A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer. Thomas Wilhelm
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who, however, was compelled to retire from before its walls with severe loss.
Dunnottar. A parish of Scotland, in Kincardineshire. It contains the castle of Dunnottar, now in ruins. In the time of the civil wars, this was the fortress in which the Scottish regalia were deposited. After being besieged by Cromwell’s forces for six months, it capitulated; but, before this, the regalia were secretly conveyed from it.
Dunsinane. In Perthshire, Scotland. On the hill was fought the battle between Macbeth, the thane of Glammis, and Siward, earl of Northumberland, July 27, 1054. Macbeth was defeated, and it was said pursued to Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, and there slain, 1056 or 1057.
Durazzo (anc. Epidamnus). A town of Albania, European Turkey. It is fortified, and is a place of considerable antiquity. Durazzo was founded about 627 B.C. by a conjoined band of Corcyræans and Corinthians under one Phaleus, a Heracleidan. It became a great and populous city, but was much harassed by the internal strifes of party, which ultimately led to the Peloponnesian war. Under the Romans it was called Dyrrachium (whence its modern name). Here Pompey was for some time beleaguered by Cæsar. In the 5th century it was besieged by Theodoric, the Ostro-Goth; in the 10th and 11th centuries by the Bulgarians; and in 1081 it was captured, after a severe battle, by the Norman, Robert Guiseard of Apulia.
Düren. A town of Prussia, on the Roer. This was a Roman town, and is mentioned by Tacitus by the name of Marcodurum. Charlemagne held two diets here in 775 and 779, when on his way to attack the Saxons. It was taken by assault and burned by Charles V., after an obstinate resistance, in 1543. In 1794 it fell into the hands of the French, but was ceded to Prussia in 1814.
Dürkeim. A town of Rhenish Bavaria, 20 miles north from Landau. The summit of a height near this town is crowned by a rampart of loose stones 6 to 10 feet high, 60 to 70 feet wide at the base, and inclosing a space of about two square miles called the Heidenmauer (“heathens’ wall”), which the Romans are said to have built to keep the barbarians in check, and where Attila is said to have passed a winter, after having wrested the fortress from the Romans, when passing on his way to Rome.
Durrenstein. A town of Austria, on the Danube. In the neighborhood, on a rock, are the ruins of the castle in which Richard Cœur de Lion was imprisoned in 1192. In 1805 the Russian and Austrian armies were defeated here by the French.
Duties. This word is used in military parlance to express the men paraded for any particular duty, such as guards, etc.
Duty. There is no word oftener used in military parlance than this. In the technical sense it refers to the various services necessary for the maintenance, discipline, and regulation of armies—as signal duty, staff duty, the duties of a sentinel, etc. To be on duty is to be in the active exercise of military functions; to be off duty is to have these functions temporarily suspended; to be put on duty is to be assigned to duty by order of a superior. Military duties are variously classed as duties of detail, which are recurring and governed by a roster, such as guard, fatigue, etc.; special duties which are determined by appointment, selection, or order; extra duty, continuous special duty of enlisted men, entitling them to pay; daily duty, short terms of special service for enlisted men. In a higher and broader sense duty is that which is due one’s country. It covers all the soldier’s obligations, and forms his simplest and sublimest rule of action.
Dyer Projectile. See Projectile.
Dynamite, called in the United States “giant powder,” is formed by mixing nitro-glycerine with certain porous substances, and especially with certain varieties of silica or alumina, these substances absorbing the nitro-glycerine. It was invented in 1867 by the Swedish engineer Nobel, who proposed to prevent the frequent and unexpected explosions of nitro-glycerine, at the same time without sacrificing any of its power. This he effected by the use of certain silicious earths as a base for the absorption of the nitro-glycerine, the experiment resulting in the new compound which he called dynamite, its transportation and handling being no more dangerous than that of ordinary gunpowder. It is not liable to spontaneous explosion like pure nitro-glycerine, nor can it be exploded by moderate concussion; when unconfined, if set fire to, it will burn without explosion; it may be safely kept at any moderate temperature; is inexplosive when frozen, and acts effectively under water. Its effects are proportional to the quantity of nitro-glycerine held in absorption; but under circumstances where a sustained bursting pressure is required, not being as instantaneous in its action as nitro-glycerine, its effects are more powerful than those of an equal weight of the pure material. The best absorbent of nitro-glycerine for the formation of dynamite is a silicious earth found at Oberlohe, Hanover. During the siege of Paris, a scientific committee of investigation, engaged in experimenting on different substances as a substitute for this earth, selected as the best silica, alumina, and boghead cinders. Any of these, they declared, when combined with nitro-glycerine, formed a substance which possessed all the remarkable qualities attributed to the dynamite of Nobel. During the siege of Paris dynamite was used successfully by the French engineers to free a flotilla of gunboats caught in the ice on the Seine, below Charenton, by simply placing a quantity of it on the surface of the ice. The explosion dislodged the ice for a great distance, and the masses thus loosened, being directed into the current by the aid of a small steamer, floated down the stream, and left the river open. There are various other compounds of nitro-glycerine, such as dualin, glyoxiline, etc., all differing in the matter used as a base, they being generally some explosive substances; but none of them appears to have come into such general use or to be as reliable as dynamite. Many preparations of chlorate and picrate of potassium have also been used from time to time as explosive agents; but their great sensibility to friction or percussion renders them extremely dangerous; they are, therefore, not liable to come into general use. A preparation of potassium chlorate and sulphur, not liable to explode by concussion, but very sensitive to friction, is used with great effect as a charge for explosive bullets.
Dynamometer. An instrument for measuring the force of recoil in a small-arm, consisting usually of a spiral spring so arranged as to be compressed by the butt of the gun in firing. An index shows the number of pounds required to produce a similar compression. The instruments now used by the U. S. Ordnance Department are graduated to show the effect of the recoil in foot-pounds or units of work. This sensible change was made at the suggestion of Lieut. Henry Metcalfe of that department.
E.
Eagle. In heraldry, is used as an emblem of magnanimity and fortitude. In the Roman armies the eagle was used as a military standard, and even previous to that time the Persians under Cyrus the Younger used the same military emblem. In modern times, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and the United States have adopted the eagle as a national military symbol. The Austrian eagle is represented as double-headed.
Eagle, Black. A Prussian order of knighthood, founded in 1701; united with the order of the Red Eagle, or order of Sincerity, instituted by the margraves of Bayreuth.
Earl Marshal. Of England, is one of the officers of state; is the head of the college of arms, which has jurisdiction in descents and pedigrees; determines all rival claims to arms; and he grants armorial-bearings, through the medium of the kings-of-arms, to parties not possessed of hereditary arms.
Early Cannon. See Ordnance, History of.
Earth-bag. See Bags.
Earth-house, or Eird-house. The name generally given throughout Ireland and Scotland to the underground buildings (which in some places are called also “Picts’ houses”) which