distance to a point by means of sound proceeding from the point to the
place of observation. The one used for artillery consists of a glass
tube about 6 inches in length, filled with a transparent liquid that
does not freeze except with intense cold. In the liquid is a metallic
disk, which moves freely from one end of the tube to the other. It is so
adjusted that the motion will be uniform and comparatively slow. The
tube is inclosed in a brass case, to which is attached a scale, after
the fashion of a thermometer. This scale is marked for each hundred
yards up to 4000. The divisions on the scale show the distance, in
yards, through which sound will travel in air during the time required
for the disk to descend over the space on the scale marked by the
corresponding number of yards. The instrument must be held vertically,
or as nearly so as possible. To arrest the motion of the disk at any
point, the instrument is quickly turned to a horizontal position.
To use it for determining the time of flight of shells it is held in the
right hand, back of the hand up, with the zero of the instrument to the
left; a turn of the wrist to the right brings the instrument vertical,
with the zero end uppermost; the disk then descends, and a turn of the
wrist to the left arrests its motion. The observer, holding the
instrument as described, watches for the flash of the shell, and upon
seeing it instantly brings the instrument to a vertical position; upon
hearing the report from the shell he instantly turns it back again. The
position of the disk indicates the number of yards from the observer to
where the shell exploded.
To ascertain the distance to an enemy’s battery, the instrument is held
and turned in the same manner. The observer watches for the flash of a
gun; observing which, he turns the instrument, and when he hears the
report turns it back and reads off the distance. Each hundred yards on
the scale is subdivided into quarters.
The telemeter invented by Capt. A. Gautier of the French army is an
instrument for measuring, with a great degree of approximation, any
difference, not exceeding three degrees, which may be exhibited in the
bearing of a distant object by viewing it from different points of a
base-line transverse to its general direction from the observer. The
instrument, in its simplicity, accuracy, and portability, recommends
itself in all cases where a knowledge of distances is desired at any
moment and with the least possible delay; such, for instance, as
range-finding, river-crossing, reconnoitring, and the like. A slight
acquaintance with its use on such occasions enables the observer to
estimate, with more than ordinary promptitude and precision, the
distance which it might be all-important to obtain.
The instrument resembles in shape and size one barrel of an ordinary
reconnoitring- or field-glass. The case in which it is carried is
fashioned so as to answer as a handle for holding the instrument when
making observations. Within the barrel of the instrument are placed two
mirrors at an angle of 45° with each other; this angle can be varied
within certain limits by means of a milled-headed screw acting on one of
them. The mirrors are thus made to operate upon the principle of the
sextant. A slot on one side of the barrel permits the rays of light from
an object to fall upon one of the mirrors, from whence they are
reflected upon the other mirror, and the image is seen through the
eye-glass at the small end of the instrument. At the front or large end
is fixed, in a ring surrounding the barrel, a prism, whose displacement
modifies the direction of an object seen through it. At the rear of the
instrument is a small eye-glass, by means of which the observer sees,
_over_ the mirrors and through the prism, the object which is before
him, and by double reflection in the mirrors the object to the side of
him.
The American general Berdan has invented a large telemeter for garrison
and sea-coast service which has been tested in Germany in 1875 and 1876
and found to be very exact in the determination of distances. He has
also constructed a new model for field and mountain artillery which can
be packed up and transported on horseback.
=Telephone.= An instrument for reproducing sounds, especially articulate
speech, at a distance, by the aid of electricity or electro-magnetism.
It consists essentially of a device by which currents of electricity,
produced by the sounds, and exactly corresponding in duration and
intensity to the vibrations of the air which attend them, are
transmitted to a distant station, and there, acting on suitable
mechanism, reproduce similar sounds by repeating the vibrations.
Telephones were recently used by Sir Garnet Wolseley in the war in
Zululand, and are being rapidly adopted in European armies.
=Tell Off.= A military term, expressing the dividing and practicing a
regiment or company in the several formations, preparatory to marching
to the general parade for field exercise.
=Tellenon= (_Fr._). An ancient machine used at sieges. See TOLENON.
=Tellevas= (_Fr._). A large shield formerly used, similar to the
_pavois_.
=Tembu=, =Abatempu=, or =Tambookie=. Is the name of an important tribe
of Kaffirs, occupying the region east of the present boundary of the
Cape Colony. In the earlier Kaffir wars, and even in the great one of
1835-36, the Tambookie Kaffirs remained neutral, and even friendly to
the colonists; but in the war of 1848-49, they were induced to join the
other tribes, and were defeated with great loss by a small colonial
force. In the war of 1851, they were much broken and scattered; but
eventually submitting to the British authority, they have quietly
located themselves in the unoccupied country east of the White Kei and
Tsomo Rivers.
=Temesvar=, or =Temeswar=. A town of the Austrian empire, capital of a
circle of the same name, and of the crownland of Banat. It is strongly
fortified with walls, moats, and outworks. Temesvar has played an
important part in modern history. It was in the hands of the Turks from
its capture in 1552 till 1718, when it was regained by Prince Eugène,
and strongly fortified. In 1849, it was besieged for 107 days by the
Hungarian insurgents, but it held out until it was relieved by Gen.
Haynau.
=Templar, Knights.= A celebrated religious and military order, founded
at Jerusalem in the beginning of the 12th century, by Hugues de
Paganes, Geoffroy de St. Omer, and seven other French knights, for the
protection of the Holy Sepulchre and of pilgrims resorting thither. The
knights were bound by their rule to hear the holy office every day, or
if prevented by their military duties, to say a certain number of
paternosters instead, and were compelled to abstain from certain
articles of food on certain days of the week. They might have three
horses and an esquire each, but were forbidden to hunt or fowl. After
the conquest of Jerusalem by the Saracens, the Templars spread over
Europe; their valor became everywhere celebrated; immense donations in
money and land were showered on them, and members of the most
distinguished families thought themselves honored by enrollment in the
order. As the power and prosperity of the Templars increased, so did
their luxury, arrogance, and other vices, which gave the French kings a
pretext for endeavoring to suppress them, and lay hold of their
possessions. Their principal enemy was Philippe IV. of France, who
induced Pope Clement V. to accede to a scheme by which the whole members
of the order were seized and imprisoned, their lands confiscated, and
many of them tried, convicted, and executed for capital crimes. The
English Templars were arrested by command of Edward II. In 1312, the
whole order throughout Europe was suppressed by the Council of Vienne,
and its property bestowed on the Knights of St. John. The habit of the
Templars was white, with a red cross of eight points of the Maltese form
worn on the left shoulder. Their war-cry was “Beau séant”; and their
banner, which bore the same name, was parted per fess sable and argent.
They also displayed above their lances a white banner charged with the
cross of the order. Their badges were the _Agnus Dei_, and a
representation of two knights mounted on one horse,--indicative of the
original poverty of the order.
=Ten Thousand, Retreat of the.= See RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS.
=Tenable.= Such as may be maintained against opposition; such as may be
held against attack.
=Tenaille.= In fortification, is a low work, constructed in the main
ditch, upon the lines of defense, between the bastions, before the
curtain, composed of two faces, and sometimes of two flanks and a small
curtain.
=Tenaillons.= In fortification, are works sometimes found constructed in
an old fortress, on each side of the ravelin,--the short faces being
traced, on the prolongations of the faces of the ravelin, from the
counterscarp of its ditch; the long faces are directed for flanking
defense, to about the middle of the faces of the bastions.
_Demi-tenaillons_ are very similar to tenaillons, excepting that their
short faces are directed, perpendicular to the faces of the ravelin,
about one-third or one-half down from the flanked angle.
=Tencteri=, or =Tenctheri=. A people of Germany, dwelling on the Rhine
between the Ruhr and Sieg, south of the Usipetes, in conjunction with
whom their name usually occurs. They crossed the Rhine together with the
Usipetes, with the intention of settling in Gaul; but they were defeated
by Cæsar with great slaughter, and those who escaped took refuge in the
territories of their southern neighbors, the Sygambri. The Tencteri
afterward belonged to the league of the Cherusci, and at a still later
period they are mentioned as a portion of the confederacy of the Franks.
=Tenedos.= A small island belonging to Turkey, in the northeast of the
Ægean Sea, off the coast of the Troad. It appears in the legend of the
Trojan war, as the station to which the Greeks withdrew their fleet in
order to induce the Trojans to think they had departed, and to receive
the wooden horse. In the Persian war it was used by Xerxes as a naval
station. It afterward became a tributary ally of Athens, and adhered to
her during the whole of the Peloponnesian war, and down to the peace of
Antalcidas, by which it was surrendered to the Persians. At the
Macedonian conquest, the Tenedians regained their liberty. In the war
against Philip III., Attalus and the Romans used Tenedos as a naval
station, and in the Mithridatic war, Lucullus gained a naval victory
over Mithridates off the island. About this time the Tenedians placed
themselves under the protection of Alexandrea Troas.
=Tennessee.= A Central State of the American Union, and third admitted
under the Federal Constitution. It is bounded on the north by Kentucky
and Virginia, and on the south by Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. The
early settlers of Tennessee were slaughtered by Cherokee Indians in
1754; but in 1756 a settlement was formed near Knoxville, then a part of
North Carolina. Nashville was settled near the close of the Revolution;
in 1790, Tennessee was organized as a Territory with Kentucky, and in
1796 was admitted into the Union as a separate State. In January, 1861,
a proposal to secede from the Union was defeated, but in June it was
carried by a majority of 57,667. In ten months the State raised 50
regiments for the Confederacy; 5 or 6 were also raised for the Union.
The State was the scene, at Knoxville and Chattanooga, of some of the
most important operations of the war, and eventually almost the whole
State became a battle-ground. The State was readmitted into the Union in
1866.
=Tenney.= In heraldry, orange color, one of the tinctures enumerated by
heralds, but not of frequent occurrence in coat-armor. It is indicated
in engravings by lines in bend sinister, crossed by others barways.
=Tent= (Lat. _tentorium_, from _tentus_, “stretched”). A pavilion or
portable lodge consisting of canvas or other coarse cloth, stretched and
sustained by poles; used for sheltering persons from the weather,
especially soldiers in camp. The early Greek, and afterward the
Macedonian tents, were small coverings of skin, under each of which two
soldiers slept. Alexander the Great is said to have had a pavilion of
extraordinary magnificence, which could contain 100 beds. The Roman
soldiers seem to have used two sorts of tents,--one, a tent proper, of
canvas or some analogous material, and constructed with two solid
upright poles, and a roof-piece between them; the other more resembling
a light hut, of a wooden skeleton, covered by bark, hides, mud, straw,
or any material which afforded warmth. The Roman tent held 10 soldiers,
with their _decanus_, or corporal. Modern military tents are all made of
linen or cotton canvas, supported by one or more poles, according to
shape, and held extended by pegs driven into the ground. The tents used
in the military service of the United States comprise the following:
_Common_, or _A tent_, for the use of enlisted men, is 6 feet 10 inches
in height, 8 feet 4 inches in width, and 6 feet 10 inches long; it holds
6 men.
The officers’ tents are somewhat larger than the common tents, and are
supplied with low side-walls of canvas; they are generally called
_wall-tents_.
The _tente-d’abri_, which was introduced into the American from the
French service, with some modifications, consists of a tissue of
cotton-cloth impregnated with caoutchouc, and thus made water-proof.
Every man carries a square of this cloth, with buttons and button-holes
around, by which it is attached to the squares carried by his comrades;
3 men generally sleep together in a tent made of those pieces.
The _Sibley tent_ (invented by Maj. Sibley, 2d Dragoons) is conical,
light, easily pitched, erected on a tripod holding a single pole, and
will comfortably accommodate 12 soldiers with their accoutrements. A
fire can be made in the centre of this tent, and all soldiers sleep with
their feet to the fire. This tent is hardly ever used.
There is also a _hospital tent_, which is made of heavy cotton-duck. In
length it is 14 feet; in width, 15 feet; in height (centre), 11 feet;
with a wall 4¹⁄₂ feet, and a “fly” of appropriate size; the ridge-pole
is made in two sections, and measures 14 feet when joined. This tent
accommodates from 8 to 10 persons comfortably.
=Tent.= To cover with tents; to pitch tents upon; as, a tented plain.
=Tent, Laboratory.= In artillery, is a large tent, which is sometimes
carried to the field for the conveniences of the laboratory men.
=Tent-bedstead.= See CAMP-BEDSTEAD.
=Tentful.= As much or as many as a tent will hold.
=Tent-pins.= Are pieces of wood, which are indented at the top, and made
sharp at the bottom, to keep the cords of a tent firm to the earth.
=Tent-poles.= The poles upon which a tent is supported.
=Teramo= (anc. _Interamma_). A town of Southern Italy, in the province
of Abruzzo Ultra I., at the junction of the Tordina and Vezzola, 28
miles northeast of Aquila. In the plain below Teramo took place, July
27, 1460, between the army of John, duke of Anjou, and the Milanese
allies of Ferdinand I. of Aragon, one of the most sanguinary battles
ever fought in Italy. After the contest at Castelfidardo (1860), Teramo
was the first Neapolitan city that opened its gates and gave joyful
welcome to King Victor Emmanuel.
=Termini= (anc. _Thermæ Himærenses_). A seaport town on the north coast
of Sicily, 21 miles east-southeast from Palermo, at the mouth of the
river Termini. The ancient _Thermæ_ was founded 408 B.C. Here the
Carthaginians defeated the Romans with heavy loss (260 B.C.) during the
first Punic war.
=Ternate.= The northernmost of a chain of islands, on the west coast of
Gilolo, and formerly the seat of sovereignty over all the adjacent
Molucca Islands. It was taken from the Dutch by the English in 1797, but
it was restored at the peace of Amiens. It was again taken in August,
1810, and once more restored to the Dutch, with their other possessions
in India and the East, by the treaty of Paris in 1814.
=Terre-plein.= In field fortification, the plane of site or level
country around a work. The terre-plein of the rampart in permanent
fortification, is the broad surface which remains after constructing the
parapet and banquette.
=Terror, Reign of.= See REIGN OF TERROR.
=Tertiate.= In gunnery, is to examine the thickness of the metal of a
piece of artillery, in order to judge of its strength. This is usually
done with a pair of caliper compasses. To _tertiate_ a piece of
ordnance, is to examine the thickness of the metal, in order to judge of
its strength, the position of the trunnions, etc.
=Teschen.= A town of Austrian Silesia, on the right bank of the Olsa, 38
miles east-southeast of Troppau. Here, in 1779, a treaty of peace was
concluded between Maria Theresa and Frederick II., by which the dispute
of the Bavarian Succession was brought to an end.
=Testri= (Northern France). Pepin d’Heristal, invited by malcontents,
here defeated and captured Thierry III., king of Austrasia, and
established himself as duke, 687.
=Testudo= (_Testude_). In ancient warfare, was a defensive arrangement
of the shields, by means of which a body of men advancing against a wall
for assault or mining, sought to protect themselves from the darts and
weapons of the defenders. The men standing in close order, joined their
shields above their heads, the edges overlapping, until the whole
resembled the shell of a tortoise (_testudo_). The name was also applied
to a machine moving on wheels, and roofed over, under which soldiers
worked in undermining or otherwise destroying the walls in a siege.
=Tête-de-pont= (_Fr._). A field fortification in front of a bridge, to
cover the retreat of an army across a river. They are generally formed
in the shape of a redan, a system of crémaillères, horn- or crown-works,
or portions of star-and-bastioned forts. In order to add to the defense
of _tétes-de-pont_, reduits have been constructed within them, and the
dimensions of their parapets are in general made larger than those of
any other field-work, on account of their great importance. Sometimes
the area inclosed by a _tête-de-pont_ is temporarily made use of as a
depot for the stores necessary for the troops, in which case its tracing
should present a strong point of defense, well provided with artillery,
and affording in several points egress. The tracing which has been found
the best for the passage of extensive trains of wagons and artillery, as
well as columns of troops, is formed of crémaillères, extending in such
a manner as to inclose a large area, and leaving behind each a passage
well guarded and secured by second crémaillères, fronting the passage,
and forming a second line. Additional strength will be given to _têtes_
of every kind by constructing small redans or batteries on the opposite
side of the river, the fire from which may defend the ground in front of
the salient, and flank the faces of the _tête-de-pont_.
=Tettenhall= (Staffordshire). It was probably at this place, then named
Testenheal, that the Danes were defeated by the Anglo-Saxons sent
against them by Edward the Elder, August 6, 910.
=Tetuan.= A seaport town on the north coast of Africa, 22 miles south of
Ceuta. It was taken by the Spaniards under O’Donnell, February, 1860;
and the treaty of Madrid, by which the city was evacuated in favor of
the Spaniards, was concluded October 30, 1861.
=Teutoburg Forest.= Probably situated between Detmold and Paderborn, in
North Germany, where Hermann, or Arminius, and the Germans defeated the
Romans under Varus with great slaughter in the year 9. This defeat was
regarded at Rome as a national calamity.
=Teutonic.= A term applied to a group of nations, as well as languages,
forming an important division or stem of the Aryan family. Of the
various tribes and nations spoken of as inhabiting Northern Europe in
ancient times, it is often difficult to determine which were really of
Germanic race, and which Celtic or Slavic. Of undoubted German nations
who took part in the destruction of the Roman empire the most prominent
were the Goths (which see), Lombards (which see), Vandals (which see),
and Franks (which see). The term Teutonic is derived from _Teutones_,
the name of a nation or tribe first mentioned by Pytheas, who wrote
about 320 B.C., as then inhabiting a part of the Cimbric Chersonesus, or
Jutland. For the next 200 years there is no further mention of the
Teutones, that is, not until 113 B.C., when they appear in history as
ravaging Gaul, and in conjunction with the Cimbri and Ambrones,
threatening the very existence of the Roman republic. The Cimbri having
gone into Spain, the Teutones and Ambrones were at length defeated by C.
Marius in a great battle at Aqua Sextiæ, in Gaul, 102 B.C. A similar
victory was gained by Marius in the following year over the Cimbri in
the plains of Lombardy.
=Teutonic Knights.= One of the more celebrated of the military and
religious orders to which the Crusades gave birth. The sufferings of the
Christian soldiers at the siege of Acre excited the sympathy of certain
merchants of Bremen and Lübeck, who rendered such important services by
the erection of hospitals and otherwise, that Duke Frederick of Suabia,
with the sanction of Pope Clement III. and the emperor Henry VI.,
enrolled them in an order of knighthood. The habit of the order was a
white mantle with a black cross; and the knights took vows of poverty
and chastity, which in later times were not very strictly interpreted.
In the course of the 13th century, they were, with the sanction of the
pope, engaged in a bloody war to enforce Christianity on the heathen
nations inhabiting the southern shores of the Baltic, which resulted in
the acquisition by the order of Prussia, Livonia, Courland, and other
adjoining territories. Warriors from all parts of Europe in that and the
following century joined their standard, including Henry IV. of England,
accompanied by 300 attendant knights and men-at-arms. The conquests of
the order raised it to the rank of a sovereign order, with a territory
extending from the Oder to the Baltic, and embracing a population of
between 2,000,000, and 3,000,000, the grand master having his seat at
Marienburg, Prussia. The decline of the order began in the 15th century,
and its fall was brought about partly by internal dissensions, and
partly by the attacks of neighboring states. At the peace of Presburg in
1805, the emperor of Austria obtained the rights and revenues of the
grand master, but in 1809 the order was abolished by Napoleon, its lands
passing to the sovereigns in whose dominions they lay. The Teutonic
order, however, still continues to preserve a titular existence in
Austria.
=Tewkesbury.= A town of England, in Gloucestershire, on the Avon, and
near its confluence with the Severn, 10 miles northeast from Gloucester.
It is a very ancient town. Within a mile of it was fought (May 14, 1471)
the famous battle of Tewkesbury, in which the Yorkists under Edward IV.
and Richard III. inflicted a signal defeat on the Lancastrians.