parade by officers and non-commissioned officers. For the former, it is
of crimson silk; for the latter, of crimson cotton. It is tied on the
right side by the cavalry, and on the left side by the infantry. In
Highland regiments, the sash is worn over the left shoulder and across
the body. The sashes for the Austrian army are of crimson and gold; the
Prussian army, black silk and silver; the Hanoverian wears yellow silk;
the Portuguese, crimson silk, with blue tassels; the French have their
sashes made of three colors,--white, pink, and light blue,--to
correspond with the national flag. In the U. S. army, all general
officers above the rank of brigadier-general may wear a sash of buff
silk and gold-thread worn across the body; and for brigadier-generals,
sashes of buff silk net, with silk bullion fringe ends, are worn around
the waist.
=Sassanidæ.= A famous dynasty of Persia, which reigned from 226 to 651.
They were the descendants of Artaxerxes or Ardishir, whose father,
Babek, was the son of Sassan. Ardishir revolted against Artabanus, king
of Parthia, and defeated him on the plain of Hormuz, 226, and
re-established the Persian monarchy. The Roman armies could make no
impression on the Persians under the Sassanidæ; but from time to time
had to return defeated and humiliated from the Persian frontiers. Their
last monarch, Yezdejerd, was defeated and the dynasty expelled in 652.
=Satellites.= Were certain armed men, of whom mention is made in the
history of Philip Augustus, king of France. The satellites of Philip
Augustus were men selected from the militia of the country, who fought
on foot and horseback. The servants or batmen who attended the military
knights when they went into action were likewise called satellites, and
fought in their defense mounted or on foot.
=Sattara.= A town and capital of the province of the same name, in
British India, in the Presidency of Bombay. In 1700 its fort offered a
vigorous resistance for two months to Aurungzebe, who besieged it in
person, but it was reduced by blockade; and in 1818 a few bomb-shells
procured its surrender to the British.
=Saturn.= In heraldry, the black color in blazoning arms; sable.
=Saucisson=, or =Sausage=. Is a fascine of more than the usual length;
but the principal application of the term is to the apparatus for firing
a military mine. This consists of a long bag or pipe of linen, cloth, or
leather, from 1 inch to 1¹⁄₂ inch in diameter, and charged with
gunpowder. One end is laid in the mine to be exploded; the other is
conducted to the galleries to a place where the engineers can fire in
safety. The electric spark is now preferred to the saucisson.
=Saumur.= A town of France, in the department of Maine-et-Loire, 28
miles southeast of Angers. A striking event in the history of the town
was its brilliant capture by Larochejaquelein and the Vendeans, June 10,
1793. In this action, the victors, with but a slight loss, captured 60
cannon, 10,000 muskets, and 11,000 republicans; it was a stronghold of
the Protestants during the reign of Henry IV.
=Savages=, or =Wild Men=. In heraldry, are of frequent occurrence as
supporters. They are represented naked, and also, particularly in the
later heraldry, are usually wreathed about the head and middle with
laurel, and often furnished with a club in the exterior hand. Savages
are especially prevalent in the heraldry of Scotland. In more than one
of the Douglas seals of the first half of the 15th century, the shield
is borne in one hand by a single savage, who acts as sole supporter.
=Savan Droog=, or =Savendroog=. A strong hill fort of India, in the
territory of Mysore, 19 miles west from Bangalore. It was stormed by the
British in 1791; and after the fall of Tippoo Sahib in 1799, it was
garrisoned by a native force.
=Savannah.= A city and port of Georgia, U. S., on the right bank of the
Savannah River, 18 miles from its mouth. The city is surrounded by
marshes and islands, and was defended by Fort Pulaski and Fort Jackson.
Savannah was founded in 1733, by the English general Oglethorpe. In 1776
a British fleet, attempting to take the town, was repulsed after a
severe action; but it was taken in 1778, and held in 1779 against the
combined French and American forces. In the war of Secession, after many
unsuccessful attacks by sea, it was taken by Gen. Sherman in February,
1865.
=Saverne= (anc. _Taberna_). A town of France, in the department of
Bas-Rhin, on the Zorn, 19 miles northwest of Strasburg. It is a very
ancient place, and was formerly fortified. It suffered very much during
the Thirty Years’ War; and its fortifications were destroyed in 1696.
=Savigliano.= A fortified town of Northern Italy, in Piedmont, 28 miles
south from Turin. The French defeated the Austrians here in 1799.
=Savona.= A maritime city of Northern Italy, in the province of Genoa,
and 25 miles southwest from the city of that name. It is a very ancient
city, and in the time of the Romans was called Sava; was destroyed by
Rotharis (639), rebuilt by Ludovic the Pious (981), and was afterwards
laid waste by the Saracens.
=Savoy.= Formerly a province in Northern Italy, east of Piedmont. It
became a Roman province about 118 B.C. The Alemanni seized it in 395,
and the Franks in 490. It shared the revolutions of Switzerland till
about 1048. The French subdued Savoy in 1792, and made it a department
of France under the name of Mont Blanc in 1800; it was restored to the
king of Sardinia in 1814; but was once more annexed to France in 1860.
=Sawunt Warree.= A native state of India, in the Presidency of Bombay.
The first treaty between Sawunt Warree and the British took place in
1730, and had for its object to suppress the piracies of the Angria
family in the island of Kolabah. But the chieftains of Sawunt Warree,
being themselves addicted to piracy, drew upon them the hostility of the
British in 1765. A series of wars, treaties, and negotiations ensued,
which ended in the subjugation of the state in 1819 by a British force.
The sea-coast was then ceded to the British, and the native government
restored. Rebellions were raised against the chiefs in 1828, 1832, and
1838. The most important event that has since occurred, was the
dangerous rebellion which began in the autumn of 1844, and was put down
after some months of hard fighting by Lieut.-Col. Outram in the
beginning of the following year.
=Sawyer Projectile.= See PROJECTILE.
=Saxons.= A German people whose name is usually derived from an old
German word, _sahs_, “a knife,” and are first mentioned by Ptolemy, who
makes them inhabit a district south of the Cimbrian Peninsula. They are
mentioned as brave and skillful sailors who often joined the Chauci in
piratical expeditions against the coast of Gaul. In the 3d century they
appear in England under Carausius, a Belgic admiral in the Roman
service, who made himself “Augustus” in Britain by their help. They had
firmly rooted themselves, at the beginning of the 5th century, in the
present Normandy, and they fought against Attila in the Catalaunian
Plain, 451. They also obtained a footing at the mouth of the Loire; but
all the Saxons who settled in France disappeared before the Franks, or
were probably incorporated with their more powerful kinsmen of Southern
Germany. Along with the Franks, they destroyed the kingdom of the
Thuringians in 531, and obtained possession of the land between the Harz
and the Unstrut; but this district was in turn forced to acknowledge the
Frankish sovereignty. From 719, wars between the Saxons and the Franks
became constant; but the latter, after 772, were generally successful,
in spite of the vigorous resistance offered by Wittekind, and in 804,
the Saxons were finally subjugated by the arms of Charlemagne.
=Saxony, Kingdom of.= The second in importance and population of the
minor German states, and a state of the new German empire. The earliest
inhabitants of Upper Saxony, since the Christian era, were the
Hermunduri; in the beginning of the 6th century their settlements were
taken possession of by the Sorbs, a Slavic race. The Carlovingian
rulers, dissatisfied with the ingress of those non-German tribes,
erected “marks” to bar their progress; and Duke Otho the Illustrious of
Saxony, and his celebrated son, Henry the Fowler, warred against them,
the latter--subduing the Heveller, the Daleminzer, and the
Miltzer--founded in their country the marks of Brandenburg Misnia
(Meissen), and Lusatia (Lausitz), and planted colonies of Germans among
the Sorbs. In 1090 the mark was bestowed on the house of Wettin, and was
confirmed as a hereditary possession to that family in 1127. Frederick
the Warlike (1381-1428) succeeded in uniting the severed portions of
Saxony, to which were added various districts in Franconia, and in 1423
the electorate of Saxony. The Saxon elector was now one of the most
powerful princes of Germany, but unfortunately the fatal practice of
subdividing the father’s territories among his sons still continued; and
during the reign of the elector, Frederick the Mild (1428-1464), a civil
war broke out and was carried on for years. By a separate treaty of
peace (1635), John George I. obtained Upper and Lower Lusatia,
acquisitions confirmed by the treaty of Westphalia (1648). The reign of
Frederick Augustus I. (1694-1733) well-nigh ruined the hitherto
prosperous electorate. Frederick Augustus had been chosen king of
Poland; and his attempt, in company with the czar and the king of
Denmark, to dismember Sweden, brought down upon him and his two states
the vengeance of the northern “fire-king.” Poland was utterly
devastated, and Saxony exhausted in money and troops; the king was
forced to sell many important portions of territory; Frederick Augustus
II. (1733-1763), also king of Poland, took part in the war of the
Austrian Succession against Maria Theresa, but finding the treaty of
Berlin (1742) not so satisfactory for himself as he expected, he joined
the empress in 1745. The country was atrociously ravaged during the
Seven Years’ War, and a long time elapsed before it recovered its
previous peaceful and prosperous state. In the conflict of 1866 the king
of Saxony took the side of Austria, and his army fought in the battle of
Königgratz, July 3. The Prussians entered Saxony June 18. Peace between
Prussia and Saxony was signed October 21 (subjecting the Saxon army to
Prussia), and the king returned to Dresden November 3. In 1870-71 the
Saxon soldiers fought under the leadership of the crown-prince,
afterward King Albert, as true allies by the side of the Prussians, and
the interior development of the country has not only kept pace with, but
in some respects even advanced beyond, that of the rest of Northern
Germany.
=Scabbard.= Is the sheath for a sword or bayonet, at once to render the
weapon harmless and to protect it from damp. It was usually made of
black leather, tipped, mouthed, and ringed with metal, but is now
generally made of bronzed steel. The cavalry wear scabbards of polished
steel. These better sustain the friction against the horses’
accoutrements, but are objectionable from their noisiness, and the
consequent impossibility of surprising an enemy. The sword-scabbard is
suspended to the belt by two rings; the bayonet-scabbard hooks into a
frog in connection with the waist-belt.
=Scalade= (from the Fr. _escalade_). A furious attack upon a wall or
rampart, contrary to form, and with no regularity, frequently carried on
with ladders, to insult the wall by open force.
=Scale.= To climb by a ladder, or as if by a ladder; to clamber up; as,
to scale the ramparts.
=Scale-armor.= Consisted of small plates of steel riveted together in a
manner resembling the scales of a fish. From the small size of the
plates, it possessed considerable pliability, and was therefore a
favorite protection for the neck, in the form of a curtain hanging from
the helmet. Scale-armor is now obsolete, except, perhaps, among some
Eastern potentates.
=Scaling.= Scaling a piece of artillery, is the flashing off of a small
quantity of powder to clean out the bore; about one-twelfth of the
shot’s weight. The practice is discontinued.
=Scaling-ladders= (Fr. _echelles de siege_). Are ladders used in scaling
when a place is to be taken by surprise. They are made several ways;
sometimes of flat staves, so as to move about their pins, and shut like
a parallel ruler, for conveniently carrying them.
=Scamper.= To run away precipitately; said of troops.
=Scandinavia.= The ancient name of Sweden, Norway, and a great part of
Denmark, whence proceeded the Northmen, or Normans, who conquered
Normandy (about 900), and eventually England (1066). See NORMANS.
=Scarf.= In heraldry, a small ecclesiastical banner suspended from the
top of a crozier.
=Scarp, To.= To cut down a slope so as to render it inaccessible. See
COUNTERSCARP, and ESCARP.
=Scarpe.= In heraldry, a diminutive of the bend sinister, being half the
breadth of that ordinary.
=Sceptre.= Originally a staff or walking-stick, hence in course of time,
also a weapon of assault and of defense. At a very early period the
privilege of carrying it came to be connected with the idea of authority
and station. The sceptre of the kings of Rome, which was afterwards
borne by the consuls, was of ivory, and surmounted by an eagle. Since
that time there has been considerable variety in its form. The English
sceptre now in use dates from Charles II.’s time, and is cruciform.
=Schaife.= In the Middle Ages, a quiver or bundle of arrows was so
called.
=Schellenberg.= A village in the southeast of Upper Bavaria, 6 miles
southwest from the Austrian town of Salzburg, near which occurred the
first battle of the War of the Spanish Succession, in which the English
took part. Maximilian Emmanuel, elector of Bavaria, had fortified the
hill of Schellenberg to resist the progress of Marlborough; but on July
4, 1704, the work was attacked by the English, led on by Prince Ludwig,
of Baden, and carried by storm after a bloody fight.
=Schenkle Projectile.= See PROJECTILE.
=Schierling.= A town of Germany, in Bavaria, 12 miles south from
Ratisbon. The Austrians were defeated by the French in its vicinity in
1809.
=Schleswig=, or =Sleswick=. Formerly a duchy of Denmark. Its history is
identical with that of Holstein (which see).
=Schliengen.= A town of Baden, 22 miles southwest from Mulheim. The
Archduke Charles of Austria defeated the French near this place in 1796.
=Schmalkald, League of.= The name given to the defensive alliance
concluded provisionally for nine years at Schmalkalden, February 27,
1531, between nine Protestant princes and eleven imperial cities, with
whom other five princes and ten imperial cities subsequently made common
cause; and the elector of Saxony and the landgrave of Hesse were
appointed chiefs of the league, and empowered to manage its affairs. The
object of this formidable alliance, which included the whole of Northern
Germany, Denmark, Saxony, and Würtemberg, and portions of Bavaria and
Switzerland, was for the common defense of the religious and political
freedom of the Protestants against the emperor Charles V. and the
Catholic states. The league was not rendered superfluous by the
religious peace of Nürnberg in 1532, and on the rumor that the emperor
was meditating new hostile measures against the Protestants, another
meeting of the confederates was held December 24, 1535, which resolved
to raise a permanent army of 10,000 foot and 2000 cavalry, and to
prolong the league for ten years. The confederation was further
consolidated by articles of guarantee, which were drawn up by Luther at
Wittenberg in 1536, and being subscribed by the theologians present at
the meeting of the league at Schmalkalden in February, 1537, were called
the _Articles of Schmalkald_. Against the league the emperor, engaged as
he was at the time in contests with the Turks and French, found himself
unable to contend, though supported by the Holy League, a Catholic
confederation formed in 1538, in opposition to the Protestant one. But
impolitic management, mutual jealousies, and conflicting petty interests
dissipated their energies, and prevented united action. The “War of
Schmalkald” commenced by the advance of the army of the league, under
Sebastian Schartlin, in Suabia, to bar the approach of the imperial army
from Italy. Schartlin forced his way to the banks of the Danube, but the
miserable jealousy of the Saxon princes paralyzed his action. The
emperor, by a proclamation bearing date July 20, 1546, put the two
chiefs of the league under the ban of the empire; Maurice, duke of
Saxony, took possession of the electorate, by virtue of an imperial
decree; and the Protestant army was forced to retreat. The elector of
Saxony reconquered his electorate in the autumn of 1546, but meantime
the imperial army subdued the northern members of the League of
Schmalkald and advanced into Franconia to meet the combined armies of
Saxony and Hesse. The latter were totally routed at Mühlberg, April 24,
1547, and both chiefs fell into the emperor’s hands. This defeat, which
has been ascribed to treason, and was perhaps as much owing to this
cause as to weakness, finished the war. The object of the league, the
guarantee of the liberty of religion to the Protestants, was
subsequently effected by Maurice, now elector of Saxony, who, by a
brilliant feat of diplomacy and generalship, compelled the emperor to
grant the treaty of Passau, July 31, 1552, by which this freedom was
secured.
=Schoolmaster, Army.= In the English army, the schoolmaster is a
non-commissioned officer of the first class, ranking next to a
sergeant-major. His pay varies with length of service. He has an
advantage over other non-commissioned officers in quarters and certain
allowances. To become an army schoolmaster, it is necessary either to be
a certificated schoolmaster, or to have served the apprenticeship as a
pupil-teacher, and to pass through a course of training for one year at
the Royal Military Asylum, Chelsea. After the completion of the
training, the candidate is required to enlist as a common soldier for
ten years’ general service, whereupon he is immediately promoted to the
rank of schoolmaster. A few of the most deserving schoolmasters are
promoted to be superintending schoolmasters, when they rank as ensigns.
The duties of the schoolmaster are to teach the soldiers and their
children the rudiments of general knowledge, to examine the girls’
school, and to deliver lectures to the soldiers. There were in 1865 214
army schoolmasters in the British service.
=Schoolmistress, Army.= In the British service, is a person attached to
each regiment or corps for the purpose of instructing the daughters of
soldiers and their sons, under eight years old, in the rudiments of
English and in plain needle-work. She must be a certified
schoolmistress, or a pupil-teacher who has served her apprenticeship.
After admission to the service, she is specially trained for six months
at one of four training institutions. This training is at the expense of
the government. Proper provision is made for the quarters and supplies
of the schoolmistress, whose somewhat anomalous position among rough men
calls for the most circumspect behavior on her part.
=Schools of Artillery.= See ARTILLERY, SCHOOLS OF.
=Schultz’s Powder.= A powder for fire-arms invented by Capt. Schultz of
the Prussian army, sometimes called _white gunpowder_, though this term
is also applied to other powder. It is made by treating grains of wood
with a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, by means of which a low
form of nitro-cellulose is produced. The explosive power is heightened
by steeping the prepared grains in a solution of nitre. _Dittman’s
sporting powder_, manufactured in America, is believed to be a similar
powder.
=Schumla=, =Shoomla=, or =Shumla=. A large fortified town of Turkey in
Europe, in the province of Bulgaria, about 58 miles southwest from
Silistria. The Russians have made several unsuccessful attempts to take
it in their different wars with Turkey.
=Schuwalow Gun= (_Fr._). A gun named after the inventor, a Russian
general. It differed from a common gun in having an oval bore; the
greater diameter lay in a horizontal direction; it had also a long
cylindrical chamber.
=Schweidnitz.= A town of Prussian Silesia, on the left bank of the
Weistritz, 42 miles southeast of Liegnitz. It is in part fortified, and
was besieged and taken four times within fifty years, the last time by
the French in 1807, when the defenses were in great part destroyed.
=Schwytz.= One of the cantons of Switzerland. It was one of the three
original cantons that formed the Confederation in 1308 against the
Austrian power; and from its name the modern appellation of the entire
country has been derived.
=Sciathus= (now _Skiatho_). A small island in the Ægean Sea, east of the
Magnesian coast of Thessaly. It is frequently mentioned in the history
of the invasion of Greece by Xerxes. It subsequently became one of the
subject allies of Athens. Its chief town was destroyed by the last
Philip of Macedonia.
=Science, Military.= See LOGISTICS, STRATAGEM, STRATEGY, TACTICS, and
WAR.
=Scillus.= A town of Elis, on the river Selinus, south of Olympia. It
was destroyed by the Eleans in the war which they carried on against the
Pisæans, whose cause had been espoused by the inhabitants of Scillus.
The Lacedæmonians subsequently took possession of the territory of
Scillus; they gave it to Xenophon after his banishment from Athens.
=Scimeter.= See CIMETER.
=Scio=, =Chio=, or =Khio= (anc. _Chios_). An island belonging to Asiatic
Turkey, lying in the Grecian Archipelago, off the coast of Asia Minor.
Chios became a member of the Ionian confederation of twelve states on
the Asiatic islands and coast. Its insular position protected it against
the Lydian, and for a time against the Persian power. But in the Ionian
revolt the Chians lent their assistance to their fellow-countrymen by
furnishing ships to the fleet, which was totally defeated by the
Persians off Miletus, 494 B.C. The conquerors in consequence landed on
the island, and ravaged it with fire and sword. The battle of Mycale, in
479, liberated Chios from the Persian yoke, but only to become a
dependency of Athens. To this power it remained faithful till after the
outbreak of the Peloponnesian war; but as that disastrous contest
proceeded, and the fortune of war began to prove adverse to Athens, the
Chians attempted to assert their liberty. They suffered several defeats
from the Athenians, who laid waste the island, but could not conquer the
capital. At a later period Chios was again subject to Athens, and again
revolted, and seems to have maintained its independence for some time.
It gave assistance to the Romans in their war with Antiochus, 190 B.C.;
and afterwards, when allied with Mithridates, that monarch, suspecting
the people of a bearing towards the Romans, sent a lieutenant, who
carried the inhabitants away from the island, 86 B.C. They were restored
by the Romans; and, in consideration of this calamity, the island was
made a free state and an ally of Rome. Early in the 14th century, the
Turks conquered the capital, and perpetrated a general massacre of its
inhabitants; but from 1346 to 1566 Scio was held by the Genoese. In the
latter year it was conquered by Solyman the Magnificent; and since that
time, with the exception of a short period when the Venetians possessed
it, the island has belonged to the Ottoman empire. In 1822, during the
Greek insurrection, a number of Samians landed in Scio, and persuaded or
forced its peaceful inhabitants to rise against the Turks. They did not
succeed in mastering the castle, and soon an army was landed from Asia,
who renewed the ancient calamities of the island. The plunder and
massacre that ensued was so unsparing that in a short time only 2000
Christians were left out of a population of 110,000.
=Scione.= The chief town in the Macedonian peninsula of Pallene, on the
western coast. It revolted from the Athenians in the Peloponnesian war,
but was retaken by Cleon, whereupon all the men were put to death, the
women and children sold as slaves, and the town given to the Platæans.