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Civil War Illustrations

An Embrasure at Sumter (Outside View)

a square opening in the fort wall surrounded by a rock outcropping and a ship in the distance

Caption: An Embrasure at Sumter – Outside – (Drawn by an officer of Major Anderson's command)

Source: Illustration from Harper's Weekly, March 16, 1861, page 164.

Note: Another illustration in the same issue of Harper's Weekly showed an interior view of an embrasure.

In military terms, an embrasure is an opening in a fortification that allows a weapon to be fired out, while those manning it remain protected behind the wall.