The Barbette Battery
This battery was believed to be the “Barbette Battery” as its location commanded a large field of fire of the river, stretching North to South from the Chevaux-De-Frise to the Bluff Rock’s southern edge.
A Barbette Battery’s guns fired over a low wall rather than through openings in the battery wall and was likened to “spitting over one’s beard”. The word, “barbette”, is derived from the French term for “beard”.
Field Cannons
It is believed that this battery consisted of five heavy iron cannons capable of firing 24 pound balls. The wide area covered by this emplacement required its guns to be mobile and they were therefore mounted on traveling carriages enabling artillery fire to be aimed at several ships or to be concentrated on a single target.
The battery was constructed on a stone base and its cannon platform was covered with planking sloped upward in the rear to lessen cannon recoil. The parapet was built of fascines and was filled with earth. The battery wings were built higher to afford protection from enemy fire.
Courtesy hmdb.org
