FORTIFICATION. 



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ropriated to the lodgment of troops, or 

 of stores, &c. should be covered in with 

 bomb proofs. The magazines should not 

 be too large, but commodiously situated 

 for the distribution of ammunition, and 

 every precaution should be taken to keep 

 all combustible stores as far as possible 

 from the provision, &c. so that in case of 

 the former taking fire, the garrison should 

 not be necessitated to capitulate, owing 

 to a want of subsistence. 



Sally-ports are made under various 

 parts of the works, to favour the sallies 

 made occasionally, for the purpose of 

 attacking the besiegers in their intrench- 

 ments, or for other essential purposes, 

 ""hese are generally galleries, which are 

 ut up, except at the moments when in 

 imediate use. Mines are frequently 

 prepared in the first construction of a for- 

 tress ; but the galleries whereby they are 

 entered are usually stopped up ; nor are 

 they loaded, that is, filled with powder, 

 until the period seems close at hand for 

 their being serviceable. Such matters are 

 carefully concealed from all but the 

 engineers, and the superior officers. The 

 supply of water, if from a river, or lake, 

 should be very carefully secured; for 

 this purpose, it is often necessary to en- 

 large the outworks, so as to command 

 sluices, &c. whereby the ditch or reser- 

 voirs are filled. If possible, large tanks 

 should be kept in the garrison, or a pro- 

 per quantity of casks should be filled, 

 especially in parts where wells cannot be 

 dug : lest the besiegers should either 

 drain off* the lake, or get command of the 

 sluices and block them up. If particular 

 parts of the surrounding country can be 

 inundated, it sometimes renders all at- 

 tempts to carry the place by breaching 

 the walls utterly impracticable. When 

 this happens, and that the situation ad- 

 mits of its being completely invested, 

 (whereby it is meant that all access is cut 

 off,) the place may fall in consequence 

 of a blockade. The chances of war are, 

 however, greatly against the success of 

 blockades; for, if the garrison be strong 

 and well provided, it may make numer- 

 ous successful sallies against an army 

 which must be greatly dispersed by sur- 

 rounding ihe place; while the diseases 

 incident to fixed camps, bad provisions, 

 putrid water, constant watching, and pro- 

 bably the necessity of countervallation 

 throughout its rear, to keep out partisans, 

 or to repel such forces as may hover 

 about with the intention to relieve the 

 place, all combine to weaken, dishearten, 

 and cause relaxation among the be- 





siegers. In this instance, the besieged, 

 who have but one object, namely the de- 

 fence of the works, have some advantage. 

 But a good general will never sit down 

 before a town he is not tolerably certain 

 must fall in a given time. 



An ample stock of ready made pali- 

 sades, chevaux de frises, &,c. ought to be 

 made in time of peace, and be safely de- 

 posited, so as to be out of the reach of 

 carcases, shells, &c. ; lest they should take 

 fire. Such machines are generally best 

 preserved, and are safest, when immersed 

 in water. Fascines, which are large fag- 

 gots, are dangerous in a fortress, being so 

 soon kindled, and.so prompt to get into a 

 great blaze, as to prove highly injurious. 

 When the the soil is sandy, or of common 

 loam or gravel, canvas bags should be 

 kept in readines to be filled, so as to stop 

 a breach or to raise a breast-work, &c. in 

 case of emergency. 



Every endeavour should be exerted to- 

 wards obstructing the enemy from re- 

 connoitring the form of the works, as well 

 as their disposition before the respective 

 parts, and their defilement. The w ntof 

 information as to casemated or solid de- 

 fences sometimes proves very distressing 

 to the beseigers, who not rarely come 

 suddenly upon works of which they had 

 no previous information; and eventually 

 find themselves enfiladed, or at least di- 

 rectly opposed by some masked battery ; 

 such as the embrasures in casemated cur- 

 tains and bastions ; or by redoubts within 

 ravelmes, of which they had no intelli- 

 gence, and which could not be discover- 

 ed from the glacis. 



It sometimes occurs that, after getting 

 possession of the works, the besiegers 

 are compelled to quit the body of the 

 place, and to retreat to their lodgments 

 on the counterscarp. This, for the most 

 part, is occasioned by the judicious situa- 

 tion of a citadel ; or by the peculiar mode 

 of building the houses, &c. Indeed it 

 has more than once happened, that, as the 

 breach was stormed, and perhaps carried, 

 succours have entered at some opposite 

 part of the fortress, and enabled the gar- 

 rison to take the field with advantage. 

 Sieges are, very frequently, raised by 

 the approach of succours ; and many an 

 army, thus retiring 1 , has been either 

 shut up, or compelled to lay down its 

 arms. 



The great variety of favourable occur- 

 rences occasionally offering in behalf of 

 those brave men, who, regardless of the 

 labours, and of the painful privations to 

 which the beseiged are ever subject, con- 



