Fort Mulligan was built as a heavily defended stronghold, with acute angles at its western end designed for several artillery pieces to protect against attacks from the Seneca Road and the ravine to the southwest. Its inner walls were lined with timber, and an abatis of cut trees projected from the outer entrenchment walls to block a major assault. Evidence points to as many as three entrances and at least seven gun emplacements. The fort’s dirt earthworks were most likely constructed almost entirely with picks and shovels, while horses dragged in logs and perhaps hauled some earth in wagons. Hundreds of men, and at times perhaps more than a thousand, labored there for weeks, with some companies working on the fort while others served on picket and guard duty. Sources indicate the works were still being improved in December 1863, four months after construction began, and Joshua Winters’s diary from October 12-26, 1863 records days spent digging on the fort, serving picket duty, and enduring rain during that period of construction.
