Existing comment:
As the Overland Campaign progressed, the earthworks built by each army became more complex. At Spotsylvania, engineers laid out the lines, carefully calculating angles of fire and providing protection against fire from the flanks. Soldiers cut logs to specified lengths and stacked them carefully, piling dirt behind them. In front of the lines, armies downed trees and cut their branches to points -- this "abatis" helped slow an enemy attack. |