Washington's Engineer by Norman Desmarais (speed reading book TXT) 📕

the next campaign on a good footing. Gouvion undertook the administration and could instruct the corps in a rigorous and homogeneous manner.

Duportail frequently broached Congress about creating a Corps of Engineers, and Washington continued to exert pressure, but the topic never received serious consideration. Congress approved the formation of three companies on May 27, 1778, but the army moved slowly, and Washington appointed officers only on August 2, 1779, after Duportail personally interviewed the candidates. Washington transferred the carefully selected enlisted men from infantry regiments a year later.

1779

Corps of Engineers Established

Congress resolved to formally establish a Corps of Engineers on March 11, 1779:

that the engineers in the service of the United States shall be formed into a corps, styled the “corps of engineers,” and shall take rank and enjoy the same rights, honours, and privileges, with the other troops on continental establishment. That a Commandant of the Corps of Engineers shall be appointed by Congress, to whom their orders or those of the Commander-in-Chief shall be addressed, and such Commandant shall render to the Commander-in-Chief, and to the Board of War, an account of every matter relative to his department.5

This legislation gave the engineers the status of a branch of the Continental Army with the same pay and prerogatives as artillerymen to prevent any jealousy between the technical branches. It also formed three companies, each with a captain, three lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, and sixty privates.

After preparing the plan to rearrange the engineer corps, the Board of War recommended Congress promote Jean-Bernard Gauthier de Murnan to the rank of major in the corps. Congress took no action until January 13, 1779, when it appointed Murnan a major in the Corps of Engineers “to take rank as such from the 1st day of March last, and to receive pay and subsistence from the 1st day of February last, the latter being the time he was employed by Brigadier du Portail, and the former the time he was directed by the Commander-in-Chief to act as major.”6

Commandant

Brigadier General Duportail was appointed commandant of the Corps of Engineers the following May 11. The corps would also include companies of sappers and miners. Congress brevetted several of its officers, and its chief was promoted to the grade of major general on November 16, 1781, “in consideration of his meritorious services, and particularly of his distinguished conduct in the siege of York, in the State of Virginia.”7 The records include the names of one brigadier general, six colonels, eight lieutenant colonels, three majors, and ten captains, but the list is most likely incomplete.

The officers of the Corps of Engineers were very dissatisfied with Congress’s September 2, 1776, decision of limiting command of engineer officers, in contravention of the then Articles of War. They also complained that officers of equal rank refused to take orders from them and that many of the men and some of the officers used foul language in their regard and abused their servants. As their memorial to Mr. Thomas Jefferson, the president of Congress, received no reply, the whole corps determined to resign their commissions, but Colonel Williams and Major Wadsworth were the only field officers then in the corps who actually resigned.

Corps of Sappers and Miners

General Washington wrote to the Board of War on February 26, 1779, to notify them that General Duportail would revise his plan for the Corps of Sappers and Miners to include amendments that Washington thought proper. He forwarded the revised plan to the Board of War the following day, along with his remarks, after speaking with General Duportail about them. The Board of War approved the plan and sent it back to Washington on April 1 with remarks from Congress for his approval before printing the plan.8

Congress approved an Act for the Pay and Subsistence of Engineers, Sappers, and Miners on May 11, 1779, and General Duportail’s title was changed to commandant of the Corps of Engineers and Sappers and Miners to reflect his additional responsibilities.9 Officers (three captains, three first lieutenants, and three second lieutenants) interested in taking commissions in the Company of Sappers and Miners were urged to apply to Duportail; post the necessary qualifications, such as their knowledge of practical geometry and drawing; and give their names at the adjutant general’s office.10

Washington wrote to Duportail on July 27, 1779, ordering him to “make an arrangement of the officers who have presented themselves for appointments in the companies of Sappers and Miners, which I will transmit to the Board of war to obtain their commissions.”11 Until more men could be recruited, he suspended the formation of companies of sappers and miners because the numerous drafts from the line for different purposes would make it inconvenient to take out others to form these companies. He also offered a “bounty of two hundred dollars is to be given to each man who shall enlist during the war, and twenty dollars to the officer as a gratuity for every man so enlisted.”12

Recruiting

Consequently, Congress authorized the recruiting of engineers from the various colonies. General Duportail then proceeded to prepare for their recruitment, as can be seen in his letter to Joseph Reed, president of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1779:

Congress some time since ordered the formation of three Companies of sappers and miners, of which they were pleased to honor me with the Command. The soldiers for these Companies were originally to be drafted from the line, but his excellency, general washington, finding some inconveniency in doing it at this time prefers their being raised. In Consequence he has written to Congress praying them to recommend it to the different states, to permit this levy, which Recommendation your excellency will probably receive. I therefore send Captain Mc Murray into your state to recruit for these Companies and I intreat that you will be pleased to give the business all the aid of which it may stand in need.

Cap. McMurray has the regulations made by Congress for these