A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer. Thomas Wilhelm
Читать онлайн книгу.
castle in Italy, on the banks of the Po; it was captured by the Marquis de Maillebois, from the Austrians under the Prince of Würtemberg, in 1734.
Colors. A military term applied to banners or flags carried by each regiment of infantry. The banners of the cavalry are called standards. Each U. S. regiment has two colors, one national and one regimental.
Colors. In heraldry, the colors generally used are red, blue, black, green, and purple, which are called gules, azure, sable, vert or sinople, and purpure. Colors and metals, when engraved, are generally indicated by dots and lines: or, gold, by dots; argent, silver, is left plain; gules, red, is indicated by perpendicular lines from top to bottom; azure, blue, by horizontal lines from side to side; sable, black, by horizontal and perpendicular lines crossing each other; vert, green, by diagonal lines from right to left; and purpure, purple, by diagonal lines from left to right.
Color-Sergeant. Is the sergeant detailed to carry the regimental colors. He is usually selected for military deportment and soldierly bearing, and when carrying the colors is escorted by a guard of 7 corporals. In the British service he has a distinct rank, but in the U. S. service he ranks no higher than other sergeants.
Colt’s Pistol. The most celebrated of modern revolvers. Invented by an American, Col. Samuel Colt; first patented in 1835, and perfected about 1845. It has kept pace with the times, and is still one of the first of its kind.
Columbia. The capital of South Carolina, situated on the left bank of the Congaree River. It was taken by Gen. Sherman’s army, February 17, 1865, and was then much injured by fire.
Columbiad Gun. See Ordnance, Construction of.
Column. Signifies, in military evolutions, a mass of soldiers several ranks in depth as opposed to line. There may be columns of brigades, of regiments, of divisions, or of companies, presenting a front of limited width, but a depth depending on the number of elements in the column. In a battalion the formation is called open column when the distance between the elements of the column is such as to admit of their wheeling into line; when the distance is only a few yards it is termed close column; when intermediate between these two, it is “column at half distance.” Battalions are drawn up in column with either the right or left in front, or the battalions may be doubled upon their centres. To pass from column into line is to “deploy”; to pass from line to column is to “ploy.” Sometimes the name column is given to a small army, especially when engaged in active operations. In drawing up troops for action, as a general rule, the French prefer the column, the Americans and English the formation in line.
Column, Military. Among the Romans, a column on which was engraven a list of the forces in the Roman army, ranged by legions in their proper order. They had another kind of military column called columna bellica, standing before the temple of Janus, at the foot of which the consul declared war by throwing a javelin towards the enemy’s country.
Column, Triumphal. A column erected among the ancients in honor of a hero, and decorated with various kinds of crowns, corresponding to the number of his achievements in battle. Each crown had its particular name, as vallaris, which was filled with spikes, in memory of his having faced a palisade; muralis, adorned with little turrets or battlements, for having mounted an assault; navalis, of prows and beaks of vessels, for having vanquished at sea; obsidionalis, or graminalis, of grass, for having raised a siege; ovans, of myrtle, which expressed an ovation, or minor triumph; and triumphalis, of laurel, for a grand triumph.
Comanche Indians, or Comanches. An extremely warlike and predatory tribe of Mexico and Texas. They have a reservation in Indian Territory with some Kiowas and Apaches. See Indians and their Agencies.
Combat. An engagement of no great magnitude, or one in which the parties engaged are not armies.
Combustion. The phenomena attending intense chemical actions which are accompanied by heat and light. Usually restricted to the burning of bodies by their union with oxygen. It is difficult to draw the line where combustion ends and explosion begins.
Combustion, Velocity of. Is the space passed over by the surface of combustion in a second of time, measured in a direction perpendicular to its surface. It has been determined that the velocity of combustion of dry French war-powder is 0.48 inch, and of English powder, which American powder closely resembles, is 0.4 inch.
Comes. Was with the Romans an officer with territorial jurisdiction in the provinces, and especially on the frontiers.
Comigne (Fr.). A shell of extreme magnitude, which takes its name from the person who originally invented it.
Comines, or Commines. A town of France, situated on the Lys, opposite the Belgian town of the same name. Near here Oliver de Clisson defeated the Flemings in 1382.
Command. In fortification, the height of the top of a parapet above the ground or another work.
Command. A body of troops, or any naval or military force or post, under the command of a particular officer. The word command, when applied to ground is synonymous with overlook; and any place thus commanded by heights within range of cannon is difficult to defend, if the enemy have been able to seize the heights.
Command. The 62d Article of War (new, 122) states who shall command when different corps of the army happen to join or do duty together, but as the wording of this article has been interpreted differently by different officers, it is thought best to give a decision rendered by President Fillmore on October 25, 1851, in General Orders from the War Department. The 62d Article of War provides that “If upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps of the army shall happen to join, or to do duty together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the army, marine corps, or militia, by commission there, on duty, or in quarters, shall command the whole and give orders for what is needful to the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President of the United States, according to the nature of the case.” The interpretation of this act has long been a subject of controversy. The difficulty arises from the vague and uncertain meaning of the words “line of the army,” which neither in the English service nor in our own have a well-defined and invariable meaning. By some they are understood to designate the regular army as distinguished from the militia; by others as meant to discriminate between officers by ordinary commissions and those by brevet; and finally, by others, to designate an officer not belonging to the staff.
The President states that “He has maturely considered the question, and finds himself compelled to differ from some for whose opinions he entertains a very high respect. His opinion is, that although these words may sometimes be used in a different sense (to be determined by the context and subject-matter), in the 62d Article of War they are used to designate those officers of the army who do not belong to the staff, in contradistinction to those who do, and that the article intended, in the case contemplated by it, to confer the command exclusively on the former.” In the discussion which took place in 1828 relating to ordinary rank and rank by brevet, the then Secretary of War (Gen. Porter) says, “Rank in the line of the army or lineal rank, as understood by the President, is applicable to the existing organization of that portion only of the army which is intended for field operations or the exertion of physical force against an enemy. It is commonly used in contradistinction to the staff,” etc. He then goes on to show that in the 62d Article it has another meaning—House Document 58, 20th Congress, 2d session, page 13. In the same discussion, Mr. Drayton, as chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs of the House of Representatives, expresses the same opinion. He says, “Rank in the line of the army is conceived to be rank in a military body specially organized for the exertion of physical force, or in other words, for combating an enemy; and an officer in such a body has a direct and paramount command over the troops which compose it. The expressions ‘rank in the line of the army,’ ‘rank in the line,’ ‘lineal rank,’ are generally used in