FORTIFICATION. 493 



CHAPTER II. 



FORTIFICATION. 



FORTIFICATION, is that branch of Machetechnics which relates to 

 the construction, armament, attack and defence of forts, and other 

 works ; designed for strengthening an army, or serving as points of 

 support. The name is from the Latin, fortis, strong; and/a'o, I 

 make ; and in an extended sense of the term, it may be regarded as 

 synonymous with Military Engineering. The duties of the Corps 

 of Engineers have been extended not only to the construction and 

 warfare of forts, properly so called ; but to the construction of roads 

 and bridges, for military purposes ; and the making of surveys and 

 reconnaisances, preparatory to military operations, (p. 447). These 

 latter duties are now entrusted, in our own service, chiefly to the 

 Topographical Engineers : and indeed both of these corps require to 

 be well acquainted with the arts of construction and conveyance, 

 treated of in a preceding department. A fort, is a strong enclosure, 

 serving to protect a body of men within it, who are called its garri- 

 son from an enemy without. It may be useful as a place of refuge, 

 for a feeble or defeated army ; but is oftener required to enable a few 

 troops to defend an important position, which would otherwise re- 

 quire a much larger number. 



The most ancient mode of fortification, seems to have consisted in 

 building a wall, around the city or place to be defended ; either with 

 or without a ditch, or moat, on the exterior. This method was 

 practised by the Canaanites, at least 1500 B. C. The principal 

 ancient improvement on this construction, was the addition of torvers, 

 at small intervals, along the wall, and slightly projecting therefrom ; 

 both to strengthen the wall, and to enable the besieged to see and 

 defend the exterior foot of it; or, in military language, the towers 

 were said to flank the walls. Such fortresses, were attacked, by 

 undermining the walls ; or by building mounds, as high as the walls, 

 and gradually carried forward to meet them ; or by moveable towers, 

 advancing on wheels, and overlooking the place ; or by using the 

 battering ram, to demolish the wall, and make a breach. This 

 instrument consisted of a great mass of iron, often shaped like a 

 ram's head ; attached to a heavy horizontal beam, and either sus- 

 pended by cords, so as to swing forward with great force, or else 

 mounted on wheels, and running on an inclined platform or railway. 

 Instruments were also used for throwing missiles ; (p. 448) ; and the 

 Roman soldiers often raised their bucklers over their heads, overlap- 

 ping like shingles, and forming what they called a tortoise, for mu- 

 tual protection when advancing to the assault. 



In the middle ages, the baronial castles were fortified, by building 

 them with thick and lofty walls ; or with an outer enclosing wall ; 

 with flanking towers, and a moat, or ditch, on the exterior. The 

 gate was protected by the drawbridge, which could be suddenly 

 raised or removed by those within, to prevent the crossing of the 



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