Coutere. A piece of armor which covered the elbow.
Coutras. In Southwestern France. Here Henry of Navarre totally defeated the Duc de Joyeuse and the Royalists, October 20, 1587.
Cover. Natural or artificial protection from the fire of the enemy, the former being afforded by hills, woods, banks, walls, etc., the latter by fortifications constructed for the purpose. To cover is, in military language, to stand exactly behind another man.
Covering. Standing exactly in front or in rear of another man or an object.
Covering-fascines. Are those made of stout picket stuff, not less than 1 inch thick, without any mixture of small brush-wood. They may be used in place of planks for the superstructure of wooden bridges; and may also be used, if no stout planks or spars are to be had, for the roofs of field powder-magazines. They may be made of the usual diameter of 9 inches. Their length will depend upon the special purpose for which they are intended. The withes should be particularly good.
Covert Way, or Covered Way. Is a road or broad path outside the fosse or moat of a fortified place, between the counterscarp and the glacis. It is usually about 30 feet wide, and sunk so far below the crest of the glacis that soldiers standing upon it cannot be seen by the besiegers; hence the name. The covert way is broad enough to allow troops to form on it, either to act defensively or make sorties; and to increase this accommodation enlarged portions, called [places of arms], are made at certain spots.
Covinarii. The soldiers who fought on the [covinus] were so called.
Covinus. A kind of war-chariot used by the ancient Britons and Belgians.
Cowardice. See Appendix, [Articles of War], [42].
Cow-boys. A band of marauders in the time of the American Revolution, consisting mostly of refugees who adhered to the British side, and who infested the so-called “neutral ground” lying between the American and British lines, plundering all those who had taken the oath of allegiance to the Continental Congress. See Skinners.