Drainage in New Orleans
Drainage in New Orleans, has been a major concern since the founding of the city in the early 18th century, remaining an important factor in the history of New Orleans today. The central portion of metropolitan New Orleans is unusual in that it is completely surrounded by water: Lake Pontchartrain to the north, Lake Borgne to the east, wetlands to the east and west, the Mississippi River to the south. Much of the land area between these bodies of water is at or below sea level, no longer has a natural outlet for flowing surface water; as such all rainfall occurring within this area must be removed through either evapotranspiration or pumping. Thus, flood threats to metropolitan New Orleans include the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, natural rainfall. Artificial levees have been built to keep out rising river and lake waters but have had the negative effect of keeping rainfall in; as of 2017, the New Orleans pumping system - operated by the Sewerage and Water Board - can pump water out of the city at a rate of more than 45,000 cubic feet per second.
The capacity is frequently described as 1 inch in the first hour of rainfall followed by 0.5 inches per hour afterward. The city of New Orleans is located in the Mississippi River Delta on the east and west banks of the Mississippi River and south of Lake Pontchartrain; the city was settled on the natural levees or high ground, along the river. In the 1960s, floodwalls and man-made levees were constructed around a much larger geographic footprint that included previous marshland and swamp. Over time, pumping of nearby marshland allowed for development into lower elevation areas. Today, a large portion of New Orleans is at or below local mean sea level and evidence suggests that portions of the city may be dropping in elevation due to subsidence. A 2007 study by Tulane and Xavier University suggested that "51%... of the contiguous urbanized portions of Orleans, St. Bernard parishes lie at or above sea level," with the more densely populated areas on higher ground. A more recent study published by the ASCE Journal of Hydrologic Engineering in 2016, stated:...most of New Orleans proper - about 65% - is at or below mean sea level, as defined by the average elevation of Lake Pontchartrain Because of the low terrain of the New Orleans area, a complex system of levees and pumps are required to reduce the risk of flooding.
The natural levees along the Mississippi River were a result of soil deposits left from the river's annual floods. The site chosen for New Orleans had many advantages; because it sits where distance between the river and Lake Pontchartrain is shortest, Louisiana Indians had long used the area as a depot and market for goods carried between the two waterways. The narrow strip of land aided rapid troop movements, the river's crescent shape slowed ships approaching from downriver and exposed them to gunfire, however flooding was always a hazard; the first artificial levees and canals were built in early colonial times. They were erected to protect New Orleans against routine flooding from the Mississippi River; the "back of town" away from the river drained down into the swamps running toward Lake Pontchartrain. Flooding from the lake side was rare and less severe as most of the old town had been built on high ground along the riverfront; as the city grew, demand for more land encouraged expansion into lower areas more prone to periodic flooding.
For most of the 19th century most residential buildings were raised up at least a foot above street level, since periodic flooding of the streets was a certainty at the time. In the 1830s state engineer George T. Dunbar proposed an ambitious system of underground drainage canals beneath the streets; the goal was to drain water by gravity into the low lying swamps, supplementing this with canals and mechanical pumps. The first of the city's steam engine powered drainage pumps, adapted from a ship's paddle wheel and used to push water along the Orleans Canal out to Bayou St. John, was constructed in this decade. However, only a few of Dunbar's plans were implemented as the panic of 1837 ended major systematic improvements for a generation. In 1859 surveyor Louis H. Pilié improved the drainage canals. Four large steam "draining machines" were built to push water through the canals into the lake. In 1871, some 36 miles of canals were built in the city for both improved drainage and small vessel shipping within town.
However, despite earlier efforts, at the end of the 19th century it was still common for water to cover streets from curb to curb after rainstorms, sometimes for days. In 1893, the city government formed the Drainage Advisory Board to come up with better solutions to the city's drainage problems. Extensive topographical maps were made and some of the nation's top engineers were consulted. In 1899, a bond was floated, a 2 mill per dollar property tax approved, which funded and founded the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans; the Sewerage & Water Board had the responsibility of draining the city along with constructing a modern sewage and tap water system for the city, which, at the time, still relied on cisterns and outhouses. The Sewerage & Water Board found A. Baldwin Wood, a young engineer who not only supervised the plans for improved drainage and pumping, but invented a number of improvements in pumps and plumbing in the process; these improvements adopted all over the world. As the 20th century progressed, much of the land that had previousl
Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
As the center of Hurricane Katrina passed southeast of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 1 range with frequent intense gusts and tidal surge. Hurricane-force winds were experienced throughout the city, although the most severe portion of Katrina missed the city, hitting nearby St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Hurricane Katrina made its final landfall in eastern St. Tammany Parish; the western eye wall passed directly over St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana as a Category 3 hurricane at about 9:45 am Central Time, August 29, 2005; the communities of Slidell, Avery Estates, Lakeshore Estates, Oak Harbor, Eden Isles and Northshore Beach were inundated by the storm surge that extended over six miles inland. The storm surge affected all 57 miles of St. Tammany Parish's coastline, including Lacombe and Madisonville; the storm surge in the area of the Rigolets Pass was estimated to be 16 feet, not including wave action, declining to 7 feet at Madisonville. The surge had a second peak in eastern St. Tammany as the westerly winds from the southern eye wall pushed the surge to the east, backing up at the bottleneck of the Rigolets Pass.
In the City of New Orleans, the storm surge caused 23 breaches in the drainage canal and navigational canal levees and floodwalls. As mandated in the Flood Control Act of 1965, responsibility for the design and construction of the city's levees belongs to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and responsibility for their maintenance belongs to the Orleans Levee Board; the failures of levees and floodwalls during Katrina are considered by experts to be the worst engineering disaster in the history of the United States. By August 31, 2005, 80% of New Orleans was flooded, with some parts under 15 feet of water; the famous French Quarter and Garden District escaped flooding because those areas are above sea level. The major breaches included the 17th Street Canal levee, the Industrial Canal levee, the London Avenue Canal floodwall; these breaches caused the majority of the flooding, according to a June 2007 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The flood disaster halted oil refining which increased oil prices worldwide.
Between 80 and 90 percent of the residents of New Orleans were evacuated before the hurricane struck, testifying to some of the success of the evacuation measures. Despite this, many remained in the city those who did not have access to personal vehicles or who were isolated from the dissemination of news from the local governments; the Louisiana Superdome was used to support some of those who were unable to evacuate. Television shots focused on the Superdome as a symbol of the flooding occurring in New Orleans; the disaster had major implications for a large segment of the population and politics of the entire United States. It has prompted a Congressional review of the Army Corps of Engineers and the failure of portions of the federally built flood protection system which experts agree should have protected the city's inhabitants from Katrina's surge. Katrina has stimulated significant research in the academic community into urban planning, real estate finance, economic issues in the wake of a natural disaster.
New Orleans was settled on a natural high ground along the Mississippi River. Developments that extended to nearby Lake Pontchartrain were built on fill to bring them above the average lake level. Navigable commercial waterways extended from the lake into the interior of the city to promote waterborne commerce. After the construction of the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal in 1940, the state closed these waterways causing the town's water table to lower drastically. In 1965, heavy flooding caused by Hurricane Betsy brought concerns regarding flooding from hurricanes to the forefront; that year Congress passed the Flood Control Act of 1965 which, among other issues, gave authority for design and construction of the flood protection in the New Orleans metropolitan area to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, subject to cost sharing principles, some of which were waived by legislation. The local municipalities were charged with maintenance. After 1965, the corps built a levee system around a much larger geographic footprint that included previous marshland and swamp.
Many new subdivisions were developed to cater to those who preferred a more suburban lifestyle but were open to remaining within the city limits of New Orleans. Historians question why the area farthest east was developed, since it was viable wetlands and because ringing this region with levees did nothing significant toward protecting the city. What expansion accomplished was to increase the amount of land that could be developed, it was a reason for the Army Corps to expand the size of its project. In addition the structures caused subsidence of up to 8 feet in some areas due to the consolidation of the underlying organic soils. A 1999–2001 study Richard Campanella, Tulane School of Architecture, using LIDAR technology found that 51% of the terrestrial surface of the contiguous urbanized portions of Orleans, St. Bernard parishes lie at or above sea level, with the highest neighborhoods at 10–12 feet above mean sea level. Forty nine percent lies in places to equivalent depths; when authorized, the flood control design and construction were projected to take 13 years to complete.
When Katrina made landfall in 2005, the project was between 60–90% complete with a projected date of completion estimated for 2015, nearly 50 years after authorization. Hurricane Georges in September 1998 galvanized some scientists and politicians into collective planning, Scientific American declared that "New Orlean
Hurricane Rita
Hurricane Rita was the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane recorded and the most intense tropical cyclone observed in the Gulf of Mexico. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten most intense Atlantic hurricanes recorded, Rita was the seventeenth named storm, tenth hurricane, fifth major hurricane of the 2005 season. Rita formed near The Bahamas from a tropical wave on September 18, 2005 that developed off the coast of West Africa, it moved westward, after passing through the Florida Straits, Rita entered an environment of abnormally warm waters. Moving west-northwest, it intensified to reach peak winds of 180 mph, achieving Category 5 status on September 21st. However, it weakened to a Category 3 hurricane before making landfall in Johnson's Bayou, between Sabine Pass and Holly Beach, with winds of 115 mph. Weakening over land, Rita degenerated into a large low-pressure area over the lower Mississippi Valley by September 26th. In Louisiana, Rita's storm surge inundated low-lying communities along the entire coast, worsening effects caused by Hurricane Katrina less than a month prior, such as topping the hurriedly-repaired Katrina-damaged levees at New Orleans.
Parishes in Southwest Louisiana and counties in Southeast Texas where Rita made landfall suffered from severe to catastrophic flooding and wind damage. According to an October 25, 2005 Disaster Center report, 4,526 single-family dwellings were destroyed in Orange and Jefferson counties located in Southeast Texas. Major damage was sustained by 14,256 additional single-family dwellings, another 26,211 single-family dwellings received minor damage. Mobile homes and apartments sustained significant damage or total destruction. In all, nine Texas counties and five Louisiana Parishes were declared disaster areas after the storm. Electric service was disrupted in some areas of both Louisiana for several weeks. Texas reported the most deaths from the hurricane, where 113 deaths were reported, 107 of which were associated with the evacuation of the Houston metropolitan area. Moderate to severe damage was reported across the lower Mississippi Valley. Rainfall from the storm and its associated remnants extended from Louisiana to Michigan.
Rainfall peaked at 16.00 in in Central Louisiana. Several tornadoes were associated with the hurricane and its subsequent remnants. Throughout the path of Rita, damage totaled about $18.5 billion. As many as 120 deaths in four U. S. states were directly related to the hurricane. On September 7, 2005, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa and moved westward into the Atlantic Ocean. Failing to produce organized, deep atmospheric convection, the disturbance was not monitored by the National Hurricane Center for tropical cyclogenesis. Convection associated with the system increased late on September 13 before dissipating shortly thereafter. At the same time, a remnant surface trough had developed from a dissipating stationary front and began to drift westward north of the Lesser Antilles. Meanwhile, the tropical wave became better organized and was first noted in the NHC's Tropical Weather Outlooks on September 15 while northeast of Puerto Rico; the wave merged with the surface trough two days triggering an increase in convective activity and organization.
A subsequent decrease in wind shear enabled for additional organization, at 0000 UTC on September 18, the NHC estimated that the storm system had organized enough to be classified as a tropical depression, the eighteenth disturbance during the hurricane season to do so. At the time, the disturbance, classified as Tropical Depression Eighteen, was 80 mi east of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos and had developed banding features. In favorable conditions for tropical development, the depression organized, attained tropical storm strength at 1800 UTC that day based on data from reconnaissance flights and nearby ships and weather buoys; as a result, the tropical storm was named Rita. However, an increase in moderate southerly vertical wind shear as the result of a nearby upper-level low subdued continued intensification and displaced convective activity to the north of Rita's center of circulation. Once the upper-level low weakened, Rita's center of circulation reformed to the north, compensating for the disorganization that resulted from the wind shear.
The tropical storm resumed its previous strengthening trend as it was steered westward across The Bahamas along the south periphery of a ridge. Upon entering the Straits of Florida on September 20, Rita strengthened into a Category 1 hurricane by 1200 UTC, while maintaining a minimum barometric pressure of 985 mbar. Six hours Rita intensified further into Category 2 before subsequently passing 45 mi south of Key West, Florida. Aided by a favorable outflow pattern and anomalously warm sea surface temperatures, the trend of rapid deepening continued, Rita reached Category 3 status upon entering the Gulf of Mexico by 0600 UTC on September 21, making it a major hurricane. Once in the Gulf of Mexico, Rita passed over the warm Loop Current during the midday hours of September 21, enabling continued strengthening; as a result, the hurricane's wind field expanded and the storm's barometric pressure fell. By 1800 UTC that day, Rita attained Category 5 hurricane intensity, the highest category on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale.
Favorable conditions allowed for additional development, at 0300 UTC on September 22, Rita reached its peak intensity with maximum sustained winds of
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was an destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane that made landfall on Florida and Louisiana the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas, in August 2005, causing catastrophic damage from central Florida to eastern Texas. Subsequent flooding, caused as a result of fatal engineering flaws in the flood protection system known as levees around the city of New Orleans, precipitated most of the loss of lives; the storm was the third major hurricane of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the United States, behind only the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, Hurricane Camille in 1969, Hurricane Michael in 2018. The storm originated over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005, from the merger of a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten. Early on the following day, the tropical depression intensified into a tropical storm as it headed westward toward Florida, strengthening into a hurricane only two hours before making landfall at Hallandale Beach and Aventura on August 25.
After briefly weakening again to a tropical storm, Katrina emerged into the Gulf of Mexico on August 26 and began to intensify. The storm strengthened into a Category 5 hurricane over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico but weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 hurricane on August 29, over southeast Louisiana and Mississippi; as Katrina made landfall, its front right quadrant, which held the strongest winds, slammed into Gulfport, devastating it. Overall, at least 1,836 people died in the hurricane and subsequent floods, making Katrina the deadliest United States hurricane since the 1928 Okeechobee hurricane. Severe property damage occurred in numerous coastal areas, such as Mississippi beachfront towns where boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland; the total property damage was estimated at $125 billion four times the damage wrought by Hurricane Andrew in 1992, tying Katrina with Hurricane Harvey of 2017 as the costliest Atlantic tropical cyclone on record.
Over fifty breaches in surge protection levees surrounding the city of New Orleans, Louisiana was the cause of the majority of the death and destruction during Katrina. 80% of the city, as well as large tracts of neighboring parishes, became flooded, the floodwaters lingered for weeks. Most of the transportation and communication networks servicing New Orleans were damaged or disabled by the flooding, tens of thousands of people who had not evacuated the city prior to landfall became stranded with little access to food, shelter or basic necessities; the scale of the disaster in New Orleans provoked massive national and international response efforts. Multiple investigations in the aftermath of the storm concluded that the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers, which had designed and built the region's levees decades earlier, was responsible for the failure of the flood-control systems, though federal courts ruled that the Corps could not be held financially liable because of sovereign immunity in the Flood Control Act of 1928.
There were widespread criticisms and investigations of the emergency responses from federal and local governments, which resulted in the resignations of Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael D. Brown and New Orleans Police Department Superintendent Eddie Compass. Many other government officials were criticized for their responses New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, President George W. Bush. Several agencies including the United States Coast Guard, National Hurricane Center and National Weather Service were commended for their actions; the NHC was found to have provided accurate hurricane forecasts with sufficient lead time. Hurricane Katrina formed as Tropical Depression Twelve over the southeastern Bahamas on August 23, 2005, as the result of an interaction between a tropical wave and the remnants of Tropical Depression Ten; the storm strengthened into Tropical Storm Katrina on the morning of August 24. The tropical storm moved towards Florida and became a hurricane only two hours before making landfall between Hallandale Beach and Aventura on the morning of August 25.
The storm weakened over land, but it regained hurricane status about one hour after entering the Gulf of Mexico, it continued strengthening over open waters. On August 27, the storm reached Category 3 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane wind scale, becoming the third major hurricane of the season. An eyewall replacement cycle disrupted the intensification but caused the storm to nearly double in size; the storm intensified after entering the Gulf, growing from a Category 3 hurricane to a Category 5 hurricane in just nine hours. This rapid growth was due to the storm's movement over the "unusually warm" waters of the Loop Current. Katrina attained Category 5 status on the morning of August 28 and reached its peak strength at 1800 UTC that day, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph and a minimum central pressure of 902 mbar; the pressure measurement made Katrina the fifth most intense Atlantic hurricane on record at the time, only to be surpassed by Hurricanes Rita and Wilma in the season.
However, this record was broken by Hurricane Rita. The hurricane subsequently weakened due to another eyewall replacement cycle, Katrina made its second landfall at 1110 UTC on August 29, as a Category 3 hu
Jurjen Battjes
Jurjen Anno Battjes is a Dutch civil engineer. He was a professor of fluid dynamics at Delft University of Technology until his retirement in 2004. Battjes was born on 22 February 1939 in Winschoten, he studied civil engineering at Delft University of Technology, earning his M. Sc in 1962. Battjes subsequently spent four years as an assistant professor at the Laboratory of Coastal Engineering at the University of Florida, in the United States, he started working as a professor at Delft University of Technology in the late 1960s, where he held the chair of fluid dynamics. In 1974 Battjes obtained his Doctor title in technical sciences at Delft University under Johan Schönfeld, with a thesis titled Computation of Set-up, Longshore Currents, Run-up and Overtopping due to Wind-generated Waves. Battjes retired in 2004. In October 2005 Battjes was hired to help analyse the causes of the 2005 levee failures in Greater New Orleans that were caused by Hurricane Katrina. Battjes was member of the External Review Panel, charged with checking the work of the taskforce investigating the functioning of levees in Greater New Orleans.
He was the only non-American on this panel. Battjes became a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1975. In 1990, he won the International Coastal Engineering Award of the American Society of Civil Engineers. In 2009, Battjes was elected as a foreign member of the United States National Academy of Engineering in the section of civil engineering, his book Unsteady flows in open channels, co-authored with Robert Jan Labeur, was selected as one of the "outstanding academic titles 2017" by Choice magazine. Battjes, J. A.. J.. Unsteady flow in open channels. Cambridge University Press. Doi:10.1017/9781316576878. ISBN 978-1-107-15029-4. Battjes, J. A.. "Een reus in biografie van prof. dr.ir. J. Th. Thijsse". Delfts Goud, leven en werken van achttien markante hoogleraren. Delft. Profile at Mathematics Genealogy Project The TU Delft research output system Pure provides an extensive overview of all publications of Battjes
7th Ward of New Orleans
The 7th Ward is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is geographically the second largest of the 17 Wards of New Orleans, after the 9th Ward; the 7th Ward stretches from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain. The eastern, or "lower" boundary is the boundary with the 8th Ward. In the "up-river" direction to the south-west, the boundary is Esplanade Avenue, the border with the 6th Ward; the London Avenue Canal runs through the ward from just in from Gentilly Ridge to the Lake. Dillard University is in the Ward, as is most of the University of New Orleans campus near the lakefront; the New Orleans Fairgrounds, home to horse racing and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, is just back from Esplanade Avenue, as is Saint Louis Cemetery #3. Frenchmen Street, the popular destination for food and live music, is in the front of the ward near the French Quarter; as with most of New Orleans, the area along the high ground of the riverfront was developed first. The Pontchartrain Railroad, the first US railroad away from the Atlantic coast, ran for a century along Elysian Fields between the Riverfront and the famous camps at Milneburg.
The area is known for the Creole citizens who once populated the area. Esplanade Ridge between Rampart and Bayou St. John was one of the first parts of town developed away from the riverfront; some of the elegant early 19th century Creole-style mansions can still be seen along Esplanade. The areas between Gentilly Ridge and the Lakefront was developed in the 20th century with improved drainage; when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, the effects were disastrous. The London Avenue Canal breached catastrophically on both sides, flooding the majority of the Ward and the surrounding area; the 7th ward has since seen many residents return. Notable people from the 7th Ward include artists Charlie Johnson, Louise Mouton, John Scott, Richard C. Thomas. Ray Nagin. 7th, 8th, Upper 9th Wards travel guide from Wikivoyage
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a U. S. federal agency under the Department of Defense and a major Army command made up of some 37,000 civilian and military personnel, making it one of the world's largest public engineering and construction management agencies. Although associated with dams and flood protection in the United States, USACE is involved in a wide range of public works throughout the world; the Corps of Engineers provides outdoor recreation opportunities to the public, provides 24% of U. S. hydropower capacity. The corps' mission is to "Deliver vital military engineering services. Other civil engineering projects include flood control, beach nourishment, dredging for waterway navigation. Design and construction of flood protection systems through various federal mandates. Design and construction management of military facilities for the Army, Air Force, Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve and other Defense and Federal agencies. Environmental regulation and ecosystem restoration.
The history of United States Army Corps of Engineers can be traced back to 16 June 1775, when the Continental Congress organized an army with a chief engineer and two assistants. Colonel Richard Gridley became General George Washington's first chief engineer. One of his first tasks was to build fortifications near Boston at Bunker Hill; the Continental Congress recognized the need for engineers trained in military fortifications and asked the government of King Louis XVI of France for assistance. Many of the early engineers in the Continental Army were former French officers. Louis Lebègue Duportail, a lieutenant colonel in the French Royal Corps of Engineers, was secretly sent to America in March 1777 to serve in Washington's Continental Army. In July 1777 he was appointed colonel and commander of all engineers in the Continental Army, in November 17, 1777, he was promoted to brigadier general; when the Continental Congress created a separate Corps of Engineers in May 1779 Duportail was designated as its commander.
In late 1781 he directed the construction of the allied U. S.-French siege works at the Battle of Yorktown. From 1794 to 1802 the engineers were combined with the artillery as the Corps of Artillerists and Engineers; the Corps of Engineers, as it is known today, came into existence on 16 March 1802, when President Thomas Jefferson signed the Military Peace Establishment Act whose aim was to "organize and establish a Corps of Engineers... that the said Corps... shall be stationed at West Point in the State of New York and shall constitute a military academy." Until 1866, the superintendent of the United States Military Academy was always an officer of engineer. The General Survey Act of 1824 authorized the use of Army engineers to survey canal routes; that same year, Congress passed an "Act to Improve the Navigation of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers" and to remove sand bars on the Ohio and "planters, sawyers, or snags" on the Mississippi, for which the Corps of Engineers was the responsible agency.
Separately authorized on 4 July 1838, the U. S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers consisted only of officers and was used for mapping and the design and construction of federal civil works and other coastal fortifications and navigational routes, it was merged with the Corps of Engineers on 31 March 1863, at which point the Corps of Engineers assumed the Lakes Survey District mission for the Great Lakes. In 1841, Congress created the Lake Survey; the survey, based in Detroit, Mich. was charged with conducting a hydrographical survey of the Northern and Northwestern Lakes and preparing and publishing nautical charts and other navigation aids. The Lake Survey published its first charts in 1852. In the mid-19th century, Corps of Engineers' officers ran Lighthouse Districts in tandem with U. S. Naval officers; the Army Corps of Engineers played a significant role in the American Civil War. Many of the men who would serve in the top leadership in this institution were West Point graduates who rose to military fame and power during the Civil War.
Some of these men were Union Generals George McClellan, Henry Halleck, George Meade, Confederate generals Robert E. Lee, Joseph Johnston, P. G. T. Beauregard; the versatility of officers in the Army Corps of Engineers contributed to the success of numerous missions throughout the Civil War. They were responsible for building pontoon and railroad bridges and batteries, the destruction of enemy supply lines, the construction of roads; the Union forces were not the only ones to employ the use of engineers throughout the war, on 6 March 1861, once the South had seceded from the Union, among the different acts passed at the time, a provision was included that called for the creation of a Confederate Corps of Engineers. The progression of the war demonstrated the South's disadvantage in engineering expertise. To overcome this obstacle, the Confederate Congress passed legislation that gave a company of engineers to every division in the field. One of the main projects for the Army Corps of Engineers was constructing railroads and bridges, which Union forces took advantage of because railroads and bridges provided access to resources and industry.
One area where the Confederate engineers were able to outperform the Union Army was in the ability to build fortification
