Risban (Fr.). In fortification, a flat piece of ground upon which a fort is constructed for the defense and security of a port or harbor. It likewise means the fort itself.
Risberme (Fr.). A work composed of fascines, such as is sometimes constructed at the bottom of a town-wall. A sort of glacis of fascine-work used in jetties, the sides of which, towards the sea, are so formed as to withstand its violence.
Rise. In a military sense, is to make hostile attack; as, the soldiers rose against their officers. It also means to obtain promotion. To rise from the ranks, is to obtain a commission by degrees, after having been in the ranks as a private soldier.
Rising. In heraldry, a term applied to a bird when represented opening his wings as if about to take flight.
Riveting-plates. In gun-carriages, are small, square, thin pieces of iron, through which the ends of the bolts pass, and are riveted upon them.
Rivoli. A town of Italy on the right of the river Dora, and 8 miles west of Turin. It possesses a royal castle, which was sacked by the French in 1690. In 1797 a battle was fought here between the French and Austrians, in which the former were victorious.
Rizamedar. In the East Indies, is an officer commanding a small body of horse.
Roanoke. A river of Virginia and North Carolina; empties into Albemarle Sound. In 1861, Albemarle Island, at its mouth, and Plymouth were taken by the Federal gunboats.
Robinet. An ancient military machine for throwing darts and stones.
Rochelle, La. A fortified seaport of France, capital of the department of Charente-Inférieure, on an inlet of the Bay of Biscay, 300 miles southwest of Paris by railway. It was taken from the English by the troops of the French king Louis XIII. in 1224; was ceded to England at the treaty of Bretigny in 1360; in the subsequent wars it was retaken by France, under whose sway it has remained since 1372. As a stronghold of the Huguenot party, it underwent various attacks and sieges during the religious wars of the Henries, in the latter half of the 16th century; and on its final and unconditional surrender to the royal troops in the time of Louis XIII., its old fortifications were destroyed, and new lines of defenses subsequently erected by the great Vauban.