united in strict friendship and affection, who were engaged, under a
particular oath, never to fly, but to defend each other to the last drop
of their blood. At the famous battle of Leuctra, in which the Spartans
were signally defeated by Epaminondas, the Sacred Battalion was
commanded by Pelopidas, and mainly contributed to the success of the
day.
=Sacred Wars.= (1) Declared by the Amphictyons against Cirrha, near
Delphi, for robbery and outrage to the visitors to the oracle, 595 B.C.
Cirrha was razed to the ground, 586 B.C. (2) Between the Phocians and
Delphians for the possession of the temple at Delphi, 448, 447 B.C. (3)
The Phocians, on being fined for cultivating the sacred lands, seized
the temple, 357. They were conquered by Philip of Macedon, and their
cities depopulated, 346 B.C.
=Sacriportus.= A small place in Latium, of uncertain site, memorable for
the victory of Sulla over the younger Marius, 82 B.C.
=Sacs and Foxes.= See SAC AND FOX INDIANS.
=Saddle.= The seat which is put upon a horse for the accommodation of
the rider. In the earlier ages the Romans used neither saddles nor
stirrups. Saddles were in use in the 3d century, and are mentioned as
made of leather in 304; they were known in England about 600. _Boots and
saddles_, is a sound on the trumpet which is the first signal for
mounted drill, and for all other formations mounted; it is also the
signal for the trumpeters to assemble.
=Saddle-bags.= Bags, usually of leather, united by straps, for
transportation on horseback, one bag being placed on each side. In the
U. S. service saddle-bags are issued to the cavalry as a part of the
horse equipments.
=Saddle-cloth.= In the military service is a cloth under a saddle, and
extending out behind; the housing.
=Saddler.= One whose occupation is to make and repair saddles. Each
company of cavalry in the U. S. service is allowed one saddler. Saddlers
are also employed in the cavalry service of European countries.
=Saddler Corporal.= In the British service, is a non-commissioned
officer who has charge of the saddlers in the Household Cavalry.
=Saddler Sergeant.= Is a sergeant in the cavalry who has charge of the
saddlers. In the U. S. service, saddler sergeants are non-commissioned
staff-officers, and one is allowed to each cavalry regiment.
=Saddle-Tree Maker.= An artificer in the cavalry who makes and repairs
saddle-trees.
=Sadowa.= A village of Bohemia, about 8 miles from Königgratz. Here, on
the morning of July 3, 1866, the Prussians attacked the Austrians, and
after a desperate struggle of seven hours, the latter were defeated and
driven from the village by the 7th division of the Prussian infantry.
This engagement formed the prelude to the decisive battle of Königgratz.
=Safe-conduct.= A passport granted, on honor, to a foe, enabling him to
pass where it would otherwise be impossible for him to go with impunity.
Safe-conducts are granted in war for the purposes of conference, etc.;
and to violate the provisions of such a pass has always been esteemed a
disgraceful breach of the laws of honor.
=Safeguard.= A protection granted by the general of an army for the
safety of an enemy’s lands or persons, to preserve them from being
insulted or plundered. For punishment of persons forcing a safeguard,
see APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 57.
=Sagaie=, or =Zagie=. A dart or javelin used by the inhabitants of
Madagascar.
=Sagamore.= The head of a tribe among the American Indians,--generally
used as synonymous with _sachem_, but some writers distinguished between
them, making the _sachem_ a chief of the first rank, and a _sagamore_
one of the second rank.
=Sagette= (_Fr._). An arrow; a bolt used in ancient times.
=Sagittarii.= In the Roman army, under the emperors, were young men
armed with bows and arrows, who, together with the _funditores_, were
generally sent out to skirmish before the main body. They constituted no
part of the _velites_, but seem to have succeeded them at the time when
the Socii were admitted into the Roman legions; for at that period the
_velites_ were discontinued.
=Sagra.= A small river in Magna Græcia, on the southeast coast of
Bruttium, on the banks of which a memorable victory was gained by 10,000
Locrians over 120,000 Crotoniats. This victory appeared so extraordinary
that it gave rise to the proverbial expression, “It is truer than what
happened on the Sagra,” when a person wished to make any strong
asseveration.
=Sagum.= An ancient military garment or cloak, made of wool, without
sleeves, fastened by a girdle around the waist, and a buckle. It was
worn by the Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. The generals alone wore the
_paludamentum_, and all the Roman soldiers, even the centurions and
tribunes, used the _sagum_.
=Saguntum= (now _Murviedro_). A wealthy and warlike town of ancient
Spain, in Hispania Tarraconensis. It was besieged and destroyed by the
Carthaginians under Hannibal in 218 B.C. Having withstood the siege for
the greater part of a year, against an army of about 150,000 men, the
Saguntines, now most severely pressed by famine, concluded, with an act
of heroic defiance and self-sacrifice, a resistance that had been
characterized by the most brilliant valor. Heaping their valuable
effects into one vast pile, and placing their women and children around
it, the men issued forth for the last time against the enemy; and the
women, setting fire to the pile they had prepared, cast themselves upon
it with their children, and found in flames the fate their husbands met
in battle. The destruction of Saguntum directly led to the second Punic
war.
=Saikyr.= In the Middle Ages, was a species of cannon smaller than a
demiculverin, much employed in sieges. Like the falcon, it derived its
name from a species of hawk.
=Saint Augustine.= A city, port of entry, and capital of St. John’s Co.,
Fla., 160 miles south of Savannah. It has the distinction of being the
oldest town in the United States. The Spanish abandoned it in 1763, upon
its cession to the English. Sir Francis Drake destroyed it in 1586; and
it was besieged and burned by the governor of the Carolinas in 1702.
Saint Augustine was a British depot during the Revolutionary war. It was
of some importance as a military station during the Florida war,
1835-42.
=Saint Bartholomew, Massacre of.= See BARTHOLOMEW, ST.
=St. Bernard, Mount.= See BERNARD, ST., THE GREAT.
=Saint-Cloud.= A town of France, department of Seine-et-Oise, 5¹⁄₂ miles
west from Paris. Henry IV. was assassinated at Saint-Cloud by Jacques
Clément in 1589. Bonaparte here broke up the assembly of 500, and caused
himself to be proclaimed first consul on November 9, 1799; and here, in
July, 1830, Charles X. signed the _ordonnances_ which cost him his
throne.
=Saint-Dizier.= See DIZIER, ST.-.
=Saint Domingo.= See DOMINGO, SAN, and HAYTI.
=St. George, Grand Cross of.= A Russian military honor, conferred on
officers in the army and navy for distinguished bravery. It was
conferred on the officer who sunk the Turkish monitor in May, 1877.
=Saint-Germain-en-Laye.= A town of France, in the department of the
Seine-et-Oise, 14 miles west-northwest from Paris. The town, as well as
the royal chateau, was sacked by the English in 1346, in 1419, and in
1438.
=Saint Helena.= See HELENA, SAINT.
=Saint John of Jerusalem, The Order of the Knights Hospitallers of.=
Also called the Knights of Rhodes, and afterwards of Malta, the most
celebrated of all the military and religious orders of the Middle Ages.
It originated in 1048 in a hospital dedicated to St. John the Baptist,
which was built for the reception of the pilgrims from Europe who
visited the Holy Sepulchre. The nurses were at first known as the
Hospitaller Brothers of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem. The Seljuk
(Seljook) Turks, who succeeded the Egyptian and Arabian Saracens in
Palestine, plundered the hospice, and on the conquest of Jerusalem by
the Crusaders under Geoffroy de Bouillon in 1099, the first superior,
Gérard, was found in prison. Released from durance, he resumed his
duties in the hospice, and was joined by several of the Crusaders, who
devoted themselves to the service of the poor pilgrims. By advice of
Gérard, the brethren took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience
before the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Pope Pascal II. gave his sanction to
the institution in 1113. After Gérard’s death in 1118, Raymond du Pay
succeeded as superior of the order, and to the former obligations of the
order he added those of fighting against the infidels and defending the
Holy Sepulchre. Various Hospices, called _commanderies_, were
established in different maritime towns of Europe. The order having
become military as well as religious, was recruited by persons of high
rank and influence, and wealth flowed in on it from all quarters. On the
conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, the Hospitallers retired to
Margate, Phœnicia, whence the progress of infidel arms drove them first,
in 1285, to Acre, and afterwards, in 1291, to Limisso, where Henry II.,
king of Cyprus, assigned them a residence. By the statutes of Raymond,
the brethren consisted of three classes,--_knights_, _chaplains_, and
_serving brothers_; these last being fighting squires, who followed the
knights in their expeditions. The order was subsequently divided into
eight languages,--Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England,
Germany, and Castile. Each nation possessed several Grand Priories,
under which were a number of commanderies. The chief establishment in
England was the Priory of Clerkenwell, whose head had a seat in the
upper house of Parliament, and was styled first baron of England. In
1310, the knights, under their grand master, Foulkes de Villaret, in
conjunction with a party of Crusaders from Italy, captured Rhodes and
seven adjacent islands from the Greek and Saracen pirates, by whom they
were then occupied, and carried on from thence a successful war against
the Saracens. In 1523, they were compelled to surrender Rhodes to the
sultan Solyman, and retired first to Candia, and afterward to Viterbo.
In 1530, Charles V. assigned them the island of Malta, with Tripolis and
Gozo. The knights continued for some time to be a powerful bulwark
against the Turks; but after the Reformation a moral degeneracy
overspread the order, and it rapidly declined in political importance;
and in 1798, through the treachery of some French knights and the
cowardice of the grand master, D’Hompesch, Malta was surrendered to the
French. The lands still belonging to the order were also about this time
confiscated in almost all the European states; but though extinct as a
sovereign body, the order has continued during the present century to
drag on a lingering existence in some parts of Italy, as well as in
Russia and Spain. Since 1801, the office of grand master has not been
filled up; a deputy grand master has instead been appointed, who has his
residence in Spain. The order at first wore a long black habit, with a
pointed hood adorned with a cross of white silk, of the form called
Maltese, on the left breast, as also a golden cross in the middle of the
breast. In their military capacity, they wore red surcoats with a silver
cross before and behind. The badge worn by all the knights is a Maltese
cross, enameled white, and edged with gold; it is suspended by a black
ribbon, and the embellishments attached to it differ in the different
countries where the order still exists.
=Saint Louis.= A city of St. Louis Co., Mo., which stands on the right
bank of the Mississippi, 18 miles below its confluence with the
Missouri, and 174 miles above the mouth of the Ohio. In 1764, Saint
Louis was the depot of the Louisiana Indian trading company; in 1768 it
was captured by a detachment of Spanish troops; and in 1804 was ceded
with the whole country west of the Mississippi to the United States.
During the civil war a hostile camp of State militia was captured near
the city, which enabled the Federals to secure the arsenal and a great
store of arms, and eventual possession of the State of Missouri.
=St. Lucia.= An island in the West Indies, taken from the French in
June, 1803, by the English troops under Gen. Greenfield.
=Saint-Malo.= See MALO, ST.
=Saint Petersburg.= See PETERSBURG, ST.
=Saint-Quentin.= A thriving town in the north of France, department of
Aisne, is situated on the Somme, about 80 miles northeast of Paris. A
battle was fought here August 10, 1557, between the Spaniards assisted
by a body of English troops, and the French, in which the latter were
severely defeated. A battle took place here between the French under
Faidherbe and the Germans under Von Goeben on January 19, 1871, in
which the former were defeated, and the latter occupied Saint-Quentin.
=Saint Regis.= Situated partly in Bombay township, Franklin Co., N. Y.,
and partly in St. Regis township, Huntingdon Co., Quebec, Canada, on the
St. Lawrence River, opposite Cornwall, with which it is connected by
ferry. It is inhabited by the St. Regis Indians, an Iroquois tribe
speaking the Mohawk dialect. They are divided into two parties, the
British and the American, and owe their allegiance not according to
residence, but according to descent in the female line. Their
reservation in the United States is 14,000 acres, and that in Canada
rather larger. Their ancestors settled here in 1760. The American party
number about 700 souls, and the British about 800.
=Saint Vincent, Cape.= See CAPE ST. VINCENT.
=Saintes.= A town of France, in the department of the Lower Charente,
situated on the left bank of the Charente. The English were defeated
here in 1242, by the French king Louis IX., afterwards Saint Louis.
=Saker= (Fr. _sacre_, _sacret_). An ancient 4- or 5-pounder of 13 feet,
weighing from 2500 to 2800 pounds. According to Tartaglia, the _sacre_,
in 1546, was a 12-pounder of 9 feet, and weighing 2150 pounds; it was
similar to the _aspic_, but longer.
=Salade= (_Fr._). Helmet or kind of iron hat with a grated, movable
visor, which was worn during the 15th century by foot-soldiers.
=Saladin.= At first the coat of arms was so called, because the
Christians who conquered Palestine assumed it in imitation of the Turks,
whose chief was at that time Saladin.
=Salahieh= (written also _Selahieh_). A town of Lower Egypt, 37 miles
northeast of Belbeys. It was taken by the French in 1798, and again in
1800.
=Salamanca= (anc. _Salmantica_). A famous town of Spain, capital of the
modern province of the same name, on the right bank of the Tormes, 50
miles east-northeast from Ciudad Rodrigo. It was taken by Hannibal. It
was almost totally destroyed by the French in 1812. In its vicinity was
won one of the most famous victories of the Peninsular war, by the
British under Wellington against the French under Marmont, July 22,
1812.
=Salapia= (_Salapinus_; now _Salpi_). An ancient town of Apulia, was
situated south of Sipontum. During the second Punic war it revolted to
Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ, but it subsequently surrendered to
the Romans and delivered to the latter the Carthaginian garrison.
=Salassi.= A brave and warlike people in Gallia Transpadana, in the
valley of the Duria, at the foot of the Graian and Pennine Alps. They
defended the passes of the Alps in their territory with such obstinacy
and courage that it was long before the Romans were able to subdue
them. At length in the reign of Augustus, the country was permanently
occupied by Terrentius Varro with a powerful Roman force; most of the
Salassi were destroyed in battle and the rest, amounting to 36,000, were
sold as slaves.
=Salenckemen.= On the Danube; here a victory was gained by the
Imperialists, under Prince Louis of Baden, over the Turks, commanded by
the grand vizier Mustapha Kiuprigli, August 19, 1691.
=Salentini=, or =Sallentini=. A people in the southern part of Calabria,
who dwelt around the promontory of Iapygium. They were subdued by the
Romans at the conclusion of their war with Pyrrhus, and having revolted
in the second Punic war, were again easily reduced to subjection.
=Salerno= (anc. _Salernum_). A town of Naples, capital of the province
of Principato Citra, 30 miles southeast from Naples. It was captured
during the Social war by the Samnite general Papius. After the fall of
the Western empire Salerno rose to its height. It passed first into the
hands of the Goths, then into those of the Lombards, from whom it was
taken by the Saracens in 905; but fifteen years after, it was recovered
by the Greek emperor, and subsequently reverted to the Lombards. In 1076
Salerno was taken, after a siege of eight months, by Robert Guiscard;
and thenceforward became the capital of the Norman possessions south of
the Apennines. In 1193 the town was destroyed by the emperor Henry VI.
=Salient.= In heraldry, an attitude of a lion or other beast, differing
but slightly from rampant. He is supposed to be in the act of springing
on his prey, and both paws are elevated. Two animals _counter-salient_
are represented as leaping in opposite directions.
=Salient Places of Arms.= In fortification, that part of the covered way
which is opposite a salient of a bastion or demi-lune.
=Sallet.= The same as salade (which see).
=Sally.= A sudden offensive movement by the garrison of a fortified
place, directed against the troops or works of the besiegers.
=Sally-port.= A gate or passage, by which the garrison of a fortress may
make a sally or sudden attack on the besiegers. The name is applied to
the postern leading from under the rampart into the ditch; but its more
modern application is to a cutting through the glacis, by which a sally
may be made from the covert way. When not in use, sally-ports are closed
by massive gates of timber and iron.
=Salsette.= An island on the west coast of Hindustan, formerly separated
from Bombay by a narrow channel 200 yards wide, across which a causeway
was carried in 1805. Salsette formed part of the province of Aurungabad
under the Mogul emperors; but fell into the hands of the Portuguese soon
after their settlement in India. In 1739 it was conquered by the
Mahrattas, and in 1774 it was taken by the British.
=Saltant.= In heraldry, in a leaping position, springing
forward;--applied especially to the squirrel, weasel, rat, and also to
the cat, greyhound, monkey, etc.
=Saltillo.= A city of Mexico, capital of the state of Coahuila, 250
miles west-southwest of Matamoras. Seven miles south is Buena Vista,
famous for the battle fought there, February, 1847, when the Mexican
forces were repulsed by an inferior U. S. army.
=Salting-boxes.= Were boxes of about 4 inches high, and 2¹⁄₂ inches in
diameter, for holding mealed powder, to sprinkle the fuzes of shells,
that they might take fire from the blast of the powder in the chamber.
=Saltire.= One of the ordinaries in heraldry. Its name is of uncertain
etymology, representing a bend sinister conjoined with a bend dexter, or
a cross placed transversely like the letter X. Like the other
ordinaries, it probably originated, as Planché suggests, in the clamps
and braces of the shield. The form of the saltire has been assigned to
the cross on which St. Andrew is said to have been crucified; hence the
frequency of this ordinary in Scotch heraldry. A saltire is subject to
the variations of being engrailed, invented, etc., and may be _couped_.
When two or more saltires are borne in a shield, they are couped, not at
right angles, but horizontally; and as they are always so treated, it is
considered superfluous to blazon them as couped. Charges disposed in the
form of a saltire are described as placed _saltireways_, or _in
saltire_. The former term is more properly applied to two long charges,
as swords or keys, placed across one another (in which case the rule is,
that the sword in bend sinister should be uppermost, unless otherwise
blazoned); and the latter to five charges placed two, one, and two.
=Saltpetre.= Nitre, or nitrate of potassa, is composed of 54 parts
nitric acid and 48 parts of potassa. It is spontaneously generated in
the soil, and is a necessary ingredient of powder. It has occasionally
been produced artificially in _nitre-beds_, formed of a mixture of
calcareous soil with animal matter; in these, nitrate of lime is slowly
formed, which is extracted by lixiviation and carbonate of potash added
to the solution, which gives rise to the formation of nitrate of potassa
and carbonate of lime; the latter is precipitated; the former remains in
solution and is obtained in crystals by evaporation. Its great use is in
the manufacture of gunpowder, and in the production of nitric acid. See
GUNPOWDER.
=Salute.= A discharge of artillery in compliment to some individual;
beating of drums and dropping of colors for the same purpose; or by
earning or presenting arms according to the rank and position of an
officer. A salute with cannon is a certain number of arms fired in
succession with blank cartridges, in honor of a person, to celebrate an
event, or to show respect to the flag of a country. The rapidity with
which the pieces are discharged depends upon their caliber. Field-guns
should have intervals of five seconds between discharges; siege-guns,
eight; and guns of heavier caliber, ten. The minimum number of pieces
with which salutes can be fired is 2 for field, 4 for siege, and 6 for
sea coast guns.