south-southwest of Elba. Pianosa was annexed to Elba and granted to
Napoleon I. after his first abdication.
=Pibroch= (Gael. _piobaireachd_). A wild, irregular species of music,
peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland. It is performed on a bagpipe, and
adapted to excite or assuage passion, and particularly to rouse a
martial spirit among troops going to battle.
=Picador= (_Sp._). A horseman armed with a lance, who commences the
exercises of a bull-fight by attacking the animal without attempting to
kill him.
=Picardy.= An ancient province in the north of France, was bounded on
the west by the English Channel, and on the east by Champagne. The name
does not occur till the 13th century. It was conquered by the English in
1346, and by the Duke of Burgundy in 1417, to whom it was ceded by the
treaty of Arras, September 21, 1435, and annexed to France by Louis XI.,
1463.
=Picaroon.= A pillager, one who plunders; one who violates the laws.
=Picentia= (_Picentinus_; now _Acerno_). A town in the south of
Campania, at the head of the Sinus Pæstanus, and between Salernum and
the frontiers of Lucania, the inhabitants of which were compelled by the
Romans, in consequence of their revolt to Hannibal, to abandon their
town and live in the neighboring villages. Between the town and the
frontiers of Lucania, there was an ancient temple of the Argive Juno,
said to have been founded by Jason, the Argonaut. The name of Picentia
was not confined to the inhabitants of Picentia, but was given to the
inhabitants of the whole coast of the Sinus Pæstanus, from the
promontory of Minerva to the river Silarus. They were a portion of the
Sabine Picentes, who were transplanted by the Romans to this part of
Campania after the conquest of Picenum, 268 B.C., at which time they
founded the town of Picentia.
=Picentines= (_Picentes_). A Sabine tribe, subdued by the Romans, and
their capital, Asculum, taken, 268 B.C. They began the Social war in 90,
and were conquered in 89 B.C.
=Picenum.= An ancient province of Italy, was bounded on the north by the
Galli Senones, on the west by the Umbrians and Sabines, on the south by
the Vestini, and on the east by the Adriatic Sea. The Picentes, its
inhabitants, remained long in undisturbed tranquillity, while the
neighboring tribes were vainly struggling against the all-usurping
ambition of Rome. That power condescended in 299 B.C. to enter into an
alliance with them. Even when they were at length obliged, in 268 B.C.,
to bow before the resistless destinies of the Romans, they suffered
little injury. It was not until the outbreak of the Social war, in 90
B.C., that the Picentes appear to have experienced the toils and
calamities of a great struggle. Then they assumed an active and zealous
part in the general revolt against Rome. Their capital city, Asculum,
gave the signal of insurrection, by assassinating the Roman proconsul.
Their armies kept the Roman general Cn. Pompeius Strabo for a long time
at bay. Nor when the tide of battle began to turn against them did their
courage waver. They continued to fight until 89 B.C., and were put down
by sheer force.
=Pichegru’s Conspiracy.= See GEORGES CONSPIRACY.
=Pickeer.= To pillage; to pirate. To skirmish, as soldiers on the
outpost of an army, or in pillaging parties.
=Picker.= A small, pointed brass wire, which was formerly supplied to
every infantry soldier for the purpose of cleaning the vent of his
musket.
=Picket.= A detachment composed of cavalry or infantry, whose principal
duty is to guard an army from surprise and oppose such small parties as
the enemy may push forward for the purpose of reconnoitring.
=Picket.= A sharp stake used for securing the fascines of a battery, or
fastening the tent-ropes of a camp, etc.
=Picket.= To fortify with pickets or pointed stakes. Also, to fasten to
a picket, as a horse while grazing.
=Picket, Inlying.= See INLYING PICKET.
=Picket, Outlying.= Is a detachment of troops, sometimes with light
guns, posted on the front and flanks of an army in the field, in order
to guard against surprise, and to keep reconnoitring parties at a proper
distance.
=Picket-guard.= A guard of horse and foot, always in readiness in case
of alarm.
=Picket-line.= A rope to which horses are secured when groomed.
=Picket-line.= A position held and guarded by small bodies of men placed
at intervals.
=Picket-pin.= An iron pin with a ring at the top. It is driven in the
ground and the lariat is attached to it to secure a horse while grazing.
=Pickets, Tracing.= See TRACING PICKETS.
=Picqueering=, =Pickering=, or =Pickerooning=. A little flying skirmish,
which marauders make when detached for pillage, or before a main battle.
=Picrate.= See EXPLOSIVES.
=Picric Acid.= See EXPLOSIVES.
=Picric Powder.= See EXPLOSIVES.
=Picts= (_Picti_). The ancient inhabitants of the northeast provinces of
Scotland. The Pictish territory extended along the whole sea-coast from
the Firth of Forth to the Pentland Firth. It was bounded on the west by
the country of the Scots, which extended along the western coast from
the Firth of Clyde to the modern Ross-shire; but the precise line
between the two nations cannot be ascertained. The country of the Picts
was bounded on the south by the Firth of Forth and the province of
Lothian, then possessed by the English; while the country of the Scots
had for its southern boundaries the Firth of Clyde and the kingdom of
Cumbria, held by the independent Britons. In the middle of the 7th
century, a portion of the southern province of the Pictish territories
was subdued by Oswy, king of Northumbria. Egfrid, Oswy’s son and
successor, seems to have contemplated the subjugation of the whole
Pictish kingdom. He advanced northwards with his army; Brude, son of
Bili, king of the Picts, retreating before him. The English sovereign
passed the Tay, and the Picts made a stand at Nechtansmere, supposed to
be Dunnichen, in Anchus; the English were utterly defeated, and their
king slain, May 20, 685. The most active of all the Pictish sovereigns
was Hungus, son of Urgust, who succeeded, in 730, and reigned for thirty
years. He was in constant wars with the Scots, the Britons, and the
English, in which he was generally victorious. After his death the
kingdom began to decline. Between 838 and 842, the Scots under Kenneth
II. totally subdued the Picts, and seized all their kingdom. Their
incursions in England led to the Saxon invasion.
=Picts’ Wall.= One of the barriers erected by the Romans across the
northern part of England to restrain the incursions of the Picts (which
see).
=Piece.= A general name for any kind of ordnance or musket.
=Piece.= In heraldry, an ordinary or charge; as, the fesse, the bend,
the pale, the bar, the cross, the saltire, the chevron, are called
honorable _pieces_.
=Piece, Battering-.= See BATTERING-PIECES.
=Piece, Field-.= See FIELD-PIECE.
=Piedmont.= An Italian principality, which now forms the northwest part
of the kingdom of Italy. In 1796 it was seized by the French, and
parceled out into six departments, five being incorporated with France,
and one with the kingdom of Italy, but after the fall of Napoleon, the
house of Savoy recovered possession of it. Since 1860 the name Piedmont,
as a provincial designation, has been disused; and in the new division
of Italy into provinces, the boundaries of Piedmont as a distinct
country have been disregarded.
=Piegans.= A tribe of Blackfeet Indians, numbering about 2000, who
reside in Montana, and were frequently at war with the Shoshones, Flat
Heads, and Gros Ventres. Like the majority of nomadic tribes, they at
various times make raids on the settlers, and as a natural result
require the correctionary discipline of the military forces. In 1870
they were severely punished by Col. Baker, and, owing to disease and
pestilence, they will probably soon cease to exist.
=Pierced.= In heraldry, a term used to indicate that a charge is
perforated so as to show the field beneath it. The aperture is presumed
to be circular, unless some other form, as square-pierced or
lozenge-pierced, be specified in the blazon.
=Piercer.= See ORDNANCE, CONSTRUCTION OF, BORING AND TURNING.
=Pieria.= A narrow slip of country on the southeastern coast of
Macedonia, extending from the mouth of the Peneus in Thessaly to the
Haliacmon, and bounded on the west by Mount Olympus and its offshoots.
The inhabitants of this country, the Pieres, were a Thracian people, and
are celebrated in the early history of Greek poetry and music. After the
establishment of the Macedonian kingdom in Emathia in the 7th century
B.C., Pieria was conquered by the Macedonians, and the inhabitants were
driven out of the country.
=Pierrier.= Was a term originally applied to an engine for casting
stones; then to a small kind of cannon; now to a mortar for discharging
stones, etc.
=Piers.= The columns upon which a bridge is erected.
=Pies= (_Fr._). Counts palatine who were created in 1560, by Pope Pius
IV., and who had precedence at Rome over knights of the Teutonic order
and order of Malta.
=Pike=, =Pikeman=. Previously to the use of the bayonet, infantry of the
line--that is, the heavy-armed troops--were from the earliest times
armed with pikes or spears. The Macedonians carried pikes 24 feet long;
those of modern warfare averaged 12 or 14 feet. They were of stout wood,
and tipped with a flat iron spear-head, which sometimes had cutting
edges. As a defense against cavalry, the pike, from its length and
rigidity, was of great value; but though it long survived the
introduction of gunpowder, that event was really fatal to it. For
success with the pike, especially in offensive war, a depth of several
men was essential, and this depth rendered the fire of artillery
peculiarly fatal. The pike is now superseded by the bayonet on the end
of the musket.
=Pikestaff.= The wooden pole or handle of a pike.
=Pile.= A beam of wood driven into the ground to form a solid foundation
for building. Also a heap, as a pile of balls. Balls are piled according
to kind and caliber, under cover if practicable, in a place where there
is a free circulation of air, to facilitate which the piles should be
made narrow if the locality permits; the width of the bottom tier may be
from twelve to fourteen balls, according to the caliber. Prepare the
ground for the base of the pile by raising it above the surrounding
ground so as to throw off the water; level it, ram it well, and cover it
with a layer of screened sand. Make the bottom of the pile with a tier
of unserviceable balls buried about two-thirds of their diameter in the
sand; this base may be made permanent; clean the base well and form the
pile, putting the fuze-holes of shells downwards, in the _intervals_,
and not resting on the shells below. Each pile is marked with the number
of serviceable balls it contains. The base may be made of bricks,
concrete, stone, or with borders and braces of iron. Grape- and
canister-shot should be oiled or lackered, put in piles, or in strong
boxes, on the ground-floor, or in dry cellars; each parcel marked with
its kind, caliber, and number.
=Pile.= In heraldry, one of the lesser ordinaries, having the form of a
wedge, usually placed pale-wise, with the broadest end uppermost,
resembling a pile used in laying the foundations of buildings in watery
places, whence it has its name.
=Pile.= The head of an arrow was formerly so called.
=Pile Arms, To.= To place three guns together in such a manner that they
may stand upright steadily. Also called _stack arms_.
=Pile-bridge.= A bridge of which the piers are built with piles. These
may be either temporary wooden structures, in which wooden piles, driven
into the ground, serve also as piers, or they may be permanent bridges,
with iron cylinders forming the piles below the surface, and piers
above.
=Piletus.= A kind of arrow formerly used, having a knob upon the shaft,
near the head, to prevent it from penetrating the object aimed at too
deeply.
=Piling Balls.= See PILE.
=Pillage.= The act of plundering. Also that which is taken from another
by open force, particularly and chiefly from enemies in war; plunder;
spoil.
=Pillage.= To strip of money or goods by open violence; to plunder; to
spoil; as, troops pillage the camp or towns of an enemy.
=Pillnitz=, or =Pilnitz=. A palace and ordinary summer residence of the
royal family of Saxony, in a beautiful situation 7 miles southeast of
Dresden. Pillnitz acquires a historic interest from the meeting of
princes held in the castle in August, 1791, when the Declaration of
Pillnitz was framed, according to which Austria and Prussia agreed to
declare the circumstances of the king of France (then a prisoner in the
Tuileries, after his ineffective flight to Varennes) to be a matter of
common interest to the sovereigns of Europe, and to express the hope
that common cause would be made for his restoration. The convention of
Pillnitz took place between the emperor Leopold and the king of Prussia,
July 20, 1791. On August 27, 1791, the treaty of Pillnitz, or as some
style it, the Partition Treaty, was finally agreed upon at Pavia by the
courts in concert. It was to the effect “that the emperor should retake
all that Louis XIV. had conquered in the Austrian Netherlands, and
uniting these provinces to the Netherlands, give them to his serene
highness the elector palatine, to be added to the palatinate; Bavaria to
be added to Austrian possessions,” etc.
=Pillow, Fort.= See FORT PILLOW.
=Pilon= (_Fr._). A half-pike, 7 feet long exclusive of the iron, which
was 18 inches. It consisted of a fir tube covered with parchment and
varnished. Marshal Saxe proposed to draw up an army four deep, the two
front ranks armed with muskets, and the two rear with pilons and muskets
too.
=Pilum.= A missile weapon, used by the Roman soldiers, and in a charge
darted upon the enemy. Each man of the legionary soldiers carried two of
these pila.
=Pimas=, or =Névomes=. A tribe of aborigines, about 4000 in number, who
are located on a reservation along the Gila River, in Pima and Maricopa
Counties, Arizona. They are an active, athletic race, cultivate the soil
and pursue a few crude industries, and are at hereditary enmity with the
Apaches.
=Pin.= See ORDNANCE.
=Pincers, Gunner’s.= See GUNNER’S PINCERS.
=Pindarees.= In the East Indies, are plunderers and marauders, who
accompany a Mahratta army. The name is properly that of persons who
travel with grain and merchandise; but war affording so many
opportunities and creating so many necessities, the merchants, as it is
all over the world, become plunderers and the worst of enemies.
=Pinerolo=, or =Pignerol=. A town of Northern Italy, province of Turin.
It is surrounded by a wall of no great strength, and though originally a
part of Piedmont, was in possession of France from 1631 till the peace
of Utrecht in 1713. It was once very strongly fortified; but its
defenses were blown up by the French in 1713.
=Ping.= The whistle of a shot, especially the rifle-bullets in their
flight.
=Pinion.= To bind the hands or arms of a person so as to prevent his
having the free use of them.
=Pinkie= (near Edinburgh). Here the English under the Earl of Hertford,
protector, totally defeated the Scots, September 10, 1547. About 10,000
of the Scots were slain, and about 1500 taken prisoners. The English
loss was scarcely 200.
=Pintle=. In artillery, is the vertical bolt around which the chassis is
traversed. In the centre-pintle carriage it is the centre of the
chassis, but in the front-pintle carriage it is in the centre of the
front transom. It is a stout cylinder of wrought iron inserted in a
block of stone, if the battery be a fixed one; or it is secured to
cross-pieces of timber bolted to a platform firmly imbedded in the
ground, if it be of a temporary nature. In casemate batteries the pintle
is placed immediately under the throat of the embrasure, and the
chassis is connected with it by a stout strap of iron, called the
tongue.
=Pintle-hole.= An oval-shaped aperture made in the trail transom of a
field-carriage, wider above than below, to leave room for the pintle to
play in.
=Pintle-hook.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR, NOMENCLATURE OF ARTILLERY
CARRIAGE.
=Pintle-plate.= Is a flat iron through which the pintle passes, and is
nailed to both sides of the bolster.
=Pintle-washer.= An iron ring through which the pintle passes, placed
close to the bolster for the trail to move upon.
=Piombino.= A town of Italy, province of Pisa, opposite the island of
Elba. Here is a large metallurgic establishment for the manufacture of
Bessemer steel and military projectiles of great hardness and
perfection.
=Pioneer Sergeant.= In the British service, the non-commissioned officer
who commands the pioneers.
=Pioneers.= Are soldiers sometimes detailed from the different companies
of a regiment and formed under a non-commissioned officer, furnished
with saws, felling axes, spades, mattocks, pickaxes, and bill-hooks.
Their services are very important, and no regiment is well fitted for
service without pioneers completely equipped. In European armies there
are a certain number of pioneers to each regiment.
=Pipe of Peace.= See CALUMET.
=Pipe-clay.= A composition which soldiers use for the purpose of keeping
their buff cross-belts, etc., clean.
=Piquichins= (_Fr._). Irregular and ill-armed soldiers, of which mention
is made in the history of the reign of Philip Augustus. They were
attached to the infantry.
=Piquier= (_Fr._). A pikeman, or one who is armed with a pike.
=Pirmasens=, or =Pirmasenz=. A town of Rhenish Bavaria. Here Moreau and
the French were defeated by the Duke of Brunswick and the Prussians,
September 14, 1793.
=Pirogue.= American Indian canoe, dug out, formed out of the trunk of a
tree; or two canoes united. A term also applied in the United States to
a narrow ferry-boat carrying two masts and a leeboard.
=Pisa= (anc. _Pisæ_). One of the oldest and most beautiful cities of
Italy, and, till lately, the capital of the now extinct grand duchy of
Tuscany, on the banks of the river Arno. Pisæ was one of the twelve
cities of Etruria; it is frequently mentioned in the Ligurian wars as
the headquarters of the Roman legions. Early in the 11th century, Pisa
had risen to the rank of a powerful republic. Its troops took part in
all the great events of the Holy Land; and its fleet in turn gave aid to
the pope in Southern Italy, to the emperor in Northern France, chastised
the Moors, and exacted its own terms from the Eastern emperors. In their
wars with the Saracens of Sardinia, the Pisans had conquered Sardinia,
Corsica, and the Balearic Islands, and for a time maintained their
ground against their hereditary enemies, the Genoese; but having sided
with the Ghibellines in the long wars which desolated the empire, Pisa
suffered severely at the hands of the victorious Guelphic party. Indeed,
the rivalry of the Guelphic cities of Florence, Lucca, and Siena nearly
brought Pisa to the brink of ruin at the close of the 13th century; and
after struggling for more than a hundred years against external foes and
the internal dissensions between the democratic mob and the Ghibelline
nobles, without losing their character for indomitable valor, the Pisans
finally threw themselves under the protection of Galeazzo Visconti of
Milan. It became subject to Florence after a long siege, 1405-6. In
1494, Pisa became independent under the protection of Charles VIII. of
France. When the French left Italy, the old struggle was renewed; and
after offering a desperate resistance, the Pisans, in 1509, were
compelled by hunger to surrender the city to the Florentine army
besieging the walls.
=Pisidia.= A district of Asia Minor, originally included within
Pamphylia, or Phrygia, was constituted a separate province in the
division of the Roman empire under Constantine the Great. It was bounded
north and west by Phrygia and Lycia, and south by Pamphylia, and east by
Cilicia and Isauria. The inhabitants were a lawless and freebooting
people, spurning the advance of civilization, and daring any invader to
follow them into their rugged fastnesses. Rome conquered them only to
find that their spirit of independence was not broken. They would not
brook the establishment of a single garrison or colony. It was only
their towns that paid tribute. They carried their invincible
dispositions down to modern times; and under the appellation of
_Karamanians_ they still continue to be wild, rapacious, and suspicious
of strangers.
=Pistol.= Is the smallest description of fire-arm, and is intended to be
used with one hand only. Pistols were first used by the cavalry of
England about 1544. They vary in size from the delicate saloon-pistol,
often not 6 inches long, to the horse-pistol, which may measure 18
inches, and sometimes even 2 feet. They are carried in holsters at the
saddle-bow, in the belt, or in the pocket. Every cavalry soldier should
have pistols, for a fire-arm is often of great service for personal
defense, and almost indispensable in giving an alarm or signal. Of late
years pistols have been made with revolving cylinder breeches, in which
are formed several chambers for receiving cartridges, and bringing them
in succession into a line with the barrel ready for firing. See
REVOLVERS.
=Pistol-carbine.= A horseman’s pistol with a detachable gun-stock.
=Pistolet.= A little pistol.
=Pistol-grip.= A shape given to the small of the stock in shot-guns and
rifles, to give a better hold for the hand.
=Pistolier= (_Fr._). Soldier armed with a pistol; a good pistol shot.
=Pitan Nabobs.= Certain chiefs in India are so called, namely, of
Cudapa, Carroul, and Savanare.
=Pitans=, or =Patans=. A tribe in the East Indies, who are supposed to
be the descendants of the northern Indians, and who were early converted
to Mohammedanism. They are very fierce, and have been reckoned among the
best troops in India.
=Pitaux= (_Fr._). This word is sometimes written petaux, and was
formerly used to distinguish those peasants that were pressed into the
service, in contradistinction to soldiers who were regularly enlisted.
=Pitch.= To fix firmly; to plant; to set in array; as, to pitch a tent;
to pitch a camp.
=Pitched Battle.= A battle in which the hostile forces have firm or
fixed positions, in distinction from a skirmish.
=Pitched Fascines.= See PYROTECHNY.
=Pitch-field.= A pitched battle.
=Pittsburgh.= A city and port of entry of Alleghany Co., Pa. Pittsburgh
was first settled in 1754, a stockade having been erected here which was
occupied by the French as a trading-post, and given the name of Fort
Duquesne. An English expedition against this fort under Gen. Braddock
was defeated by the French and Indians, July 9, 1755. In 1758 another
English expedition marched against this post, which was then regarded by
the youthful Washington as the key of the West. An advanced detachment
under Capt. Grant having encamped on what is still called Grant’s Hill,
was attacked and defeated by a party of French and Indians from Fort
Duquesne. But on the approach of Gen. Forbes, with a force of 6200 men,
the disheartened garrison set fire to the fort and descended the Ohio
River. The victorious troops, on entering, November 25, by general
acclamation called the place Pittsburgh, in honor of William Pitt, then
prime minister of England. The town of Pittsburgh was incorporated as a
borough in 1804, and chartered as a city in 1816.
=Pivot.= That officer or soldier upon whom the company wheels.
The _pivot flank_ in a column is that which when wheeled up preserves
the proper front of divisions of the line in their natural order. The
opposite flank of the column is called the reverse flank.
=Pivot-gun.= A cannon which turns on a pivot in any direction.
=Pivot-man.= The same as pivot (which see).