Blockhouses were primarily Union fortifications constructed along the various rail lines as a prevention against Confederate raiders. The few photos that I have found show a blockhouse along the N&C line, Nashville Chattanooga. There is no evidence I've come across that suggest Confederates built any blockhouse type structures,
at least not along the Western & Atlantic R.R. However this was another too
interesting of a scenic element to pass up.
These photos show two different structures which were used as the templates by Christopher. He gathered real twigs, baked them to remove moisture then cut to fit the mock up. We chose the the are near the Howe Truss as a plausible site.
The following photos take you through Chris' general sequence of construction. The plan was a blockhouse. The scene was secondary and the intent was to
capture the feel for the structure and its surroundings, not the specific
landscape.
Pink insulation foam was the base form. Twigs were cut, trimmed and glued to the foam. He then planked the foam roof. Notice the foam was painted black first preventing pink showing between the planks and logs.
H
These photos show two different structures which were used as the templates by Christopher. He gathered real twigs, baked them to remove moisture then cut to fit the mock up. We chose the the are near the Howe Truss as a plausible site.The following photos take you through Chris' general sequence of construction. The plan was a blockhouse. The scene was secondary and the intent was to
capture the feel for the structure and its surroundings, not the specific
landscape.
Pink insulation foam was the base form. Twigs were cut, trimmed and glued to the foam. He then planked the foam roof. Notice the foam was painted black first preventing pink showing between the planks and logs.
H
That came out great. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteDan Toomey has a good chapter on blockhouses in his book, "The War Came by Train." The Union used them to protect against cavalry raids, as artillery fire would eventually render them ineffective, but most cavalry raiders did not bring artillery.