Vern's Travels Thru Time and Other Places 

AFTER ACTION REPORT

FORT POCAHONTAS SIGNAL TOWER

BUILT BY THE MEMBERS OF THE 1ST NEW YORK VOLUNTEER ENGINEER REGIMENT

May 18th and 19th, 2002

SUMMARY:

Over the weekend of May 17th through the 19th, 2002, members of the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 1st New York Volunteer Engineer Regiment, assisted by volunteers from Battery F of the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, constructed and raised a 23' above grade, single stage, two level signal tower as part of the annual re-enactments held at Fort Pocahontas, Charles City County, Virginia.

PROJECT BACKGROUND:

The project was first proposed as an event activity for the May 2002 Re-enactments held annually at Fort Pocahontas, Charles City County, Virginia, at the Regimental Meeting held at Fort Harrison-Burnham, R.N.B.P., at the end of September, 2001. Regimental member Mr. John D. Poe presented the tower idea to the group.  It was decided by the membership in attendance to proceed with the idea and to broach the subject with the Fort Pocahontas event coordinator, Mr. Joe Funk, who was also in attendance at the Fort Harrison-Burnham event.

Mr. Funk then agreed to make the proposal to the Fort Pocahontas sponsor, Mr. Harrison Tyler and his staff, which he did some weeks later at an initial meeting for the 2002 event there. Mr. Tyler was intrigued by the proposal and the group was asked to formalize the proposal and developed a preliminary set of drawings and plans, so that the feasibility and scope of the project could be established.

Mr. Poe, a Maritime and Civil Engineer took the lead on the design of the project and developed a draft set of plans for an 18' foot above grade, single stage, signal tower and it's bill of materials. This was then forwarded to Mr. Tyler for his approval.

The group received this approval of the preliminary plans and authorization to proceed in late March. A finished set of drawings and bill of materials for the project was made up, sent to Mr. Tyler and his staff and circulated to the membership of the 1st New York Volunteer Engineers. In committing to the project, Mr. Tyler agreed to provide all the required materials and the membership, for it's part, agreed to have the tower up and complete by the end of the 2002 event. Shortly after, Mr. Tyler and his staff met with Mr. Funk and the site for the tower was selected at the Fort. Contemporary drawings of Fort Pocahontas show the existence of a signal tower at the fort, located near the bluffs overlooking the James River in the Western end of the fort. However, because of ongoing, significant archeological projects by the College of William and Mary within the fort, it was considered prudent to locate the new tower in an area that had already been disturbed by years of farm activity. The final sit selected, was in a plowed field located off the east point of the east bastion of the fort. The location would also afforded visitors to the event to easily view the construction in progress.

In mid-April, Mr. Tyler informed the group that the materials were acquired and were on site. However, he had managed to acquire 25' long poles for the main upright members, vice the 20' x 6" x 6" timbers originally specified for the project. Mr. Poe was consulted and he produced an altered set of plans to accommodate the new uprights. These were then presented to My Tyler and circulated to the membership.

TOWER CONSTRUCTION: http://www.history-buff.org/Tower.htm

Over the first weekend in May, Mr. Funk, accompanied by regimental members Mr. Rob James and Mr. Kerry White, visited the tower site and made an inspection of the materials for the project. In spite of inclement weather, the location of the four tower foundations were laid off and excavated to the project depth of + 2' below grade.

On the Friday of the event, following the establishment of the Engineer's camp in the Headquarters, 18th Corps, area of the Federal Camps, Mr. White at the tower site joined Mr. James. Since the time of the excavation on the 4th, there had been intermittent periods of rain and they had filled with standing water. So the first task to be accomplished this day, was to empty them and remove the mud slurry from the bottoms of the holes. Once a firm bottom was located, the elevations of the four excavation bottoms were shot, using a K&E "Dumpy" (surveyor's level) level and "California Rod". No. 5, crusher run gravel, topped by 2 x 8" x 16" x 2" concrete pavers were then added, the elevations were then retaken and final adjustments were made to bring the foundations to + 1/8" of the project depth called for in the plans. The rest of the engineers arrived at the fort from Florida, early that evening and were off loaded and had their accommodations set up shortly after twilight surrendered to the dark.

The whole of the engineer contingent assembled at the tower construction site shortly after 7:00 Saturday morning to set up the Engineer Depot and off load the tools for the project. Work on the tower was begun by 9:00, but was halted less than an hour later by a series of vicious squall lines along a cold front coming from the West and then progressively from the North-west and North. In addition to the soaking, the front signaled a rapid drop in temperature from the very comfortable high 60's to a chill lower 50's. In all, a good two + hours were taken as the squalls accompanying the front moved through the area.

As soon as it had cleared somewhat and the rain had let off enough to allow, work in earnest resumed on the tower. The sequence for this was to be the construction of two major sub-assemblies, each consisting of the cross braces and ledgers forming two of the tower sides. These were then to be raised, using a series of lifts, and the cross braces and ledgers would then be attached to form the other two sides.

To accomplish this, all of the holes for the 5/8" dia. structural bolts being used to connect the various structural elements, were laid off, and then bored through the uprights, braces, and ledgers to facilitate assembly. Adjustments were calculated and where needed, various timbers were cut down to proper length, and the notches for the braces and ledgers were made in the up-rights. At the same time, work was also under way on construction of the ladders that would be needed to ascend to the top of the tower and the lifting tackle for the lifts was reeved. By nightfall, the first sub-assembly of two uprights, ledgers and cross braces had been assembled and work was halted for the day.

Sunday dawned with cool temperatures, partly cloudy skies and a promise for improving conditions as the day progressed. The engineers again assembled at the site by 7:30 and immediately commenced the manufacture of the second tower sub-assembly. The efforts and the experience gained in the previous days work provided for generally smooth progress at this. However, all did not go exactly as planned. One of the poles being used for an up-right was found to be more oval in section than thought and some of the others were of less taper than others, which required additional notches to be chiseled out so that the bolts could be brought completely through all the structural members and have good purchase. Still and all, both sub-assemblies were ready for erection well before the noon deadline that had been set as a target for the start of the lifts.

It was calculated that the sub-assemblies, consisting of pressure treated timber, weighed in at approximately 1700 to 1800 pounds each. In order to set them on their foundations and bring them into the upright position, a series of two lifts were planned. The first lift would raise one side of the tower nearly into its final attitude. Then this side would be used to raise the second sub-assembly into position. At this point, the lower cross braces and bottom ledgers would be fitted and bolted in place to stabilize the structure. Keeping the lifting tackle in tension, the mid-level ledgers would then be fitted and bolted, making it safe to remove the lifting tackle.

To accomplish this, the sub-assemblies were maneuvered into position and stacked one atop the other. Shallow, sloping trenches were dug to guide the butt ends of the up-rights onto their respective foundations, and stops were set to prevent the butts from overshooting the foundations and to protect the side walls of the foundation excavations. A rope bridle was rigged at the upper ledger of the first subassembly and a double, triple sheave, lifting tackle, reeved with 1" manila rope, anchored to a large tree at the top of the east bastion of the fort, was attached to it. To ease the initial lift, a cradle for the lifting tackle was made from crossed 12' x 4" x 4" timbers, stayed by rope backstays controlled by two three man teams.

A second bridle was rigged in the same location as the first, but oriented in the other direction. Attached to this was the second lifting tackle, consisting of a single double sheave block and a single, single sheave block (gun tackle). A third and final bridle was then rigged at the upper ledger on the second sub-assembly.

At the same time as this was being done, one end of the two sets of the lower ledgers and cross braces were being bolted onto the first subassembly. This way they would be ready to swing into position and bolted in place in the least amount of time and reducing the time to make the tower stable.

The first left commenced at about half past 1100, with the aid of volunteers from Battery F of the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery. Everything proceeded as planned with the butts of the first set of up-rights thudding home on their foundations and the red Engineer guidon lashed to the top of the sub-assembly, rising toward the blue sky. When the first sub-assembly reached an angle of approximately 75 degrees from the horizontal, the lift was halted and the downhaul was secured to a convenient tree.

It was at this point, that the only hitch in the lift was to develop; the gun tackle for the second lift came partially un-reeved. To fix this, a bosons chair was rigged using the reeving line and a volunteer from the Artillery, the lightest lad of us all, was hoisted to the block and re-reeved it. With this accomplished, back hauls were attached to the second sub-assembly, and the second lift commenced, just prior to the noon hour. When the second sub-assembly was near vertical, this lift was also halted.

Keeping tension on the downhaul and back-hauls used for the second lift, the downhaul from the first lift was once more taken up and the whole of the structure brought into vertical alignment. Using the lifting tackle and the back-hauls on the second sub-assembly to adjust the relative aspects of the two sub-assemblies to each other, the lower ledgers and then the cross braces were quickly bolted in place, stabilizing the structure. At this point an engineer climbed to the mid-level ledgers on the sub-assemblies and set the mid-level ledgers for the other two sides. With this accomplished, tension was taken off the lifting tackle and the tower stood on it's own. It was now a quarter past 1:00 in the afternoon.

With the tower stable, the balks for the mid-floor of chess were sent up and put in place. Once they were down, work commenced on placing the upper level of cross braces and ledgers between the two sub-assemblies and the securing of the internal ladder that would connect the mid-floor with the upper floor once the tower was completed.

Once this was accomplished, the procedure used to assemble the mid-floor was repeated to set the balks and chess for the upper floor in place. A trap was cut through the upper floor at the ladder for access and safety rails were put into place to guard against accidents. The chess on the mid-level floor were trimmed to proper length and the curbs set in place. A second, removable ladder was manufactured to access the mid-level floor from ground level, this being done so that it could be placed out of the way and to discourage the public from climbing onto the tower when Fort Staff were not present. (This two-stage ladder was a deviation from the original design, and was requested by Mr. Tyler on Saturday. It did not pose any problem, as none of the material was long enough for a single stage ladder.) The excavations for the foundations were filled first with the remainder of the No.5 crusher-run gravel and then with the material removed when they were initially dug, which was then tamped down to finish the project. It was now 4:30 Sunday afternoon.

CONCLUSION:

Over a span of four days, three of which were contiguous, seven members of the regiment, using period hand tools, demonstrated to the public and their fellow re-enactors, just what can be done by even a small-dedicated group of individuals. This was ultimately the result of solid planning and coordination by all the parties involved, from the very earliest conception of the project. Sound engineering, professionally produced plans, bills of material, and countless hours dedicated to learning the carpentry and engineering skills demonstrated in this project were also key in completing the project as planned and within the time allotted. In conclusion, it can be safely stated that with proper preplanning and preparation, the support of the event organizers and coordinators, and given a measure of favorable weather, the nature and scope of event activities undertaken by engineer troops can be and should be expanded to become more of a central part of future events.

PERSONNEL:

From the 1st and 2d Battalions of the 1st New York Volunteer Engineer Regiment

The volunteers from Battery F of the 1st Pennsylvania Light Artillery, without whom, the tower lift would not have been possible.

CLOSING STATEMENT:

The potential for engineer troop's greater participation in future events has been conclusively demonstrated through this project. However, it must be understood that projects of this scope and complexity mandate that they be made a part of the event planning process from the beginning. Projects of this nature impact on all of the areas involved in this planning, from budgets to the event command structure, and must be given equal weight and support by all of the key organizers. It must also be well understood, from the offset, by all the parties, that once the commitments have been made, it becomes incumbent on everyone involved to see through their part, to make it happen, and for it to be ultimately successful.

Respectfully submitted,

Robt. W. James

Engineer Coordinator, Fort Pocahontas

1st New York Volunteer Engineer Regiment

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