horizontal in one part for receiving the foot of the rider, and attached
to a strap which is fastened to the saddle,--used to assist persons in
mounting a horse, and to enable them to sit steadily in riding, as well
as to relieve them by supporting a part of the weight of the body.
=Stirrup-cover= (Sp. _tapadéra_). A hood made of leather attached to a
stirrup to protect the foot of a mounted soldier.
=Stoccade.= To fortify with sharpened posts. See STOCKADE.
=Stoccado.= A push or thrust with a rapier.
=Stock.= The whole of the wooden part of a musket or pistol. Also, the
neck-gear of a soldier, generally of black leather, answering the double
purpose of keeping the cold out and the soldier’s head up.
=Stock.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR, CAISSON.
=Stockach.= A town of Germany, in the southeast of Baden, 15 miles
northwest of Constance. Near here the Austrians under the Archduke
Charles defeated the French, March 25, 1799.
=Stockade.= A work in which a palisade; of strong and closely-planted
timbers constitutes the principal defense. The stockades or picket-works
usually employed against Indians are composed of rough trunks of young
trees cut into lengths of 12 or 14 feet, and averaging 10 or 12 inches
in diameter. They should be firmly planted close together. A banquette
or step will generally be required, and the loop-holes so arranged that
they cannot be used from the outside. If necessary, such a work can be
strengthened by ditch and abatis, and flanked by block-houses.
=Stockholm.= The capital of Sweden, situated at the junction of the Lake
Malar with an inlet of the Baltic, 320 miles northeast from Copenhagen.
Stockholm sustained several sieges. One of the most memorable of these
took place in 1501 and 1502, when it was held for nearly six months by
Queen Christina of Denmark against the Swedish insurgents, but was at
last surrendered after the garrison had been reduced from about 1000 to
80 in number. A still more noble defense of the city was made in 1520,
by Christina Gyllenstierna against Christian II. of Denmark. It was
surrendered after a siege of four months; but the terms of the surrender
were violated soon after by the conqueror ordering the execution of all
the most distinguished Swedes in the town. This and similar acts of
treachery and cruelty led to the final expulsion of the Danes by
Gustavus Vasa. A peace was concluded here, between the king of Great
Britain and the queen of Sweden, by which the former acquired the
duchies of Bremen and Verden as elector of Brunswick, November 20, 1719.
A treaty took place here, between Sweden and Russia, in favor of the
Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, March 24, 1724; another between England and
Sweden on March 3, 1813; and between England, France, and Sweden,
November 21, 1855.
=Stockport.= A town of England, in Cheshire, on the borders of
Lancashire, at the confluence of the Mersey and the Tame, 5 miles
southeast of Manchester. The castle, which has now entirely disappeared,
was held in 1173, by Geoffrey de Constantin against Henry II. During the
civil war of the 17th century, Stockport was the scene of some fighting;
it was taken from the Parliamentarians by Rupert in 1644, but retaken by
Lesley in the following year. In 1745, the town was occupied by Prince
Charles Edward. At this place the Manchester Blanketeers (which see)
were dispersed, March 11, 1817.
=Stock-purse.= In the British service, is a certain saving which is made
in a corps for regimental purposes.
=Stockton-on-Tees.= A town of England, in Durham, on the left bank of
the Tees, 11 miles east-northeast of Darlington. It was plundered by the
Scotch in 1325; taken for the Parliament in 1644, and totally destroyed
by the Roundheads in 1652.
=Stœni.= A Ligurian people in the Maritime Alps, conquered by Q. Marcius
Rex, 118 B.C., before he founded the colony of Narbo Martius.
=Stoke, East.= A parish of England, county of Notts, 4 miles southwest
of Newark. Near here, on June 16, 1487, the adherents of Lambert Simnel,
who personated Edward, earl of Warwick, and claimed the crown, were
defeated by Henry VII. John de la Pole, the earl of Lincoln, and most of
the leaders were slain; and Simnel, whose life was spared, was
afterwards employed in the king’s household.
=Stone Arabia.= See _Palatine_.
=Stone Fougass=. See _Fougass, Stone_.
=Stone River, Battle of.= See MURFREESBORO’.
=Stone-bow.= A cross-bow formerly used or designed for throwing stones.
=Stone-mortar.= Was a mortar which was used to throw stones a short
distance, from 150 to 250 yards; and also 6-pounder shells from 50 to
150 yards. The stones which were used in this mortar were put into a
basket fitted to the bore, and placed on a wooden bottom which covers
the mouth of the chamber.
=Stony Point.= A village in Orange Co., N. Y., on the west bank of the
Hudson River, at the head of Haverstraw Bay, 42 miles north of New York.
The capture of the fort at this place by Gen. Wayne, on July 16, 1779,
is justly considered one of the most brilliant exploits performed during
the Revolutionary war. The fortifications were destroyed and abandoned
on July 18.
=Stoppage of Pay.= Where pay is stopped on account of arrears to the
United States, the party whose pay is stopped may demand a suit, and the
agent of the treasury is required to institute a suit within sixty days
thereafter.
=Stoppages.= In the British service, are the deductions from a soldier’s
pay, the better to provide him with necessaries, etc.; also stoppage for
the subsistence of the sick.
=Store-keeper, Military.= An officer specially appointed for the care of
military stores. The law discontinues this grade in the U. S. service by
casualties.
=Stores, Military.= The arms, ammunition, clothing, provisions, etc.,
pertaining to an army, is so called. In the United States all public
stores taken in the enemy’s camp, towns, forts, or magazines, shall be
secured for the service of the United States; for the neglect of which
the commanding officer is to be answerable.
=Storm.= A violent assault on a fortified place; a furious attempt of
troops to enter and take a fortified place by scaling the walls, forcing
the gates, and the like. Also, to assault; to attack and attempt to take
by scaling the walls, forcing gates or breaches, and the like; as, to
storm a fortified town.
=Storming-party.= A party assigned to the duty of first entering the
breach in storming a fortress.
=Stourton=, or =Stour Head=. A village of England, in Wiltshire, about
23 miles west from Salisbury. The Britons were defeated here in 658 by
the Saxons, and in 1010 and 1025 the Danes also encountered the Saxons
near this place.
=Stragglers.= Are individuals who wander from the line of march; and it
is the duty of the rear-guard to pick up all such stragglers.
=Strains.= See ORDNANCE, STRAINS UPON.
=Stralsund.= A fortified town and seaport of Prussia, province of
Pomerania, on a narrow strait called Strela Sunda, which divides the
mainland from the island of Rügen. It was founded in 1209 by Prince
Jaromar of Rügen, became a member of the Hanse, and rapidly rose into
importance. During the Thirty Years’ War, it was unsuccessfully besieged
(1628) by Wallenstein; and after being, with some alternations of
fortune, in the possession of Sweden for about 200 years, it finally
passed to Prussia in 1815.
=Strappado.= A punishment formerly inflicted upon foreign soldiers by
hoisting them up with their arms tied behind them, and then suddenly
letting them down within a certain distance of the earth.
=Strapped Ammunition.= See ORDNANCE, AMMUNITION FOR.
=Straps.= Are decorations made of worsted, silk, gold, or silver, and
worn upon the shoulders, without epaulette.
=Strasbourg=, or =Strassburg=. Formerly a fortified town of France, and
capital of the department of Bas-Rhin, but in 1871 ceded to Germany, and
capital of the province of Alsace, not far from the left bank of the
Rhine, 312 miles east from Paris by railway. During the Middle Ages it
was subject to the German emperors, and was the capital of Alsace, but
along with that province it was ceded to Louis XIV. in 1681.
Subsequently its defenses were greatly improved under the direction of
Vauban. Strasbourg was invested by the Germans, principally from Baden,
during the Franco-Prussian war, August 10, 1870. Gen. von Werder assumed
the command of the besiegers, and the bombardment began August 14, and a
vigorous sally was repulsed August 16. Gen. Uhrich, the commander,
declared that he would not surrender except upon a heap of ashes. After
a heroic resistance, and when a breach had been made and an assault was
impending, notice was given September 27, and the place surrendered at 2
A.M., September 28; at 8 A.M. 17,150 men and 400 officers laid down
their arms. The German loss was said to be 906 men, of whom 43 were
officers. The Germans entered Strasbourg, September 30, the anniversary
of its surrender to the French in 1681 by a surprise. Uhrich received
the grand cross of the Legion of Honor, October, 1870. About 400 houses
and the invaluable library were destroyed, the cathedral injured, and
8000 persons rendered homeless.
=Stratagem.= In war, is any scheme or plan for the deceiving and
surprising an army, or any body of men.
=Stratarithmetry.= The art of drawing up an army, or any given number of
men, in any geometrical figure, or of estimating or expressing the
number of men in such a figure.
=Strategetics.= The science of military movements; generalship.
=Strategic=, or =Strategical=. Pertaining to strategy; effected by
artifice.
=Strategic Point.= Any point or region in the theatre of warlike
operations which affords to its possessor an advantage over his
opponent.
=Strategical Fronts.= The portion of the theatre of war in front of any
position occupied by an army as it advances, is termed the _front of
operations_. That part which is directly in front of an army, or which
can be reached in two or three days, forms simply a _front_. When the
whole extent lying between the two hostile armies is considered, the
term _strategical front_ is applied.
=Strategical Lines.= See LINES, STRATEGICAL.
=Strategical Points.= Every point of the theatre of war, the possession
of which is of great importance to an army in its military operations,
is a _strategical point_. These are points which an army acting on the
offensive strives to gain and the army on the defensive strives to
retain.
=Strategist.= One skilled in strategy, or the science of directing great
military movements.
=Strategos= (invented by Lieut. C. A. L. Totten, 4th U. S. Artillery).
The American “game of war,” which takes its name from the Greek word
_strategos_, the title of an Athenian general officer, derived in turn
from _stratos_, “an army,” and _ago_, “I lead;” the secondary meaning of
this term being a board or council of ten Athenians chosen annually to
conduct the war department at home. The game of _strategos_ is divided
into six separate ones, or studies, of gradually increasing importance,
and is far more comprehensive than the foreign war games, which have
little in common with the subaltern and the student, and are so
complicated as to excite interest only among the most profound and
advanced scholars of military science. The six parts of _strategos_ are:
(1) The “minor tactical game,” which embraces all the details of the
tactics of each of the three arms. (2) “Grand tactics,” embracing the
topographical and strategical game, for the general elucidation of the
grand principles of this branch of military science. (3) The “historical
game,” for the study of historical battles and campaigns. (4) “Text-book
illustration.” (5) A “battle game,” based upon military principles and
precepts, which is calculated to instruct as well as interest without
fatiguing that large class of students whose patience would not stand
the close application required in a more advanced game. (6) The
“advanced game,” which affords to the professional military student
every opportunity for pursuing studies commenced in more elementary
fields to their legitimate termination. It is only in the “advanced
game” that _strategos_ solves the same problem attempted by the Germans
in _kriegspiel_, and other military nations in various alterations and
improvements upon the great original. War games are by no means of such
modern invention as may at first appear; chess is a very ancient “battle
game,” and checkers one in which decisive concentration plays a most
important part. During the last century two games, the _jeu de la
guerre_ and the _jeu de la fortification_, appeared in France and were
played with cards. These games differ, however, entirely from the modern
ones. Kriegspiel, the father of modern war games, was the invention of a
civilian, Herr von Reitwitz, the details of which his son, a Prussian
artillery officer, carefully improved. It rapidly grew into military
favor, and since 1824, when it was first mentioned by officers of note,
has undergone many modifications except as to its underlying principles.
Von Moltke himself some twenty years ago was the president of a society
whose special object was to play this game, and the great skill of
Prussian officers and their success in their late wars is in no small
degree to be attributed to this game, familiarity with which has become
a sort of necessary step in advancement in the Prussian army. The
American game possesses all the valuable features of kriegspiel, and
some noticeable improvements thereon as to method, men, tables, etc.,
while it possesses the peculiar advantages of having elementary games of
special interest to all classes of military men. The cost of this game
is about $50.
=Strategus= (_Strategos_). Any Athenian general officer was so called.
=Strategy.= Is defined by military writers to be the science of
manœuvring an army out of fire of the enemy, as tactics is the art of
managing it in battle or under fire. Strategy is the greater science, as
including all those vast combinations which lead to the subsequent
available displays of tactics.
A movement of the army is said to be _strategical_ when by its means
there are concentrated at a given point troops superior in numbers to
those of the enemy; or, at this point, there is gained a position by
which the enemy’s communications with his base are cut or threatened
while those of the army are secure; or, a position is gained by which
the forces of the enemy are separated, or are prevented from acting in
concert. Strategical operations are directed to attain one or more of
these objects; and the line followed by an army in an operation of this
kind is called a _strategical line_. The area of country or territory in
any part of which the hostile forces can come into collision is termed
the _theatre of war_.
There may be employed in a given theatre of war several armies or only
one. If there are several armies, but each acting independently of the
others, or if there is only one, the particular portion of the territory
in which each act is termed the _theatre of operations_ for that army.
A theatre of operations of an army may be defined to be all the
territory it may desire to invade, and all that it may have to defend.
Where several armies are employed, acting in concert, the theatre of
operations of each army depends upon the movements of the other armies,
and the theatres of operations of each army in this case are usually
designated as _zones of operations_; although this term is also applied
to those three divisions of a theatre of operations lying directly in
advance of the centre and flanks of a front of operations. Whatever is
true for a theatre of operations of an army acting alone is equally true
for the theatre of operations of several armies acting separately, and
is also applicable to the whole theatre of war.
To make the above statements definite, suppose a single army acting in
an independent theatre of operations. A general with such an army under
his command proposing an advance towards the enemy will have three
things to consider, viz.: (1) The place from which the army is to start;
(2) The point to which the army is to go; (3) The roads or routes by
which the army is to move in order to reach this point. The first, or
place of starting, is termed the _base of operations_. The second, the
point to be reached, is called the _objective-point_, or simply the
_objective_. The third, the roads or routes used by the army in reaching
the objective-point, is termed the _line of operations_. The portion of
the theatre of operations occupied by the army as it advances is known
as the _front of operations_.
=Stratton-Hill, Battle of.= In Cornwall, England, May 16, 1643, between
the royal army under Sir Ralph Hopton, and the forces of the Parliament
under the Earl of Stamford. The victory was gained over the
Parliamentarians, who lost heavily in killed and wounded.
=Strelitz=, or properly =Streltzi= (“arquebuzziers”). The ancient
Russian militia-guard, first raised by Ivan Vatsilevitch the Terrible,
in the second half of the 16th century. At that time and for long
afterwards, they were the only standing army in Russia, and at times
amounted to between 40,000 and 50,000 men. They were located at Moscow
in time of peace, in a quarter of the Capitol which was set apart for
them, and being the bravest and most trustworthy troops in the army,
were made objects of special favor and distinctions. But like all such
petted corps, the Roman _Prætorians_, the Turkish Janissaries, and the
Egyptian Mamelukes, their general turbulence, frequent revolts against
the government (notably during the Demetrian insurrections), and
incessant conspiracies, rendered them more formidable to the Russian
government than to external enemies. The Strelitz having, at the
instigation of the Grand Duchess Sophia and the chiefs of the Old
Muscovite party, revolted against Peter the Great, that iron-handed
ruler caused them to be decimated (1698) in the great square of Moscow,
and the remainder to be banished to Astrakhan. The feeble remnant still
manifesting their characteristic turbulence and disloyalty, Peter
exterminated them almost completely in 1705. Few Russian families at
present can claim kindred with the old Strelitz, but to this the family
of Orloff forms a prominent exception, being descended from a Strelitz
who was pardoned by Peter the Great while the axe was being raised over
him.
=Strength.= This word may be variously understood in military matters.
It means fortification; strongholds, etc. It likewise signifies
armament; power; force. In all returns which are made of corps,
_strength_ implies the number of men that are borne upon the
establishment, in contradistinction to _effective force_, which means
the number fit for service.
=Stretcher.= A litter or frame for carrying sick, wounded, or dead
persons.
=Strict.= Exact, severe, rigorous; the contrary to mild, indulgent.
Hence, a strict officer. It is sometimes used in a bad sense, to signify
a petulant, troublesome commander.
=Striegau.= A town of Prussia in Silesia, 29 miles southwest from
Breslau. The Austrians were defeated by the Prussians under Frederick
the Great near this town in 1745.
=Strife.= Contention in battle;, contest; struggle for victory; quarrel
of war.
=Strike.= This word is variously used in military phraseology; as, to
_strike a tent_, is to loosen the cords of a tent which has been
regularly pitched, and to have it ready, in a few minutes, to throw upon
a baggage-wagon. _To strike terror into an enemy_, is to cause alarm and
apprehension in him; to make him dread the effects of superior skill and
valor. _To strike a blow_, to make some decisive effort.
=Stripes.= The chevrons on the coats of non-commissioned officers are
sometimes so called.
=Strong.= Well fortified; able to sustain attacks; not easily subdued or
taken; as, a strong fortress or town. Having great military or naval
force; powerful; as, a strong army or fleet; a nation strong at sea.
=Stronghold.= A fastness; a fort or fortress; a fortified place; a place
of security.
=Struggle, To.= To make extraordinary exertion in direct contest with an
enemy, or against superior forces.
=Stuhlweissenburg.= A town of Austria, in Hungary, 37 miles southwest
from Buda-Pesth. It was besieged and taken from the Turks by the
Austrians under the Duke of Mercoeur, in September, 1601; was besieged
and captured by the Turks in August, 1602; and was besieged and taken by
assault by the Austrians on September 6, 1688.
=Stuhm.= A town of West Prussia, 13 miles north-northeast of
Marienwerder. Here a battle was fought between the Swedes under Gustavus
Adolphus and the Poles under Gen. Koniecpolski, June 17, 1629.
=Stuttgart=, or =Stutgard=. The capital of Würtemberg, Germany, 38 miles
east-southeast from Carlsruhe. During the wars of Louis XIV., Stuttgart
was thrice taken; and again in 1796, 1800, and 1801.
=Stylet.= A small poniard or dagger; a stiletto.
=Styra= (now _Stura_). A town in Eubœa, on the southwest coast, nearly
opposite Marathon in Attica. The inhabitants took an active part in the
Persian war, and fought at Artemisium, Salamis, and Platææ. They
afterwards became subject to the Athenians. The town was destroyed in
the Lamian war by the Athenian general Phædrus, and its territory was
annexed to Eretia.
=Suabia=, =Swabia=, or =Suevia= (Ger. _Schwaben_). An ancient duchy in
the southwest of Germany, so named from a horde of Suevi, who spread
over it in the 5th century; was a great duchy of the Frank empire till
the 8th century. In 918, it was acknowledged a ducal fief of the empire;
and after changing hands several times, it was bestowed upon Count
Frederick of Hohenstaufen, the founder of the illustrious house of that
name, also known as the house of Suabia. Under the rule of this prince,
Suabia became the most rich, civilized, and powerful country of Germany;
but the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, and the quarrel with the
French respecting Naples, put an end to the dynasty in 1268. The ducal
vassals of Suabia rendered themselves almost independent, and professed
to acknowledge no lord but the emperor. During these dissensions arose
the lordships of Würtemberg and Baden, with numerous lesser states,
holding direct of the crown, and opposed to them the cities, which
strove also for an equal independence, and obtained, in 1347, great
additional privileges. A number of them united to make common cause
against the neighboring feudal lords in 1376 (known as the “First
Suabian League”); an opposite league was formed between Würtemberg,
Baden, and seventeen towns in 1405, called the “League of Marbach”; and
both took part in the war of Swiss independence, the former in support
of the Swiss, the latter of the Austrians. At last the towns, which had
been increasing in power, decided at Ulm, in 1449, to form a standing
army, and a permanent military commission, for the forcible
preservation, if necessary, of peace and order; and the Count of
Würtemberg, the most powerful of the opposite party, having joined them,
was appointed military chief of the league, which ultimately grew up
into the “Great Suabian League,” which effectively repressed feudal
quarrels. In 1512, Suabia became one of the ten circles into which
Germany was now divided, received its complete organization in 1563, and
retained it almost without change till the dissolution of the empire in
1806. But during this period, the wars of the towns with Würtemberg, the
Peasants’ war, of which Suabia was one of the foci, the Thirty Years’
War, and those between France and the empire, destroyed the democratic
constitution of the towns, and with it their energy, and then their
prosperity disappeared, leaving now no relic which could suggest their
former great importance.
=Subadar.= A native officer in a native East Indian infantry regiment
holding a rank corresponding to that of captain.
=Subadar-Major.= In the East Indies, is the native commandant of a
native infantry regiment.
=Subaltern.= A commissioned officer below the rank of captain. But
strictly speaking every officer is a subaltern to the grades above him,
as the captain is subaltern to the major, and so upward.