take an account of their numbers, inspect their arms and accoutrements,
and examine their condition. In the U. S. service troops are mustered
bi-monthly. During the civil war, the mustering in and mustering out of
troops (into or out of the U. S. service) were performed by
staff-officers, called commissaries of musters.
=Muster-book.= A book in which military forces are registered.
=Muster-file.= A muster-roll.
=Muster-master.= One who takes an account of troops, and of their arms
and other military apparatus. This title is not known in the U. S. army.
The person who performs these duties is called a _mustering_ officer, or
an _inspecting_ officer.
=Muster-roll.= A roll or register of the men in each company, troop, or
regiment.
=Muta= (Syria). Here Mohammed and his followers defeated the Christians
in his first conflict with them, 629.
=Mutilated.= In a military sense, signifies wounded in such a manner as
to lose the use of a limb. A battalion is said to be mutilated when its
divisions, etc., stand unequal.
=Mutina.= See MODENA.
=Mutine.= To mutiny; a mutineer. This term is obsolete.
=Mutineer.= One guilty of mutiny; a person in military or naval service,
who rises in opposition to the authority of the officers, who openly
resists the government of the army or navy, or attempts to destroy due
subordination.
=Mutinous.= Disposed to mutiny or resist the authority of laws and
regulations, especially in an army, or openly resisting such authority;
turbulent; seditious.
=Mutinously.= In a mutinous manner.
=Mutinousness.= The quality or state of being mutinous; seditiousness.
=Mutiny.= Insurrection against constituted authority, particularly
military authority; open and violent resistance to the authority of
officers; concerted revolt against the rules of discipline; hence,
generally, forcible resistance to rightful authority on the part of
subordinates. Violent commotion; tumult; uproar; strife.
=Mutiny.= To rise against lawful authority in the military service; to
excite, or to be guilty of mutiny, or mutinous conduct; to revolt
against one’s superior officer or rightful authority.
=Mutiny Act.= In Great Britain, an annual act of Parliament fixing the
strength of the army for the military year, which commences April 1, and
ends March 31, and imposing certain penalties for offenses connected
with the army. It also authorizes the sovereign to issue Articles of
War.
=Muzzle.= See ORDNANCE, NOMENCLATURE.
=Muzzle Velocity.= Velocity at the muzzle. See INITIAL VELOCITY.
=Muzzle-ring.= The metallic ring or circle that surrounds the mouth of a
cannon or other piece.
=Muzzle-sight.= A front sight placed on or near the muzzle.
=Mycale= (now _Samsum_). A mountain in the south of Ionia, in Asia
Minor, north of the mouth of the Meander. It forms the western extremity
of Mount Messogis, and runs far out into the sea, opposite to Samos,
forming a sharp promontory, which was called Mycale, or Trogilium (now
_Cape St. Maria_). This cape and the southeast promontory of Samos
(Posidonium) overlap one another, and the two tongues of land are
separated by a strait only about three-fourths of a mile in width, which
is renowned in Greek history as the scene of the victory gained over the
Persian fleet by Leotychides and Xanthippus, 479 B.C.
=Mycalessus.= An ancient and important city in Bœotia, mentioned by
Homer, situated on the road from Aulis to Thebes. In 413 B.C., some
Thracian mercenaries in the pay of Athens surprised and sacked the town
and butchered the inhabitants. From this blow it never recovered, and
was in ruins in the time of Pausanias.
=Mycenæ=, sometimes =Mycene= (now _Karvata_). An ancient town in
Argolis, about 6 miles northeast of Argos; it is said to have been
founded by Perseus in 2 B.C. After the conquest of Peloponnesus by the
Dorians, it ceased to be a place of importance. It still, however,
continued an independent town till 468 B.C., when it was attacked by the
Argives, whose hatred the Mycenæans are said to have incurred by the
part they took in the Persian war in favor of the Greek cause. The
massive walls of Mycenæ resisted all the attacks of the Argives; but the
inhabitants were at length compelled by famine to abandon their town.
They effected their escape and took refuge, some at Cleonæ, some in
Achaia, and others in Macedonia.
=Mylæ.= See MILAZZO.
=Myonnesus= (now _Cape Hypsili_). A promontory of Ionia, with a town and
a little island of the same name, forming the northern headland of the
Gulf of Ephesus. Here the Romans, under the prætor L. Æmilius, gained a
great naval victory over Antiochus the Great, 190 B.C.
=Myriarch.= A captain or commander of 10,000 men.
=Myrmidons.= The soldiers who accompanied Achilles in the expedition
against Troy. Rough, desperate characters banded under a leader.
=Mysore=, =Maheshasoora=, or =Maisur=. A raj or native principality of
Southern India. It was ruled by Hyder Ali, who acquired the sovereignty
in 1761, and afterwards by his son Tippoo Sahib, who was slain when
Seringapatam (May 4, 1799) was stormed and taken, and the country
occupied by the British, who set up, in the same year, an heir of the
ancient Hindoo royal family of Mysore to rule in his stead. The state is
now subsidiary to the British.
=Mytilene=, =Mitylene=, or =Metelin=. The city of Lesbos. At the
beginning of the 7th century B.C., the possession of its colony, Sigeum,
at the mouth of the Hellespont, was disputed in war between the
Mytileneans and Athenians, and assigned to the latter by the award of
Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Mytilene submitted to the Persians after
the conquest of Ionia and Æolis, and furnished contingents to the
expeditions of Cambyses against Egypt and of Darius against Scythia; it
was active in the Ionian revolt; became again subject to Persia, and
took part in the expedition of Xerxes against Greece. After the Persian
war it formed an alliance with Athens, and remained one of the most
important members of the Athenian confederacy. In 428 B.C. it headed a
revolt of the greater part of Lesbos, the progress and suppression of
which forms one of the most interesting episodes in the history of the
Peloponnesian war. Mytilene fell under the power of the Romans after the
Mithridatic war.
N.
=Naas.= A town of Ireland, in the county of Kildare, 18 miles southwest
from Dublin. Here the insurgent Irish were defeated by a body of the
king’s forces, May 24, 1798; the insurgents lost about 300 killed and
many wounded.
=Nabatæi=, or =Nabathæ= (in the Old Testament _Nebaioth_). An Arabian
people, descended from the eldest son of Ishmaël, had their original
abodes in the northwestern part of the Arabian peninsula, east and
southeast of the Moabites and Edomites. After the Babylonian conquest of
Judæa, the Nabathæans extended west into the Sinaitic peninsula and the
territory of the Edomites. They resisted all the attacks of the Greek
kings of Syria. Under Augustus the Nabathæans are found, as nominal
subjects of the Roman empire, assisting Ælius Gallius in his expedition
into Arabia Felix; under Trajan they were conquered by A. Cornelius
Palma, and Arabia Petræa became a Roman province, 105-107. The
Mohammedan conquest finally overthrew the power of the Nabathæans.
=Nachod.= A town of Bohemia, near where the Prussians, under their crown
prince, defeated the Austrians after a severe conflict, June 27, 1866.
In this battle, the superiority of the Prussian Uhlans over the Austrian
cavalry was demonstrated.
=Nafels.= A small town of Switzerland, in the canton of Glarus, 4 miles
north from Glarus. Here in 1388, 1500 men of Glarus, under Matthias am
Buhl, overthrew an Austrian force of from 6000 to 8000 men The event is
still celebrated yearly.
=Nagarkana.= In the East Indies, the place where all the drums and
war-music are kept, is so called.
=Naggur= (_Ind._). The principal drum in Asiatic armies, commonly
allowed only to persons of high dignity; the bass drum.
=Nagpore=, =Nagpur=, or =Nagpoor=. A city of British India, capital of
the province of the same name, 430 miles in a direct line east-northeast
from Bombay. The rajahs of Nagpore, now an extinct dynasty, were the
rulers of a state which was a branch of the great Mahratta confederacy.
Its founder was Parsojee, originally a private soldier. Ragojee, one of
the successors of Parsojee, united his forces in 1803 with those of
Scindia in the war against the British consequent on the treaty of
Bassein. The victories of Assaye and Argaum compelled him to sue for
peace, and by a treaty concluded in 1804, he surrendered the province of
Cuttack. Appa Sahib, his successor, concluded a treaty with the British
government, but on November 26, 1817, he made an attack on the British
troops at Seetabuldee, an eminence on the outskirts of the town of
Nagpore. The British force, only 1400 strong, under Col. Scott, was
opposed to a body of 20,000 native troops; but the best dispositions
which the suddenness of the attack allowed were promptly made. A noble
charge, headed by Capt. Fitzgerald with a small party of cavalry, upon a
large body of the enemy’s horse, decided the fortune of the day, which
ended in the defeat of the natives.
=Naigue=, =Naick=, or =Naik=. A native non-commissioned officer among
Indian and Anglo-Asiatic troops, whose functions are somewhat analogous
to those performed among European troops by the drill-sergeant.
=Nail Cannon, To.= See SPIKE CANNON, TO.
=Nail-ball.= A round projectile with an iron pin protruding from it, to
prevent its turning in the bore of the piece.
=Nairs.= A native military tribe of the Malabar coast. They affirm that
they are the oldest nobility in the world. Their pride on this
supposition is greater than that of the Rajpoots. In 1755, the king of
Travancore, with the assistance of a French officer called Launoy,
disciplined 10,000 Nairs in the method of European infantry.
=Najera.= A town of Spain in the province of Logrono. Near this place
Edward the Black Prince defeated Henry de Trastamere, and re-established
Peter the Cruel on the throne of Castile, April 3, 1367.
=Naked Bullet.= _Grooved_ or _cannelured_ bullet as distinguished from
the _patched bullet_.
=Namur.= A city of Belgium, capital of the province of the same name, 33
miles southwest from Liège. It has been fortified from the earliest
period of its history; in 1692 its defensive works were repaired and
strengthened by Coehorn; was taken in the following year by Louis XIV.
and Vauban, the latter of whom added considerable to its original
strength; in 1695 it sustained a long siege against William III. of
England, and was taken; seized by the French in the beginning of the
18th century, but ceded to Austria in 1713. In 1781 the emperor Joseph
expelled the Dutch garrison. In 1792 it was occupied by the French, but
retaken by the Austrians in 1793. In 1794 it was again occupied by the
French, who kept it till the Netherlands were given up by the French
government in 1814; and after having been gallantly defended by its
French conquerors in 1815, against the Prussians under Pirch, it was
finally restored to the Netherlands after the battle of Waterloo, and at
once put into thorough repair. The works were demolished again in 1866
with the exception of the citadel.
=Nana.= In the East Indies, the title which is given to a chief of the
Mahrattas. It more properly signifies the acting head of the government,
and general of the forces.
=Nancy.= A city of France, the capital of the department of the Meurthe,
situated on the Meurthe, 30 miles south from Metz; it was the capital of
Lorraine and the residence of the dukes of that country in the 13th
century. After taking Nancy, November 29, 1475, and losing it, October
5, 1476, Charles the Bold of Burgundy was defeated and slain beneath its
walls by René II., duke of Lorraine, and the Swiss, January 5, 1477.
Nancy on the retreat of MacMahon’s army, and expecting the German army,
surrendered to four Uhlans, August 12, 1870.
=Nankin=, =Nanking=, =Kianning-Foo=, or =Kiangning-Fu=. The ancient
capital of China, now the chief town of the province of Kiangsu, is
situated about 3 miles from the south bank of the river Yang-tse-Kiang,
about 100 miles from its mouth. On August 4, 1842, the British ships
arrived at Nankin, and were kept before this place till the final treaty
of August 29, between China and Great Britain, was signed and ratified.
The rebel Tae-pings (Taipings) took it on March 19-20, 1853. It was
recaptured by the imperialists, July 19, 1864.
=Nantes= (anc. _Condivicnum_, afterwards _Namnetes_, or _Nannetes_). An
important commercial town of France, capital of the department of
Loire-Inférieure, on the right bank of the Loire, about 30 miles from
its mouth, 208 miles southwest of Paris. The history of Nantes reaches
back to the time of the Romans, in whose hands it seems to have remained
until the beginning of the 5th century, when they were driven from the
town. In 445 it valiantly withstood a siege of sixty days by the Huns.
It was captured by the Normans in 853 and 859, and held in possession by
them for nearly a century, after which the town suffered many
sieges,--in 1343 by the English; in 1380 by the Earl of Buckingham, when
it was relieved by Oliver of Clisson; and again in 1491 by Charles VIII.
It suffered much from the Vendéan civil war of 1793. In June of that
year the Vendéan army, 50,000 strong, under Cathelineau, laid siege to
the city, then defended by Gens. Beysser and Canclaux, but were repulsed
with great loss,--their general being among the slain. Here took place
the wholesale drowning (termed _Noyades_) of the royalists in the Loire,
by command of the brutal Carrier, one of the leaders of the republicans,
November, 1793. It was from Nantes that Prince Charles Edward embarked
for Scotland in 1745.
=Nantes, Edict of.= The name given to the famous decree published in
that city by Henry IV. of France, April 13, 1598, which secured to the
Protestant portion of his subjects freedom of religion.
=Naples.= A province of Italy, occupying the southern part of the
Italian peninsula, formerly the continental division of the old kingdom
of the Two Sicilies. It began with a Greek colony named Parthenope
(about 1000 B.C.), which was afterwards divided into Palæpolis (the
_old_) and Neapolis (the _new_ city), from which latter the present name
is derived. The colony was conquered by the Romans in the Samnite war,
326 B.C. Naples, after resisting the power of the Lombards, Franks, and
Germans, was subjugated by the Normans, under Roger Guiscard, king of
Sicily, in 1131. Naples was conquered by Theodoric the Goth in 493;
retaken by Belisarius in 536; taken again by Totila in 543; retaken by
Narses in 542; conquered, and the kingdom of the Two Sicilies founded by
Roger Guiscard II. in 1131. Here occurred the massacre called the
Sicilian Vespers (which see), March 30, 1282. The territory was invaded
by Louis, king of Hungary, in 1349; seized by Alphonso V. of Aragon in
1435; conquered by Charles VIII. of France in 1494; and by Louis XII. of
France and Ferdinand of Spain, who divided it in 1501. The French were
expelled from Naples in 1504; insurrection of Masaniello, occasioned by
the extortions of the Spanish viceroys, July, 1647; Masaniello slain by
his own followers a few days later; another insurrection suppressed by
Don John of Austria, October, 1647. Naples was conquered by Prince
Eugène of Savoy for the emperor in 1706; the king flies on the approach
of the French republicans, who establish the Parthenopean republic,
January 14, 1799; Nelson appears; Naples retaken June, 1799; the
Neapolitans occupy Rome, September 30, 1799. Ferdinand is compelled to
fly to Sicily, January 23, 1806; the French enter Naples, and Joseph
Bonaparte made king, February, 1806; Joachim Murat made king, July 15,
1808; Joachim declares war against Austria, March 15, 1815; defeated at
Tolentino, May 3, 1815; successful insurrection of the Carbonari under
Gen. Pépé, July 13, 1820; the Austrians invade the kingdom; Gen. Pépé
defeated, March 7, 1821; insurrection of the Carbonari suppressed,
August, 1828; great fighting in Naples; the liberals and the national
guard almost annihilated by the royal troops, aided by the _lazzaroni_,
May 15, 1848; a martial anarchy prevails, 1849; Italian refugees, under
Count Pisacane, land in Calabria, are defeated, and their leader killed,
June 27-July 2, 1857; insubordination among the Swiss troops at Naples,
many shot, July 7, 1859; Garibaldi lands in Sicily, May 11, 1860, and
defeats the Neapolitan army at Calatafimi, May 15, 1860; state of siege
proclaimed at Naples, June 28, 1860; Garibaldi defeats Neapolitans at
Melazzo, July 20; enters Messina, July 21, and the Neapolitans agree to
evacuate Sicily, July 30, 1860; the army proclaim Count de Trani king,
July 10, 1860; Garibaldi lands at Melito, August 18, 1860; takes Reggio,
August 21, 1860; he enters Naples without troops, September 7, 1860;
Garibaldi gives up the Neapolitan fleet to the Sardinian admiral
Persano, September 11, 1860; repulses the Neapolitans at Cajazzo,
September 19, 1860, and defeats them at the Volturno, October 1, 1860;
the king of Sardinia enters the kingdom of Naples, and takes command of
his army, which combines with Garibaldi’s, October 11, 1860; Cialdini
defeats the Neapolitans at Isernia, October 17, and at Venafro, October
18, 1860; Garibaldi meets Victor Emmanuel, and salutes him as king of
Italy, October 26, 1860.
=Naples= (Lat. _Neapolis_, It. _Napoli_). A city of Italy, the capital
of the province of Naples, situated on the Bay of Naples, near the foot
of Mount Vesuvius. In 1799 it was taken by the French, who evacuated it
shortly after, but again occupied it in 1806. In 1848 it was plundered
by the _lazzaroni_, of whom 1500 lost their lives. The history of this
city is nearly identical with that of the province of the same name
(which see).
=Napoleon Gun.= In 1856 it was proposed to increase the power of the
light, and diminish the weight of the heavy field artillery, by the
introduction of a single piece of medium weight and caliber; such is the
new field or Napoleon gun. It has no chamber, and should therefore be
classed as a gun. Its exterior is characterized by the entire absence of
molding and ornament, and in this respect may be at once distinguished
from the old field-cannon. The first reinforce is cylindrical, and it
has no second reinforce, as the exterior tapers uniformly with the chase
from the extremity of the first reinforce. The size of the trunnions and
the distance between the rimbases are the same as in the 24-pounder
howitzer, in order that pieces may be transported on the same kind of
carriage. The diameter of the bore is that of a 12-pounder, the length
of bore is 16 calibers. The weight is 100 times the projectile, or 1200
pounds. The charge of powder is the same as for the heavy 12-pounders
(pattern of 1840), or 2¹⁄₂ pounds for solid and case-shot, and 2 pounds
for canister-shot. It has, therefore, nearly as great range and accuracy
as the heaviest gun of the old system, and, at the same time, the recoil
and strain on the carriage are not too severe. The new gun and carriage
weigh about 500 pounds more than the 6-pounder and carriage, still it
has been found to possess sufficient mobility for the general purposes
of light artillery. It is proposed to retain the 12-pounder howitzer in
service, to be employed in cases where great celerity of movement is
indispensable. The effect of this change is to simplify the _matériel_
of field artillery, and to increase its ability to cope with the
rifle-musket, principally by the use of larger and more powerful
spherical case-shot. The principal objection to an increased caliber for
light field-guns is the increased weight of the ammunition, and
consequent reduction of the number of rounds that can be carried in the
ammunition-chests.
=Narbonne.= A city of France, in the department of the Aude, 32 miles
east of Carcassonne. The modern town of Narbonne occupies the site of
the ancient _Narbo Martius_, a Roman colony founded in 118 B.C. After
the first colonization of Narbo, many of the soldiers of Cæsar’s Tenth
Legion were settled here, from whom the town derived the name of
_Decumanorum Colonia_. It was taken by the Visigoths in 462, by the
Burgundians in 508, by the Franks in 531, by the Saracens in 719, and by
the Moors in 779. Charles Martel defeated the Moors under its walls, but
the town held out until it was taken by Pepin in 759. In 859 it fell to
the arms of the Northmen.
=Narisci.= A small but brave people in the south of Germany, of the
Suevic race, dwelt west of the Marcomanni and east of the Hermunduri.
Their country extended from the Sudeti Montes on the north to the Danube
on the south.
=Narni= (anc. _Narnia_). A town of Central Italy, on the Nera, or Nar,
about 45 miles northeast of Rome. During the second Punic war an army
was posted here to oppose the threatened advance of Hasdrubal upon Rome.
The town bore an important part in the civil war between Vitellius and
Vespasian. It was occupied by the generals of the former to check the
advance of Vespasian’s army, but the increasing disaffection towards
Vitellius caused the troops at Narnia to lay down their arms without
resistance. Its natural strength and commanding position rendered it
also of great importance during the Gothic wars of Belisarius and
Narses. The town was sacked by the Venetians and its garrison put to the
sword in the 16th century, since which time it has been a place of
little importance.
=Narragansetts.= A tribe of Algonkin Indians who formerly inhabited a
tract of country nearly corresponding to the present State of Rhode
Island. They were generally friendly to the early white settlers, and
were sworn enemies of the Mohegans (which see). In 1637, when the
Pequots were attempting to induce them to join in a general war upon the
whites, they were dissuaded from doing so by Roger Williams, who had
great influence with their chief, Canonicus. In King Philip’s war (1675)
they were suspected of playing false to the settlers, and of sheltering
the enemy that wasted their settlements. It was accordingly resolved to
treat them as enemies, and 1000 colonists marched against their chief
fort, which was situated on a swamp island near what is now the village
of Kingston, R. I. The fort was taken by storm and burned, all the
winter supplies of the Indians and many of the aged and helpless, it is
said, perishing in the flames. Hunger and distress followed; but the
Narragansetts still maintained the contest under their chief, Canonchet,
until he was taken prisoner and put to death. They subsequently merged
into the dominant race, and only a few of the tribe now exist.
=Narva.= A town of Russia in Europe, in the government of St.
Petersburg, on the Narova, 8 miles from its mouth, and 90 miles
southwest from St. Petersburg. Near this town on November 30, 1700,
Charles XII. at the head of 8000 Swedes, defeated Peter the Great with
about 80,000 Russians. It was taken by Peter in 1804.
=Nasamones.= A powerful but savage Libyan people, who dwelt originally
on the shores of the Great Syrtis, but were driven inland by the Greek
settlers of Cyrenaica, and afterward by the Romans.
=Naseby.= A parish and village of England, in the county of Northampton,
12 miles north of the town of that name. The battle of Naseby, between
Charles I. and the Parliamentary army under Fairfax and Cromwell, took
place here, June 14, 1645. It resulted in the total defeat of the
royalists, the king being compelled to flee, after losing his cannon and
baggage, and nearly 5000 of his army as prisoners.