. Battles and leaders of the Civil War : being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers . trance, pointing to the right and leftso as to sweep the esplanade. The possibility of a hostile landing on the narrow strip of riprappingbetween the scarp wall and tide-water still remained to be pro^ided secondary defenses were constructed, this was a continuous dead spaceon which a thousand men could have found a safe lodgment perfectly screenedfrom fir(> and oliservation. The danger from such a lodgment was, that fromit all our emlirasures could have been assault
. Battles and leaders of the Civil War : being for the most part contributions by Union and Confederate officers . trance, pointing to the right and leftso as to sweep the esplanade. The possibility of a hostile landing on the narrow strip of riprappingbetween the scarp wall and tide-water still remained to be pro^ided secondary defenses were constructed, this was a continuous dead spaceon which a thousand men could have found a safe lodgment perfectly screenedfrom fir(> and oliservation. The danger from such a lodgment was, that fromit all our emlirasures could have been assaulted at the same time. It wasall-important, therefore, that the entrance by an embrasure should be made asdifficult as possible. The ledge of riprapping was little more than four feetbelow the sills of the embrasures, and there would have been no difticulty instepping in, if the two or three guards inside were disposed of. This fact waswell kaown to the enemy, and we felt certain that, if he decided to attempt anassault in this way, he would consider scaling-ladders unnecessary. In order INSIDE SUMTER IN 6i. 59. to disappoint him, therefore, we removed the riprapping in front of eachembrasure to the depth of four or five feet, rolling the large stones into thewater. This gave a height of eight or nine feet to the embrasure sills. Machicoulis galleries were also erected on all the flanks and faces of thework. The machicoulis when completed looked like an immense dry-goodsbox, set upon the parapet so as to project over the wall some three or foui*feet. The beams upon which it rested extended inward to the terre-pleinand were securely anchored down. But the dry-goods box was it was lined with heavy uon plates to make it bullet-proof. That portionof the bottom which projected beyond the wall was loop-holed for musketry,and a marksman in the machicoulis could shoot a man, however close hemight be to the scarp wall. But musketry from the machicoulis could hardlybe expe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidbattlesleade, bookyear1887
