CONCEPT AND THE PREEXISTENCE OF FORTLETS

Each of the fortlets occupies the top of a hillock which, if taken by the enemy and used to site their batteries there (which happened in the hillock of São Francisco, at the Battle of the Lines of Elvas, in 1658/9), would threaten the Fort of Santa Luzia, the city or would allow the use of the aqueduct as an obstacle to progress in the field. Therefore these prominences were designated "vantage points". In military reports from 1797, 1823 and 1852, the military importance attributed to the construction of the fortlets, and to their conservation as permanent works, is clear. In 1797: "Since the Fort of Santa Luzia does not have a glacis nor works which guarantee to prolong Resistence, it was believed that a Redoubt on a small elevation called S. Mamede was essential (...) Another Redoubt in the Fortlet called S. Pedro was properly envisaged (...) ". In 1823: "These redoubts are a detached part of the Fortification of this Stronghold and contribute greatly to its defence; because being well repaired and well fortified it will take considerable time for the distant besiegers of the Fort of S. Luzia, and the Stronghold; thus the conservation of these redoubts is a matter of great urgency, as permanent Works (...). "In 1852," The four Redoubts (...) detached from the Stronghold form its first line of defence (...) ".

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE

Fortlet of São Domingos or of Piedade (aerial view)

Fortlet of São Mamede (ditch)

This much is certain from the military reports: in 1797, the fortlets of São Mamede and São Pedro were under construction – we are unaware of the project – and they had already "(...) the Embrasures built, and the ditch, and more Work at an advanced stage". But it was in that same year that the works were ordered to be halted by the Marshal General of the Portuguese Army (1791-1801), D. João Carlos de Bragança

nd(1719-1806), 2 Duke of Lafões, much to the displeasure of the stronghold's governor, Lieutenant General Francisco Xavier de Noronha. After the "disaster" of the War of the Oranges (1801), D. João Carlos was stripped of all his positions and replaced by the Prussian Marshal Karl-Alexander von der Goltz (1739-1818) who commanded our army until the following year. The French troops, under the command of Junot (1807), were occupying the country, and were forced out by the English, with whom they agreed the Convention of Sintra (1808). The following year (1809), the British Marshal William Carr Beresford took over the command of the military government of the country and remained in office until 1820. And Wellington was appointed general in overall command of the Anglo-Portuguese-Spanish allied armies in the Peninsula. It is in this political-military context, with the royal family in Brazil, that the fortlets were built in Elvas, starting from 1811, when General Rowland Hill, commanded the Anglo-Portuguese army on the Alentejo border. Badajoz was occupied by the French, under the command of Phillipon, and resisted until 1812. In the report of the stronghold's governor (1875) – General Francisco Xavier Lopes – it is explained why the four fortlets were built: "The Duke of Wellington knowing that the French General Soult had joined forces with Davoust and that Marmout had crossed the Tagus at Almaraz, converging all the forces commanded by these generals on Badajoz, he raised siege immediately on this stronghold (1811) mustering in Elvas to oppose these hordes who once again threatened to invade our country; it was on this fatal occasion that villages, gardens, orchards, olive groves, houses, all fell to the ground and were destroyed! Even fountains were rendered useless, nothing escaped the destructive fury of the English engineers, with only the forts of São Mamede, São Pedro, Piedade and São Francisco arising out of all this ruin and devastation. They remained unused at that time and today are completely abandoned." Further on, the governor reaffirms who built the fortlets: "To the east and west of this fort [Santa Luzia], and on small elevations of terrain, the redoubts of S. Mamede and S. Pedro were built by the English in 1811, to the west of the bulwark of Conceição, and next to the Amoreira aqueduct, at a distance of 700 m from the stronghold, the redoubts of Piedade and S. Francisco." In fact, we can cite Wellington suggesting to Beresford, in his dispatch of 18 June 1811, the construction of the fortlet of São Pedro: "Secondly, the ground over which the road from Villa Boim passes is not seen at all from Santa Luzia, or from the body of the place; and it appears that a redoubt on the rock on the right of Santa Luzia would command that ground, and would aid in the defence of Santa Luzia, and the body of the place, by both of which its flanks would, in some degree, be protected. A good palisaded redoubt ought to be constructed on that ground.”

AN ANGLO-PORTUGUESE CONSTRUCTION

MarshalDuke of Wellington

Arthur Wellesley,

General Rowland Hill (1772–1842)

Colonel Sir Richard Fletcher (1768-1813), Chief Engineer in the Peninsula(1809-1813), responsible for building the Lines of Torres Vedras and various sieges (Badajoz)

William Carr Beresford (1768-1854), Marshal General of the Portuguese Army (1809-1820) in Portuguese dress uniform.

Plan of the fortifications of Elvas Reference Number: DSE (1819) 7647-5-73-77. Fortlet of São Mamede . Fortlet of São Pedro . Fortlet of São Domingos or of Piedade . Fortlet of São Francisco

1 23 4

Fortlets and redoubts were terms that were equivalent, the latter being more used to designate temporary enclosed offensive fortifications, usually in a quadrangular shape. But this term was also used, and frequently, to designate small defensive fortifications, of a permanent character, adding the qualifying adjective "detached” to establish the difference. To maintain the courrent/traditional designation in Elvas and to avoid confusion – which our first treatise writers, Louis Serrão Pimentel (1680) and Azevedo Fortes (1729) failed to do – we have decided to call them fortlets (small forts) because they are endowed with embrasures, powder-magazines, traverses, guard-house and ditch, that is, they were not limited to being simple redoubts with parapets for the infantry. In support of this option, we note the use of the term "fortlet"

thin a project in the second half of the 18 century, which was not followed up, and which reads: "Of fortification Works with which to occupy the Hillock of Sam Mamede and Fortlet of São Pedro (...)". In regard to the prior existence of

fortlets in Elvas, we only know of one, located on the hillock of São Pedro, called "Work of the hillock of S. Pedro " (Book of João Nunes Tinoco, 1663), and known as "Fortlet of S. Pedro" (in an anony-mous plan in the second half of

th ththe 18 century or early 19 cen-tury).

Fortlet of Reference NumberSão Francisco : DSE (1817) 1544-1A-13A-18

Fortlet of or of Reference Number São Domingos Piedade : DSE (n. d.) 1650-1A-13-17

Fortlet of Reference Number: DSE (n. d.) 10769/A-2A-29-41 São Pedro

Fortlet of Reference Number: DSE (n. d.) 1545-1A-13A-18 São Mamede

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Certainly the governor of the stronghold – General Francisco Leite – as well as the engineer-colonels at the time – Ricardo Raposo and Raymundo Correa – collaborated in the implementation of this entire plan, in fact, it originated under English command.

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CONSTITUTION OF THE FORTLETS IN 1815

The Fort of S. Mamede featured a pentagonal plan, it had ten embrasures, a traverse, a ditch, a glacis, a bomb-proof powder-magazine with an escape passage and a roofed-building (guard-house) with accommodation for the commanding officer, and another for six men and even a warehouse.

The Fortlet of São Pedro had an identical plan, it had nine embrasures, two traverses, a ditch around almost all its perimeter, an incomplete glacis in front of the ditch, a bomb-proof powder-magazine with an escape passage and a guard-house, with accommodation for the commanding officer, and another for seven men and warehouse.

The Fortlet of Piedade, also called São Domingos, had a hexagonal plan, thirteen embrasures, three traverses, “a non-uniform” ditch around the entire perimeter, glacis and the foundation of a guard-house for the accommodation of the commanding officer, sixteen men and even for a warehouse; it should be mentioned that work on the powder-magazine was never started and that there were two small vaulted rooms for the guard and for a tool depot .

Finally, the Fortlet of São Francisco had a pentagonal plan, eleven embrasures, an irregular ditch around the entire perimeter, an incomplete glacis, the foundations of a guard-house for eighteen men and "a small separate house" for the comman-ding officer, the powder-magazine was projected but never executed.

Observing what remains, we can say that almost all of what is described in the th

constitution in 1815 survives. Note that, during the 19 century, these detached works did not benefit from any significant improvement, and there were recurring reports lamenting their ruinous state. Of the four fortlets, the only one that was lost was São Francisco, because of the construction of the municipal cemetery,

thfrom 1843 on, and its extension in the 20 century. At the time, the Minister of War authorised the transfer of the land to the municipality on the condition that it would demolish the "ruins" of the fortlet. We can conclude that these fortlets are similar to those of the Lines of Torres Vedras: they have a ditch and a polygonal plan with as many sides as the planes of the slopes that intersect them, opening embrasures in the directions from which the enemy might approach, and the gorge in the opposite direction.

GOVERNMENT, GARRISON, WEAPONS AND WARTIME EVENTS

The fortlets did not have their own government, as their commanders were under the authority of the governor of the stronghold. Its infantry garrison (in 1823) and the artillery pieces necessary for its defence (in 1875) were as follows:- Fortlet of São Mamede: 272 infantrymen, 2 mortars, 4 howitzers and 4 grooved-barrel guns.- Fortlet of São Pedro: 257 infantrymen, 2 mortars, 4 howitzers and 4 grooved-barrel guns.- Fortlet of Piedade: 353 infantrymen, 2 mor-tars, 6 howitzers and 4 grooved-barrel guns.- Fortlet of São Francisco: 117 infantrymen, 2 mortars, 6 howitzers and 4 grooved-barrel guns.

Fortlet of São Pedro (aerial view)

Fortlet of São Domingos or of Piedade (traverses)Fortlet of São Mamede seen from the Fort of Santa Luzia

Fortlet of São Mamede (powder-magazine)

Fortlet of São Domingos or of Piedade (entrance) Fortlet of São Pedro (entrance and powder-magazine)

Fortlet of São Pedro (general view)The

Elvasand its Fortifications

The Garrison Border Town of

Fortlets of

As to the events in wartime, there is no known occurrence, even during the Napoleonic wars, the period in which they were built.