the old miners were right, after all, in thinking that they could hear the sound of the pick, although the distance was almost too great to make this theory very probable.

Still another illustration of the way in which civil engineers can make themselves extremely useful in military operations was the wonderful system of military railways, or railways operated for military purposes, that formed complete lines of transportation for the armies and their enormous quantities of supplies and munitions, more especially those in the West and Southwest.  Construction trains were organized in the most complete style, and when a piece of track or a number of bridges were destroyed by the enemy, they would be rebuilt so rapidly that our trains would hardly seem to be delayed by it.  The trains carried spare rails, ties, and bridges of various lengths ready to put up, and they also carried the necessary rolling stock and tools for destroying the roads and bridges of the enemy.  So expert had this construction corps become that the enemy was ready to believe almost any statement in regard to it.  General Sherman tells of an instance where it was proposed to blow up a tunnel, to check his “March to the Sea,” when one of the men objected, saying it was of no use, for Sherman had a duplicate tunnel in his train.

Although this is not a sermon, it may not be out of place to point out a few qualifications common to all engineers, for they all deal more or less with the same materials and forces and employ similar methods of investigation and construction.  Wood, iron, steel, copper and stone and their compounds are the materials of the civil, mining, mechanical and electrical, as well as of the military engineers.  They all deal with the forces of gravitation, cohesion, inertia and chemical affinity.  They all require skill, intelligence, industry, confidence, accuracy, thoroughness, ingenuity and, beyond all, sound judgment.  Wanting in any one of these qualifications, an engineer is more or less disqualified for important work.  It is said that a distinguished engineer was always afraid to cross his own bridges, although built in the most thorough and approved manner.  He was deficient in confidence.  Another engineer distinguished for his mathematical attainments built a bridge which promptly collapsed at the first opportunity.  On overhauling his computations he ejaculated somewhat forcibly, “That confounded minus sign!  It should have been plus.”  He was deficient in sound judgment, or what is sometimes called “horse sense.”