Ken,

Now that a recent dead line has passed, I have spent the last hour catching up on all these great posts.  I was really enjoying all the stories about lime and natural cement, and then you have to go water it all down with SCREAMING AQUA!!

A pinch of this and spit of that…

Best,

Leland

 

 

 

Py

 

It is true that Bernard was French. He was brought in by Madison under the advice of James Barbour, Chairman of the Senate Committee on military Affairs to act as a skilled assistant for the planning of a coastal defense system. There was a number of reason for bringing in Bernard one being he was a dedicated Anglophobe and Britain was our principal enemy. The second was he was a useful lever to use with congress in obtaining funding for costal fortifications projects.

As far as the nomenclature applied to the elements of American forts this was not due to Bernard. The terminology is derived from the French influence in the early years of the American military and fort design in particular. Our first system of forts were also designed by the French. The text books at West Point on fort design were written in French. This was the case long before Bernard had arrived. This is how the French names for most fort elements came about, it had nothing to do with Bernard.

Bernard was more interested in the Philosophy of what was to become the Third System and its four elements of national defense. Navy, Fortifications, Communications, Army& Militia. As close as he got to the bricks and mortar was to understand a problem that was developing with a contractor at Fort Gaines and Fort Morgan, the quality of workmanship was poor and there was a scandal related to missing funds. This resulted in two major changes on the construction methods used by the Corps of Engineers. The first change was the Corps of Engineers became aware they needed an Officer present at each construction site.

The second was how the forts were funded by congress.

By 1822 Bernard was becoming more involved in canals the C & O Canal in particular, and the day to day operation of the 3^rd system was passed on to Joseph Totten.  This was the beginning of the end of his role in American engineering.

 

A legacy in Brick and Stone

John Weaver

 

Simon Bernard, Benjamin  Wright, and Canvas White were co counselors on the Chesapeake and Delaware canal and they used White Water Lime Cement (natural cement) for the project.

 

Lives and Works

Civil and Military Engineers of America

Charles B Stuart

1871

 

 

 

 

In a message dated 4/8/2007 2:00:23 AM Central Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes:

So Mike never mind all the bullshit where is the reference to all the
hydraulic lime being produced. That is what we were talking about. Give me
one book not written in Europe about Hydraulic lime being a major player in
the US.

The use of bullshit in mortar was very prevalent
in the 19 cent; It gave color
and as I understand it "added protein "
to the chemical make up of the mix ... and it must of have been used quite often because it could be easily dished out  by everyone
....Now if  you will allow me
Da US  "Gumment" hired a frog
.. a Frenchman as its  chief engineer,
Bernard ....for all its early Fort Building
(Bernard  was Napoleons engineer and recently hired after the British burned Washington)

Bernard was expert at fortifications; his only drawback was all his specs were written in French(seems German and French were common US languages  at this time 1814 and so it was not all that uncommon 
Bernard wrote and approved of. Mortar, type of bricks, the sequencing and the spacing of Forts (designed to hold off an invasion for two weeks until a militia could be raised) known as the third system (see The third System, A legacy  )..
....The Academy at. West Point  was the one and only local USA  institution for the training of Engineers and here they relied on the Foreign expertise  of the British, French  or the Krauts;
Since the British had just burned Washington, we were more favorable to the French 
Most students who were  interested in Engineering  and could afford it
went to to St. Cyr in France or Heidleburg and the Gymnasium
and as  I understand its rare (and I could be wrong) to see a West Point spec on mortar  until the 1840s and by then Bernard was already cranking the forts out all along the South east seaboard starting Mobile for example as early as 1817....
But  regardless of the documentation  the question begs to be asked.
...... if "you wuz burning oyster shells or lime rock in Europe;
why would you need a spec book  to burn it here ?
.. as for finding non European /USA documentation;
Most writers and authors including Audabon,Poe, Washington Irving, Cooper, all found publishers either in France or in Great Britain
.. because besides American broadsheets 
the Publishing industry just didn't take off here until much later 40's and 50's 
...  I would look to West Point or maybe Avery Hall at Columbia for documentation,
All the natural cement I have ever found has held up remarkably well; the weak, sandy mixes of the American South are lime.... hydraulic or otherwise  Py



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