Historical Books
Turn the pages of the past.
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The following terms are defined as specifically used in this book.
Some of them of course have other meanings, which are not applicable here.
- Arquebus -
- Portable firearm invented about 1450, having a matchlock operated by a trigger. (See match.)
- Bastion -
- A 4-sided salient which projects from the scarp of a fort. The bastion was developed in Italy circa 1450.
- Bomb -
- A shell, or hollow iron ball filled with explosive and fired from a mortar. Its detonation was timed by a powder fuze.
- Bombproof -
- A room built to resist destruction by bombardment; a shelter from bombshells.
- Bonnet -
- A cap, or V-shaped work, raised in front of a fortification salient to shield it from frontal fire.
- Caballero -
- A cavalier, i. e., a raised platform inside a fort, giving the defender's cannons the advantage of elevation over attacking forces.
- Cordon -
- The ornamental projecting course of stone where the parapet wall joins the scarp.
- Counterguard -
- A detached, narrow rampart placed in front of an important wall to prevent fire from breaching it.
- Counterscarp -
- The wall opposite the scarp; the moat wall.
- Covered way -
- The area between the moat and the exterior embankment (glacis), protected or "covered" from enemy fire by this embankment.
- Curtain -
- The wall connecting two bastions, i. e., part of the scarp or main wall of the fort.
- Embrasure -
- An opening in a wall or parapet, through which cannon are fired.
- Enfilade -
- To rake the length of a target with gunfire.
- Escalade -
- The act of climbing the walls of a fortification by ladders.
- Firing step -
- The raised step or bank along the inside of a parapet, on which soldiers are posted to fire upon the enemy.
- Galliot -
- Small, swift galley, using both sails and oars.
- Gate -
- Entrance; sallyport.
- Glacis -
- The embankment or slope from the covered way toward the open country.
- Gorge -
- The throat or entrance into a bastion.
- Guner's ladle -
- A copper scoop fixed to a pole and used for measuring powder and loading it into a cannon.
- Hornwork -
- An earthwork having a curtain and two half-bastions. Its plan resembles the projecting horns of a bull.
- Match -
- A wick or cord chemically prepared to burn at uniform rate, for firing a charge of powder.
- Mortar -
- Short cannon used for firing shells at a high angle, as lobbing them over the walls of a fort into the courtyard.
- Musket -
- The smooth-bore predecessor of the rifle. Invented about 1540, it was more powerful than the arquebus, which it superseded.
- Nueva España -
- México, New Spain
- Pale -
- A pointed stake. Pales were set vertically into the ground or fastened to rails as fencing.
- Palisade -
- A high fence or barricade of pole timbers set vertically into the ground in a close row as a means of defense.
- Parapet -
- A wall raised above the main wall or rampart of the fort to protect the defenders from attacking fire.
- Pilaster -
- Rectangular column with base and capital, inserted into a wall, but projecting outward about a quarter of its width.
- Piragua -
- A canoe made of a hollowed tree trunk.
- Portcullis -
- A grating to close the entrance of a fortification.
- Postern -
- A small rear gate.
- Presidio -
- A fortified settlement.
- Rammer -
- A pole having a wooden head for ramming home the projectile or the charge of a cannon.
- Rampart -
- The main body of a fortification around a place, on which the parapet is raised.
- Ravelin -
- An outer defense or detached fortification raised before a curtain, especially before the gate, as a shield.
- Redoubt -
- A small fortification completely closed by a parapet, thus allowing encircling fire.
- Sally port -
- Exit for troops; fort entrance; gate.
- Scarp -
- The front slope of the rampart or main wall of the fort.
- Sponge -
- Brush or swab affixed to a pole and used for cleaning the bore of the cannon after discharge.
- Tabby -
- A building concrete made from lime, shell, sand and water.
- Terreplein -
- The horizontal surface in rear of the parapet, on which guns may be mounted.
- Traverse -
- A barrier (as a bank of earth) across part of a defensive area, to give protection form enfilade fire.
- Wormer -
- A double screw on the end of a pole, used for extracting the wad or cartridge from a muzzle-loading gun.
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