Pasley, Douglas, Jones, and Napier, speak in the strongest terms of the importance of engineer troops in the active operations of a war, and of the absolute necessity of organizing this force in time of peace.

A list of books of reference on Military Engineering will be given at the close of the following chapters.
While these pages are passing through the press, Congress has authorized the President to raise _one company_ of engineer troops! This number is altogether too small to be of any use in time of war.].