field-carriage, where the wheels touch it in turning, to prevent the
wearing of the wood in those places. These plates are commonly called
wheel-guard plates.
=Lock-plate.= The plate in a small-arm which covers the lock and to
which the mechanism is attached.
=Lockspit.= In field fortification, a small cut or trench made with a
spade, about a foot wide, to mark out the first lines of a work.
=Lock-step.= A mode of marching by a body of men going one after another
as closely as possible, in which the leg of each moves at the same time
with and closely follows the corresponding leg of the person directly
before him.
=Locri=, or =Locri Epizephyrii= (now _Motta di Burzano_). A town of the
Greek Locrians in Italy, on the southeast coast of the Bruttian
peninsula. An important event in its history is the battle at the river
Sagras, in which 10,000 Locrians and a few Rhegian auxiliaries defeated,
with great carnage, an army of 130,000 Crotoniats. They were allies of
the Romans against Pyrrhus; but after the battle of Cannæ, 210 B.C.,
revolted to the Carthaginians, and did not resume the yoke of Rome until
205 B.C. From this period Locri seems to have gradually declined in
importance.
=Lodge Arms.= An old word of command, which was used on guards and
pickets for the men to place their arms in front of the guard-house or
quarter-guard.
=Lodge, Indian.= See WIGWAM.
=Lodge-pole.= Is a pole used by Indians in the construction of their
teepes. It is generally of mountain pine or ash, about 30 feet long; 2
to 2¹⁄₂ inches at the butt, and 1¹⁄₂ inches at the other extremity.
Lodge-poles are also used by the Indians to construct their _travaux_,
to convey their wounded, camp equipments, etc. See TRAVOIS.
=Lodging Allowance.= In the British army, a money allowance given under
certain circumstances to officers and men for whom there is no
accommodation in barracks to provide lodgings for themselves. Married
sergeants and private soldiers, who are married “with permission,” are
entitled to lodging-money at various rates up to 8 shillings a week,
when separate rooms in barracks cannot be spared for the accommodation
of each couple.
=Lodgment.= Is a work made by the besiegers in some part of a
fortification, after the besieged have been driven out, for the purpose
of maintaining it, and to be covered from the enemy’s fire. It also
means a footing obtained inside of an enemy’s works.
=Lodgment.= See INJURIES TO CANNON.
=Lodi.= A town of Italy, in the province of Lombardy, stands on the
right bank of the Adda, 19 miles south of Milan. Lodi is celebrated for
the victory of the French under Bonaparte over the Austrians, on May 10,
1796, when the long and narrow bridge was carried by the French column,
notwithstanding a tremendous fire from the Austrian batteries.
=Logement= (_Fr._). Means generally any place occupied by military men,
for the time being, whether they are quartered upon the inhabitants of a
town, or are distributed in barracks. When applied to soldiers that have
taken the field, it is comprehended under the several heads of huts,
tents, etc.
=Logistics.= Is properly that branch of the military art embracing all
details for moving and supplying armies. It includes the operations of
the ordnance, quartermaster’s, subsistence, medical, and pay
departments. It also embraces the preparation and regulation of
magazines for opening a campaign, and all orders of march and other
orders from the general-in-chief relative to moving and supplying
armies. Some writers have, however, extended its signification to
embrace strategy.
=Logrono.= A town of Spain, the capital of a province of the same name,
in Old Castile, situated on the Ebro. In 1808 and 1823 it was occupied
by the French, being of importance as a military post.
=Loigny.= A village in France, department of Loiret, about 9 miles from
Orleans. During the Franco-German war, the army of the Loire under Gen.
Chanzy was defeated near here by the Germans under the Grand Duke of
Mecklenburg, December 2, 1870.
=Lombard.= A form or size of cannon formerly in use.
=Lombards= or =Longobards=. A German people of the Suevic family, not
very numerous, but of distinguished valor, who played an important part
in the early history of Europe. About the 4th century they seem to have
begun to leave their original seats (on the Lower Elbe, where the Romans
seem to have come first in contact with them about the beginning of the
Christian era), and to have fought their way southward and eastward,
till they came into close contact with the eastern Roman empire on the
Danube, adopted an Arian form of Christianity, and after having been
some time tributary to the Heruli, raised themselves upon the ruins of
their power, and of that of the Gepidæ, shortly after the middle of the
6th century, to the position of masters of Pannonia, and became one of
the most wealthy and powerful nations in that part of the world. Under
their king Alboin they invaded and conquered the north and centre of
Italy (568-569), and founded the kingdom of Lombardy. The nobles ravaged
the greater part of Italy subsequent to 573, but in 584 they appointed
Autharis their king, who greatly extended the empire, and formed a
powerful kingdom. In the autumn of 773, Charlemagne invaded Italy; and
in May of the following year Pavia was conquered and the Lombard
kingdom, after an existence of 206 years, was overthrown. In 776, an
insurrection of some of the Lombard nobles brought Charlemagne again
into Italy, and their dukedoms were broken down into counties, and the
Lombard system, as far as possible, supplanted by that of the Franks. In
803, a treaty between Charlemagne, the Western, and Nicephorus the
Eastern emperor, confirmed the right of the former to the Lombard
territory.
=Lombardy.= The name given to that part of Upper Italy which formed the
nucleus of the kingdom of the Lombards (which see). It consisted of the
whole of Italy north of the peninsula, with the exceptions of Savoy and
Venice, and after the fall of the Lombard kingdom, in 774, was
incorporated in the Carlovingian empire. In 843 it was created a
separate kingdom, but was not entirely severed from the Frankish
monarchy till 888. From this time it was ruled by its own kings till
961, when it was annexed to the German empire. Out of the wrecks of the
old independent kingdom now arose a number of independent duchies, as
Friuli, Mantua, Susa, Piedmont, etc., and soon afterwards the republics
of Venice, Genoa, Milan, and Pavia, etc. The Lombard cities declared
themselves independent towards the commencement of the 12th century, and
in 1167 were joined by their less powerful neighbors in the “first
Lombard league,” for the maintenance of their liberties against Frederic
Barbarossa, whom they severely defeated in 1176. In 1225 they were
compelled to form the “second Lombard league” against Frederick II., and
with similar success. After this, petty tyrants rose in most of the
cities, and foreign influence quickly followed. The Guelph and
Ghibelline factions greatly distracted Lombardy; and from the 15th
century to the present time it has been contended for by the German and
French sovereigns. The house of Austria obtained it in 1748, and held it
till 1797, when it was conquered by the French, who incorporated it into
the Cisalpine republic, and in 1805 into the kingdom of Italy. On the
breaking up of the French empire in 1815, the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom
was established by the allied sovereigns and given to Austria, who had
lost her Flemish possessions. In 1859 this union was dissolved by the
Italian war; and also by the treaty of Villa Franca, ceded to the king
of Sardinia.
=Lomond, Loch.= The largest and most celebrated of the Scottish lakes,
separating the counties of Dumbarton and Stirling. In 1263 the Norsemen,
under Angus, king of Man, after having ravaged the shores of the
adjoining Loch Long, drew their boats over the neck of land which
separates the two waters at Tarbet, massacred the inhabitants, and set
fire to the numerous villages they found on the shores of the lake.
After this expedition, the loch came into the hands of some of the chief
Highland clans, who long carried on their feuds here.
=Lomza.= A district town in the government of Augustovo, in Poland, on
the left of the Narev, a tributary of the Vistula. It played a prominent
part in the history of Poland, but has never recovered from its
sufferings during the Swedish wars.
=Lonato.= A town of Northern Italy, province of Brescia; it is
surrounded by walls, and further defended by a citadel. It suffered
greatly during the Middle Ages by pestilence. Here Bonaparte gained a
victory over the Austrians in 1796.
=London.= The capital and chief city of the British empire, stands on
both banks of the Thames, about 60 miles from the sea. It appears first
in history under the reign of Claudius, and it was fortified under
Constantine the Great. Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, reduced London to
ashes, and put 70,000 Romans and strangers to the sword in 61; it was
rebuilt and walled in by the Romans in 306; pillaged by the Danes in
839. In 1875 its population was 3,445,160.
=London, New.= A city of New London Co., Conn., situated 42 miles
southeast from Hartford, on the Thames. This place was burned by the
British in 1781.
=Londonderry.= The capital of a county of the same name in Ireland, on
the Foyle. This town is of great antiquity, and has often suffered from
the effects of war. It was besieged by James II., from December, 1688,
till August, 1689, when the siege was raised.
=Long Island.= An island about 115 miles long, which is separated from
New York by the East River, a strait about half a mile wide. Its capital
is Brooklyn (which see), where was fought in 1776 the first pitched
battle of the Revolutionary war, the result being the defeat of the
Americans. The island suffered considerably at the hands of the English
during this war. During the civil war (1861-65) Long Island took an
active part in aid of the cause of the Union.
=Long Roll.= See ROLL, LONG.
=Long-bow.= A bow of the height of the archer, formerly used in England
for war and sport.
=Long-jawed.= The state of a rope when its strands are straightened by
being much strained and untwisted, and from its pliability will coil
both ways.
=Longitudinal Strain.= The strain on a cannon or fire-arm which tends to
part it with a ring fracture. See ORDNANCE, STRAINS UPON.
=Longwy.= A strongly fortified town of France, in the department of the
Moselle, 33 miles northwest from Metz. This is called the “iron gate of
France,” and was in 1792 taken by the Prussians, and again by the allies
in 1815.
=Looking-glass Signaling.= A method of signaling invented and
extensively used by the North American Indians, both on the Plains and
in the regions west of the Rocky Mountains. The reflection of the sun is
flashed from a small piece of a mirror held in the hand. Indians have
been known to communicate over a distance of several miles by this
means. It is also extensively used in their drills,--the chief often
directing the movements of his warriors with the greatest ease and
certainty from a distant point overlooking the field. This method of
signaling, modified by the resources of science, has been lately
introduced into the English service, and used both in India and Southern
Africa. A concave mirror is used, and an artificial light replaces the
sun when he is absent. The method has been called heliography.
=Loop-holed Galleries.= Are vaulted passages or casemates, usually
placed behind the counterscarp revetment, and behind the gorges of
detached works, having holes pierced through the walls, to enable the
defenders to bring a musketry fire from unseen positions upon the
assailants in the ditch. Loop-holes, however, are not confined to
galleries. In modern fortifications, the revetments, both scarp and
counterscarp, are very generally pierced for musketry fire.
=Loop-holes.= Apertures in a wall or stockade, through which a fire of
musketry may be directed on the exterior ground.
=Loose.= Not close or compact. “With horse and chariots ranked in loose
array.”
=Loosen, To.= To open ranks or files from close order. To loosen is, in
fact, to lose that firm continuity of line or perpendicular adherence,
which constitutes the true basis of military operations. The lock-step
was introduced for the purpose of counteracting the mischievous effects
of loose marching, but it produced a greater inconvenience, and has
therefore been laid aside; the equal pace and marked time correct both.
=Loot.= An East Indian term for plunder or pillage.
=Looties=, or =Lootees=. An East Indian term for a body of irregular
horsemen, who plunder and lay waste the country, and harass the enemy in
their march.
=Lootywallow.= An East Indian term of the same import as _looties_.
=Lorarii.= Among the Romans, officers whose business it was, with whips
and scourges, to compel the gladiators to engage. The lorarii also
punished slaves who disobeyed their masters.
=Lorca.= A town of Spain, in the province of Murcia, on the Cornera.
This town is remarkable in history as having been the key of Murcia
during the Moorish wars; being situated on the frontiers of Granada, it
was often taken and retaken. It suffered greatly from military violence
during the French occupation in 1810.
=Lord-Lieutenant.= In Great Britain the lord-lieutenant of a county is a
permanent provincial governor appointed by the sovereign by patent under
the great seal. He is the permanent local representative of the crown,
who, on the occasion of an invasion or rebellion, has power to raise the
militia, form regiments, troops, and companies, and give commissions to
officers. He is also the head of the magistracy, the militia, and the
yeomanry; he nominates officers of militia and volunteers, and is the
chief executive authority.
=Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.= The viceroy or deputy of the sovereign, to
whom the government of Ireland is committed. The office has existed from
a remote period, the appointment having been made under different
designations. The lord-lieutenant is appointed under the great seal of
the United Kingdom, and bears the sword of state as the symbol of his
viceregal office. He has the control of the police, and may issue orders
to the general commanding the troops for the support of the civil
authority, the protection of the public, the defense of the kingdom, and
the suppression of insurrection. He also has the power to confer
knighthood.
=Loreto=, or =Loretto=. A fortified city of Italy, in the province of
Macerate, situated 14 miles southeast from Ancona. This place was taken
by the French in 1797.
=Lorica.= A cuirass, or coat of mail worn by the Roman soldiers, was
made of various materials. The ordinary kind consisted of a skin, or a
piece of strong linen covered with small plates of iron, which resembled
both in their shape and in their manner of overlapping each other the
scales of a serpent or fish. Sometimes cuirasses or hauberks, composed
entirely of iron rings linked together, were worn by the Roman
_hastati_. A less flexible but more impervious defense was the cuirass
made of hard leather or of metal, and consisting of two parts (the one
covering the breast and abdomen, and the other the back), united by
hinges and leathern thongs.
=Lorraine= (Ger. _Lothringen_). A former extensive province of France,
included in the departments of Vosges, Meurthe, Moselle, and Meuse.
Under the Romans it formed part of the Belgic division of Gaul, and was
afterwards united to the empire of Charlemagne. It subsequently became a
duchy, and passed into possession of the dukes of the house of Austria.
In 1836 it was ceded to Stanislas, ex-king of Poland, and after his
death passed to the crown of France, from which it was wrested by the
Germans at the close of the Franco-German war, May 10, 1871.
=Los Angeles.= A city, the capital of a county of the same name, in
Southern California, about 350 miles southeast of San Francisco. It was
captured from the Mexicans by the combined forces of Gen. Kearney and
Commodore Stockton in 1846.
=Loss.= Killed, wounded, and captured persons, or captured property.
=Losses.= In the British army there is a regular provision made for
indemnification for losses by fire, by shipwreck, in action with the
enemy, by capture at sea, by destruction or capture of a public
store-house, by the destruction of articles or horses, to prevent their
falling into the hands of the enemy, etc. In the United States, it would
seem just that Congress should establish some general rule regulating
such matters. The principle of settling all such claims by special
legislation cannot but bear hardly on a number of individuals, and also
probably in the end imposes greater burdens upon the treasury.
=Loudon.= A parish of Ayrshire, Scotland, 4 miles east from Kilmarnock.
In the neighborhood, at Loudon Hall, Bruce, with his forces, encountered
the troops of the Earl of Pembroke in 1307.
=Loudon-hill.= See DRUMCLOG.
=Louis=, or =Knights of St. Louis=. The name of a military order in
France, instituted by Louis XIV. in 1693. Their collars were of a flame
color, and passed from left to right. The king was always grand master.
=Louisburg.= A famous fortress built by the French soon after the peace
of Utrecht (1713) upon the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island. Since
the existence of so strong a place threatened the colonial and English
fisheries, it was determined in 1745 by the Legislature of Massachusetts
Bay (France and Great Britain being then at war) to strike a blow at the
town. Accordingly, a force of colonists consisting of 3250 Massachusetts
militia, aided by 516 men from Connecticut and 304 from New Hampshire,
set sail in 100 vessels, and landed near the town, April 30, 1745. An
active but irregular siege (though the men were without tents and the
proper means of conducting such operations) was terminated June 17,
1745, by the capitulation of the French under Duchambon. But the peace
of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) gave back all Cape Breton to France. The town
was invested in 1758 by Gen. Amherst with 14,000 British troops, 20 line
ships, 18 frigates and other vessels. After a tremendous bombardment,
which quite destroyed the town, and breached the walls badly, the
garrison and French fleet surrendered July 26, 1758. The English
overthrew the fortifications at an expense of $50,000. The first cost
was one hundred times that sum.
=Louisiana.= One of the Southern or Gulf States of the United States,
lying between Arkansas and Mississippi on the north and east, the Gulf
of Mexico on the south, and Texas on the west. The country was visited
by La Salle, and the mouth of the Mississippi discovered in 1691, and
though Iberville attempted to found a colony in 1699, his efforts were
not successful. The country was transferred to Spain by France in 1762;
restored to France in 1800; and purchased by the United States in 1803.
That part of the Territory now known as the State of that name was
admitted into the Union in 1812, and was within three years afterwards
the scene of the great battle of New Orleans, fought January 8, 1815,
between the British troops under Gen. Pakenham, and the Americans under
Gen. Jackson, in which the former were defeated with great loss. The
State seceded, and was the theatre of many important events during the
civil war (1861-65).
=Loup des Anciens= (_Fr._). Was an iron instrument, made in the shape of
a tenaille, by means of which they grappled the battering-rams, and
broke them in the middle.
=Louviers.= A town of France, in the department of the Eure, situated on
the Eure. It was sacked both by Edward III. and Henry V. of England.
=Lover’s War.= In French history, a name given to a civil war in the
year 1580, during the reign of Henry IV. It was so called because it
arose from the jealousies and rivalries of the leaders, who were invited
to meet at the palace of the queen-mother.
=Loyalist.= A person who adheres to his sovereign, or to the constituted
authority; especially one who maintains his allegiance to his prince or
government, and defends his cause in times of revolt.
=Lozenge.= In heraldry, a charge generally enumerated among the
sub-ordinaries, in the shape of a rhombus placed with the acute angles
at top and bottom. The horizontal diameter must be at least equal to the
sides, otherwise it is not a lozenge, but a _fusil_. The term _lozengy_
is applied to a field divided by diagonal lines crossing one another at
regular intervals, so as to form a diamond pattern, the compartments
being of alternate tinctures.
=Lubeck.= One of the three cities of the German empire, situated on the
river Trave, about 14 miles from the Baltic. Lubeck has existed since
the 11th century, and received important privileges from the German
emperors in the 12th century, which were confirmed by the Danes, into
whose power it fell in 1201. It was declared a free city of the empire
in 1226, and thereafter maintained its independence against the Danes,
and joined the other towns in the great Hanseatic League (which see).
With the decline of the Hanseatic League, it lost its historic
importance, but continued to flourish as an independent city, till it
was taken and plundered by the French, November 6, 1806. In 1810 it was
incorporated with the French empire, and in 1813 the Russians compelled
the French to deliver it to its rightful owners; but the French again
occupied it, until it was liberated by Sweden. In 1871 it was annexed to
the German empire.
=Lubny=, or =Lubnu=. A town of European Russia, government of Poltava,
or Pultowa, on the Sulla. Charles XII. of Sweden besieged this place for
a considerable time, but he did not succeed in taking it.
=Lubricant.= A greasy substance or mixture of substances placed on the
surface or in the cannelures of bullets to lessen friction in the bore.
Bayberry tallow, beeswax, Japan wax, stearine, graphite, soapstone,
etc., are some of the substances used.
=Lucanians.= A warlike people of Southern Italy; defeated Alexander of
Epirus at Pandosia, 332 B.C.; were subdued by the Romans, 227; revolted
after the battle of Cannæ, 216; were reduced by Scipio, 201; again
revolted, 90; admitted as Roman citizens in 88.
=Luceria= (now _Lucera_). Sometimes called Nuceria, a town in Apulia, on
the borders of Samnium. In the war between Rome and Samnium, it was
taken by the Samnites, 321 B.C., and next by the Romans, 319; but having
revolted to the Samnites in 314, all the inhabitants were massacred by
the Romans, and their place supplied by Roman colonists.
=Lucknow= (Hind. _Laksmanavate_). A city of British India, capital of
Oude, situated on the right bank of the Goomty, 610 miles from Calcutta.
In 1857, during the Indian mutiny, this place was besieged by the
rebels, but was bravely defended by the troops under Sir Henry Lawrence,
and afterwards by Gens. Outram and Havelock. The long-suffering troops
and English residents were finally relieved by Sir Colin Campbell, who
then effected one of the most masterly retreats on record in the annals
of Indian warfare. The British regained possession of it in 1858.
=Lucon.= A town of France, in the department of Vendée, situated on the
edge of a marshy plain. The Republicans sustained a defeat under the
walls of Lucon in 1703, and the insurgent Vendeans besieged the place
some months afterwards, but without success.
=Ludlow.= A municipal and Parliamentary borough of England, in the
county of Salop, at the confluence of the Corve and Teme. The castle,
now a magnificent ruin, was at one time one of the most important
strongholds against the Welsh.
=Lugo.= A town of Italy, in the province of Ravenna. It was sacked and
nearly destroyed by the French in 1796.
=Lugs.= The ears of a bombshell, to which the hooks are applied in
lifting it.
=Luncarty.= A village of Scotland, 4 miles north from Perth, where the
Danes were defeated in 990 by Kenneth III.