FORTIFICATION 



2270 



FORT MADISON 



ritory must be carefully considered. The de- 

 fenses must be erected so that every approach 

 is guarded, and planned in such a manner that 

 the various parts of the fortification may be 

 able to support each other by gun and rifle 

 fire. 



Temporary fortifications are prepared to af- 

 ford protection to troops wherever they may 

 be in war time. These consist chiefly of 

 trenches, barbed wire entanglements, felled 



QUICKLY-CONSTRUCTED TRENCHES 

 At top, typical lying-down trench, made under 

 fire of the enemy. Second, a shallow trench, fur- 

 nishing shelter for kneeling soldier. Third, a 

 complete standing trench. At bottom, form of 

 construction of cave shelter, which, though crude, 

 possesses comfortable features. See other illus- 

 trations of trenches in article WAR OF THE 

 NATIONS. 



trees, and in fact anything available which will 

 retard the advance of hostile troops. Modern 

 warfare has proved that forts such as were 

 erected by Vauban, consisting of huge earth- 

 works, surrounded by a moat or ditch, and 

 of late years greatly strengthened by steel 

 and cement, cannot withstand present-day ar- 

 tillery. The forts of Liege and Antwerp, con- 

 sidered the strongest ever built, crumbled be- 

 neath the 'mighty shells of the German howitz- 

 ers at the beginning of the War of the Nations, 

 in 1914. Steel and cement are giving way to 



earth and sand, and fortresses, instead of stand- 

 ing out boldly are now being made as nearly 

 invisible as possible. A fort, the range of 

 which has been accurately ascertained, can 

 withstand attack but a few hours, or a few 

 days, at most. Forts in which big guns may 

 be moved from place to place are more val- 

 uable than those in which the guns retain a 

 more or less fixed position; an earthwork, con- 

 sisting of hastily thrown-up mounds, behind 

 which guns may be hidden, is then more 

 effective than the strongest structure of steel 

 and concrete that human ingenuity has yet 

 erected. 



Early in the War of the Nations it was 

 found that the most satisfactory fortifications 

 that could be constructed were series of 

 trenches connected with each other by zigzag 

 passages. In such trenches a few determined 

 men could resist the assaults of far superior 

 numbers, and only after severe bombardment 

 by heavy guns could a successful advance 

 against them be achieved. 



Contrasting the quick reduction of the great 

 fortifications in the War of the Nations with 

 the long sieges required to destroy forts in 

 former wars, it is possible to estimate the 

 terrible energy of modern guns. Some his- 

 torical data is given in the article SIEGE. See, 

 also, WAR OF THE NATIONS. 



FORT MADISON, IOWA, county seat of Lee 

 County, is a city on the Mississippi River, in 

 the southeastern corner of the state. It is 

 nineteen miles south of Burlington and twenty- 

 five miles north of Keokuk. Saint Louis is 

 202 miles down the river. Fort Madison is on 

 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe and the 

 Chicago, Burlington & Quincy railroads and is 

 a port for upper river and local packet steam- 

 ers. The area of the city is nearly six square 

 miles. The population in 1910 was 8,900; the 

 state census of 1915 reported 9,507. 



Since the completion of the power dam at 

 Keokuk (see KEOKUK DAM), the development 

 of Fort Madison, which is within the power 

 zone, has been rapid and substantial. Since 

 1914, four large factories have located here, a 

 new street railway has improved the local 

 system, the city has granted new water and 

 gas franchises and has appropriated large sums 

 for paving streets, laying sewers, etc. The 

 building of an interurban railway through a 

 fertile and productive farming region to the 

 old Mormon town of Nauvoo, ten miles south 

 in Illinois,^ is one of the new projects to be 

 undertaken. 



