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VAUBAN, SEBASTIEN. 



VAUBAN, SEBASTIEN. 



they might constitute a bulwark against the Spaniards, who then pos- 

 sessed Artois. He committed this important duty to Vauban, who 

 accomplished the proposed end to his satisfaction, and at the same 

 time conciliated the inhabitants by causing a canal to bo cut, which 

 was to allow, in case of necessity, a commercial communication between 

 those places. At this time also it is said that he gave plans for im- 

 proving the fortifications of Cherbourg. 



When the war recommenced in 1667, Vauban had the direction of 

 the sieges which the king conducted in person ; and at Douay he 

 received in his face a musket-ball, the scar from which he carried to 

 his grave. Notwithstanding his wound he conducted ,the siege of 

 Lille, and succeeded in taking the town after nine days from the open- 

 ing of the trenches. The king, who was present, gave him on this 

 occasion the appointment of lieutenant in the French guards, together 

 with a pension, and the more flattering distinction of a public 

 eulogium. 



After the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1668) he was occupied in super- 

 intending the repairs of the fortifications of Flanders and Artois ; and 

 in the same year he was made governor of Lille, the citadel of which 

 town he had constructed. He also gave plans for executing new works 

 in Provence and Roussillon; and he went with M. de Louvois to 

 Piedmont, where he visited Verrua, Vercelli, Turin, and Pinerola, and 

 suggested projects for improving their fortifications. At his departure 

 the Duke of Savoy presented him with his portrait enriched with 

 diamonds; and on his return from Italy he went to superintend the 

 works which were being executed at Dunkirk, where 30,000 men were 

 constantly employed with admirable regularity. 



In 1672, the Dutch having united themselves under the Prince of 

 Orange in opposition to France, Louis XIV. proceeded in person to the 

 seat of war; and under the direction of Vauban several places were 

 besieged and taken ; in the following year Maestricht was invested; and 

 here Vaubau made a great improvement in the mode of conducting the 

 attack, by executing long trenches connecting at intervals the several 

 lines of approach, and forming covered communications by which the 

 different divisions of the attacking force were enabled to support each 

 other. In or near the fronts of these trenches he placed the batteries 

 destined to silence the fire from the place. Vauban immediately 

 afterwards reconnoitred the fortifications of Treves, and having given 

 directions for the prosecution of the siege, France being at that time 

 threatened on all sides, he proceeded to visit the fortifications on the 

 coast. After giving orders for the construction of new works for the 

 defence of the Isle of Re, he returned to Flanders, and subsequently 

 he rejoined the king, who was then carrying the war into Franche 

 Comti. But the allies having in the meantime invested Oudenarde, 

 he entered that place, and conducted the defence so vigorously that 

 they were obliged to raise the siege ; and for these services he was in 

 1674 made brigadier of the French infantry. 



During the following year the armies of France were compelled to 

 act on the defensive ; but in 1676 Vauban besieged Valenciennes, and 

 took the place after an assault made by daylight, in opposition to the 

 opinions of the generals of the army, who gave the preference to a 

 night attack. During this campaign he was made marechal de camp, 

 and received a pension, besides a present from the king of 25,000 

 crowns. In the following year he conducted the siege of St. Guislaiu 

 under Marshal d'Humieres, and the fall of that place was followed by 

 that of Ghent. Ypres was immediately invested, and soon afterwards 

 taken. At this time the death of the Chevalier de Clerville, who was 

 director-general of the fortifications, left that post vacant, and the king 

 immediately conferred it on Vauban. It is said that at first he declined 

 it on the ground that it would bring him into close intimacy with the 

 ministers : these were Louvois and Colbert, men jealous of each other; 

 and Vauban probably felt that it would be difficult to give satisfaction 

 to both. He was at length induced to accept the post, and he appears 

 by the uprightness of his conduct to have succeeded in acquiring their 

 esteem. 



The peace of Nirnuegen (1678), which relieved Vauban from the 

 duty of taking fortresses from the enemy, enabled him to direct all the 

 energies of his mind to the improvement of those which belonged to 

 his country. He first went to Dunkirk, where, by cutting through 

 the sand-bank which closed the entrance, and providing the means of 

 keeping the channel open by directing through it a current of water, 

 he rendered the harbour one of the most important in the north of 

 France : from hence, proceeding to the south, he gave plans for enlarg- 

 ing the fortifications of Toulon, and for the construction of its arsenal ; 

 and making Perpignan the centre of the defences of the Eastern Pyre- 

 nees, he caused the fortress of Mount Louis to be constructed. Return- 

 ing to the north, he was employed in improving the chain of fortresses 

 along the frontiers on that side : with this view he completed, near 

 Calais, the fort of Neulay and that of Lakenoque, by which the com- 

 munication between Ypres and Menin was protected, and Cassel 

 covered. The construction of the works of Mau berge and the repair 

 of those of Charlemont served to secure the line between the Scheldt 

 and the Meuse, which was before imperfectly protected by Philippe- 

 ville; and a chain of new fortresses closing up the Vosges secured the 

 conquest of Alsace. The fort of Huninguen near Basel protected the 

 frontier of the Rhine and the Jura ; and the new forts which he caused 

 to be built at Fribourg served to render that important place nearly 

 impregnable. 



While the execution of these works was in progress, Vauban went 

 again (1680) to the south, where he formed a plan of defence for the 

 Western Pyrenees, improving the port of Bayonne and making that 

 place the grand depot, while St. Jean Pied-de-Port served to connect 

 the line of defence with the mountains : he also caused the fort of 

 Andaye to be constructed for the purpose of defending the mouth of 

 the Bidassoa. In 1681 Vauban was employed in adding new work.s to 

 Brest, Rochfort, and other places for the protection of the coast ; but 

 these works were scarcely traced when he was called upon to strengthen 

 those of Strasbourg, a free city which had fallen into the hands of the 

 French. He constructed the citadel of that place, and connected the 

 fortifications of the city with the right bank of the Rhine by means of 

 Fort Kehl, and by several strong redoubts ; facilitating the arrival of 

 materials for the works by cutting a canal with sluices, the construc- 

 tion of which he superintended in person. 



Hostilities breaking out in 1683, Vauban proceeded in the following 

 year with the French army into Belgium, where in four days he took 

 Courtray, and immediately laid siege to the strongly fortified city of 

 Luxembourg : this place was also taken, but not till all the resources 

 of the art of attack had been displayed; and it is said that on this 

 occasion he first constructed trench-cavaliers for the purpose of dislodg- 

 ing the defenders from part of the covered way previously to an assault 

 being made. In reconnoitring by night for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the height of the glacis, being accompanied only by a few men at a 

 distance, he was discovered by the sentinels ; but he was fortunately 

 enabled to retire in safety, having first deceived them by walking 

 coolly towards them as if he had been one of their own officers. 



The war being suddenly terminated in 1684, Vauban strengthened 

 the fortifications of Luxembourg by the addition of a crown, and a 

 horn-work beyond the ravine on the western side of the town ; and in 

 order to become completely master of the course of the Moselle, he 

 then constructed the fort called Mount Royal. About the same time 

 he was enabled to display his talents as a civil engineer by executing 

 in part the magnificent aqueduct of Maintenon, by which the waters of 

 the Eure were to be conveyed to Versailles. In 1686 he visited the 

 great canal of Languedoc, which had just then been executed ; and he 

 is said to have suggested some improvements which were afterwards 

 adopted. 



Two years afterwards the war again broke out, and Vauban was 

 immediately employed under the Dauphin, in conducting the sieges of 

 Phalsbourg, Manheim, and Frankenthal : the first of these places, 

 whose fortifications he had strengthened in 1676, held out twenty-two 

 days from the time of opening the trenches ; and most of the engineers 

 under his orders being killed or wounded, the duty of superintending 

 the operations fell almost wholly on himself. This year he was made 

 lieutenant-general, and the king in a complimentary letter recom- 

 mended him to be careful of his life for the good of the service. The 

 Dauphin, as a token of regard, presented him with four pieces of cannon 

 for his Chateau de Bazoche. It is said to have been at the siege of 

 Phalsbourg that Vauban first put in practice ricochet firing ; and that 

 he proposed the organisation of a corps of sappers expressly for siege 

 duties. In this year he began the fortresses of Landau and Befort. 



The following year (1689) Vauban had the command at Dunkirk, 

 Bergues, and Ypres, with orders to enter into and conduct the defence 

 of any of these places, should it be besieged , but no investment took 

 place. During the year 1690 Vauban was rendered incapable of doing 

 any military duty in consequence of a severe illness which he con- 

 tracted while superintending the repairs of the fortifications of Ypres ; 

 he recovered however, and next year he besieged and took Mons. In 

 1692 the siege of Namur was formed under the orders of the king, 

 and the first attacks were directed against Fort Guillaume, a strong 

 work which had been constructed by the celebrated Coehorn, who 

 then commanded it : the fort was obliged to surrender to the superior 

 fortune of Vauban, who succeeded in cutting off its communication 

 with the town, and the latter was soon afterwards taken. The siege 

 of the fort and town lasted twenty-nine days from the opening of the 

 trenches, during which time five strong sorties were made by the gar- 

 rison. In 1693 he conducted the siege of Charleroi. 



The Duke of Savoy threatening to invade Brittany, Vauban was sent 

 into the south of France to ascertain the state of the fortresses on that 

 side, and he gave plans for improving the works at Beaanon, for 

 fortifying Fenestrelles, and constructing Fort Dauphin. In 1694 the 

 sea-ports being frequently bombarded by the English fleets, application 

 was made to Vauban, who suggested the formation of magazines and 

 casemates which should be proof against the destructive effects of 

 shells and red-hot shot. In 1697 he besieged and took Aeth in a few 

 days from the opening of the trenches. After the peace of Ryswick 

 Vauban was employed for several years in visiting the frontiers and in 

 forming projects for the defence of the country ; and in 1698 he com- 

 menced the important fortress of New Brisach. 



The War of the Succession commencing in 1703, Vauban proceeded 

 to Namur, in order to superintend the repairs of the fortifications ; 

 and at this time the king, as a recompense for his many services, 

 elevated him to the dignity of a marshal of France : this honour he at 

 first declined, urging that it would put it out of his power to serve the 

 country by directing any future siege, as he could not with that rank 

 act under a general of the army. He at length however accepted it ; 

 and he readily consented soon afterwards to conduct the siege of Old 



