Codogno. A town of Italy, in the province of Milan, between the Adda and the Po. Here the Austrians were defeated by the Spaniards in 1746, and by the French in 1796.
Coehorn. So named from the military engineer, Baron Van Coehorn, who invented it. It is a small howitzer, or mortar, generally 43⁄5 inches caliber. These implements of war, being easily moved and adjusted, and taking little powder, are found very useful in sieges, if grouped in great numbers.
Coehorn Beds. See [Ordnance, Carriages for, Mortar Beds].
Coeverden, Coevorden, or Koevorde. A fortified town of Holland; it was captured by the French in 1795.
Coffer. In fortification, a hollow lodgment, sunk in the bottom of a dry ditch, from 6 to 7 feet deep, and from 16 to 18 feet broad. Its length corresponds with the whole breadth of the said ditch, from side to side. The besieged generally make use of these coffers to repulse the besiegers when they attempt to pass the ditch; they are distinguished only by their length from caponnières. They are covered with joists, hurdles, and earth, raised 2 feet above the bottom of the ditch, so as to serve the purposes of a loop-holed parapet.
Cohort. A division of the ancient Roman armies, consisting of about 600 men, divided into centuries. It was the tenth part of a legion, and its number, consequently, was under the same fluctuation as that of the legions. In the time of the empire the cohort often amounted to 1000 men.
Coif. Was originally an iron skull-cap, worn by knights under their helmets; it was introduced before 1259. It is now especially applied in Great Britain to a cap worn by sergeants-at-law.
Coimbra. An ancient city of Portugal, capital of the province of Beira. It appears to have been originally built by the Goths; from them it passed to the Moors, from whom it was finally conquered in 1064 by Fernando the Great, aided by the gallant Cid. It was taken by the troops under the British colonel Kent, October 7, 1810.
Coin (Fr. coin d’artilleur). In gunnery, a kind of wedge to lay under the breech of a gun, in order to raise or depress the metal. Written also quoin.
Colberg, or Kolberg. A strongly fortified seaport of Prussian Pomerania. It stands on a hill, surrounded with swamps which can be laid under water, and is chiefly remarkable for the protracted sieges it has undergone. In 1102, Duke Boleslaus, of Poland, besieged it in vain. It endured long sieges in the Thirty Years’ War and in the Seven Years’ War, and again in 1807, when it was most gallantly defended against the French.