Sentence:  When our artillery came before the walls of the town, the English within the walls killed some of our men, and several pioneers who were making <WSD>gabions</WSD>. And seeing they were so wounded that there was no hope of curing them, their comrades stripped them, and put them still living inside the <WSD>gabions</WSD>, which served to fill them up. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A cylindrical basket or cage of wicker which was filled with earth or stones and used in fortifications and other engineering work (a precursor to the sandbag).