88 
to on the first assumption of charge of the bureau, he had 
visited every fort and battery on the sea-coast of the United 
States. His inspections were not superficial and_ hasty; 
they were most thorough and searching. His investigations 
embraced, at the same time, the general scope and purpose 
of the work, its adaptability to its great objects, and the 
minutest detail in its construction. It was now that the 
country derived the full benefit of his indefatigable re- 
searches while at Newport. 
I have already alluded to the lack of knowledge and ex- 
perience in this country of the art of construction, especially 
in its applications to the peculiarities of fortification. To 
supply this lack was a great end of Colonel Totten’s labors at 
Fort Adams. At few other points did the locality or cit- 
cumstances of the construction render practicable such re- 
searches. This remark will apply particularly to the works 
on the Gulf of Mexico. The regions bordering the Gulf 
were, at the close of the war of 1812, but recent acquisi- 
tions to the territory of the United States. Sparsely popu- 
lated and isolated from the rest of the Union as (before the 
application of steam to the navigation of the Mississippi) 
they were, they would be defended, if defended at all; only 
by the aid of fortifications. The fact that New Orleans 
had been almost wrenched from our grasp, and the impres- 
sion then everywhere felt that if it had been captured it 
would not have been relinquished, stimulated the government 
to secure the possession of this important place and of other 
strategic points on the Gulf by immediate fortification. Ac- 
cordingly designs for works — mostly prepared by General 
— were among the first labors of the Board of En- 
gineers, and the forts on the river and lake approaches 10 
New Orleans, at the entrances to Mobile Bay and Pen- 
‘Sacola harbor, were almost simultaneously commenced. 
