The absence of named civilians from military rolls does not prove that they were inactive. Residents could use ranged weapons, carry materials, repair damaged walls, protect work parties and organize firefighting. Contemporary writers may not have listed these duties because participation by a besieged population was assumed. Naval construction records offer a useful comparison, since they omit familiar provisions until a change makes them worth mentioning. Routine activity is often least visible when everyone at the time understood it.
Notable Point · 43:13-45:32
Why chroniclers omit routine civilian siege work
Civilian shooting, wall repair and firefighting may disappear from accounts precisely because contemporaries treated such work as normal.