A military dictionary

by William Duane

CAPITAINE en pied, Fr. an officer who is in actual pay and does duty.

Capitaine reformé, Fr. a reduced officer.

Capitaine general des vivres, Fr. the person who has the chief management and superintendance of military stores and provisions.

Capitaine des portes, Fr. a commissioned officer who resides in a garrison town, and whose sole duty is to receive the keys of the gates from the governor every morning, and to deliver them to him every night, at appointed hours.

CAPITAL, in fortification, is an imaginary line which divides any work into two equal and similar parts. It signifies also, a line drawn from the angle of a polygon to the point of the bastion, or from the point of the bastion to the middle of the gorge.

To CAPITULATE, to surrender any place or body of troops to the enemy, on certain stipulated conditions.

CAPITULATION, in military affairs, implies the conditions on which the garrison of a place besieged agrees to deliver it up, &. This is likewise the last action, both in the attack and defence of a fortification, the conditions of which may be of various kinds, according to the different circumstances or situations in which the parties may be placed.

As soon as the capitulation is agreed on, and signed, hostages are generally delivered on both sides, for the exact performance of the articles; part of the place is delivered to the besiegers, and a day appointed for the garrison to evacuate the place. The usual and most honorable conditions are, with arms and baggage, drums beating and colors flying, matches lighted, and some pieces of artillery; waggons, and convoys for the baggage, sick and wounded, &c.

CAPONNIER, in fortification, is a passage made from one work to another, of 10 or 12 feet wide, and about five feet deep, covered on each side by a parapet, terminating in a glacis. Caponniers are sometimes covered with planks and earth. See [Fortification].

CAPS, in gunnery, are pieces of leather, or more commonly sheep-skins, to cover the mouth of mortars when loaded, till they are fired, to prevent damps, or rain getting in.