non-performance, likewise punishment for embezzlement, etc.
=Pencel.= A small flag or streamer which was formerly carried at the top
of a lance;--called also _pennoncel_.
=Pend d’Oreilles=, or =Kalispels= (_Calispels_). A tribe of partially
civilized Indians, divided into several bands aggregating about 2000,
who reside in Washington, Idaho, and Montana Territories. A few of this
tribe are also to be found in British Columbia.
=Pendant.= In heraldry, a part hanging from the label, resembling the
drops in the Doric frieze.
=Pendulum, Ballistic.= See BALLISTIC PENDULUM.
=Pendulum Hausse.= See HAUSSE, PENDULUM.
=Penetrating.= Having the power of entering or piercing another body.
=Penetration of Spherical Projectiles.= Their penetration when of the
same size, with different velocities or charges, is nearly as the
squares of the velocities; when of different sizes the penetration will
be proportionate to their diameters multiplied by the density, and
inversely as the tenacity of the medium. The depth of penetration of a
projectile fired from field-pieces at the distance of 500 or 600 yards,
is from 4¹⁄₂ to 6 feet in parapets recently constructed, and will
traverse walls of ordinary construction; but a 12-pounder is necessary
to make a breach in walls of good masonry and of 4 feet in thickness,
and in this case the position of the battery must be favorable, and the
operation a slow one. The depth of penetration of projectiles fired from
the 4¹⁄₂-inch siege-gun, is about the same as that of projectiles fired
from the 30-pounder Parrott gun, namely, 12 feet. Sand, sandy earth
mixed with gravel, small stones, chalk, and tufa, resist shot better
than the productive earths. Shells may be considered as round shot of a
lower specific gravity, and their penetrations are therefore
proportionally less. A bank of earth, to afford a secure cover from
heavy guns, will require a thickness from 18 to 24 feet. In guns below
18-pounders, if the number of the feet in thickness of the bank be made
equal to the number of pounds in the weight of the shot by which it is
to be assailed, the requisite protection will be obtained. Earth
possesses advantages over every other material. It is easily obtained,
regains its position after displacement, and the injury done to an
earthen battery by day can be readily repaired at night. Where masonry
is liable to be breached, it should be covered with earth. Wrought-iron
plates 4¹⁄₂ inches in thickness will withstand the effects of 32-pound
shots, and of all inferior calibers at short ranges, as 400 yards.
Plates of this thickness, however, are soon destroyed by 68-pound shots,
and afford little protection from the elongated shots of the new rifled
ordnance. To resist successfully the fall of heavy shells, buildings
must be covered with arches of good masonry, not less than 3 feet thick,
having bearings not greater than 25 feet, and these must be again
protected by a covering of several feet of earth. Iron plates half an
inch thick, oak planks 4 inches thick, or a 9-inch brick wall, are
proof against musketry or canister at a range of 100 yards. Iron plates
1 inch thick, oak from 8 to 10 inches thick, a good wall a foot thick or
a firm bank of earth 4 feet thick, will afford secure cover from
grape-shot, from any but the largest guns at short ranges. The common
musket will drive its bullet about a foot and a half into well-rammed
earth, or it will penetrate from 6 to 10 half-inch elm boards placed at
intervals of an inch. The penetration of the rifled musket is about
twice that of the common musket. A rope matting or mantlet 3¹⁄₂ inches
thick is found to resist small-arm projectiles at all distances; it may
therefore be employed as a screen against riflemen.
=Peninsular War.= A war which had for its theatre the kingdoms of Spain
and Portugal, and in which England, Spain, and Portugal fought against
France. It lasted from March, 1808, until May, 1814, when the former
powers were completely victorious.
=Pennetière=, or =Panetière= (_Fr._). A pocket or small bag in which
slingers carried stones and leaden balls.
=Pennon= (_Fr._). Formerly a copper wing of a long, light arrow
(_vireton_), substituted for a feather.
=Pennon.= In former times was something like a banner, but with the
addition of a triangular point, charged with arms, and borne before
knights-bachelors.
=Pennsylvania.= One of the Middle States of the Atlantic slope, the
second in population in the Union, and one of the thirteen of the
original confederacy. The earliest settlements were made in 1627 by a
colony of Swedes and Finns, who established themselves on the Delaware
River, going as far northward as the locality of Philadelphia. In 1665 a
Dutch expedition from New Amsterdam took formal possession of the
country. The Dutch in their turn were superseded by the English after
the capture of New York in 1664; and in 1681 the territory was granted
by Charles II. to William Penn, who with his co-religionists of the
Society of Friends established a Christian government “founded on peace,
reason, and right.” Having purchased the lands of the Indians, and
conciliated them by kindness and good will, he secured their friendship
during seventy years. Previous to the French and Indian war in 1755, the
contests waged between the French and English colonists had not reached
Pennsylvania; but in that year occurred the disastrous defeat of
Braddock, near Pittsburgh, in which Washington, then a young man,
distinguished himself. Pennsylvania took an active part in the
Revolutionary contest, and on her soil occurred the battles of
Brandywine and Germantown, September and October, 1777, the massacres of
Wyoming and Paoli, and the suffering winter encampment at Valley Forge
in 1777-78. The most prosperous of the colonies, and in a central
position, it became the seat of the congress held by the colonies both
before and after the decision of the struggle. Independence was
proclaimed here, and it remained the seat of the general government
until 1800. No State in the confederacy has been more loyal to the
Constitution. During the war of 1812 she promptly furnished her quota of
troops, and during the civil war she sent nearly 400,000 men into the
field. During this trying period her territory was three times invaded:
in 1862, when Chambersburg (which see) was captured, and in 1864, when
it was burned; and in 1863, when it was invaded by Lee, and the battle
of Gettysburg fought on its soil.
=Penobscots.= A tribe of Indians, of Algonkin stock (numbering about
500), who reside on an island in the Penobscot River, about 8 miles
north of Bangor, Me. They were allies of the colonists in the war of the
Revolution, and received for their services a large tract of land, the
greater part of which has been from time to time disposed of.
=Penon de Velez.= A fortified town, built on a high and steep rock,
lying off the north coast of Morocco, 75 miles southeast from Ceuta. It
belongs to Spain, and was founded by Pedro of Navarre in 1508. It was
taken by the Moors in 1522; but recovered by the Spaniards in 1664.
=Penrith.= A town of England, county of Cumberland, 282 miles
north-northwest of London. On a knoll to the west of the town stand the
ruins of a castle, which was built by the Nevilles during the wars of
the Roses, and dismantled in the civil war by the Parliamentary party.
The town is a place of considerable antiquity, and it formerly played a
conspicuous part in the border warfare. It was taken by the Scots
several times in the 14th century, and in 1715 and 1745 was occupied by
the insurgents.
=Pensacola.= City and capital of Escambia Co., Fla., situated on the
west shore of Pensacola Bay, about 10 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, has
an excellent harbor, and is one of the safest in the Gulf. Pensacola was
settled by the Spaniards, occupied by the British in 1814, and acquired
by the United States in 1821. It contains a navy-yard, and is defended
by Forts Pickens and McRae. During the civil war, 1861-65, it was the
scene of several military and naval operations. The navy-yard was
surrendered to the Confederates in 1861, but was recovered by the Union
forces in the following year.
=Pension.= Specifically, a stated allowance to a person in consideration
of past services; payment made to one retired from service, for age,
disability, or other cause; especially a yearly stipend paid by
government to retired officers, disabled soldiers, the families of
soldiers killed, etc.
=Pensioner.= In the British army, is a soldier maintained in Chelsea
Hospital.
=Pensioner, Out-.= In the British army, is a soldier receiving a
pension, but not maintained in Chelsea Hospital. Those who are capable
of bearing arms are available for military service when required.
=Pensioners, Gentlemen.= See GENTLEMEN-AT-ARMS.
=Penstock.= A machine composed of timber, which, by means of a movable
board, enables the defenders of a fortress to allow such a rush of water
from the batardeaux as to inundate and destroy the works which the enemy
may have constructed in the ditch.
=Pentagon.= In fortification, a figure bounded by five sides, which form
so many angles, capable of being fortified with an equal number of
bastions. It also denotes a fort with five bastions.
=Pentathlon.= The five exercises performed in the Grecian games, namely,
leaping, running, quoiting, darting, and wrestling.
=Penthouse.= A shed hanging forward in a sloping direction from the main
wall of a place.
=Pentland Hills.= A range of hills in Scotland, commencing about 4 miles
west from Edinburgh. Here the Scotch Presbyterians, since called
Cameronians, who had risen against the government, on account of the
establishment of Episcopacy, were defeated by the royal troops, November
28, 1666.
=Pentri.= One of the most important of the tribes in Samnium; were
conquered by the Romans along with the other Samnites, and were the only
one of the Samnite tribes who remained faithful to the Romans when the
rest of the nation revolted to Hannibal in the second Punic war.
=Peons.= East Indian municipal foot-soldiers. These men are chiefly
employed to assist in collecting the revenues, and carry a pike or
staff. Most persons in India keep servants, who wear a belt with their
master’s name on it. These are called _peadahs_.
=Peoria Indians.= A tribe of aborigines who formerly resided in
Illinois, but are now settled on the Quapaw agency, in Indian Territory,
in confederation with the Kaskaskias and other tribes. They are but few
in number, the northern tribes having nearly exterminated them in 1769,
in revenge for the murder of Pontiac.
=Pequots=, or =Pequods=. A tribe of Indians of Algonkin stock, closely
allied to the Mohegans, who resided in Eastern Connecticut. The tribe
was nearly exterminated by the colonists in the Pequot war (1637).
=Perclose=, or =Demi-Garter=. In heraldry, the lower half of a garter
with the buckle.
=Percussion.= Is the impression which a body makes in falling or
striking against another, or the shock of two moving bodies. It is
either direct or oblique.
=Percussion, Centre of.= That point wherein the shock of the percutient
bodies is the greatest.
=Percussion, Direct.= Is where the impulse is given in the direction of
a right line perpendicular to the point of contact.
=Percussion, Oblique.= Is where the impulse is given in the direction of
a line oblique to the point of contact.
=Percussion-bullet.= A bullet made by placing a small quantity of
percussion powder in a copper envelope in the point of an ordinary
rifled-musket bullet.
=Percussion-caps.= See CAPS, PERCUSSION-.
=Percussion-fuze.= See FUZE.
=Percussion-lock.= A lock of a gun in which gunpowder is exploded by
fire obtained from the percussion of fulminating powder.
=Percussion-match.= A match which ignites by percussion.
=Percussion-powder.= Powder composed of such materials as to ignite by
slight percussion; fulminating powder.
=Percutient.= That which strikes or has power to strike.
=Perdu.= A word adopted from the French, signifying to lie flat and
closely in wait. It likewise means employed on desperate purposes;
accustomed to desperate enterprises.
=Pered= (Hungary). Here the Hungarians under Görgey were defeated by
Wohlgemuth and the Russians, June 21, 1849.
=Perekop.= An isthmus 5 miles broad, connecting the Crimea with the
mainland. It was called by the Tartars Orkapou, “gate of the Isthmus,”
which the Russians changed to its present name, which signifies a barren
ditch. The Tartar fortress of the same name, which was situated on this
isthmus, was taken and destroyed by the Russian marshal Münich in 1736,
by assault, although it was defended by 1000 Janissaries and 100,000
Tartars. It was again strongly fortified by the khan, but was again
taken by the Russians in 1771, who have since retained it.
=Peremptory.= Whatever is absolute and final, not to be altered,
renewed, or restrained. _Peremptory execution_, what takes place
immediately.
=Perfidious.= Treacherous; false to trust; guilty of violated faith;
hence a perfidious foe. War, however melancholy in its effects, and
frequently unjustifiable in its cause and progress, is nevertheless,
among civilized nations, so far governed by certain principles of honor
as to render the observance of established laws and customs an object of
general acquiescence. When two or more countries are engaged in a
hostile contest, whatever belligerent party grossly deviates from those
rules is deservedly stamped with infamy, and justly called a
_perfidious_ foe.
=Perfidy.= Want of faith; treachery.
=Perforated Cake Powder.= See GUNPOWDER.
=Périgueux.= A town of France, capital of the department of Dordogne,
296 miles south-southwest from Paris. Périgueux occupies the site of the
ancient Vesunna, which was at the time of the Roman invasion the capital
of the Petrocorii. Under the empire, it was a place of no small
importance, as it stood at the junction of five roads, and was strongly
fortified. It was ceded, along with Aquitaine, to the English by Louis
IX. After having been recovered by the French, the town was again lost;
but it was finally taken from the English by Charles V. During the civil
wars of the Reformation, it was a stronghold of the Protestants till the
year 1581; and it was not till 1653 that it came into the power of the
crown.
=Peril.= Instant or impending danger; risk; hazard; jeopardy; exposure
to injury, loss, or destruction.
=Peril.= To expose to danger; to hazard; to risk, etc.
=Perim.= A small island belonging to Great Britain, situated in the
strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, at the entrance to the Red Sea, about 1 mile
distant from the Arabian, and about 13 miles from the African coast. On
its southwest side is an excellent harbor, capable of accommodating 40
men-of-war. Fortifications have been erected on the island, and the guns
command the strait on both sides. It was first occupied by the English
in 1799, and held by them as a check upon the designs of the French, who
were then in Egypt. It was abandoned in 1801, but was reoccupied by
Great Britain in February, 1857, with a view to the protection of her
Indian possessions, which were thought to be exposed to some chance of
danger from the opening of the Suez Canal.
=Perjury.= False swearing; the act or crime of willfully making a false
oath, when lawfully administered; or the crime committed when a lawful
oath is administered, in some judicial proceeding, to a person who
swears willfully, absolutely, and falsely in a matter material to the
issue. For punishment of persons convicted of perjury, see APPENDIX,
ARTICLES OF WAR, 60 and 62.
=Perkernucka.= Petty officers are so called in India.
=Perm.= A government of Russia, situated partly in Russia in Europe and
partly in Russia in Asia. It was invaded and ruined by the Mongols in
the 13th century.
=Permanent Fortification.= See FORTIFICATION.
=Permanent Rank.= A rank in the military service which does not cease
with any particular service, or locality of circumstances; in opposition
to local or temporary rank.
=Péronne.= A town of France, in the department of Somme, 30 miles east
of Amiens. Louis XI. of France, having placed himself in the power of
the Duke of Burgundy, was forced to sign the treaty of Péronne,
confirming those of Arras and Conflans, with several humiliating
stipulations, October 14, 1468. Louis XI. had promised Champagne and
Brié as appanages to his brother Charles, duke of Berry, not intending
to keep his word, apprehending that those provinces, being so near
Burgundy, would prove a fresh source of broils and disputes. Péronne was
a place of much importance in the Middle Ages, and bore the name of _La
Pucelle_ (“The Maiden City”), as it was never captured till Wellington
took it eight days after the battle of Waterloo.
=Perpendicular Direction.= In the march of a line, is the direction at
right angles to the line which each man should take in a direct movement
to the front. Without the strictest attention is paid to this essential
principle in all movements, the greatest irregularity, and ultimately
the greatest confusion, must ensue. Perpendicular and parallel movements
constitute, indeed, the whole system of good marching. When several
columns, divisions, or companies advance, the lines and directions of
marching must be strictly perpendicular and parallel to each other,
otherwise the distance will be lost, and the ultimate object of forming
a correct line must be defeated.
=Perpendicular Fortification.= Owes its origin to the Marquis de
Montalembert, a distinguished French general, who published his works
upon the subject in 1776. Vauban had, it was admitted, rendered the art
of attack superior to that of defense. Montalembert strove to reverse
this relation, and in his endeavors, rejected entirely the bastion
system of the older engineers. Instead of the occasional bastions, with
intervening curtains, with which they surrounded their _enceinte_, he
broke the whole polygon into salient and re-entering angles, the latter
being generally at right angles. Before the connected redans thus formed
were counterguards of low elevation and ravelins, to which the
approaches were through casemated _caponnieres_. In the salient angle of
each redan he built a brick tower, 40 feet in diameter, twelve-sided,
and four stories high. The second and third tiers were built for heavy
guns, and the upper loop-holed for musketry. In the centre of the tower
was a circular _reduit_, intended as a last refuge for the garrison.
Montalembert maintained that from these towers every possible approach
could be commanded, which to a great extent is true; but it must be also
remembered that the greater space a gun commands, by so much the more is
it raised above the plain, and rendered visible. These towers would have
little chance against the rifled ordnance of the present day.
Montalembert’s system was violently attacked by the French engineers,
but Carnot subsequently adopted it, with some modifications, and it
enters largely into the modern German defensive works. The system has
never, however, found favor with British engineers.
=Perpendicular, Gunner’s.= See GUNNER’S LEVEL.
=Perpignan.= A town of France, in the department of the Eastern
Pyrenees, situated on the Tet, 35 miles from Narbonne. It commands the
passage by the Eastern Pyrenees from Spain into France, and is defended
on the south by a citadel and by ramparts flanked with bastions, and
protected by raised works. Perpignan now ranks as one of the first
strongholds in France. In 1474 the town was taken by Louis XI. of
France, but having been restored to Spain, it was again taken by Louis
XIII. in 1642, and, along with the province of Roussillon, finally ceded
to France by the treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. In 1793 a battle was
fought in its neighborhood between the Spaniards and the French, in
which the former were defeated.
=Perrhæbi.= A powerful and warlike Pelasgis people, who, according to
Strabo, migrated from Eubœa to the mainland, and settled in the
districts of Hestiætos and Pelasgiotis in Thessaly. The Perrhæbi were
members of the Amphictyonic League. At an early period they were subdued
by the Lapithæ; at the time of the Peloponnesian war they were subject
to the Thessalians, and subsequently to Philip of Macedon; but at the
time of the Roman wars in Greece they appear independent of Macedonia.
=Perrières.= A kind of short mortars formerly much used for throwing
stone shot.
=Persepolis.= An ancient city, the capital of Persia at the time of the
invasion of Alexander the Great, and the seat of the chief palaces of
the Persian kings. The city is said to have been burned by Alexander,
and is not subsequently mentioned in history except in the second book
of the Maccabees, where it is stated that Antiochus Epiphanes made a
fruitless effort to plunder its temples. In the later times of the
Mohammedan rule, the fortress of _Istakhr_ seems to have occupied the
place of Persepolis.