bank of the Sizandro, about 30 miles north of Lisbon. It derives its
reputation solely from having given name to those famous lines of
defense within which Wellington took refuge in 1810, when he found it
impossible to defend the frontier of Portugal against the French armies;
and from which, in the year following, he issued on that career of slow
and hard-won victory which ended in the expulsion of the French from the
Peninsula. The _first_, or outermost of these lines, extending from
Alhandra, on the Tagus, to the mouth of the Sizandro, on the sea-coast,
and following the windings of the hills, was 29 miles long; the _second_
(and by far the most formidable) lay from 6 to 10 miles behind the
first, stretching from Quintella, on the Tagus, to the mouth of the St.
Lorenza, a distance of 24 miles; the _third_, situated to the southwest
of Lisbon, at the very mouth of the Tagus, was very short, being
intended to cover a forced embarkation, if that had become necessary.
The entire ground thus fortified was equal to 500 square miles.
=Torrington.= A town of England, county of Devon, 10 miles
south-southwest of Barnstaple. The name of Torrington emerges frequently
during the great civil war; and the capture of the town by Fairfax in
1646, on which occasion the church, with 200 prisoners, and those who
guarded them, were blown into the air by gunpowder, proved fatal to the
king’s cause in the west.
=Torse=, or =Torce=. In heraldry, a wreath.
=Tortona.= A town of Italy, province of Alessandria, on a hill nearly
900 feet above the sea. Tortona was once a strongly fortified city, but
its last defenses were destroyed by order of Napoleon, after the battle
of Marengo.
=Tortosa.= A town of Spain, in Catalonia, on the Ebro, 42 miles
southwest from Tarragona. It was taken by the French under Suchet in
1811.
=Tortu d’Hommes= (_Fr._). A particular formation which was formerly
adopted by the besieged when they made a sortie.
=Tory.= The word tory first occurs in English history in 1679, during
the struggle in Parliament occasioned by the introduction of the bill
for the exclusion of the Duke of York from the line of succession, and
was applied by the advocates of the bill to its opponents as a title of
obloquy or contempt. The name has, however, ceased to designate any
existing party; the political successors of the tories are now commonly
known as conservatives. In the Revolutionary war of the United States,
the loyalists were called _tories_.
=Touch-box.= A box containing lighted tinder, formerly carried by
soldiers who used matchlocks, to kindle the match.
=Touch-hole.= The vent of a cannon or other species of fire-arms, by
which fire is communicated to the powder of the charge.
=Toula=, or =Tula=. An important town of Great Russia, capital of the
government of the same name, on the Upa, 110 miles south of Moscow. It
is an ancient town, and has suffered severely from Tartar invasion, and
during the wars of the commencement of the 17th century. The Russian
army is largely supplied with muskets and small-arms from the works of
this town.
=Toulon.= A great seaport and naval arsenal of France, department of
Var. It stands at the head of a deeply-penetrating inlet of the
Mediterranean. It is a fortress of immense strength, and is surrounded
by a double rampart, and by a wide and deep fosse. Toulon was destroyed
by the Saracens in 889, and again by them about the close of the 12th
century. It was only at the end of the 16th century that Toulon came to
be important as a naval and military stronghold. In 1707, it was
assailed without success by the Duke of Savoy by land, and the English
and Dutch by sea. It was taken by the English and Spaniards in 1793; but
the allies were obliged to evacuate the town in December of the same
year, after being fiercely attacked by the republicans, whose guns were
commanded by Napoleon,--then a simple officer of artillery,--who here
evinced for the first time his genius and self-reliance.
=Toulouse= (anc. _Tolosa_). An important city of France, capital of the
department of Haute-Garonne, on the right bank of the river Garonne, 160
miles southeast of Bordeaux. The ancient _Tolosa_ and its temple were
plundered by the consul Q. Servilius Cæpio in 106 B.C. It was ravaged by
the Visigoths and Franks, who successively overran and possessed the
country. A battle was fought here in 1814, between Wellington and Soult,
in which the latter was defeated, and obliged to evacuate the town.
=Tour=, or =Turn=. That which is done by succession. _Tour of duty_,
turn to go on duty.
=Tourbillon.= See PYROTECHNY.
=Tournament=, or =Tournay=. A military sport of the Middle Ages, in
which combatants engaged one another with the object of exhibiting their
courage, prowess, and skill in the use of arms, or for the honor of the
ladies attending. According to Ducange, the difference between a
tournament and a _joust_ is, that the latter is a single combat, while
in the former a troop of combatants encounter each other on either side.
But this distinction has not been always observed.
=Tournay= (anc. _Tornacum_, or _Turris Nerviorum_, “Fort of the
Nervii”). A fortified town of Belgium, province of Hainault, on both
sides of the Scheldt, near the French frontier. It was in the 5th and
beginning of the 6th centuries the seat of the Merovingian kings,
subsequently belonged to France, but at the peace of Madrid was included
in the Spanish Netherlands. Subsequently it was oftener than once taken
by France, but again restored by treaty. During the month of May, 1794,
it was the scene of several hotly contested fights between the French
and Austro-English armies, the most important of which was that of May
19, in which Pichegru heat the Duke of York.
=Tours.= A city of France, capital of the department of Indre-et-Loire,
146 miles southwest from Paris. Near it Charles Martel gained a great
victory over the Saracens, and saved Europe, October 10, 732. This
conflict was also called the battle of Poitiers. The church was pillaged
by the Huguenots and utterly destroyed, with the exception of two
towers, at the revolution.
=Tower.= A citadel; a fortress; hence, a defender.
=Tower Bastion.= In fortification, is one which is constructed of
masonry, at the angles of the interior polygon of some works; and has
usually vaults or casemates under its terre-plein, to contain artillery,
stores, etc.
=Tower of London.= In feudal days, a powerful fortress; then, and long
after, a state prison of gloomy memories; now a government store-house
and armory, and still in some sense a stronghold; is an irregular
quadrilateral collection of buildings on rising ground adjoining the
Thames, and immediately to the east of the city of London. The kings
frequently resided there, holding their courts, and not unfrequently
sustaining sieges and blockades from their rebellious subjects. At
present, the Tower of London is a great military store-house in charge
of the war department, containing arms and accoutrements for the
complete equipment of a large army. It is needless to say that, viewed
as a fortress, the Tower would be useless against modern arms. The
government is vested in a constable, who has great privileges, and is
usually a military officer of long service and distinguished mark; the
deputy-constable, also a general officer of repute, is the actual
governor. He has a small staff under him, and the corps of Yeomen of the
Guard, more commonly known as Beef-eaters.
=Towered.= Adorned or defended by towers.
=Towers, Movable.= The _purgi_ of the Greeks, and the _turres mobiles_
of the Romans, consisted of several stories, furnished with engines,
ladders, casting-bridges, etc., and moving on wheels, for the purpose of
being brought near the walls. They were usually of a round form, though
sometimes square or polygonal. Before the invention of guns, they used
to fortify places with towers, and to attack them with movable towers of
wood, mounted on wheels, to set the besiegers on a level with the walls,
and drive the besieged from under the same. These towers were sometimes
20 stories, and 30 fathoms high. They were covered with raw skins, and
100 men were employed to move them.
=Tow-hooks.= See IMPLEMENTS.
=Town-Adjutant=, =Town-Major=. In Great Britain, officers on the staff
of a garrison. They are often veteran officers, too much worn for field
service. The pay depends on the magnitude of the trust. The town-major
ranks as a captain; the adjutant as a lieutenant. The duties of these
officers consist in maintaining discipline, and looking after the
finding of the batteries, etc.
=Towton.= A township of England, county of York, West Riding. Here a
sanguinary battle was fought, March 29, 1461, between the houses of York
(Edward IV.) and Lancaster (Henry VI.), to the latter of whom it was
fatal, and on whose side more than 37,000 fell. Edward issued orders to
give no quarter, and the most merciless slaughter ensued. Henry was made
prisoner, and confined in the Tower; his queen, Margaret, fled to
Flanders.
=Traband.= A trusty brave soldier in the Swiss infantry, whose
particular duty was to guard the colors and the captain who led them. He
was armed with a sword and a halbert, the blade of which was sharpened
like a pertuisan. He generally wore the colonel’s livery, and was
excused from all the duties of a sentinel.
=Tracing=, or =Outline=. Is the succession of lines that show the figure
of the works, and indicate the direction in which the defensive masses
are laid out, in order to obtain a proper defense.
=Tracing-pickets.= These are short pickets, 18 inches long, and about 1
inch in diameter, which are useful in marking out the details of
field-works. They are made rather more expeditiously than
fascine-pickets, and should be tied up in bundles of 25 each. Every
bundle weighs about 8 pounds when the wood is dry.
=Track.= In gunnery, by track is understood the distance between the
furrows formed by the wheels of artillery carriages in the ground. It is
important that the track should be the same for all carriages likely to
travel the same road, in order that the wheels of one carriage may
follow in the furrows formed by those of its predecessor, and thereby
prevent a loss of tractile force. The track of artillery carriages is 5
feet, and the extreme length of the axle-tree is 6¹⁄₂ feet for field-,
and 6³⁄₄ feet for siege-carriages.
=Trail.= In tactics, to carry, as a fire-arm, with the butt near the
ground, and the muzzle inclined forward, the piece being held by the
right hand near the middle.
=Trail.= In gunnery, the end of a traveling-carriage, opposite to the
wheels, and upon which the carriage slides when unlimbered. See
ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Trail Hand-spike.= See HAND-SPIKE.
=Trail-handles.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Trail-plate.= See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR.
=Trail-bridge.= See PONTONS.
=Train.= To teach and form by practice; to exercise; to discipline; as,
to train the militia to the manual exercise; to train soldiers to the
use of arms.
=Train.= A line of gunpowder, laid to lead fire to a charge, or to a
quantity intended for execution.
=Train, Artillery-.= See ARTILLERY-TRAIN.
=Train, Ponton-.= See PONTONS, BRIDGE EQUIPAGE.
=Train-Bands= (or more properly, _Trained Bands_). A force of militia,
and not differing essentially from that force substituted by James I.
for the old English Fyrd, or national militia. The train-bands of London
were chiefly composed of apprentices; and their unruly doings formed
the subject for many facetious plays and tales. In the civil wars, the
train-bands sided with the Parliament; and Charles II. restored the
militia on its old local footing.
=Trainer.= In the United States, a militia-man when called out for
exercise or discipline.
=Training-day.= In the United States, a day on which a military company
assembles for drill, especially in public.
=Traitor.= One who violates his allegiance and betrays his country; one
guilty of treason; one who, in breach of trust, delivers his country to
its enemy, or any fort or place intrusted to its defense, or who
surrenders an army or body of troops to the enemy, unless when
vanquished; or one who takes arms and levies war against his country; or
one who aids an enemy in conquering his country.
=Traitorous.= Guilty of treason; treacherous; perfidious; faithless; as,
a traitorous officer or subject. Also, consisting of treason; partaking
of treason; implying breach of allegiance; as, a traitorous scheme or
conspiracy.
=Trajan’s Wall.= A line of fortifications stretching across the
Dobrudscha from Czernavoda, where the Danube bends northwards, to a
point of the Black Sea coast near Kustendji. It consists of a double,
and in some places a triple, line of ramparts of earth, from 8³⁄₄ to 11
feet in height on the average (though occasionally it attains an
altitude of 19¹⁄₂ feet), bounded along its north side by a valley, which
being generally marshy, and abounding in small lakes and pools, serves
admirably the purpose of a fosse. During the war of 1854, Trajan’s wall
became an important line of defense on the invasion of the Dobrudscha by
the Russians, and the invaders were twice defeated in their attempts to
pass it,--at Kostelli, (April 10), and Czernavoda (April 20-22).
=Trajectory.= The increasing curve described by a projectile in its
flight through the air. See PROJECTILE, PROJECTILES, THEORY OF.
=Tralee.= A town of Ireland, chief town of the county of Kerry, on the
river Lea, 59 miles northwest from Cork. Tralee was destroyed in the
rebellion of 1641.
=Trani.= A maritime city of Southern Italy, in the province of Terra di
Bari, 25 miles northwest of the town of Bari. Trani submitted to the
Normans in 1053. It was then the chief town of a vast country, and was
an important harbor in the time of the crusades.
=Transfers.= Soldiers taken out of one troop, or company, and placed in
another are so called. Non-commissioned officers or soldiers will not be
transferred from one regiment to another without the authority of the
commanding general. The colonel of a regiment may, upon the application
of the captains, transfer a non-commissioned officer or soldier from
one company to another of his regiment,--with consent of the department
commander in case of a change of post. The transfer of officers from one
regiment or corps to another will be made only by the war department, on
the mutual application of the parties desiring the exchange.
=Transfixed.= An ancient term used to express the state of being
desperately wounded by some pointed instrument, as being run through by
a spear, javelin, or bayonet; pierced through so that the weapon is
fixed in another body.
=Transfluent.= In heraldry, passing or flowing through a bridge,--said
of water.
=Transfuge.= A turncoat, a deserter, a runaway; one who abandons his
party in time of war, and goes over to the enemy.
=Transit-compass.= A species of theodolite, consisting of a telescope
revolving in a vertical plane on a horizontal axis, as in a
transit-instrument, combined with a compass, a graduated horizontal
limb, etc., used for running lines, observing bearings, horizontal
angles, and the like; called also _surveyor’s transit_.
=Transoms.= In gunnery, are pieces of wood or iron which join the cheeks
of gun-carriages and hold them together; they are known as the front and
rear transoms.
=Transportation.= The act of transporting, carrying, or conveying from
one place to another; as, the transportation of troops, munitions of
war, etc.
=Transportation of Artillery.= In transporting artillery by sea, divide
the total quantity to be transported among the vessels, and place in
each vessel everything necessary for the service required at the moment
of disembarkation, so that there will be no inconvenience should other
vessels be delayed. If a siege is to be undertaken, place in each vessel
with each piece of artillery its implements, ammunition, and the
carriages necessary to transport the whole or a part; the platforms,
tools, instruments, and materials for constructing batteries; skids,
rollers, scantling, and plank. If a particular caliber of gun is
necessary for any operation, do not place all of one kind in one vessel,
to avoid being entirely deprived of them by accident. Dismount the
carriages, wagons, and limbers, by taking off the wheels and boxes, and,
if absolutely necessary, the axle-trees. Place in the boxes the
linch-pins, washers, etc., with the tools required for putting the
carriages together again. Number each carriage, and mark each detached
article with the number of the carriage to which it belongs. The
contents of each box, barrel, or bundle, should be marked distinctly
upon it. The boxes should be made small for the convenience of handling,
and have rope handles to lift them by. Place the heaviest articles
below, beginning with the shot and shells (empty), then the guns,
platforms, carriages, wagons, limbers, ammunition, boxes, etc.; boxes of
small-arms and ammunition in the dryest and least exposed part of the
vessel. Articles required to be disembarked first should be put in last,
or so placed that they can be readily got at. If the disembarkation is
to be performed in front of the enemy, some of the field-pieces should
be so placed that they can be disembarked immediately, with their
carriages, implements, and ammunition; also the tools and materials for
throwing up temporary intrenchments on landing. Some vessels should be
laden solely with such powder and ammunition as may not be required for
the immediate service of the pieces. On a smooth sandy beach, heavy
pieces, etc., may be landed by rolling them overboard as soon as the
boats ground, and hauling them up with sling-carts.
=Transylvania.= Is the most easterly crownland of Austria, and is
bounded on the north by Hungary and Galicia, east by Bukovina and
Moldavia, south by Wallachia, and west by the Military Frontier, the
Banat, and Hungary. Transylvania is little noticed in history till the
Christian era, when part of it was occupied by the warlike Dacians, soon
after whom the Sarmatian tribes of the Jazyges and Carpi settled in it.
The conquest of the Dacians by Trajan, however, did not include that of
the other two peoples, who proved very troublesome to the Roman settlers
along the Danube, till they were conquered by Diocletian, and the Carpi
carried away to Pannonia and other districts. In the middle of the 4th
century, the Goths overran the country, defeating the Sarmatians in a
great battle on the Maros, in which the monarch and the chief of his
nobility perished; and they in their turn were forced in 375 to retire
before the Huns and their confederates. The Gepidæ next took possession
of Transylvania, till their almost complete extirpation, in 566, by the
Lombards and Avars. It was conquered by the Hungarians about 1000, and
was governed by woivodes till 1526, when the death of the Hungarian
monarch at Mohacs prepared the way for the union of the two countries
under the woivode John Zapolya; but the war which thence arose with the
Austrians caused their complete severance, and Zapolya’s sway was, in
1535, confined to Transylvania, of which he became sovereign lord, under
the protection of the Turks. The Saxons were summoned by the Hungarian
monarchs to act as a counterpoise to the increasing power of the nobles;
the firm protection and generous treatment accorded to the Saxons by the
Hungarian monarchs were rewarded by steadfast loyalty and succor in men
and money whenever required. During the rest of the 16th century the
country was distracted by the bitter strife between the Catholic party,
who were supported by Austria, and the Protestant party, who were allied
with the Turks; the latter party, headed successively by princes of the
houses of Zapolya and Bathory, generally maintaining the superiority.
The next chief of the Protestant party was the celebrated Botskay,
whose successes against Austria extorted from the emperor an
acknowledgment of the independence of Transylvania in 1606. To him
succeeded Bethlem Gabor, the determined foe of Catholicism and Austria,
who did important service during the Thirty Years’ War. Between his son
and successor, Stephen, and Ragotski arose a contest for the crown, in
which the latter prevailed; but on Ragotski’s death, the civil war was
resumed, till the complete rout of the Austrians by the Turks, under
Kiupruli, placed the sceptre in the hands of Michael Abaffi, who reigned
till his death, in 1690, as a vassal of the Porte. The Austrians now
again possessed themselves of Transylvania, despite the heroic
resistance of Ragotski; and though Tekeli succeeded for a brief period
in rolling back the invaders, the peace of Carlowitz, in 1699, again put
them in possession; and in 1713 Transylvania was completely incorporated
with Hungary. During the insurrection in 1848 the Hungarians and
Szeklers (one of the races inhabiting Transylvania) joined the
insurgents and forced Transylvania to reunite with Hungary, despite the
opposition of the Saxons; and the Wallachs, still little better than a
horde of savages, were let loose over the land, to burn, plunder, and
murder indiscriminately; the prostration of the country being completed
in the following year during the bloody conflict which took place here
between Bem and the Russian troops. In the same year Transylvania was
again separated from its turbulent neighbor and made a crownland, the
portions of it which had, in 1835, been annexed to Hungary being
restored, as well as the Transylvanian Military Frontier, in 1851.
=Trapani.= See DREPANUM.
=Trapezus= (now _Tarabosan_, _Trabezun_, or _Trebizond_). A colony of
Sinope, at almost the extreme east of the northern shore of Asia Minor.
It was strongly fortified. It was taken by the Goths in the reign of
Valerian.
=Trappings.= See HOUSING.
=Trasimenus Lacus.= The ancient name of an Italian lake (_Lago
Trasimeno_, or _Lago di Perugia_), lying between the towns of Cortona
and Perugia. Trasimenus Lacus is memorable chiefly for the great victory
obtained by Hannibal in 217 B.C., during the second Punic war, over the
Romans, under their consul, C. Flaminius. Hannibal leaving Tæsulæ passed
close by the camp of Flaminius at Arretium, laying waste the country as
he proceeded in the direction of Rome. This, as the Carthaginian general
intended, induced the consul to break up his encampment and follow in
pursuit, Hannibal in the mean time taking up a strong position on the
hills on the north side of the lake, along which he was passing. The
consul, coming up early next morning, when the whole place was enveloped
in mist, saw only the troops in front on the hill of _Tuoro_, with whom
he was preparing to engage, when he found himself surrounded and
attacked on all sides. The Carthaginians thus had the Romans completely
in their power, and took such advantage of the opportunity, that 16,000
Roman troops are said to have been either massacred or drowned in the
lake; Flaminius himself being among the first who fell; 6000 troops who
had forced their way through the enemy, surrendered next day to
Maharbal. It is said both by Livy and Pliny that the fury on both sides
was so great as to render the combatants unconscious of the shock of an
earthquake which occurred during the battle.
=Trautenau.= A town of Bohemia, 25 miles north-northeast from
Königgratz. On June 27, 1866, the 1st Corps of the army of the
crown-prince of Prussia seized Trautenau, but was defeated and repulsed
by the Austrians under Gablenz; on the 28th, the Prussians defeated the
Austrians with great loss.