CASEMATE

, or Cazemate, in Fortification, a kind of vault or arch, of stone-work, in that part of the flank of a bastion next the curtain; serving as a battery, to defend the face of the opposite bastion, and the moat or ditch.

The casemate sometimes consists of three platforms, one above another; the highest being on the rampart; though it is common to withdraw this within the bastion.

The casemate is also called the low place, and low flank, as being at the bottom of the wall next the ditch; and sometimes the retired flank, as being the part of the flank nearest the curtain, and the centre of the bastion. It was formerly covered by an apaulement, or a massive body, either round or square, which prevented the enemy from seeing within the batteries; whence it was also called covered flank.

It is now seldom used, because the batteries of the enemy are apt to bury the artillery of the casemate in the ruins of the vault: beside, the great smoke made by the discharge of the cannon, renders it intolerable to the men. So that, instead of the ancient covered casemates, later engineers have contrived open ones, only guarded by a parapet, &c.

Casemate is also used for a well with several subterraneous branches, dug in the passage of the bastion, till the miner is heard at work, and air given to the mine.