The Central Redoubt

The central redoubt housed the fort's artillery in a square structure approximately forty feet wide inside, with the entrance on the north, its least vulnerable side, and two artillery positions on each of the other three sides. No evidence indicates that a magazine or any other structure stood within the redoubt. A redoubt is a small enclosed earthwork built to fortify a position against attack from all sides, and the square was a common form partly because it was easy to construct. The weakest point of a square redoubt was the corner, or salient, where only a limited amount of fire could be concentrated, so the corner projections, or traverses, of the central redoubt were intended to help overcome that weakness and gave it the form of a miniature bastion fort. It was positioned along the crest of the ridge to dominate the gap in Mill Creek Mountain to the west, while its east side dominated the river valley and its south side defended against potential Confederate infantry attack down the ridgeline from the south. When it was built, there were few trees on the ridge, and those that existed were probably cleared and used in its construction. In March 1863, Joshua Winters recorded being on guard at the battery during a rainy night, hauling timber off the hill to fix tents, and raising a tent on pickets.

West Virginia · United States