Bridgewater, was fought on the Canadian frontier within sight and
hearing of the Falls, July 25, 1814. In this contest the American
troops, numbering about 4500, commanded by Gen. Brown, succeeded, after
a display of desperate valor and perseverance, in repulsing about
midnight a body of 7000 British, and capturing one of their generals,
Riall, and 7 pieces of cannon. The losses on both sides were nearly
equal (about 850 killed, wounded, and missing). During the night the
Americans fell back to Chippewa, being unable to convey their trophies
with them for want of means of transportation, and in the morning when
they advanced to Bridgewater Mills they found the enemy again occupying
the battle-ground, in possession of their captured cannon, and having
been reinforced too strong to be again dislodged. The Americans thus
lost all the substantial fruits of the victory.
=Lunge= (a corruption of _allonge_). A pass or thrust with a sword; a
shove with a boarding-pike.
=Lunette.= A field-work consisting of two faces forming a salient angle,
or one projecting towards the enemy, and two flanks parallel, or nearly
so, to the capital or imaginary line bisecting the salient angle. In
shape it is like the gable end of a house. It is intended for the
defense of avenues, farm-houses, bridges, and the curtains of
field-works.
=Lunette.= An iron ring at the end of the trail of a field-piece, which
is placed over the pintle-hook of the limber in limbering up the gun.
The term is also applied to the hole through an iron plate on the under
side of the stock of a siege-piece, into which the pintle of the limber
passes when the piece is limbered.
=Lunettons.= A smaller sort of lunettes.
=Lunéville.= A well-built town of France, in the department of the
Meurthe. The palace was for many years the residence of Stanislas, king
of Poland. The first treaty of Austria and the French republic was
signed in this town in 1801.
=Lunge.= In fencing and bayonet exercise, an extended thrust.
=Lunt.= The match-cord used for firing cannon.
=Lusitania.= A district of ancient Hispania, considered in its original
meaning as the country of the Lusitani. It now comprises Portugal south
of the river Douro, and a large number of provinces in Spain. The
Lusitanians, especially those that inhabited the mountains, were much
addicted to plunder, were the bravest of all the Iberians, and offered
most resistance to the Romans.
=Lustration= (Lat. _lustratio_). Sacrifices or ceremonies by which the
ancients purified their cities, fields, armies, or people, defiled by
any crime or impurity. There were several ways of performing lustration,
viz., by fire, by sulphur, by water, and by air. The Roman people
underwent a lustration in the Campus Martius, after the census, which
was taken every five years (_lustrum_), had been completed. In the
armies, some chosen soldiers, crowned with laurel, led the victims--a
cow, a sheep, and a bull--thrice round the army ranged in battle-array
in the field of Mars, to which deity the victims were subsequently
sacrificed, after many imprecations had been invoked upon the enemies of
the Romans. The Gothic kings abolished these ceremonies when they became
masters of Rome.
=Lutter.= A town of Germany, 23 miles southwest from Brunswick, in the
Hartz district. Christian IV., king of Denmark, was defeated near this
town by Tilly in 1626.
=Lutzen.= A small town of Prussia, province of Saxony, famous for two
great battles fought in its vicinity. The first took place on November
16, 1632, between the Swedish army under Gustavus Adolphus and the
Imperialists under Wallenstein; Gustavus Adolphus was killed, but the
victory was gained by the Swedes. The second great battle was fought on
May 2, 1813, somewhat farther to the south, at the village of
Groszgörschen. It was the first great conflict of the united Russian and
Prussian armies with the army of Napoleon in that decisive campaign. The
allies gained at first great successes; but the French were left in
possession of the field at the close of the day.
=Luxemburg.= The capital of the grand duchy of Luxemburg, situated on
the Else, or Alzette. The Spaniards, Austrians, French, and Dutch, who
successively held possession of the town, so increased and strengthened
its fortifications that in the beginning of the 19th century it was
considered to be, with the exception of Gibraltar, the strongest
fortress in Europe. In 1867 it was declared neutral ground.
=Lycaniens= (_Fr._). Hungarian light infantry are so called.
=Lydda.= An ancient town of Palestine, which stood in the fertile plain
of Sharon, about 9 miles from Joppa. It was rebuilt by Hadrian, and its
name changed to _Diosopolis_, “the city of Zeus.” It was destroyed by a
Mongol tribe in 1271. The modern village of Ludd occupies its site.
=Lyers, Out-=. See OUT-LYERS.
=Lying.= To be actually stationed or quartered in a given place.
_In-lying_ and _out-lying pickets_. See PICKET.
=Lying Out of Quarters.= See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 31.
=Lyman Gun.= See MULTI-CHARGE GUNS.
=Lyon=, or =Lord Lyon King-at-Arms=. The chief heraldic officer for
Scotland, whose title is derived from the lion rampant in the royal
escutcheon. The Scottish king-at-arms has, unlike his brother-kings of
England, from an early period exercised jurisdiction independently of
the constable and marshal, holding office directly from the sovereign by
commission under the Great Seal. In early times he was occasionally
designated the _Lord_ Lyon; but the now prevalent custom of so calling
him seems to have arisen from the circumstance that, since 1796, the
office has been held by a peer. According to Nesbet, the Lyon has
precedence of all knights and gentlemen not being officers of state, or
senators of the College of Justice. Since the Union, he has ranked next
to Garter; Clarencieux and Norroy follow; then Ulster; but it has
sometimes been maintained that within Ireland, Ulster has place next
after Lyon. The Lyon is king-at-arms to the order of the Thistle.
=Lyons=, or =Lyon= (anc. _Lugdunum_). A city of France, capital of the
department of the Rhône, situated at the confluence of the Rhône and
Saône. A Roman colony is said to have been established here in 43 B.C.
The city was destroyed by fire in the time of Seneca, but was shortly
after restored by Nero to its former splendor. It was plundered and
again burnt by the soldiers of Septimius Severus, after the defeat of
Albinus near it in 197 A.D. In 1793, the city having refused to submit
to the Convention, sustained a memorable siege from August 8 to October
9, on which date it was taken, and suffered severely at the hands of the
republicans.
M.
=McAllister, Fort.= A formidable casemated earthwork, with bombproofs,
mounting 9 guns, on Genesis Point, about 6 miles above the mouth of
Great Ogeechee River, Georgia, which was erected by the Confederates
during the civil war. On January 27, 1863, it was attacked by the
ironclad “Montauk,” under the command of Capt. John L. Worden, three
gunboats, and a mortar-schooner; but after a bombardment of many hours’
duration, they failed to reduce it. Another attack was made with like
results on February 1, the “Montauk” again participating in it. A third
attack was made on March 3, and after a bombardment of eight hours by a
fleet of ironclad monitors and mortar-schooners, under the command of
Capt. Drayton, they again failed to reduce it. After the naval attacks
the fort received additions in armament and garrison, and in 1864
comprised three half-bastions and two curtains, mounted 21 guns, several
of which were 8-inch and 10-inch pieces, and was garrisoned by 250 men.
On December 13, 1864, it was taken by assault by a division of Gen.
Sherman’s army under Gen. Hazen, and its entire garrison and stores
captured. Communication by water being thus opened, the capture of
Savannah followed on December 21.
=Macadamized.= A term applied to roads covered with broken stone,--from
McAdam, a Scotch engineer, who first introduced this method of
road-making.
=Macana.= The war-club of the South American Indians.
=Macassar=, or =Mankasser=. The chief settlement of the Dutch in the
island of Celebes, and is defended by Fort Rotterdam. In 1810 it
surrendered to the British, but was restored to the Dutch in 1814.
=Maccabees.= A family of patriotic Jews, who commenced their career
during the persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes, 167 B.C., when
Mattathias, a priest, resisted the tyranny of the governor. His son,
Judas Maccabæus, defeated the Syrians in three battles, 166 and 165
B.C., but fell in an ambush, 161 B.C. His brother Jonathan made a league
with the Romans and Lacedæmonians, and after an able administration was
treacherously killed at Ptolemais by Tryphon, 143 B.C. His brother and
successor, Simon, was also murdered. The history of the Maccabees is
contained in five books bearing that name.
=Mace.= A strong, short, wooden staff, with a spiked metal ball for a
head. It was a favorite weapon with knights, with the cavalry
immediately succeeding them, and at all times with fighting priests,
whom a canon of the church forbade to wield the sword. No armor could
resist the force of a well-delivered blow from the mace. The mace is now
borne before magistrates as an ensign of authority.
=Macedonia.= Anciently the name of a country lying north of Thessaly,
which was originally of small extent. The history of Macedonia is
involved in much obscurity till about 490 B.C., when the Persians
subdued it, so that the Macedonian king, Alexander I., was compelled to
take part with Xerxes in his invasion of Greece. It again regained its
independence upon the retreat of the Persians after the battle of Platæa
in 479 B.C. After a period of civil wars Philip II. ascended the throne
in 359 B.C., and his son Alexander III., surnamed Alexander the Great,
brought half the then known world under his empire; but after his death
the Macedonian empire was broken up, and, at the end of a period of
twenty-two years of incessant wars, formed into four principal kingdoms
under his greatest generals. Macedonia itself fell to the lot of
Antipater, after whose death ensued another period of civil wars and
contests for the throne. The Macedonians were defeated by the Romans in
the great battle of Cynocephalæ, 197 B.C., and their country became
subject to the Roman power. After the time of Constantine the country
was ravaged by Slavic tribes, and by the 7th century the old semi-Greek
Macedonians were extinct, and in the latter ages of the Byzantine empire
their place was supplied by colonies from Asia, many of them of Turkish
descent.
=Macedonian Pike=, or =Sarissa=. A spear or lance of great length used
in warfare by the Greeks.
=Macerata.= A town of Central Italy, in a province (formerly a
delegation) of the same name, situated on an eminence between the rivers
Potenza and Chienti, 21 miles southwest of Ancona. The place was taken
by assault and sacked by the French, in 1799.
=Machete= (_Sp._). A large, heavy knife resembling a broadsword, often 2
or 3 feet in length, used by the inhabitants of Spanish America as a
hatchet, to cut their way through thickets, and for various other
purposes.
=Machicolation.= The act of hurling missiles or pouring various burning
or melted substances upon assailants through machicolations.
=Machicolations.= The apertures between the corbels or brackets
supporting a projecting parapet; the term is applied also to the
parapets. The apertures are for the purpose of allowing projectiles to
be hurled at an enemy when he approaches near the wall, as in scaling,
undermining, etc. Such defenses are very common in castellated
architecture, especially over gateways, towers, etc.
=Machicoulis.= The same as machicolation.
=Machine Guns.= See BATTERY GUNS.
=Machine, Infernal.= This term has been applied to various deadly
contrivances, for instance, to the battery gun with which the attempt to
assassinate Louis Philippe was made, as well as to the devices used on
similar historical occasions; also to the fire-ship used by the English
at St. Malo. This was a three-decker charged with powder on the first
deck; shells, carcasses, etc., on the second; and with barrels filled
with combustibles on the third; the gun-deck was covered with old guns
overloaded. It was intended to destroy ships, bridges, etc.
=Machines, Artillery.= See IMPLEMENTS.
=Machines of War, Ancient.= Under this head is comprehended every kind
of machine or engine made use of before the invention of gunpowder, for
overthrowing, destroying, and burning the defenses of an enemy. They
were of three kinds,--the first for projecting arrows, darts, stones,
javelins, and fire-arrows; the second for battering and breaching walls,
etc.; and the third for covering the troops thus engaged. They are as
follows:
_Muscule_, _arbalest_, _ballista_, _belfry_, _belier_. (See appropriate
headings.)
_Bricole_, machine for projecting quarrels or darts.
_Carreau_, _catapulta_ (which see).
_Chat_, or cat, a covered shed, occasionally fixed on wheels, for
protecting soldiers employed in filling up the ditch, preparing the way
for the helepole, or wooden tower, or for mining the wall.
_Chat echine_, prickly cat, beam bristling with oaken teeth, for the
defense of a town, by being let down on the besiegers.
_Corbeau_, long pole armed with a strong iron harpoon or scythe at one
end, suspended in a frame placed on a cart; by manœuvring the other end
they tore away the machines with which the besieged endeavored to seize
the head of the battering-ram.
_Corbeau à griffe_, pole with strong nippers or pincers, with which any
object was seized and lifted up, and afterwards broken, if possible.
_Couillard_, _clide_, _jauclide_, machine for throwing stones.
_Cranequin_, large stirruped cross-bow or latch. (See ARBALEST.)
_Espringal_, _falarique_, _harpe_ (which see).
_Frondibale_, long beam moving in a vertical plane between two uprights
on an axle (not in the middle); the longer arm was provided with a bag
or case containing stones, and sometimes a sling; the other was heavily
loaded, the beam being placed horizontally, and suddenly disengaged; the
weight on the shorter limb forced up the other, and projected the stones
forward.
_Helepole._ (See HELEPOLIS.)
_Herse._ (See HERSE.)
_Hourdeis_, hurdles employed by the besieged to protect their walls from
the machines of the enemy.
_Lyonnois_, machine for defending a breach, with a head like a treble
_fleur-de-lis_ on wheels.
_Mangona_, machine similar to the ballista, generic term signifying all
kinds of machines.
_Mangonel_, diminutive of the above, applied to small machines.
For the following machines of war, see appropriate headings: MANTELET,
MANUBALLISTE, MATAFUNDA, MATE-GRIFFON, MUCHETTÆ, ONAGRE, PLUTEUS,
POLIBOLE, RIBAUDEQUIN, SAMBUQUE, SCORPION, TARIÈRE, TESTUDE, TOLENON,
TREBUCHET, TREPIED, VIGNE, VIRETON.
=Maciejovice.= Near Warsaw, Poland. Here the Poles were totally
defeated, and their general, Kosciusko, taken prisoner, October 10,
1794, after a murderous action. Kosciusko strenuously endeavored to
prevent the junction of the Russian and the Austrian armies.
=Mackay Gun.= This gun is made of wrought iron, and distinguished from
the Whitworth and Lancaster guns by the following characteristics: The
Whitworth has a hexagonal bore in a tube of homogeneous iron,
strengthened with hoops forced on by hydraulic pressure; the Lancaster
is without grooves, but the bore is oval; the Mackay has numerous
grooves, but the projectile does not, as in other guns, fit into them,
its rotation being imparted by the rush of gases through the spiral
grooves around it. In every case the groove or oval takes one turn, or
portion of a turn, within the gun.
=Mackinaw=, or =Mackinac=. Formerly called Michilimackinac, “the great
turtle.” A town and fort on an island of the same name in Lake Huron,
about 320 miles by water north-northwest of Detroit, Mich. It fell into
the hands of the English on the conquest of Canada from the French; but
the Indians in its neighborhood remained hostile to their new masters.
The fort was captured by a ruse, and the inhabitants massacred by the
Chippewas under Pontiac, June 4, 1763. It was again garrisoned by the
British in the following year. The island came into possession of the
United States in 1796, and was captured by the British and Indians July
17, 1812. The Americans attempted its recapture, August 14, 1814, but
without success.
=Macrones=. A powerful and warlike Caucasian people on the northeastern
shore of the Pontus Euxinus.
=Madagascar.= An island of the Indian Ocean, situated at some distance
from the east coast of Africa, being separated from that continent by
the channel of Mozambique. The French formed several settlements in
different parts of the island in 1665, but they were repeatedly driven
out by the natives. The English were also driven out of the island in
1836, and the old system of Fetichism was restored. Madagascar is at
present governed by Ranavalona, a Christian.
=Made.= A professional term for having obtained a commission, or being
promoted.
=Madras.= Called by the natives Chennapatam, a maritime city and
fortress of British India, and capital of the presidency of the same
name. It was taken by the French in 1744; restored to the English at the
peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1749, and was vainly besieged by the French
under Lally, December, 1758-59. It is now considered one of the
strongest fortresses in India.
=Madrid.= The capital of Spain, in New Castile, on the left bank of the
river Manzanares. It is mentioned in history as _Majerit_, a Moorish
castle. Madrid was sacked by the Moors in 1109; retaken and fortified by
Henry III. about 1400; taken by Lord Galway in 1706; and by the French
in March, 1808. The citizens of Madrid attempted to expel the French,
and were defeated with much slaughter, May 2, 1808; the French were
compelled to retire, but the place was retaken by them December 2, 1808,
and retained until Wellington and his army entered it, August 12, 1812.
=Madriers.= Are long planks of broad wood, used for supporting the earth
in mining, carrying on a sap, making coffers, caponiers, galleries, and
for various other purposes at a siege; also to cover the mouth of
petards after they are loaded, and are fixed with the petards to the
gates or other places designed to be forced open. When the planks are
not strong enough they are doubled with plates of iron.
=Madura.= An island of the Malay Archipelago, situated off the northeast
coast of the island of Java, from which it is separated by a narrow
channel. The Dutch invaded this island about the year 1747, and made
slaves of a great number of the inhabitants.
=Maestricht.= A town of Holland, and capital of the province of Limburg,
on the Maas, 110 miles southeast from Amsterdam. This town was taken by
the French in 1794; and from 1795 till 1814 it was the capital of the
French department of the Lower Meuse.
=Magazine.= A word derived from the Arabic, _makhzan_, “store-house,”
means any place where stores are kept; but as a military expression, it
always means a store-house for powder, although arms may at times be
kept in it. In military structures the magazines must be bomb-proof, and
therefore necessitate very thick walls; they must be quite free from
damp, and should admit sufficient daylight to render the use of lanterns
within generally unnecessary. The entrance is protected by shot-proof
traverses, lest an opening should be forced by ricochet shots.
=Magazine Guns.= Are breech-loading small-arms having a magazine
capable of holding several cartridges which may be fired in quick
succession,--the empty shell being ejected and another cartridge
conveyed into the breech from the magazine by working the mechanism of
the piece. Among American magazine guns, the _Spencer_ was one of the
first that proved successful, and was extensively used during the war of
the Rebellion, 1861-65. The magazine was a tube in the stock. The
_Spencer_ is no longer made. The _Henry_ was a contemporary, and used a
tube under the barrel,--this gun as now improved is known as the
_Winchester_, and is sold in every part of the globe. The _Ward-Burton_
and _Hotchkiss_ have tubes, the first under the barrel, the second in
the stock like the _Spencer_; they are both _bolt_ guns _as to_ breech
mechanism. The _Lee_ uses as a magazine a kind of pocket between the
stock and barrel. This is readily detached. A gun carrying a
great number of cartridges is the _Evans_, which has a spiral
cartridge-carrier in the stock. Other guns, the _Meigs_ and _Cullen_,
have been made carrying a still greater number, as many as forty or
fifty, but these systems have not met with any considerable success. See
SMALL-ARMS.
=Magdala.= A strong mountain fortress in Abyssinia, which King Theodore
held against the expedition sent out in 1867 by the British government
for the rescue of their subjects. In April, 1867, this stronghold was
taken by Gen. Napier, for which he was created Baron of Magdala. See
ABYSSINIA.
=Magdeburg.= A fortified city of Prussia, in the province of Saxony, on
the Elbe. It was founded by Otto the Great in the 10th century, and is
considered one of the strongest fortresses in Germany. It suffered
greatly during the Thirty Years’ War, when it was sacked, and its
inhabitants massacred, under the direction of Tilly. In 1806 it was
taken by the French, and annexed by them to the kingdom of Westphalia;
but finally restored to Prussia in consequence of the downfall of
Napoleon in 1814.
=Magdolum= (in the Old Testament _Migdol_). A city of Lower Egypt, near
the northeastern frontier, about 12 miles southwest of Pelusium, where
Pharaoh Necho defeated the Syrians, according to Herodotus.
=Magenta.= A town of Italy, in Lombardy, 15 miles west from Milan. A
great battle was fought here in June, 1859, between the French and
Austrians, in which the latter were defeated. The French were commanded
by Gen. MacMahon, who received the title of Duke of Magenta.
=Magetobria= (now _Moigte de Broie_, on the Saône). A town on the
western frontiers of the Sequani, near which the Gauls were defeated by
the Germans shortly before Cæsar’s arrival in Gaul.
=Magistral Line.= The tracing or guiding line in fortification,--the
first laid down on the work or on paper,--and from which the position of
all the other works is determined. In field fortification the crest
line of the parapet is the _magistral_; in permanent fortification the
_cordon_ or coping of the escarp wall is the guide.
=Magna Charta.= The great charter, so called, obtained by the English
barons from King John in 1215, at Runny Meade. This name is also given
to the charter which was granted to the people of England in the ninth
year of Henry III., and confirmed by Edward I.
=Magnate.= A person of rank or dignity; a grandee or nobleman; one of
influence or distinction in any sphere.
=Magnesia= (now _Manissa_). A town of Lydia, usually mentioned with the
addition of _ad Sypilum_ (“at or near Sypilus”) to distinguish it from
Magnesia on the Mæander, in Ionia, situated on the northwestern slope of
Mount Sypilus. It is chiefly celebrated in history for the victory
gained under its walls in 190 B.C. by the two Scipios over Antiochus the
Great, whereby that monarch was forever driven from Western Asia. The
town after the victory of the Scipios surrendered to the Romans.
=Magnetic.= Pertaining to the magnet; possessing the properties of the
magnet, or corresponding properties; as, a magnetic needle. _Magnetic
needle_, a slender bar of steel magnetized and suspended at its centre
on a sharp-pointed pivot, so that it may take freely the direction of
the magnetic meridian. It constitutes the essential part of a mariner’s
compass.
=Maharajpoor.= A small town in Hindostan, India. This place was the key
of the position of the Mahratta army on December 29, 1843, when the
battle took place between them and the British army under Sir Hugh
Gough. The Mahrattas were totally defeated.