France, in the department of the North. In 1558 the English, who had for
some time held possession of the town, were expelled from it by the
French, who, in the ensuing year, surrendered it to the Spaniards. In
the middle of the 17th century it once more passed into the hands of the
French, who, after a few years’ occupation of it, again restored it to
Spain. In 1658 it was retaken by the French and made over to the
English. It was sold to the French king by Charles II. in 1662. In 1793
it was attacked by the English under the Duke of York, who, however, was
compelled to retire from before its walls with severe loss.
=Dunnottar.= A parish of Scotland, in Kincardineshire. It contains the
castle of Dunnottar, now in ruins. In the time of the civil wars, this
was the fortress in which the Scottish regalia were deposited. After
being besieged by Cromwell’s forces for six months, it capitulated; but,
before this, the regalia were secretly conveyed from it.
=Dunsinane.= In Perthshire, Scotland. On the hill was fought the battle
between Macbeth, the thane of Glammis, and Siward, earl of
Northumberland, July 27, 1054. Macbeth was defeated, and it was said
pursued to Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, and there slain, 1056 or 1057.
=Durazzo= (anc. _Epidamnus_). A town of Albania, European Turkey. It is
fortified, and is a place of considerable antiquity. Durazzo was founded
about 627 B.C. by a conjoined band of Corcyræans and Corinthians under
one Phaleus, a Heracleidan. It became a great and populous city, but was
much harassed by the internal strifes of party, which ultimately led to
the Peloponnesian war. Under the Romans it was called _Dyrrachium_
(whence its modern name). Here Pompey was for some time beleaguered by
Cæsar. In the 5th century it was besieged by Theodoric, the Ostro-Goth;
in the 10th and 11th centuries by the Bulgarians; and in 1081 it was
captured, after a severe battle, by the Norman, Robert Guiseard of
Apulia.
=Düren.= A town of Prussia, on the Roer. This was a Roman town, and is
mentioned by Tacitus by the name of _Marcodurum_. Charlemagne held two
diets here in 775 and 779, when on his way to attack the Saxons. It was
taken by assault and burned by Charles V., after an obstinate
resistance, in 1543. In 1794 it fell into the hands of the French, but
was ceded to Prussia in 1814.
=Dürkeim.= A town of Rhenish Bavaria, 20 miles north from Landau. The
summit of a height near this town is crowned by a rampart of loose
stones 6 to 10 feet high, 60 to 70 feet wide at the base, and inclosing
a space of about two square miles called the _Heidenmauer_ (“heathens’
wall”), which the Romans are said to have built to keep the barbarians
in check, and where Attila is said to have passed a winter, after having
wrested the fortress from the Romans, when passing on his way to Rome.
=Durrenstein.= A town of Austria, on the Danube. In the neighborhood, on
a rock, are the ruins of the castle in which Richard Cœur de Lion was
imprisoned in 1192. In 1805 the Russian and Austrian armies were
defeated here by the French.
=Duties.= This word is used in military parlance to express the men
paraded for any particular duty, such as guards, etc.
=Duty.= There is no word oftener used in military parlance than this. In
the technical sense it refers to the various services necessary for the
maintenance, discipline, and regulation of armies,--as _signal duty_,
_staff duty_, _the duties of a sentinel_, etc. To be _on duty_ is to be
in the active exercise of military functions; to be _off duty_ is to
have these functions temporarily suspended; to be _put on duty_ is to be
assigned to duty by order of a superior. Military duties are variously
classed as _duties of detail_, which are recurring and governed by a
roster, such as guard, fatigue, etc.; _special duties_ which are
determined by appointment, selection, or order; _extra duty_, continuous
special duty of enlisted men, entitling them to pay; _daily duty_, short
terms of special service for enlisted men. In a higher and broader sense
_duty_ is that which is due one’s country. It covers all the soldier’s
obligations, and forms his simplest and sublimest rule of action.
=Dyer Projectile.= See PROJECTILE.
=Dynamite=, called in the United States “giant powder,” is formed by
mixing nitro-glycerine with certain porous substances, and especially
with certain varieties of silica or alumina, these substances absorbing
the nitro-glycerine. It was invented in 1867 by the Swedish engineer
Nobel, who proposed to prevent the frequent and unexpected explosions of
nitro-glycerine, at the same time without sacrificing any of its power.
This he effected by the use of certain silicious earths as a base for
the absorption of the nitro-glycerine, the experiment resulting in the
new compound which he called dynamite, its transportation and handling
being no more dangerous than that of ordinary gunpowder. It is not
liable to spontaneous explosion like pure nitro-glycerine, nor can it
be exploded by moderate concussion; when unconfined, if set fire to, it
will burn without explosion; it may be safely kept at any moderate
temperature; is inexplosive when frozen, and acts effectively under
water. Its effects are proportional to the quantity of nitro-glycerine
held in absorption; but under circumstances where a sustained bursting
pressure is required, not being as instantaneous in its action as
nitro-glycerine, its effects are more powerful than those of an equal
weight of the pure material. The best absorbent of nitro-glycerine for
the formation of dynamite is a silicious earth found at Oberlohe,
Hanover. During the siege of Paris, a scientific committee of
investigation, engaged in experimenting on different substances as a
substitute for this earth, selected as the best silica, alumina, and
boghead cinders. Any of these, they declared, when combined with
nitro-glycerine, formed a substance which possessed all the remarkable
qualities attributed to the dynamite of Nobel. During the siege of Paris
dynamite was used successfully by the French engineers to free a
flotilla of gunboats caught in the ice on the Seine, below Charenton, by
simply placing a quantity of it on the surface of the ice. The explosion
dislodged the ice for a great distance, and the masses thus loosened,
being directed into the current by the aid of a small steamer, floated
down the stream, and left the river open. There are various other
compounds of nitro-glycerine, such as dualin, glyoxiline, etc., all
differing in the matter used as a base, they being generally some
explosive substances; but none of them appears to have come into such
general use or to be as reliable as dynamite. Many preparations of
chlorate and picrate of potassium have also been used from time to time
as explosive agents; but their great sensibility to friction or
percussion renders them extremely dangerous; they are, therefore, not
liable to come into general use. A preparation of potassium chlorate and
sulphur, not liable to explode by concussion, but very sensitive to
friction, is used with great effect as a charge for explosive bullets.
=Dynamometer.= An instrument for measuring the force of recoil in a
small-arm, consisting usually of a spiral spring so arranged as to be
compressed by the butt of the gun in firing. An index shows the number
of pounds required to produce a similar compression. The instruments now
used by the U. S. Ordnance Department are graduated to show the effect
of the recoil in _foot-pounds_ or _units of work_. This sensible change
was made at the suggestion of Lieut. Henry Metcalfe of that department.
E.
=Eagle.= In heraldry, is used as an emblem of magnanimity and fortitude.
In the Roman armies the eagle was used as a military standard, and even
previous to that time the Persians under Cyrus the Younger used the same
military emblem. In modern times, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and
the United States have adopted the eagle as a national military symbol.
The Austrian eagle is represented as double-headed.
=Eagle, Black.= A Prussian order of knighthood, founded in 1701; united
with the order of the Red Eagle, or order of Sincerity, instituted by
the margraves of Bayreuth.
=Earl Marshal.= Of England, is one of the officers of state; is the head
of the college of arms, which has jurisdiction in descents and
pedigrees; determines all rival claims to arms; and he grants
armorial-bearings, through the medium of the kings-of-arms, to parties
not possessed of hereditary arms.
=Early Cannon.= See ORDNANCE, HISTORY OF.
=Earth-bag.= See BAGS.
=Earth-house=, or =Eird-house=. The name generally given throughout
Ireland and Scotland to the underground buildings (which in some places
are called also “Picts’ houses”) which served to hide a few
people and their goods in time of war. The earth-house is a single
irregularly-shaped chamber, from 4 to 10 feet in width, from 20 to 60
feet in length, and from 4 to 7 feet in height, built of unhewn and
uncemented stones roofed by unhewn flags, and entered from near the top
by a rude doorway, so low and narrow that only one man can slide down
through it at a time. Implements of various kinds have been found in
them,--such as bronze swords, gold rings, etc.
=Earthworks.= In fortification, is a general name for all military
constructions, whether for attack or defense, in which the material
employed is chiefly earth.
=East Indian Army.= In 1861 the British Secretary of State for India
brought forward a measure for reorganizing the Indian army, which has
been passed into a law. The British portion of the Indian army is to
form part of the queen’s army generally, with certain honorary
distinctions, and is to take its turn at home and in the colonies like
the rest; but the expenses are to be paid out of Indian, not Imperial
revenues. The native portion is to be wholly in India; in its
reconstruction many improvements are made to lessen the chances of
future revolt.
=Ebersberg=, or =Ebelsberg=. A town of Upper Austria, on the Traun, 8
miles northwest from Ens, remarkable for being the scene of the defeat
of the Austrians by the French in 1809.
=Eboulement= (_Fr._). The crumbling or falling of the walls of a
fortification.
=Ebro.= A river in Spain, the scene of a signal defeat of the Spaniards
by the French under Lannes, near Tudela, November 23, 1808; and also of
several important movements of the allied British and Spanish armies
during the Peninsular war (1809-13).
=Eccentric.= A device applied to the truck wheels of top carriages and
beds of mortars in sea-coast artillery to give either rolling or sliding
friction at will. The wheels turn on axle-arms which project
eccentrically from the ends of an axle passing through both cheeks; when
the axle is turned the axle-arms carry the wheels up or down; when at
the lowest point the weight of the carriage is borne by the wheels, and
the system moves on rolling friction; the wheels are then said to be _in
gear_; when _out of gear_, or at their highest points, the wheels do not
touch the rails or platform plates, but the cheeks rest on them, and the
carriage moves upon sliding friction. A similar device is attached to
the chassis near the pintle to enable it to be readily traversed when
_in gear_, and give it stability when _out of gear_.
=Eccentric Projectiles.= A spherical projectile in which the centre of
inertia does not coincide with the centre of figure. Such projectiles
are subject to great deviations, which can be predicted as to direction
by knowing the position of the centre of inertia of the shot in the bore
of the gun. (See PROJECTILES, DEVIATION OF.) The side of the ball upon
which the centre of inertia lies can be found by floating it in a bath
of mercury, and marking the highest point where it comes to a state of
rest; the centre of inertia lies nearest the opposite side; its exact
position is determined by a kind of balance called the _eccentrometer_;
the ball is placed in the balance with the marked point nearest the
fulcrum; the distance of the centre of inertia or gravity from the
fulcrum is obtained by dividing the product of the counterbalancing
weight and its distance from the fulcrum by the weight of the
projectile.
=Echarge, Feu=, or =Feu d’Echarge=. Is employed to signify that a column
of troops is struck at a very oblique angle.
=Echaugette.= In military history, signifies a watch-tower, or kind of
sentry-box.
=Echelon.= A military term applied to a certain arrangement of troops
when several divisions are drawn up in parallel lines, each to the right
or the left of the one preceding it, like “steps,” or the rounds of a
ladder, so that no two are on the same alignment. Each division by
marching directly forward can form a line with that which is in advance
of it. There are two sorts of echelon, _direct_ and _oblique_, the
former of which is used in an attack or retreat.
=Eckmühl=, or =Eggmühl=. A small village of Bavaria, on the Great Laber.
This place is celebrated for the important victory gained by the French
over the Austrians on April 22, 1809, and which obtained for Davoust the
title of Prince of Eckmühl.
=Eclaireurs= (_Fr._). A corps of grenadiers raised by Bonaparte in
France, who from their celerity of movements were compared to lightning.
=Eclopes= (_Fr._). A military term to express those soldiers who, though
invalids, are well enough to follow the army. Among these may be classed
dragoons or horsemen whose horses become lame and cannot keep up with
the troop or squadron. They always march in the rear of a column.
=Ecole Polytechnique.= A celebrated military school in Paris,
established in 1794, chiefly for the artillery service. The examinations
for the schools are public to all France. It not only furnishes officers
of artillery, but also civil and military engineers of every
description. The pupils of this school defended Paris in 1814 and 1830.
=Economy.= In a military sense, implies the minutiæ or interior
regulations of a regiment, troop, or company. Hence regimental economy.
=Ecorcheurs= (_Flayers_). A name given to bands of armed adventurers who
desolated France and Belgium during the 15th century, beginning about
1435, and they at one time numbered 100,000. They are said to have
stripped their victims to their shirts, and flayed the cattle. They were
favored by the English invasion and the civil wars.
=Ecoutes.= Small galleries made at equal distances in front of the
glacis of the fortifications of a place. They serve to annoy the enemy’s
miners, and to interrupt them in their work.
=Ecreter= (_Fr._). To batter or fire at the top of a wall, redoubt,
epaulement, etc., so as to dislodge or drive away the men that may be
stationed behind it, in order to render the approach more easy. _Ecreter
les pointes des palissades_ is to blunt the sharp ends of the palisades.
This ought always to be done before you attack the covert way, which is
generally fenced by them.
=Ecu= (_Fr._). A large shield which was used by the ancients, and
carried on their left arm, to ward off the blows of sword or sabre. This
instrument of defense was originally invented by the Samnites. The Moors
had _ecus_, or shields, sufficiently large to cover the whole of their
bodies. The _clipei_ of the Romans only differed from the _ecu_ in
shape; the former being entirely round, and the latter oval.
=Ecuador=, or =Equator=. A South American republic, founded in 1831,
when the Colombian republic was divided into three; the other two being
Venezuela and New Granada. Gen. Franco was here defeated in battle by
Gen. Flores, August, 1860. Several insurrections have taken place in
Ecuador since 1860.
=Edessa=, or =Callinhoe=. An ancient city of Mesopotamia. In 1144 the
Edessenes were defeated by the Saracen chief Nur-ed-deen, and all who
were not massacred were sold as slaves. After many vicissitudes, it fell
successively into the hands of the sultans of Egypt, the Byzantines, the
Mongols, Turkomans, and Persians; the city was finally conquered by the
Turks, and has ever since formed a portion of the Turkish dominion. Its
modern name is Oorfa.
=Edge.= The thin or cutting part of a sword or sabre.
=Edgehill.= An elevated ridge in Warwickshire, England, 7 miles
northeast from Banbury. Here was fought, on Sunday, October 23, 1642,
the first great battle of the civil war, between the royalist forces
under Charles I. and the Parliamentarians under the Earl of Essex.
Prince Rupert, who led the right wing, charged with his cavalry the left
wing of the Parliamentarians, broke it, and pursued it madly to Keinton.
Essex with his force defeated the right wing of the royalists.
=Edinburgh.= The metropolis of Scotland, situated about 1¹⁄₂ miles from
the Firth of Forth. It was taken by the Anglo-Saxons in 482; retaken by
the Picts in 695; city fortified and castle rebuilt, 1074; besieged by
Donald Bane, 1093. The city was taken by the English in 1296;
surrendered to Edward III. in 1356. It was burnt by Richard II., 1385,
and by Henry IV., 1401. A British force landed from a fleet of 200
ships, in 1544, and burned Edinburgh. The castle surrendered to Cromwell
in 1650. The young Pretender occupied Holyrood September 17, 1745, and
the battle of Preston Pans took place September 21, 1745.
=Effective.= Fit for service; as, an army of 30,000 effective (fighting)
men.
=Efficient.= A thoroughly trained and capable soldier. It is also a term
used in connection with the volunteers. A volunteer is said to be
efficient when he has performed the appointed number of drills and fired
the regular number of rounds at the target, in the course of the year.
=Egham.= A village in the northwest of Surrey, 18 miles west of London.
In the vicinity is Runnymede, a meadow on the Thames, where King John
conferred with his barons before signing the Magna Charta in 1215.
=Egypt.= A country in Northeast Africa. On the division of the Roman
empire (395 A.D.) Egypt became a part of the dominions of Arcadius,
ruler of the Eastern empire. But, owing to religious feuds of the
Jacobites and Melchites, it became a province of Persia (616) for twelve
years. In 640 the governor, Makaukas, endeavored to make himself
independent, and invited the arms of the Arabs, and Amrou easily
conquered Egypt. Although Alexandria was retaken by Constantine III.,
the Arabs drove him out and maintained their conquest, and Egypt
remained an appendage of the caliphate. It afterwards passed into the
dynasty of the Turks, and was administered by pashas. Constant
rebellions of the Mamelukes, and the violence of contending factions,
distracted the country for more than two centuries. The most remarkable
event of this period was the French invasion by Bonaparte in 1798,
which, by the conquest of Alexandria and the battle of the Pyramids
against the Mamelukes, led to the entire subjection of the country, from
which the French were finally expelled by the Turks and British in 1801,
and the country restored to the Ottoman Porte. The rise of Mohammed Ali
in 1806 imparted a galvanic prosperity to Egypt by the destruction of
the Mamelukes, the formation of a regular army, and the introduction of
European civilization. He considerably extended its boundaries, even
into Asia; but in 1840 he was dispossessed of his Asiatic conquests. The
treaty of London, however, in 1841, confirmed the viceroyalty of Egypt
as a fief of the Ottoman empire to him and his descendants.
=Ehrenbreitstein.= A town and fortress of Rhenish Prussia, situated on
the right bank of the Rhine, directly opposite Coblentz, with which it
is connected by a bridge of boats. The fortress of Ehrenbreitstein
occupies the summit of a precipitous rock 490 feet high, and has been
called the Gibraltar of the Rhine, on account of its great natural
strength and its superior works. It is capable of accommodating a
garrison of 14,000 men, and provisions for 8000 men for ten years can be
stowed in its vast magazines. Ehrenbreitstein was besieged in vain by
the French in 1688, but fell into their hands in 1799, after a siege of
fourteen months. Two years after, the French, on leaving, at the peace
of Lunéville, blew up the works. It was assigned, however, to Prussia by
the Congress of Vienna in 1814, and under that country was restored and
thoroughly fortified. It is now one of the strongest forts in Europe.
=Eighty-ton Gun.= A large Woolwich gun designed as an armament for the
“Inflexible.” Its construction was authorized in March, 1874, and the
gun was ready for proof in October, 1875. When first made it weighed 81
tons, having a caliber of 14¹⁄₂ inches. It was bored during the progress
of the experiments to 16 inches, and was given an enlarged chamber. The
experiments were conducted by the celebrated “Committee on Explosion.”
See ORDNANCE, RECENT HISTORY OF.
=Eilau-Preussisch.= A town of Prussia, government of Königsberg. It is
chiefly celebrated for the victory gained there by the French over the
united Prussian and Russian armies, February 8, 1807.
=Einsiedeln.= A small town of Switzerland, in the canton of Schwytz. It
contains a fine abbey, which was rifled by the French in 1798.
=Ejector.= The device used in breech-loading small-arms to throw out the
metallic cartridge-case after it is fired.
=Ejector Spring.= The spring which operates an ejector.
=El Arish.= A village of Lower Egypt on the Mediterranean, on the route
from Egypt to Syria. It is but little more than a fort and a few houses,
and was taken by the French in 1799; and here the French general Kleber
signed, in 1800, a convention with Sir Sydney Smith, engaging to leave
Egypt with his troops.
=Elath=, or =Eloth=. A seaport situated at the head of that gulf of the
Red Sea, to which it gave its name. It was a fortified port in the time
of Solomon; revolted against Joram; was retaken by Azariah; and was
eventually conquered by Rezui, and held by the Syrians till it became a
Roman frontier town. Under the Mohammedan rule it rose for a while to
some importance, but has now sunk into insignificance.
=Elba.= An island belonging to the kingdom of Italy, in the
Mediterranean Sea, between Corsica and the coast of Tuscany, from the
latter of which it is separated by a channel 5 miles in breadth. Elba
has been rendered famous in history from having been Napoleon’s place of
exile from May, 1814, till February, 1815.
=El Boden.= A mountain-range, near Ciudad Rodrigo, in Spain, where the
British troops distinguished themselves against an overwhelming French
force in 1811.
=Elbow-gauntlet.= An ancient piece of armor, a gauntlet of plate
reaching to the elbow, adopted from the Asiatics in the 16th century.
=Elbow-piece.= An ancient piece of armor, a metal plate used to cover
the junction of the rere-brace and rant-brace, by which the upper and
lower half of the arm were covered.
=Elchingen.= A village of Bavaria, on the Danube, 7 miles northeast from
Ulm. Here the Austrians were defeated by the French in 1805. For this
victory Marshal Ney received the title of Duke of Elchingen.
=Electric light.= An intense light produced by passing an electric
current between points of carbon forming electrodes of the circuit.
There are many forms of the apparatus. It will be extensively used in
future wars for lighting harbor channels, approaches to forts, etc.
=Elements.= In a military sense, signify the first principles of
tactics, fortification, and gunnery.
=Elephant.= See PACK AND DRAUGHT ANIMALS.
=Elevate, To.= Is to raise the muzzle of the cannon or rifle so that the
latter shall be directed at a point above that which it is intended
shall be struck.
=Elevating Arc.= In gunnery, is an arc attached to the base of the
breech parallel to the ratchets and graduated into degrees and parts of
a degree. A pointer attached to the _fulcrum_ points to the zero of the
scale when the axis of the piece is horizontal. Elevations and
depressions are indicated by the scale. Besides the graduations on the
arc, the ranges (in yards) and charges for shot and shell are given.
=Elevating Bar.= An iron bar used in elevating guns or mortars having
ratchets at the breech.
=Elevating Screw.= The screw by means of which the breech of a cannon is
raised, the result being to depress the muzzle.
=Elevating Sight.= See SIGHT, ELEVATING.