CAM'OUFLET, in military pyrotechny, is a stinking composition inclosed in paper cases. It is used in siege-works, to blow into the faces of the sappers and miners, when hostile parties come within reach of each other, and thus-to confuse them.
CAMP (Fr., from Lat. campus, a plain, or level field). The signification of this word in English is rather that which belonged to the Latin &minim, an encampment, or castra, a collection of tents, huts, and other structures, for the accommodation and protection of troops, than that which its etymology would more directly indicate. The regular system of encampment ultimately adopted by the Romans, was forced upon them by degrees. The most complete account of it is furnished to us by Polybins. A plan will be found in Dr. Smith's Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, con structed for the purpose of illustrating his description. When a Roman army was about to encamp, a tribune and several centurions were sent on before, to select a suitable site for the purpose. As soon as the locality was determined on, they chose the spot for the prwtorium or general's tent, and marked it with a white flag. Around the prwtorium, as a sort of center or heart to the whole system, the rest of the C. was laid out. It was generally placed on an elevated position, in order that the general might have the rest of the encampment under his eye, and be able to transmit his orders with greater facility. Polybius himself tells us, that the best conception which can be formed of a Roman C. of the more permanent kind is by regarding it as a military town, resembling in many respects no doubt that which has recently grown up at Alder shot (q.v.). The streets were broader than those usually to be found in towns. the wider ones measuring 100, and the narrower 50 ft.; and the forum, as its name indicates, was a sort of public market-place. A space of 200 ft. was left vacant all round between the tents and the ramparts, partly to afford space for the arrangements of the army, and for stowing away any booty that might be captured, but chiefly to protect the soldiers' huts from incendiary attempts from without. In form, the Roman C. was square, except in the case in which it was intended to embrace within its ramparts four legions, or two consular armies, when it became an oblong rectangle. The C. was surrounded by a fosse or trench (fossa), which was generally 9 ft. deep and 12 broad. On the top of the rampart, which was of earth, there were stakes. The labor of constructing the rampart and the fosse was divided between the allies and the Roman legions, the former making the sides along which they were stationed, and the legions the rest. The task of superintending the construction of the C. amongst the Romans was intrusted to the tribunes; amongst the allies, to the prefects. Before the arrival of the troops, the dif ferent parts of the C. were so distinctly marked out and measured off, that they at once proceeded to their respective stations, as if they had entered a well-known city, and were marching to their quarters. The discipline of the C. was of the strictest kind. The tribunes administered an oath against theft both to freemen and slaves, and two maniples were chosen to keep the ca Irincipalis, which was a place of general resort, clean and in good repair. The other occupations connected with the C., too numerous to be mentioned here, were portioned out in like manner; and the superintendence of the whole was intrusted to two tribunes chosen by lot from each legion, and appointed to serve for two months. The prefects of the allies possessed a similar authority, which, however, seems to have been limited to their own troops, Every morning at daybreak, the centurions and horsemen presented themselves to the tribunes, and these, in their turn, received their orders from the consul. The watchword for the night, marked on
a four-cornered piece of wood, was given out with much formality. The night was divided into four watches, each of three hours' length; and there was a curious arrange ment for ascertaining that guard was kept with vigilance. The soldiers of the watch companies received from the tribune a number of small tablets, with certain marks upon them, and these tablets were collected during the night by the horsemen whose duty it was to visit theposts, from such of the guards as they found on duty. Where these inspectors found the guards asleep or absent, they called upon the bystanders to witness the fact, and then passed on to the next. In the morning, the inspectors appeared before the tribunes, and gave up the tablets they had received, when the guards whose tablets were not produced were required to account for them. A regular scale of rewards and punishments was established in the camp. In comparing the encampments of the Romans with those of his own countrymen, Polybius tells us that the Greeks trusted mainly to a judicious selection of their ground, and regarded the natural advan tages which they thus secured as supplying iu a great measure the place of artificial means of defense. The Greeks, consequently, had no regular form of C., and no fixed places were assigned to the different divisions of the army. When the practice of drawing up the army according to cohorts, introduced by Marius and Caesar, was adopted, the internal arrangements of the C. experienced a corresponding change. Latterly. even the square form was abandoned, and the C. was made to suit the nature of the ground. It was always held to be of importance, however, that the C. occupied a defensible position; that it could not be overlooked; and that it had a command of water.
When stationary camps (castra stativa) came into more general use, we hear of several parts which are not mentioned by Polybius, for example, the infirmary (valetudinarium), the farriery (veterinarium), the forge (fabricu), etc.; and as a great variety of troops then came to be employed, they must, of course, have had new stations appointed to them in the camp. Many of the stationary camps ultimately became towns, and to this is ascribed the origin of most of the towns in England the names of which end in cester or ekester. Amongst, the moat perfect of those which retained the form of the simple encampment, is that at Ardoch in Strathearn, Perthshire, in the grass-covered mounds and ridges of which most of the divisions of the C. have been distinctly traced by antiquaries. For further information on this subject, the reader is referred to gen. Roy's Military Antiquities in Great Britain, and the Caledonia Romana of the late Mr. Robert Stuart. In these works will be found ample accounts of some of the more remarkable Roman camps in Britain; those described by by being rendered intelligible by large engravings.
It is believed that, during the middle ages, the plan adopted by the Romans in their camps was more or less adhered to, seeing that the weapons employed, which mainly determined the character Of the troops, were nearly the same. In Britain, before the arrival of the Romans, and also during the Saxon and Danish periods, the camps, usually circular in form, appear to have been somewhat rude in character, with the cavalry grouped round the standard in the center, and the infantry placed near the front.
The principles of castrametation, or camp-formation, underwent much change after the invention of gunpowder, owing to the necessity for defending the C. from artillery. .)lodern camps, of different kinds, will be found described