Powder magazine on the lines

[ca. 1861–1865]

From "War Memories" catalog: This view gives a good idea of how the ammunition was protected in the forts and batteries along the lines; first a room is built of heavy logs spiked together, then the logs are covered with earth to a thickness sufficient to prevent a shell from penetrating to the magazine. The basket works, "gabions," are filled with earth and placed around the entrance to prevent the earth from caving in if a shell explodes on the magazine. Thus protected it is rarely that a magazine is exploded.