The Barbette Battery

This battery was believed to be the Barbette Battery because its location commanded a large field of fire over the river, stretching north to south from the Chevaux-De-Frise to Bluff Rock’s southern edge. Its guns fired over a low wall rather than through openings in the battery wall, a method likened to “spitting over one’s beard,” and the word “barbette” came from the French term for “beard.” It was believed to have consisted of five heavy iron cannons capable of firing 24-pound balls. Because the emplacement covered a wide area, the guns needed to be mobile and were mounted on traveling carriages so artillery fire could be aimed at several ships or concentrated on a single target. The battery was constructed on a stone base, its cannon platform was covered with planking sloped upward in the rear to lessen cannon recoil, and its parapet was built of fascines and filled with earth.

Fort Lee, New Jersey · United States