Mark A. Smith is professor of history at Fort Valley State University in Georgia. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Military History, The Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, and The Georgia Historical Quarterly.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Early National Context: American Coastal Defense to 18152. Engineering Policy, 1816–18213. The Politics of Engineering, 1820–18284. National Defense in the Jacksonian Era, 1828–18495. Expertise and the Rise of Responsibility, 1826–18606. Challenge and Crisis, 1850–18617. Constructing Security, 1845–18608. Engineering Gulf Coast Society, 1845–18609. Evaluation: Third System Policy in the American Civil War10. ConclusionsFrequently Used Abbreviations NotesBibliographic Essay Index

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Early National Context: American Coastal Defense to 18152. Engineering Policy, 1816–18213. The Politics of Engineering, 1820–18284. National Defense in the Jacksonian Era, 1828–18495. Expertise and the Rise of Responsibility, 1826–18606. Challenge and Crisis, 1850–18617. Constructing Security, 1845–18608. Engineering Gulf Coast Society, 1845–18609. Evaluation: Third System Policy in the American Civil War10. ConclusionsFrequently Used Abbreviations NotesBibliographic Essay Index“The author's thoroughly researched analysis deftly places the Corps of Engineers and the system it devised in the political and military context of the 1820s-50s, demonstrating the consistent support political leaders gave to the defense strategy it embodied.” Highly recommended.”- CHOICE;“Solid and single-minded, this study argues that historians have been unfair to the builders of these fortifications. It maintains that Congress, and the engineers it hired, knew exactly what they were doing, . . . that despite the fact that Civil War historians have damned the forts for their obsolescence, Smith still drives home his point: America’s giant seaboard forts achieved their limited strategic goals.”- Todd Shallat, author of Structures in the Stream: Water, Science and the U.S. Corps of Engineers;“Engineering Security stands as an important addition to literature on the American defense policy, coastal fortifications, and the Corps of Engineers in the antebellum period.”- Army History;“Smith has produced a thoroughly researched, carefully reasoned, and clearly written analysis of a key element of nineteenth-century US defense policy, and he makes a solid contribution to the field.”- Journal of Military History

Mark A. Smith is professor of history at Fort Valley State University in Georgia. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Military History, The Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, and The Georgia Historical Quarterly.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Early National Context: American Coastal Defense to 18152. Engineering Policy, 1816–18213. The Politics of Engineering, 1820–18284. National Defense in the Jacksonian Era, 1828–18495. Expertise and the Rise of Responsibility, 1826–18606. Challenge and Crisis, 1850–18617. Constructing Security, 1845–18608. Engineering Gulf Coast Society, 1845–18609. Evaluation: Third System Policy in the American Civil War10. ConclusionsFrequently Used Abbreviations NotesBibliographic Essay Index

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Early National Context: American Coastal Defense to 18152. Engineering Policy, 1816–18213. The Politics of Engineering, 1820–18284. National Defense in the Jacksonian Era, 1828–18495. Expertise and the Rise of Responsibility, 1826–18606. Challenge and Crisis, 1850–18617. Constructing Security, 1845–18608. Engineering Gulf Coast Society, 1845–18609. Evaluation: Third System Policy in the American Civil War10. ConclusionsFrequently Used Abbreviations NotesBibliographic Essay Index“The author's thoroughly researched analysis deftly places the Corps of Engineers and the system it devised in the political and military context of the 1820s-50s, demonstrating the consistent support political leaders gave to the defense strategy it embodied.” Highly recommended.”- CHOICE;“Solid and single-minded, this study argues that historians have been unfair to the builders of these fortifications. It maintains that Congress, and the engineers it hired, knew exactly what they were doing, . . . that despite the fact that Civil War historians have damned the forts for their obsolescence, Smith still drives home his point: America’s giant seaboard forts achieved their limited strategic goals.”- Todd Shallat, author of Structures in the Stream: Water, Science and the U.S. Corps of Engineers;“Engineering Security stands as an important addition to literature on the American defense policy, coastal fortifications, and the Corps of Engineers in the antebellum period.”- Army History;“Smith has produced a thoroughly researched, carefully reasoned, and clearly written analysis of a key element of nineteenth-century US defense policy, and he makes a solid contribution to the field.”- Journal of Military History

Mark A. Smith is professor of history at Fort Valley State University in Georgia. His articles have appeared in The Journal of Military History, The Journal of the Georgia Association of Historians, and The Georgia Historical Quarterly.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Early National Context: American Coastal Defense to 18152. Engineering Policy, 1816–18213. The Politics of Engineering, 1820–18284. National Defense in the Jacksonian Era, 1828–18495. Expertise and the Rise of Responsibility, 1826–18606. Challenge and Crisis, 1850–18617. Constructing Security, 1845–18608. Engineering Gulf Coast Society, 1845–18609. Evaluation: Third System Policy in the American Civil War10. ConclusionsFrequently Used Abbreviations NotesBibliographic Essay Index

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Early National Context: American Coastal Defense to 18152. Engineering Policy, 1816–18213. The Politics of Engineering, 1820–18284. National Defense in the Jacksonian Era, 1828–18495. Expertise and the Rise of Responsibility, 1826–18606. Challenge and Crisis, 1850–18617. Constructing Security, 1845–18608. Engineering Gulf Coast Society, 1845–18609. Evaluation: Third System Policy in the American Civil War10. ConclusionsFrequently Used Abbreviations NotesBibliographic Essay Index“The author's thoroughly researched analysis deftly places the Corps of Engineers and the system it devised in the political and military context of the 1820s-50s, demonstrating the consistent support political leaders gave to the defense strategy it embodied.” Highly recommended.”- CHOICE;“Solid and single-minded, this study argues that historians have been unfair to the builders of these fortifications. It maintains that Congress, and the engineers it hired, knew exactly what they were doing, . . . that despite the fact that Civil War historians have damned the forts for their obsolescence, Smith still drives home his point: America’s giant seaboard forts achieved their limited strategic goals.”- Todd Shallat, author of Structures in the Stream: Water, Science and the U.S. Corps of Engineers;“Engineering Security stands as an important addition to literature on the American defense policy, coastal fortifications, and the Corps of Engineers in the antebellum period.”- Army History;“Smith has produced a thoroughly researched, carefully reasoned, and clearly written analysis of a key element of nineteenth-century US defense policy, and he makes a solid contribution to the field.”- Journal of Military History