"The commission furthers their opinion that the Defense of Washington cannot be considered complete without the defense of the river against an enemy's armed vessels. Foreign intervention would bring against us always in superior naval force on the Potomac, and we are, even now, threatened with Confederate iron-clads fitted in English Ports. ...and by constructing a battery of ten guns and a covering work on the opposite shore of the Potomac, at () near Roziers Bluff (situation can be remedied ). An examination () been made, revealing a most favorable and strong position on that side, easily communicated with by water. Surveys are in progress."

"As a field fort must rely entirely on its own strength, it should be constructed with such care that the enemy will be forced to abandon an attempt to storm it, and be obliged to resort to the method of regular approaches used in the attack of permanent works. To effect this, all the ground around the fort, within range of the cannon, should offer no shelter to the enemy from its fire; the ditches should be flanked throughout; and the relief be so great as to preclude any attempt at scaling the work."〔Mahan, Dennis Hart, ''A Treatise on Field Fortification, Containing Instructions on the Method of Laying Out, Constructing, Defending, and Attacking Intrenchments, With the General Outlines Also of the Arrangement, the Attack, and Defence of Permanent Fortifications'', Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged (New York: John Wiley, 1863), 17.〕