Part 60

BICOQUE, Fr. a term used in France to signify a place ill-fortified and incapable of much defence. It is derived from a place on the road between Lodi and Milan, which was originally a gentleman’s country house surrounded by ditches. In the year 1522, a body of Imperial troops were stationed in it, and stood the attack of the whole French army, during the reign of Francis I. This engagement was called the battle of Bicoque.

BILBO, a rapier, or small sword, was formerly so called: from Bilboa in Spain, where excellent swords are made.

BILL or BILL-HOOK, a small hatchet used for cutting wood for fascines, gabions, bavins, &c.

BILLET, in England is a ticket for quartering soldiers, which intitles each soldier, by act of parliament, to candles, vinegar, and salt, with the use of fire, and the necessary utensils for dressing and eating their meat. The allowance of small beer has been added by a late regulation.

BILLET de logement, Fr. a billet for quarters. This billet or ticket was formerly delivered out to the French troops upon the same general principles that it is issued in England.

BILLETING, in the army, implies the quartering soldiers in the houses of any town or village.

BINACLE, a telescope with 2 tubes, so constructed, that a distant object might be seen with both eyes, now rarely used.

BIVOUAC, BIOUAC, BIOUVAC, or BIOVAC, Fr. [from the German weywacht, a double watch or guard.] A night-guard, or a detachment of the whole army, which during a siege, or in the presence of an enemy, marches out every night in squadrons or battalions to line the circumvallations, or to take post in front of the camp, for the purpose of securing their quarters, preventing surprises, and of obstructing supplies. When an army does not encamp, but lies under arms all night, it is said to bivoac. Thus before the battle of Austerlitz, Bonaparte was all night in bivoac, or with the advanced guard.

BIT, the bridle of a horse, which acts by the assistance of a curb. See CURB and BRIDON.

BLACK-HOLE, a place of confinement for soldiers, in the English discipline, who may be confined therein by the commanding officer, but not by any inferior officer. In this place they are generally restricted to bread and water.

BLANKETS, are made of coarse paper steeped in a solution of saltpetre, and when dry are again dipt in a composition of tallow, resin, and sulphur. They are used only in fire-ships.

BLAST, and BLASTING. See MINE and MINING.

BLINDS, in military affairs, are wooden frames, composed of 4 pieces, either flat or round, two of which are 6 feet long, and the others 3 or 4 feet, which serve as spars to fasten the two first together: the longest are pointed at both ends, and the two others are fastened towards the extremities of the former, at about 10 or 12 inches from their points, the whole forming a rectangular parallelogram, the long sides of which project beyond the other about 10 or 12 inches. Their use is to fix them either upright, or in a vertical position, against the sides of the trenches or saps, to sustain the earth. Their points at the bottom serve to fix them in the earth, and those at top to hold the fascines that are placed upon them; so that the sap or trench is formed into a kind of covered gallery, to secure the troops from stones and grenades.

The term Blind is also used to express a kind of hurdle, made of the branches of trees, behind which the soldiers, miners, or labourers, may carry on their work without being seen. See HURDLE.

BLINDS are sometimes only canvas stretched to obstruct the sight of the enemy. Sometimes they are planks set up, for which see MANTLET. Sometimes they are made of a kind of coarse basket-work; see GABIONS. Sometimes of barrels, or sacks filled with earth. In short, they signify any thing that covers the labourers from the enemy.

BLIND See ORILLON and FORTIFICATION.

BLOCKADE, BLOCKADING, in military affairs, implies the surrounding a place with different bodies of troops, who shut up all the avenues on every side, and prevent every thing from going in or out of the place; this is usually effected by means of the cavalry. The design of the blockade is to oblige those who are shut up in the town, to consume all their provisions, and by that means to compel them to surrender for want of subsistence.

Hence it appears that a blockade must last a long time, when a place is well provided with necessaries; for which reason this method of reducing a town is seldom taken, but when there is reason to believe the magazines are unprovided, or sometimes when the nature or situation of the place permits not the approaches to be made, which are necessary to attack it in the usual way.

Maritime towns, which have a port, are in much the same case as other towns, when their port can be blocked up, and the besiegers are masters of the sea, and can prevent succours from being conveyed that way into the place.

To BLOCKADE, or to block up a place, is to shut up all the avenues, so that it cannot receive any relief either of men or provisions, &c.

To raise a BLOCKADE, is to march from before a place, and leave it free and open as before.

To turn a siege into a BLOCKADE, is to desist from a regular method of besieging, and to surround the place with those troops who had formed the siege.

To form a BLOCKADE, is to surround the place with troops, and hinder any thing from going in or coming out.

A new species of BLOCKADE has been discovered during the French Revolution, a blockade by proclamation.

BLOCUS, Fr. See Blockade.

BLOCK battery, in gunnery, a wooden battery for two or more small pieces, mounted on wheels, and moveable from place to place: very ready to fire en barbet, in the galleries and casemates, &c. where room is wanted.

BLOCK-house, in the military art, a kind of wooden fort or fortification, sometimes mounted on rollers, or on a flat-bottomed vessel, serving either on the lakes or rivers, or in counter-scarps and counter-approaches. This name is sometimes given to a brick or stone building on a bridge, or the brink of a river, serving not only for its defence, but for the command of the river, both above and below.

BLUNDERBUSS, a well known fire-arm, consisting of a wide, short, but very large bore, capable of holding a number of musquet or pistol balls, very fit for doing great execution in a croud, making good a narrow passage, defending the door of a house, stair-case, &c. or repelling an attempt to board a ship.