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FORTRESS STUDY GROUP |
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Books Review Editor - Charles Blackwood
Merryant Publishers Inc, Vashon, WA 98070, USA, 1998, pp. 24. $6.95.
Ms Boule has written a series of booklets on each of California's Spanish Missions. These booklets serve to introduce a visitor to an individual Spanish Mission. Each booklet consists of two sections. The first section is an introduction to the development of the missions of California and contains a general map showing their location. This section is the same in each booklet. The second section provides a historical discussion of the life of the mission being covered in the booklet. This part of the booklet also contains an architectural sketch of the mission as built, a line drawing of the layout of the mission, and an artist's pen and ink rendering of the sanctuary of the church as it looks today.
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This series of booklets are excellent for basic information on an individual Mission. The
repetition of the material in each booklet, however, makes them a poor buy for obtaining
information on all twenty-one Missions.
CHARLES H BOGART
Parks Canada, 160 Liverpool St., Ottawa, K1A OS9 Canada, pp. 383. $24.95.
The author of this book is concerned with three topics; why fortifications were built at Ile aux Noix, the design of these forts, and how the forts at this site were built. This book looks at why both the French and the British chose to build forts on Ile aux Noix. The last and best known of the forts built on this site was Fort Lennox.
The author points out that, despite some siting problems, Ile aux Noix also had some military advantages. It is located at the head of the Richelieu River. This is the spot at which the waters of Lake Champlain become a river that eventually empties into the St. Lawrence, at a point a few miles downstream from Montreal.
The book first examines how the fortifications proposed for Ile aux Noix were designed. The author shows this to be a complicated process, for the purpose for fortifying Ile aux Noix changed over time. At times, the fortifications were to serve as a supply point from which troops would advance south to raid the enemy. At other times, the fort was to serve as a defensive work to hold back the attacking force until a field army could be mobilized to protect Canada. The questions that were consonantly asked where; what are we trying to protect, why are we trying to protect this object, from what direction is the attack going to come, how much manpower can we station at the site, what materials are available to build with, what is the budget, how much time do we have to build the fortifications, and from what type of force are we preparing to defend against. The problem was that the answers kept on changing.
The French in building their fort at Ile aux Noix designed it first as a fortified supply point for raids south into the Hudson River Valley. Then, they redesigned it as a major blocking point against a British attack down Lake Champlain against Montreal. When the British eventually attacked the fort, the French fort would prove too large for the garrison and orientated in the wrong direction to defend against the attack made on it.
The British asked the same questions posed above when they went to build their fort at Ile
aux Noix. It was at first to serve as a fall back position if the French launched an overwhelming attack down the St. Lawrence and recaptured Montreal. Then, it became the front line fort to defend against an American attack against Montreal. The result was a wealth of different designs proposed for the fortification at He aux Noix.
The author discusses and illustrates a compendium of designs proposed by various British engineers for Ile aux Noix. He then traces the design and building of the fortification eventually approved for the island. Fort Lennox. Construction of Fort Lennox started in 1819 and was completed in 1829. Protected by a wet moat and encased within the earthen ramparts were six stone buildings: officer quarters, barracks, guard house, magazine, and store rooms. The fort would be garrisoned by the British Army until 1870.
This book is a must for those interested in the design and building of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century fortifications. There are over 100 drawings plus photographs and maps that bring life to the text. An army of footnotes delve deeper into the story of Fort Lennox. Those who peruse the bibliography will find listed a gold mine of little known Canadian sources on fortifications. A great addition to any library that seeks to tell the story of fortifications.
CHARLES H. BOGART
English Heritage, 25 Saville Row, London W1X 1AB, pp. 340, softback, 220 x 275-mm, £45. Profusely illustrated with plans, maps, line drawings, some with colour, and black and white photographs. Extensive chapter end notes, comprehensive and informative gazetteer, glossary and index. ISBN1 850747180.
It is difficult, if not impossible, to have a meaningful interest in fortifications without an interest in, and understanding of, the weapons these fortifications were constructed or modified to resist. Similarly no interest in these weapons can be complete without an understanding of the projectiles which they fired; and a significant element of that is the manufacture and development of explosives and propellants. Dangerous Energy is firmly focused on the archaeology of the industry, it does not discuss the capabilities, the range or destructive power of shells and explosives.
To give an overall impression of the coverage of this book, one cannot do better than to quote the synopsis of the book on the back cover, which gives a very fair and accurate description of the contents. The book is:
"an authoritative and comprehensive study of Britain's military explosives industry,
incorporating unprecedented details of key state and private sites formerly cloaked in secrecy. It gives a foundation for specific local investigations and a basis for international comparison.
Very few monuments survive, of gunpowder manufacture in Britain from the Middle Ages,
although its existence is clearly documented. Remains of the water-powered works established
by the late seventeenth century are identifiable, although usually only from the pattern of the site layout they bequeath to later developments in the same locations.
The industry was transformed in the later eighteenth century by the state acquisition of key factories, notably at Faversham and at Waltham Abbey, used as much for technical information and quality control as for increased production capacity. In the mid-nineteenth century there were developments that have parallels in continental Europe and in America, namely a shift to production on an industrial scale related to advances in armaments technology.
In the late nineteenth century the growth of the chemical explosives industry, which largely superseded gunpowder, is excellently demonstrated by archaeological fieldwork at Waltham Abbey. And the scope of the study is broadened by consideration of the remains of contemporary factories, both state-run and private.
In the twentieth century the urgency and large-scale demands of the two world wars brought
state-directed or state-led solutions to explosives production. The technology of manufacture and handling influenced the form of the architecture of the factories; their locations became a matter of conscious, strategic choice and were related to integrated supply and transport networks, the availability of labour and safety. The social history of the explosives industry is more evident in wartime conditions, with provisions for the employment of women, for accident prevention, and for off-site housing, all of which are reflected in surviving field remains as well as in contemporary images.
Sites and structures connected with rocket propellants, which after 150 years of intermittent development came to the fore after the Second World War, are discussed in a separate chapter. A concluding section looks at planning, preservation, conservation, and presentation in relation to prospective future uses of these sites".
It is clear that nothing quite like this book has previously been published, and it is also clear that it has its genesis in a 1992 reconnaissance visit by experienced staff from Royal Commission on Historic Monuments in England (RCHME) and English Heritage to the recently redundant site of the Royal Gunpowder Factory (RGPF) at Waltham Abbey. Their excitement and bewilderment at the scale and complexity, and the purpose and function of the multiplicity of the remains is clear. One doubts if many sections in an English Heritage publication of this weight have been entitled "Wow!" The RGPF is to appear many times in many guises in the course of the book, as it changes itself to adapt to new demands, frequently serving as an exemplar of innovation, development and quality control.
The material is presented in an Introductory section and nine chapters, taking the reader from gunpowder to rocket fuel and 'Survival and reuse'. The system is chronological, with an overlap when chemical explosives were developing at the same time as gunpowder was in mass production.
In each chapter we find a description of the relevant explosive, its development and manufacture, the layout of the works, and peripheral aspects such as architecture, transport,
security, accidents, and welfare. Technical terms and descriptions abound, but are well explained and illustrated. The reader leams of gunpowder, guncotton, TNT, Amatol, nitroglycerine, presses, edge-runners, picric acid, Lyddite - from Lydd in Kent - cordite, nitroguanidine, RDX, tundishes and potchers.
There are numerous descriptions of many of the strong personalities involved in the explosive story; how at the RGPF, in the 1790s, Major William Congreve, father of the eponymous 'rocket man', led a team which turned a factory output notorious for its unreliability in the American War of Independence, into a world leader by the end of the eighteenth century. There is a continuous thread of continental and international links and interchange of ideas and processes; the Prussian Schultze and his powder, for instance, Alfred Nobel of course, the
Hungarian Oscar Guttmann and his "Guttmann balls" (the book will tell you what they are), and
the American chemist Kenneth B Quinan in 1917.
The illustrations are varied and wide ranging, numerous and apposite, and placed adjacent to the relevant text. No flicking pages back and fore to relate text to illustration here. The quality is extremely sharp and clear, which it needs to be, as many are very small, but the clarity allows magnification where a closer view is required. There is such a wealth of illustrative material that I fear it has led to a desire to get in as many as possible at the expense of making more of a selected few. I would have liked to see a selection of larger half or full page photographs and figures to really make the most of some of the best. Some of the plans of large sites are so small the writing is barely legible, which is a shame when it is a contemporary coloured plan, which relies on the print itself for the legend. There are several plans with numbers on them, but no legend, and one with numbers on the plan but letters in the text. Frequent maps show the concentrations of locations, associated for much of the gunpowder era with the availability of water-power, and latterly with the wide-open isolated sites for the large scale manufacture of powerful chemical explosives. The rationale to these patterns is clearly described. It is worth noting the splendid picture on the cover, of a most impressive and colourful explosion. Unfortunately, we are told nothing about it, beyond it being a test explosion at Pendine Ranges. I would love to know what it was, the pattern is extraordinary.
The story throughout emphasises the great difficulty of identifying clear remains, as many early sites were continually modified and developed as processes were changed and improved, often eliminating early structures and frequently changing their usage. The Chilworth Estate map of 1728 shows the gunpowder works, which shortly after changed to the manufacture of paper.
The earlier chapters on the development and improvement in the power of gunpowder and its manufacturing processes, are the most easily readable for the lay person, as there is more
'romance' and mystery, compared with the later urgent no-nonsense business of manufacturing
chemical explosives, and there is more description and narrative in these chapters and less of the archaeological minutiae of detailed description and measurement.
The book is full of fascinating and unexpected detail. It is startling to leam, for instance, of the small size of the early gunpowder industry; in 1800 there were only twenty-five operating mills, in the middle of the Napoleonic War. There are fascinating descriptions of the introduction of 'cylinder powder' and its great benefits over 'pit powder'; 5:3 more powerful with the attendant advantages of reducing ordnance charges by one third. In 1804, the major works were at Waltham Abbey, Faversham and Ballincollig, with lesser factories at Portsmouth and Plymouth. The numbers employed were small in relation to the significance of the product - 250 maximum at Waltham Abbey in 1813, and 400 at Faversham. Black powder is no longer produced in Britain, the last factory, at Ardeer, closed in 1976 and all is now imported.
The Crimean War had provided a major stimulus and highlighted large inadequacies, evoking widespread criticism. On one occasion, at Sevastopol, out of 100 thousand barrels, 32 thousand were unserviceable. A large part of the increased demand in the thirty years following the Crimean War was due to leap in size of the shot, from 68-lb to 1800-lb, and more specialized
powders.
Throughout the book there are regular sections highlighting definitions, and the composition and development of the wide variety of explosives encountered.
There are numerous statistics and anecdotes. Once the 1914-1918 war got under way, it was clear that existing explosive capacity was nothing like adequate, and the scale of new works, usually on green-field sites, is huge. The annual output of cordite was 3600 tons; when the War started, the Government ordered 16,000 tons; the new Royal Navy Cordite Factory at Holton Heath covered 494 acres, and the Army's at Gretna covered 9,000 acres - the largest in the Empire,
employing 19,772 people at its height in October 1917.
The story of the National Filling Factory at Chilwell is particularly fascinating, well told and illustrated. This was one of the most innovative and idiosyncratic amatol filling factories of the war. It was designed by Viscount Chetwynd, "who had no prior experience of handling explosives, and was an individualist - a man of 'push and go'- who would not be bridled by red tape and demanded a free hand in the design and running of his highly systemised shell factory. Against all convention he adapted coal crushing, stone pulverising, sugar drying, paint-making, and sugar sifting machinery to prepare the ingredients, even using the porcelain rollers of a flour mill to grind the TNT".
In the history of this business, explosions and accidents were frequent, with some horrible
events in factories deep in amongst housing. General safety measures taken within a factory were related to spreading the risk by having small, lightweight buildings scattered about the sites, with the use of traverses developing in numbers and style. By 1772 there was a Safety Act, and in the few years following 1890, following disastrous explosions especially in the Birmingham ammunition factories, four Acts were passed, including that of 1875, which were so well written that with only minor amendments in 1923, they remain in force today. It is worth noting that during the First World War, the phenomenal increase in output led to only a small increase in the number of deaths, from 1:1000 pre-war to 1.25:1000.
Rearmament and the Second World War added a new dimension to the scale of manufacture. Already in 1936 the industry was gearing up, with the introduction at Holton Heath of a Schmid plant for a continuous, as opposed to batch, processing plantfor the production of nitroglycerine, installed by German engineers. The sites chosen for new factories reflected the technical and social requirements of the industry, often being sited in areas of high unemployment, such as at Wrexham in Wales. Amongst the many impressive statistics is the summary given for the height of production in 1942. Royal Ordnance Factories (ROFs) were amongst the largest group of factories in the country, and of twelve factories employing more than 19,000 workers, seven were ROFs. The number of people employed in filling factories rose from 800 at Woolwich and Hereford in 1936 to 150,000 in twenty factories in 1943. Design was centralised and extensive active and passive defence measures were introduced, from anti-aircraft guns to camouflage, dispersion, duplication, traverses, decoys and concrete roofs to keep incendiaries at bay. Owing to the siting and construction of these factories, many have found later uses and have become industrial estates, where the layout can be clearly aligned with what is on the ground today. The aerial photographs of Wrexham in Wales, and Chelford in Cheshire, however, would be a lot easier to relate to the map if they followed normal practice with North at the top instead of being 180 and 90 degrees out, respectively.
The explosives story concludes with a brief but fascinating summary of the equally brief story of Britain's rocket industry and its remains, successful technically but continually undermined by politics and defence cuts. I either never knew or had long forgotten that Britain had its very own satellite, launched on its own rocket when Prospero rose on Black Arrow in October 1971.
Wrapping up the subject is a very significant chapter on the survival and reuse of the RGPF at Waltham Abbey. For those with a similar objective, as the Fortress Study Group has in its constitution, the process of conserving and interpreting this extensive site is an exemplar and
object lesson.
This is a splendid and weighty book, filled with immense archaeological detail and descriptions of processes and the development of military explosives and their industry in Britain, and how they were closely linked to international activity. I found it fascinating.
CHARLES BLACKWOOD
Blockhaus de la Riviere Lacolle, 1 Rue la Riviere Lacolle, St Paul Ile aux Noix, Qc, J0J 1GO, Canada, 1998, pp. 48. $9.95.
Located on the west bank of Lake Champlain, and north of the Lacolle River is the community of Saint Paul He aux Noix. The community has stood in the path of different invading armies, British/American from the south and French/Canadian from the north. The Lacolle River is only
ten kilometres north of the American border. The main defence for the area is Fort Chambly which sets a further ten kilometres to the rear of the Lacolle River.
In 1781, with the American Revolution winding down, a two storey blockhouse (Blockhaus) was built on the north bank of the Lacolle River. Its purpose was to act as an outpost against any attack coming up the west side of Lake Champlain towards Fort Chambly and Quebec City. It also served as defence against raids to the nearby lumber yard which supplied ship timbers to the shipyard above Fort Chambly. The Blockhaus saw no action during the American Revolution.
The Blockhaus as built was constructed of wood logs. The log walls were cut with loopholes and embrasures. The second floor of the building extended beyond the lower floor to allow defensive fire to cover an attack on the Blockhaus door. A pyramidal roof covered the second floor in order to shed snow and rain. A central brick chimney provided both heat and a cooking area. The first floor served as a living area and the second floor provided storage and sleeping space.
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The war of 1812 saw a number of skirmishes between American and Canadian/British forces near the Lacolle River. On 30 March 1814, an American assault was launched on the Lacolle River wood mill and lumber yard. Canadian troops based their defensive line on the Blockhaus and were able to defeat thi s attack. Throughout the war the Blockhaus served as an anchoring point to defend against raids and served as a trip wire for a major attack on the area.
The Patriot's Uprising of 1837 saw the Blockhaus being reoccupied to help control the area from followers of Louis Joseph Papineau. In 1866, during a Fenian Invasion from the United States, the Blockhaus was again a centre of defensive preparedness.
While the Blockhaus served as military post for short periods in 1837 and 1866, it had by 1823 been converted into a private farm house. It would serve as a farm house until 1935. In 1937 steps were taken locally to preserve the abandoned Blockhaus as an historical building. First administered by a local preservation group, in 1955, the Blackballs became a provincial historical site. Today it is open for visitors on a seasonal bases. It is one of the few remaining blockhouses built by Canadian/British authorities to defend various local transportation routes still standing.
The author of the book first provides an overview of the defence of the Lake Champlain area. Then he investigates the construction and military use of the Rivierc Lacolle Blockhouse and its relationship to other blockhouses in Canada. He closes with a look at the history of the blockhouse as a military post. a farm house, and today as a museum.
The book is readable by one with limited knowledge of French. If asked for, an English
summary of the book will be provided. The book is well illustrated with pictures and maps. It adds considerable information on eighteenth/nineteenth century wooden fortifications in Canada.
Those interested in Canadian frontier posts should acquire this gem of a book.
CHARLES H BOGART
Ft. Ticonderoga Museum, PO box 370, Ticonderoga, NY 12883, USA, pp. 241. $24.95
Few people today have heard of Fort Ticonderoga, but at one time it was a key defence on the invasion route, between what is now Canada and the United States, by way of Lake Ticonderoga. The fort located at the narrows, where the waters of Lake George enter into Lake Ticonderoga, controlled entry into the Lake and passage to Montreal or Albany, New York.
First to fortify the site of Fort Ticonderoga were the French. In 1755, the French engineer
de Lothiniere began construction of Fort Carillion. The fort was built in the form of a square using logs, earth and stone. Two demi-lunes protected its land flanks. Bastions guarded the comers of the four walls. Redoubts covered the approach to the fort. Carillion soon became the principal French fort on Lake Chaplain. It was with troops supplied from here that the French in 1751 took Fort William Henry from the British on Lake George.
In 1758, General James Abercronly returned with British troops to reclaim Lake George and
seize Lake Ticonderoga. Abercronly and his army moved against Fort Carillion. The French with
less than a third of the manpower of the British began to dig a fortified ditch in front of Fort Carillion to delay the attack on the walls. With the ditch only constructed half way across the peninsula in front of Fort Carillion, the British troops arrived before the fort. In an act of incomprehensible stupidity Abercronly, instead of flanking the incomplete ditch, ordered direct assaults on it. With his army shot to pieces Abercronly retreated and Fort Carillion survived.
The next year the British returned to Lake Ticonderoga this time under the command of General Jeffery Amherst. Amherst avoided Abercronly's mistakes. He attacked with a well supplied army and with a plan of operations based on knowledge of Fort Carillion's strong and weak points. The French, aware of the British juggernaut moving against them, held Fort Carillion to the last minute and then retreated blowing the fort's magazine. Amazingly, little damage was done to the fort. It was soon repaired and garrisoned by the British. Renamed Fort Ticonderoga, the fort became a supply depot for the attack on Montreal.
With the capture of Canada, the British did not abandon Fort Ticonderoga but maintained it with a minimum garrison. The fort was maintained as a supply point in the event an expedition had to be launched against the Indians to the west.
The fort slumbered until 1775 when it was seized by American patriots in a coup d'etat. The
cannons and arms captured at the fort would provide the difference in allowing the Colonists to
withstand the British attack on them outside Boston and later force the evacuation of the city. The British in 1776 would recapture the fort and it would serve as a base for General John Burgoyan's disastrous 1777 attack toward Albany, New York. An American attack on Fort Ticonderoga the next year would be a failure. Then, after the Peace Treaty of 1783, the fort would be returned to American control.
The fort would not be re-garrisoned and would soon serve as a quarry of ready cut stone for
local homes. In 1820 the site was purchased by the Peel family who at first preserved the site and later rebuilt Fort Ticonderoga as it appeared in 1775. Today, it is the base of the foundation set up by the Peel family that still preserves Fort Ticonderoga.
The book, as one might expect, is light on the construction of the fort. It does, however,
contain a fountain of information on the military operations that centred around it. From 1755 to 1783, Fort Ticonderoga was an important stepping stone in controlling the route from New York City to Montreal. The book is informative and an easy read. It is well illustrated and the colour map of Fort Ticonderoga and its immediate vicinity on the cover of the book are alone worth the cost of the book. If American-Canadian eighteenth century warfare is your interest this book is a must for you.
CHARLES H BOGART
Langtry Publications, 20755 Manila St., Chatsworth, CA 91311 1999, pp. 158. $11.95.
This book is written for the High School student and is mainly concerned with how the Indians and the Missions interacted. It does, however, contain a wealth of information on the development of the California Missions. They were established between 1769 and 1823. A total of twenty-one missions were built. They reached from San Diego Bay north to Solano, on the north shore of San Francisco Bay. They marked the Spanish area of control along the Pacific coast of California.
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While some do not include the Spanish religious Missions in their list of fortifications, one cannot understand Spanish control of California, or their control of the land area of present day Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, without studying the Missions. They were built by the Catholic Church to save souls. They were supported by the Spanish government because: they gave visual evidence of the Spanish Crown's claim to an area, converted the nomadic Indians into a permanent population loyal to the Spanish Crown and served as a supply base for military expeditions against hostile tribes.
The Missions, while built to serve as a church to praise God, were also built to defend against hostile attack by Indian tribes. Built of adobe and stone, the vertical narrow walls of the Missions were not capable of defeating cannons, but they formed a major barrier against enemy forces attacking with rifles and bow and arrows. The California Missions would not fall before an enemy attack. They instead would be destroyed when the Mexican government succeeded to the rule of California and ordered the Missions secularised in the 1830s. The adobe walls of the Missions soon succumbed to the weather. A developing interest in American Colonial history at the start of the twentieth century would see the restoration of the California Missions.
In her book, the author provides a series of introductory chapters to examine the relationship between the Missions and the Indians. Then each of the twenty-one Missions is covered in a brief chapter. The chapter contains a picture of the mission today, a drawing of how it looked when built, and a sketch of its history. A closing chapter provides the address and phone number of each Mission along with a suggested reading list providing greater detail for the reader.
CHARLES H. BOGART
Golden GatePark National Park Service, San Francisco CA, USA, 1991, pp. 48. $5.95.
This is an excellent introductory text to Fort Point, located on the south shore of the Golden Gate headland. The author traces the development of the fort from its conception in 1850, as a fortification to defend the harbour of San Franci sco, to its present use as a National Park Historical Site. The brick fort, as built, consisted of three levels of casemated guns crowned by a deck of barbette guns. It was armed with a hodge-podge of muzzle loading cannons as the U. S. Army responded to improvements in gun technology during the last part of the nineteenth century.
The book consists of five chapters. The first covers the building of the fort and its manning during the American Civil War, when there was real fear that the Confederate raider Shenandoah would try to slip into the San Francisco Bay and attack the ships at anchor there. The next chapter looks at life at the fort from the end of the Civil War until the First World War. This period saw the fort serving as a barracks, as modern coastal defence guns replaced the muzzle loaders of Fort Point. The third chapter discusses the part the fort played in the two World Wars and its near destruction during the building of the Golden Gate Bridge. The fourth chapter reviews the demilitarisation of Fort Point and its incorporation within the National Park Service. The final chapter is a glossary of technical terms used within the text.
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The book is well illustrated with both colour and black and white pictures. These are supported by good maps and drawings. An excellent artist drawing of the fort explains its organization and structure. This book is a terrific buy and a welcomed addition to any library covering U.S. masonry fortifications.
CHARLES H BOGART
1886, reprint 1999, Purple Mountain Press, PO Box E3, Fileischmanns, NY 12430-0378, USA, pp. 250. $14.50.
This is not strictly a book on the history of fortifications, but French, British and American fortifications are all part of the story. For at least a millennium Lake Chaplain was part of a water trade and invasion route between present day Montreal and New York. At first the native Americans used it. Then the native American and his European ally carried war and trade over the route. Quickly the relationship between the native American and his European ally flip flopped. Then the route became the centre of conflict between the Americans and the British. These conflicts climaxed in 1814 during the War of 1812.
From the head of Lake George to where the Richelieu River flows into the St. Lawrence River, the French, British and Americans built a number efforts. Some of these forts were wooden blockhouses, others were earth and timber fortifications, and a few were of stone. These forts played roles in the Indian Wars, the French and Indian War, the American Revolution and the War of 1812. It is within the framework of the settlement of the Lake Ticonderoga area that the author brings forth the stories of the forts that protected the area or served as bases from which to launch assaults on one enemy. Both the great forts like Ticonderoga, Fort St. Frederic, Fort Chambly, and Fort St. Jean have their place in the book along with the lonely trip wire blockhouse.
The author devotes considerable space to the War of 1812 and the American defensive position at Plattsburg, NY. He brings into play how the American land fortifications supported the American Navy and how the Navy supported the forts. These earthen forts are often forgotten in the retelling the tale of the defeat of the British on Lake Champlain in 1814. But without the forts to protect the U. S. Naval base from an overland assault by light infantry, the fleet that was built here, would never had sailed. It was the victory of this fleet off Plattsburg that guaranteed U. S. control of Lake Champlain and its present northern border.
The author makes it a point to show that, while the forts built around the lakes were important, they were at the mercy of whoever controlled the waters of the Lake. All substance and supplies in the area moved by boat. Cut the water route to a fort or an army and they rapidly vanquish.
This is an excellent book at a reasonable price for those seeking an overview of eighteenth
and early nineteenth century warfare in a wilderness. The book is not for those interested in brick and mortar, but for those curious about how fortifications fit into an overall military strategy.
CHARLES H. BOGART
Stephen Spiteri & Velprint Ltd, Malta 1999, pp. 32 + illustrations in colour and black & white. ISBN 99909-68-99-3.
Obtainable from Stephen Spiteri, PO Box 460, Valletta CMR 01, Malta.
The fougasse was a defensive weapon designed primarily to pepper invading ships intent upon
landing troops for an attack upon a place. It was a sort of mortar, apparently first used in this role in the middle of the eighteenth century, and it had certain advantages and some considerable defects. It had limitations and the best method of utilising it, and one of its attractions, was to dig holes in the ground, preferably into rock. Basically, it was a hole dug in the ground aimed towards the direction of attack of an enemy fleet or landing craft. At the bottom of the hole there was placed a large explosive charge and it required a lot of expensive powder. On top of this was piled rocks, rubble and any small hard articles that came to hand. It then stood ready, waiting for the close approach of enemy vessels, upon which, it was hoped, it could shower a devastating deluge of its contents, ripping into the rigging and decimating the soldiers collected upon the decks of the attacking vessels ready to storm the beach, or those who had already struggled ashore.
But the fougasse had one great defect, for it was, in essence, somewhat similar to the early match lock hand gun - in battle both were unpredictable, inaccurate and could only be fired once, for it took too long to reload them for a second shot. The fougasse had also to be sited carefully, angled so that it faced out to sea in the correct direction and excavated in suitable ground to form a barrel strong enough to resist lateral pressure and incase the shot, and dry enough to preserve its powder so that, when a slow burning match was applied to the fuse, the weapon would explode. The Maltese climate and Maltese stone provided ideal sites for such a weapon. But, although we do not have a detailed list of the sites used on Malta, the fougasse there does not seem to have been excavated in large battery formations best suited for its effective use.
It was said to have been invented by the Knights of St. John on Malta and was certainly used occasionally by the British, in particular in guarding the approaches to their great naval harbour at Mahon in Minorca.
Early treatises by Pietro Paolo Floriani, Pietro Sardi and Antoine de Ville all make reference to various types of mortars excavated in the ground and intended to supplement fortified fronts. In fact, the weapon, although inaccurate, could be used with some effect, rather like a shrapnel explosion, to decimate the tightly packed ranks of a mass infantry attack. and the British employed them on the North West Frontier of lndia when, early in the twentieth century. they were dug to deter such mass attacks. The British had used the fougasse en masse at defending the approach to their naval anchorage in Port Mahon, where a massed battery of twenty-two was excavated, closely huddled, near the tip of the peninsula in front of Fort St. Philip. One at Gibraltar, called Healy's Stone Mortar, proved a disaster when test fired in 1771. The resultant explosion threw lethal debris out across the countryside to a distance of a hundred yards with a spread of six hundred yards. Although the area it covered was not that originally intended, it did suggest that, as a counter-mine, which is almost what it was, it might prove effective against landing-craft engaged in putting marines ashore. Probably the Minorca batteries, which have not been accurately dated, followed this experiment and were dug during the second British occupation of the island between 1762 and 1782.
The fougasse received scant recognition in the nineteenth century publications on fortification. Lendy was one of the few British authors to mention it, and little has recently been written about this weapon of defence. In fact, Stephen Spiteri's fine booklet is the first serious publication to highlight the fougasse. His is the first full explanation and description of this weapon and so is of particular interest to readers of military architecture.
Spiteri has established a splendid manner; like all his publications, this is clearly written and beautifully illustrated. It is a model of succinct presentation and your book collection should not be without it.
Stephen Spiteri & Velprint Ltd, Malta 1999, pp. 180 + illustrations. ISBN 99909-68-91-8.
Copies can be obtained from the author, e-mail: scspiter@maltanet.net
The Knights of the Order of St. John, sometimes called the Hospitallers, occupied Malta, that small, strategic and pivotal island in the middle of the Mediterranean, for over a quarter of a millennium. During that time they built up one of the most formidable and massive collections of fortifications in the Western World. Ring upon ring of defences engirdled the capital city at Valletta, the important naval dockyard and the fine deep-water anchorages which lay close together on that north-eastern seaboard.
All the massive works needed to be defended by men armed with the latest military equipment and, kept ready for immediate action. This equipment of arms, armour and weaponry had to be stored safely in suitable buildings close at hand. In addition to the defence of the citadel
and its waterways, the old capital in the centre of the island, and that situated similarly on the adjoining island of Gozo, needed their safely-held quota of equipment.
Although most of the ordnance lined the battlements, the small arms, ammunition, powder and equipment had to be held in safe deposit. Eventually, the main collection was assembled in one major armoury within the magnificent Magisterial Palace in the middle of Valletta. No longer needed for defence, it is now carefully maintained and displayed to the public as a magnificent museum.
This delightfully produced booklet describes all this in lively text and beautiful illustrations, many drawn especially by the author. Spiteri traces the change in defensive equipment and arms from the inception of the Order during the crusades in the Holy Land, to the period after the successful uprising by Maltese militia supported by the British, against the French forces of Bonaparte, and to the present day.
For anyone interested in siege warfare the material in this book will prove invaluable,
showing a variety of equipment and listing, in places, the total number of weapons and their
condition, sometimes in a sorry state due to neglect.
The quality of publications pouring from the presses of Malta is exemplary and this is in that category. I hope it will encourage militaryenthusiasts to visit the island and, in particular, spend some considerable time in the Palace Armoury.
Quintin Hughes
Crown Point State Park, RD #1, Box 219, Crown Point, New York 12928, USA, pp. 51. $5.00.
During the eighteenth century Crown Point, New York was the site of some of the most important forts in the present day United States. Crown Point is located on Lake Champlain at a point where the width of the lake is less than a kilometre wide. If one leaves New York and sails up the Hudson River to its head waters, one finds it is but a short portage overland to Lake George. Lake George in turn flows into Lake Champlain which empties its water via the Richelieu River into the Saint Lawrence River. For the eighteenth century this was a modern highway. Its significance as a military route of invasion both north and south was self evident.
In 1731 the French built a small earth and timber fort at Chimney Point across the lake from Crown Point. Then, in 1734, the French started the construction of Fort St. Frederic at Crown Point. This fort was envisioned to be both a military post and a seat of government for the area. The fort was built as a motte and bailey fortification. Earthen walls protected a stone citadel. The fort was built in the form of a square with bastions at three comers and the citadel tucked into the fourth. The fort would serve both as ajumping-offpoint for attacks on English settlers in New England and New York and as a defensive bulwark against assault by the British at Montreal. The fort was abandoned and blown up in 1759 with the approach of General Amherst and the British Army. Lacking men to defend the walls, the French made a show of resistance, blew the fort up and then retreated.
Amherst paused after capturing Crown Point to build his own fort. This fort would be the
largest colonial fort built by the British in North America. The fort was to serve as the supply base for the British assault on Montreal. Construction started on His Majesty's Fort at Crown Point in 1759. This was the only name the fort would have. This new fort, like the French work, was also built in the form of a square with earthen walls. A larger square plan was located to the rear of the French fort. Located in each corner of the fort was a bastion. Stone barracks and store rooms were built inside the completed fort.
The utilisation of the fort by the British was short. Canada quickly fell to the British and the main purpose of His Majesty's Fort at Crown Point, to act as a supply base for attacks on Canada, disappeared. The fort, however, was considered an excellent fallback point in case the French launched an overseas assault to regain Canada. Disaster struck the fort in 1773 when a chimney fire spread to the wood roof of the barracks and then throughout the fort. This led to a power magazine explosion which rendered the fort undefendable and shortly afterwards it was abandoned.
The dressed stone of the various buildings later found a ready use by settlers in building their homes. One such home still stands at Chimney Point. Crown Point and its ruins are now part of the New York Park system. Remnants of both the French and British forts can be explored.
This book is a basic introduction to the forts at Crown Point. While lacking in narrative detail and written at a high school level, the diagrams and pictures more than make up for the sparse text. This book is a good addition to any library which contains material on eighteenth century fortifications. An excellent buy for the price.
CHARLES H. BOGART
| Clis. (FSG) Jan 03 |