Library of Congress

One reason the fighting at Petersburg lasted for almost ten months is because of the ten mile fortification system around the city designed by Captain Charles Dimmock, a Confederate engineer, and the laborers who constructed it. The engineers planned and constructed all fortifications, permanent or temporary, and all siege operations. Engineers certainly worked overtime during the siege of Petersburg. If you were an engineer during the Civil War, what would your life have been like? Soldiers tell you in their own words.

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