Musketry Breastwork

This defensive breastwork stood on the western edge of the bluff and guarded the road from Burdette’s Ferry to the west, toward the Bastion. Its timber parapets filled with soil were built on a stone base and were high enough to provide an adequate field of fire against assaulting troops. A banquette, or step, on the inside let defenders fire over the wall and then step back to reload in safety. Fraise and abatis added further protection. The fortification’s approach field also used trous-de-loup, or wolf holes, a snaring device of six-foot-deep pits shaped like inverted cones with pointed stakes at the bottom to impale any man or horse stepping into the camouflaged hole. Used mostly against cavalry charges, this device was an early forerunner of the modern booby trap. Pickets, or upright poles, were often used on the outside wall.

Fort Lee, New Jersey · United States