CASEMATES _nouvelles_, _Fr._ arched batteries which are constructed under all the openings of revetements or ramparts. The different forts at Cherbourg, are defended by these casemates: the works erected round Dover Castle, come likewise under this description; the works at fort Columbus, New York, are erected on the same principles. CASERNES, in fortification, are buildings for the soldiers of the garrison to live in; generally erected between the houses of fortified towns, and the rampart. CASERNES, in a general acceptation, signify barracks. CASE-_Shot_. See SHOT, and LABORATORY. CASHIERED. An officer sentenced by a general court-martial, or peremptorily ordered by the king, to be dismissed from the service, is said to be cashiered. CASK, _or_ CASQUE, the ancient helmet or armor for the head. CASSINE, in military history, signifies a small house in the country, generally surrounded by a ditch. Cassines are very convenient to post small parties in, where they will be sheltered from any sudden attack, and can even make head till the nearest detachments can come and relieve them. CASSIONS. See CAISSONS. CASTING, in founding guns, implies the operation of running any sort of metal into a mould prepared for that purpose. CASTLE, in military affairs, a fortified place, or strong hold, to defend a town or city from an enemy. English castles are for the most part no higher in antiquity than the Norman conquest; or rather about the middle of king Stephen’s reign. Castles were erected in almost all parts of that kingdom, by the several contending parties; and each owner of a castle was a kind of petty prince, coining his own money, and exercising sovereign jurisdiction over his people. History informs us that 1017 castles were built in one reign.