Английский военно-исторический. Том 1.

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ABATIS, in a military sense, is formed by cutting down many entire trees, the branches of which are turned towards an enemy, and as much as possible entangled one into another. They are made either before redoubts, or other works, to render the attacks difficult, or sometimes along the skirts of a wood, to prevent an enemy from getting possession of it. In this case the trunks serve as a breast-work, behind which the troops are posted, and for that reason should be so disposed, that the parts may, if possible, flank each other.

ABLECTI, in military antiquity, a choice or select part of the soldiery in the Roman armies, picked out of those called extraordinarii.

ABOLLA, in military antiquity, a warm kind of garment, generally lined or doubled, used both by the Greeks and Romans, chiefly out of the city, in following the camp.

ABORD, Fr. attack, onset.

S’ABOUCHER, Fr. to parley.

ABOUT, a technical word to express the movement, by which a body of troops changes its front or aspect, by facing according to any given word of command.

Right About, is when the soldier completely changes the situation of his person, by a semi-circular movement to the right.

Left About, is when the soldier changes the situation of his person by a semi-circular movement to the left.

ABREAST, a term formerly used to express any number of men in front. At present they are determined by Files.

ABRI, Fr. shelter, cover. Etre à l’abri, to be under cover, as of a wood, hillock, &c.

ABSCISSA, in military mathematics, signifies any part of the diameter or axis of a curve, contained between its vertex or some other fixed point, and the intersection of the ordinate.

In the parabola, the abscissa is a third proportional to the parameter and the ordinate.

In the ellipsis, the square of the ordinate is equal to the rectangle under the parameter and abscissa, lessened by another rectangle under the said abscissa, and a fourth proportional to the axis, the parameter, and the abscissa.

In the hyperbola, the squares of the ordinates are as the rectangles of the abscissa by another line, compounded of the abscissa and the transverse axis.

But it must be remembered, that the two proportions relating to the ellipsis and hyperbola, the origin of the abscissas, or point from whence they began to be reckoned, is supposed to be the vertex of the curve, or, which amounts to the same thing, the point where the axis meets it; for if the origin of the abscissa be taken from the centre, as is often done, the above proportions will not be true.

ABSENT, a term used in military returns. It forms a part of regimental reports, to account for the deficiency of any given number of officers or soldiers; and is usually distinguished under two principal heads, viz.

Absent with leave, officers with permission, or non-commissioned officers and soldiers on furlough.

Absent without leave. Men who desert are frequently reported absent without leave, for the specific purpose of bringing their crime under regimental cognizance, and to prevent them from being tried capitally, for desertion.

ABSOLUTE Gravity, in philosophy, is the whole force by which a body, shell, or shot, is impelled towards the centre. See Gravity.

Absolute Number, in Algebra, is the known quantity which possesses entirely one side of the equation. Thus, in the equation, xx + 10x, = 64, the number 64, possessing entirely one side of the equation, is called the absolute number, and is equal to the square of the unknown root x, added to 10x, or to 10 times x.

ABUTMENT. See Bridges.

ACADEMY, in antiquity, the name of a villa situated about a mile from the city of Athens, where Plato and his followers assembled for conversing on philosophical subjects; and hence they acquired the name of Academics.

The term Academy is frequently used among the moderns for a society, of learned persons, instituted for the cultivation and improvement of arts or sciences. Some authors confound academy with university; but, though much the same in Latin, they are very different things in English. An university is, properly, a body composed of graduates in the several faculties; of professors, who teach in the public schools; of regents or tutors, and students who learn under them, and aspire likewise to degrees; whereas an academy was originally not intended for teaching, or to profess any art, but to improve it; it was not for novices to be instructed in, but for those who were more knowing; for persons of distinguished abilities to confer in, and communicate their lights and discoveries to each other, for their mutual benefit and improvement. The first academy we read of, was established by Charlemagne, by the advice of Alcuin: it was composed of the chief wits of the court, the emperor himself being a member.

Military Academy. There are in England two royal military academies, one at Woolwich, and one at Portsmouth. The first was established by king George II. in 1741, endowed, and supported, for the instructing of the people belonging to the military branch of ordnance, in the several parts of mathematics necessary to qualify them for the service of the artillery, and the business of engineers. The lectures of the masters in theory were then duly attended by the practitioner-engineers, officers, serjeants, corporals, private men, and cadets. At present the gentlemen educated at this academy are the sons of the nobility and military officers. They are called gentlemen cadets, and are not admitted under 14 and not above 16 years of age. They are taught writing, arithmetic, algebra, Latin, French, mathematics, mechanics, surveying, levelling, and fortification, together with the attack and defence; gunnery, mining, laboratory works, geography, perspective, fencing, dancing, &c. The master-general of the ordnance is always captain of the company of gentlemen cadets, and some officer of merit is always captain-lieutenant. There is, besides, a first lieutenant, and two second lieutenants. They are further under the immediate care of a lieutenant-governor, and an inspector, who are officers of great abilities and experience; and the professors and masters are men of known talents and capacity. That at Portsmouth was founded by George I. in 1722, for teaching of the branches of the mathematics which more immediately relate to navigation.

For the American and French Military Academies, see School.

ACANZI, in military history, the name of the Turkish light-horse that form the van-guard of the Grand Signior’s army on a march.

ACCELERATED Motion on oblique or inclined-planes. See Motion.

Accelerated Motion of pendulums. See Pendulums.

Accelerated Motion of Projectiles. See Projectiles.

ACCENDONES, in military antiquity, a kind of gladiators, or supernumeraries, whose office was to excite and animate the combatants during the engagement.

ACCENSI, in antiquity, were officers attending the Roman magistrates; their business was to summon the people to the public games, and to assist the prætor when he sat on the bench.

Accensi, in military antiquity, was also an appellation given to a kind of adjutants appointed by the tribune to assist each centurion and decurion. According to Festus, they were supernumerary soldiers, whose duty it was to attend their leaders, and supply the places of those who were either killed or wounded. Livy mentions them as irregular troops, but little esteemed. Salmasius says, they were taken out of the fifth class of the poor citizens of Rome.

ACCESSIBLE, that which may be approached. We say, in a military stile, that place, or that fortress, is accessible from the sea, or land, i. e. it may be entered on those sides.

An accessible height or distance, in geometry, is that which may be measured by applying a rule, &c. to it: or rather, it is a height, the foot whereof may be approached, and from whence any distance may be measured on the ground.

Heights, both accessible, and inaccessible, may be taken with a quadrant. See Altitude; and the article on Field Fortifications in the American Military Library, Theorem 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.

One of the objects of surveying, is the measuring both accessible and inaccessible distances.

ACCLIVITY, in a military sense, is the steepness or slope of any work, inclined to the horizon, reckoned upwards. Some writers on fortification use acclivity as synonymous with talus; though talus is commonly used to denote all manner of slopes, either in its ascendent or descendent state.

ACCONTIUM, in ancient military writers, a kind of Grecian dart or javelin, somewhat resembling the Roman pilum.

ACCOUTREMENTS, in a military sense, signify habits, equipage, or furniture, of a soldier, such as belts, pouches, cartridge-boxes, saddles, bridles, &c. Accoutrements should be made of stout leather, not of the spongy kind, which is always stretching, and difficult to clean. The belts are about 2¹⁄₄ inches broad, with two buckles to fix them to the pouch. Pouches are made of the stoutest blackened leather, especially the outside flaps, which are of such a substance as to turn the severest rain. Cartridge-boxes are made as light as possible, with holes in each, to hold cartridges. See Cartridge.

ACLIDES, in Roman antiquity, a kind of missive weapon, with a thong fixed to it, whereby it might be drawn back again. Most authors describe the aclides as a sort of dart or javelin: but Scaliger makes it roundish or globular, with a wooden stem to poise it by.

ACOLUTHI, in military antiquity, was a h2 in the Grecian empire, given to the captain or commander of the varangi, or body-guards, appointed for the security of the emperor’s palace.

ACTIAN games in antiquity, were games instituted, or at least restored, by Augustus, in memory of the famous victory, at Actium, over Mark Antony.

Actian years, in chronology, a series of years, commencing with the epocha of the battle of Actium, otherwise called the æra of Augustus.

ACTION, in the military art, is an engagement between two armies, or any smaller body of troops, or between different bodies belonging thereto. The word is likewise used to signify some memorable act done by an officer, soldier, detachment or party.

ACTIVITY, in a military sense, denotes laboriousness, attention, labor, diligence and study.

ACUTE angle. See Angle.

ADACTED applies to stakes, or piles, driven into the earth by large malls shod with iron, as in securing ramparts or pontoons.

ADDICE, a sort of axe which cuts horizontally. It is sometimes called an Adze.

ADIT, a passage under ground, by which miners approach the part they intend to sap. See Gallery.

ADJUTANT-GENERAL is a staff officer, who aids and assists a general in his laborious duties: he forms the several details of duty of the army, with the brigade-majors, and keeps an exact state of each brigade and regiment, with a roll of the lieutenant-generals, major-generals, colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors. He every day at head quarters receives orders from the general officer of the day, and distributes them to the majors of brigades, from whom he receives the number of men they are to furnish for the duty of the army, and informs them of any detail which may concern them. On marching days he accompanies the general to the ground of the camp. He makes a daily report of the situation of all the posts placed for the safety of the army, and of any changes made in their posts. In a day of battle he acts as aid to the general. In a siege he visits the several posts and guards of the trenches, and reports their situation, and how circumstanced: he gives and signs all orders for skirmishing parties (if time permit) and has a serjeant from each brigade to carry any orders which he may have to send. See American Mil. Lib. Article Staff.

ADJUTANT, an officer who aids the major in part of his duty, and performs it in his absence. He receives orders from the brigade-major, if in camp; and when in garrison, from the town-major: after he has carried them to his colonel or officer commanding the regiment, he then assembles the serjeant-major, drum-major and fife-major, with a serjeant and corporal of each company, who write the orders in an orderly book, to shew to their respective officers. If convoys, parties, detachments, or guards, are to be furnished, he gives the number which each company is to furnish, and hour and place for the assembling: he must keep an exact roster and roll of duties, and have a perfect knowlege of all manœuvres, &c. This post is usually given to an active subaltern.

ADMIRAL, on the European establishiments, when on shore, are enh2d to receive military honors, and rank with generals in the army.

ADVANCE. See Pay in Advance.

ADVANCED signifies some part of an army in front of the rest, as in advanced guards, which always precede the line of march or operations of a body of troops; again, as when a battalion, or guns of a second line are brought up in front and before the first line. This term also applies to the promotions of officers and soldiers.

Advanced – Fossé. – See Fortification.

Ditch.

Guard. See Guard.

ADVANCEMENT, in a military sense, signifies honor, promotion, or preferment, in the army, regiment or company.

ADVANTAGE Ground, a ground that gives superiority, or an opportunity of annoyance or resistance.

ADVICE-Boat, a vessel employed for intelligence.

ADVOCATE General. See Judge Martial.

ÆNEATORES, in military antiquity, the musicians in an army; including those who sounded the trumpets, horns, litui, buccincæ, &c.

AFFAIR, in the military acceptation of the word, means any slight action or engagement.

Affair of Honor, a duel.

AFFAMER, une Place, Fr. to besiege a place so closely as to starve the garrison and inhabitants. See Blockade.

AFFIDAVIT, in military law, signifies an oath taken before some person who is properly authorised to administer it; as first, when a soldier is inlisted, when it is stiled an attestation; secondly, by all officers appointed on a court-martial; thirdly, by the commissaries, or muster-masters.

AFFRONTER, Fr. to encounter or attack boldly.

AFFUT, the French name for a gun-carriage, and for which we have no appropriate name; the only distinction from all other carriages is, that it belongs to a gun. See Carriage.

AGA, in the Turkish army, is the same as a general with us.

AGE. A young man must be 14 years old before he can become an officer in the English army, or be entered as a cadet at Woolwich, in the English academy.

Persons are enlisted for soldiers from 17 to 45. After the latter age, every inhabitant is exempted from serving in the British militia.

By a late regulation in England, growing boys may be enlisted under 16 years of age. These recruits are chiefly intended for the East-India service.

In the United States 18 to 45 is the legal age for militia and regulars.

The Romans were obliged to enter themselves in the army at the age of 17 years; at 45 they might demand their dismission. Amongst the Lombards, the age of entry was between 18 and 19; among the Saxons, at 13.

AGEMA, in the ancient military art, a kind of soldiery chiefly in the Macedonian armies. The word is Greek, and literally denotes vehemence, to express the strength and eagerness of this corps. Some authors will have agema to denote a certain number of picked men, answering to a legion among the Romans.

AGENCY, a certain proportion of money which is ordered to be subtracted from the pay and allowances of the British army, for transacting the business of the several regiments composing it.

AGENT, a person in the civil department of the British army, between the paymaster-general and the paymaster of the regiment, through whom every regimental concern of a pecuniary nature must be transacted. He gives security to government for all monies which pass through his hands in the capacity of an Agent—and by the Mutiny Act, it was provided, That if an Agent shall withhold the Pay of Officers or Soldiers for the Space of one Month, he should be dismissed from his Office and forfeit 100l.