Blindage, in fortification, any fixture for preventing the enemy 
from seeing what is going on in a particular spot. Such are, for 
instance, the fascines placed on the inner crest of a battery, and 
continued over the top of the embrasures; they make it more 
difficult, from a distance, to perceive any thing through the 
embrasures. More complete blindages are sometimes fixed to the 
embrasures, consisting of 2 stout boards, moving in slides from 
either side, so that the embrasure can be completely closed by 
them. If the line of fire is always directed to the same spot, they 
need not be opened out when the gun is run out, a hole being cut 
through them for the muzzle to pass. A movable lid closes the 
hole, when necessary. Other blindages are used to cover the 
gunners in a battery from vertical fire; they consist of plain strong 
timbers, one end of which is laid on the inner crest of the parapet, 
the other on the ground. Unless the shells are very heavy, and 
come down nearly in a vertical direction, they do not pass through 
such a blindage, but merely graze it, and go off at an angle. In 
trenching, some kinds of blindages are used to protect the sappers 
from fire; they are movable on trucks, and pushed forward as the 
work advances. Against musket fire, a wall of strong boards, lined 
on the outside with sheet iron, supported by strong timbers, is 
sufficient. Against cannon fire, large square boxes, or frames, 
filled with earth, sandbags, or fascines, are necessary. The most 
common kind of sappers’ blindage consists of a very large gabion, 
or cylinder of wicker work, filled with fascines, which is rolled 
before them by the workmen. Wherever the sap has to be covered 
in from above, the blindage is constructed by laying square balks 
across the top, and covering them with fascines, and finally with 
earth, which renders them sufficiently bomb and shot proof. 

Written before September 29, 1857 Reproduced from The New Ameri- 

: : : : can Cyclopaedia 

Cyclopaedia, Vol. III, 1858