GARRISON, in the art of war, a body of forces, disposed in a fortress, to defend it against the enemy, or to keep the inhabitants in subjection, or even to be subsisted during the winter season. Hence garrison and winter quarters are sometimes used indifferently for the same thing, whilst at other times they denote different things. In the latter case, a garrison is a place in which forces are maintained to secure it, and where a regular guard is kept, as a frontier town, a citadel, castle, tower, and the like. The garrison should be always stronger than the townsmen. Du Cange derives the word from the corrupt Latin garnisio, which the later writers use to signify all manner of munition, arms, victuals, and the like, necessary for the defence of a place and sustaining a siege.