author

James Mercur

1842–1896

Best known for a detailed military engineering manual prepared for West Point cadets, this 19th-century author wrote from deep professional experience. His work opens a window onto how fortifications, siege works, and demolitions were studied in his time.

1 Audiobook

Attack of Fortified Places. Including Siege-works, Mining, and Demolitions. Prepared for the use of the Cadets of the United States Military Academy

Attack of Fortified Places. Including Siege-works, Mining, and Demolitions. Prepared for the use of the Cadets of the United States Military Academy

by James Mercur

About the author

James Mercur (1842–1896) is the author of Attack of Fortified Places: Including Siege-works, Mining, and Demolitions, a military engineering text prepared for use by cadets at the United States Military Academy. Surviving catalog and ebook records also identify him as Professor James Mercur, linking his writing to his teaching work at West Point.

The book that keeps his name in circulation is practical rather than literary: it explains how fortified positions were attacked in the late 19th century, with attention to siege works, mining, and demolition. That focus suggests an author writing for instruction and professional training, not just for general readers.

Some details of his life are harder to confirm cleanly from the sources available here, so it is safest to remember him as a teacher-author whose specialized manual became part of the historical record of military education in the United States.