Civil War Field Fortifications
Crest of the Interior Slope
The crest of the interior slope was the line where the interior slope met the superior slope. It would probably be impossible to over emphasize the importance of the line of the interior crest to the design and construction of most field works. When a work was designed and laid out on the ground the line of the interior crest was established first and all other elements of the work were laid out in relation to it. As the line along which troops would stand to deliver their fire over the superior slope, it determined the direction of the columns of fire from the parapet. Its salient and re-entering angles determined whether and at what points fire from the faces and flanks of a work could be crossed to catch an attacking body of troops with both a direct and flank as they approached the work.
Since the interior crest was the highest point of the parapet it determined how well troops sheltered in the work would be protected from enemy fire. Most field works constructed on level ground had to have their interior crests at least six feet (though eight was preferred) above the level of the terreplain to prevent enemy troops standing outside the work from being able to fire directly into the interior of the work. On uneven ground or in cases where the enemy could see into the work from higher ground the crest of the interior slope could be made much higher, up to about 12 feet, to defilade the work
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