COCKADE, a ribbon worn in the hat. This military mark succeeded the scarf that was formerly worn by the officers and soldiers belonging to European nations, which are principally distinguished in the following manner. In the army and navy of Great Britain, black silk riband for the officers, and hair cockades for the non-commissioned officers, private soldiers and mariners; light blue, pink and white ribands mixed, called tricolor or three-colored, distinguish the French; red marks the Spaniard, black the Prussian and Austrian, green the Russian, &c. Under the old government of France, officers were not permitted to wear a cockade, unless they were regimentally dressed; and, singular as it may appear, the officers and men belonging to a certain number of old regiments in the Prussian service do not wear any mark in their hats. In the United States the cockade is worn, in and out of regimentals, by every species of military character. COFFER, in _fortification_, a hollow lodgment sunk in the bottom of a dry ditch, from 6 to 7 feet deep, and from 16 to 18 feet broad, and the length of it, the whole breadth of the said ditch, from side to side. The besieged generally make use of these coffers to repulse the besiegers, when they attempt to pass the ditch: they are distinguished only by their length from _Caponiers_; the difference between coffers and the traverse and gallery, consists in this, that the latter are made by the besiegers, and the former by the besieged. They are covered with joists, hurdles, and earth, raised 2 feet above the bottom of the ditch; which rising serves instead of a parapet, with loop-holes in it. COFFRE. See COFFER. COGNIZANCE. Judicial notice, trial, judicial authority. In a military sense, implies the investigation to which any person or action is liable. During the suspension of civil authority, every offence comes under military cognizance, is subject to military law, and may be proceeded upon according to the summary spirit of its regulation. Hence, a drum-head court-martial is the strongest instance of military cognizance. COHORT, in _Roman antiquity_, a name given to part of the Roman legion, comprehending about 600 men. COINS, in gunnery, are a kind of wedges to lay under the breech of a gun, to raise or depress the metal. COLLET, _Fr._ that part of a cannon which is between the astragal and the muzzle. COLONEL, the commander in chief of a regiment, whether of horse, foot, dragoons, or artillery: but in France, Spain, and some other southern nations, the colonels of horse are called _Mâitres de Camp_; in Germany, and most northern nations, they are called _Ritmeesters_. Colonels of foot in the English army take place, and command one another, according to the seniority of their regiments, and not of their commissions; but those of horse, on the contrary, according to the dates of their commissions.