Part 129

QUARTER-_facing_, is in the new discipline substituted for the old aukward _oblique marching_; it is also called the _line of science_; in ranks _every man_ turns to the right or left as ordered, and if ordered to march, the lines or ranks thus keep parallel to their former front, but march on a line oblique to it.

QUARTER-_Wheeling_, in the old discipline, was the motion by which the front of a body of men was turned round to where the flank stood, by taking a quarter of a circle; but in the new discipline which reduces all principles to the strictest simplicity, the wheelings take all their proportions from _half a circle_; and for obvious causes, since the wheeling of any number of men on a whole circle, would be only moving them to bring them into the place in which they stood before they were wheeled or moved; now the purpose of wheeling is to change from one position to some other required position, and hence _quarter wheeling_ means a quarter wheel of half a circle; thus wheeling _about_, is changing the front to the rear; and this wheeling is simply half the half circle, or placing the ranks on the same line from which they were moved; the quarter wheel is a movement of ¹⁄₄ of the half circle, or in a line oblique to the line from which they were moved; a regiment quarter wheeled by companies display the regiment in echellon.

QUARTERING _troops_, is to provide them with quarters.

QUARTERON, _one_, _Fr._ A quarteron; one born of a white man and a mulatto woman, or of a mulatto man and a white woman.

QUARTIER, _Fr._ For its general acceptation see QUARTERS.

QUARTIER _d’un Siége_, _Fr._ A station taken, or an encampment made in one of the leading avenues to a besieging town or place. When the _Quartier d’un Siége_ was commanded by a general officer, during the French monarchy, it was called _Quartier du Roi_. The king’s quarters.

QUARTIER _des Vivres_, _Fr._ The park of stores, provisions, &c.

QUARTIER _d’Hiver_, _Fr._ Winter quarters. Count de Turpin has written largely upon this subject. See _Essai sur l’Art de la Guerre_; likewise, _Suite de la Science de la Guerre_, tom. iv. p. 170.

QUARTIER _de Rafraîchissemens_, _Fr._ Those places are so called in which troops are permitted to halt and take up their quarters for any period, during a campaign.

QUARTIER _de Fourrage_, _Fr._ Foraging quarters. When the active operations of a campaign are necessarily interrupted by the inclemency of the season, means are adopted to lessen the heavy expences of winter quarters, by remaining a certain time in foraging quarters. A wise general will take care to live as long as he can upon his enemy’s country, in order to draw as little as possible from his own.

QUARTIER _du Roi_, ou _du Général_, _Fr._ Head quarters, or the spot where the king or the commander in chief resides. When an army takes up its ground in low marshy places, &c. the royal or head quarters are marked out in the most advantageous manner, so as to have the king’s or general’s person secure. When an army went into action or stood in battle array, it was customary, among the French, to say, _Le Quartier du Roi est partout_. The king’s station is every where. Nevertheless, it was always judged prudent, not to expose the royal person or the commander in chief too much. On this principle, head quarters were always established in a place which was surrounded by the best troops, and was supported by epaulements on the right and left, with the addition of a rear guard. Since the revolution, these arrangements have been much changed. It cannot, however, be uninteresting to give a general outline of what was practised during the monarchy. The _Quartier du Roi_ or head quarters, when a town was besieged, were always fixed out of the reach of ordnance, and in a village that was well secured by entrenchments. Before the cannonade commenced, it was usual for the besieged to ascertain the exact station of head quarters, that their fire might not be directed towards them; nor did the real assault of the town take place from that direction. Wherever the king, or, in his absence, the commander in chief took up his quarters, the camp assumed its name from that particular spot or village.

QUARTIER _géneral de la tranchée_, _Fr._ Head quarters or principal station of the trenches. That spot is so called in which the commanding officer of the trenches takes post, and to which all reports of progress, &c. are, from time to time, conveyed. When the siege is somewhat advanced, it is usual to fix this quarters, near the outlet of the last parallel which leads to the head of the saps, in the principal line of attack.

QUARTIER _d’Assemblee_, _Fr._ The ground on which troops assemble to commence their military routes, or to be otherwise prepared for active operations.

_Un_ QUARTIER _bien Retranche_, _Fr._ A quarter that is well entrenched.

_Un_ QUARTIER _Enleve_, _Fr._ Quarters taken possession of by force.

_Officiers de_ QUARTIER, _Fr._ Officers who were upon duty for three months, or during the space of one quarter of a year. This term was used in the old French service, to distinguish such officers from those who did duty throughout the year.

_Etre de_ QUARTIER, _Fr._ To be upon duty for three months.

QUARTIER _Generaux_, _Fr._ General head quarters.

QUARTIER-_Maitre_, _Fr._ Quarter-master. This term, with respect to foreign troops, corresponds with _maréchal des logis_ in a French infantry corps.

QUARTIER-_Mestre General_, _Fr._ Quarter-master-general. Among other armies the same as _marechal général des Logis_ in the old French service. There is a quarter-master-general in the Turkish service, whose immediate duty is to mark out the ground of encampment, the instant he has received orders to that purpose from the grand vizir, or, in his absence, from the seraskier, who is the general in ordinary, and who is always with the army, whether the grand vizir be present or not.

QUATRE, _Fr._ Four.

_To_ QUELL. To crush, to subdue. Military force is sometimes resorted to by the civil magistracy to quell riots, &c. In England, the riot act must be read by a justice of the peace, and if the rioters or insurgents do not disperse, the magistrate may order the officer to do his duty, by firing, &c. upon them. When military law has been proclaimed, there is not any necessity for this preliminary caution.

QUERELLES, _Fr._ quarrels, feuds, &c.

QUERELLE _d’Allemand_, _Fr._ An expression used among the French, to signify a drunken quarrel.

QUERRY. See EQUERRY,

QUEUE. From the French, which signifies tail; an appendage that every British soldier is directed to wear in lieu of a club. Regimental tails were ordered to be nine inches long.

QUEUE D’ARONDE, a corruption of _Queue d’Yronde_. It signifies a piece of wood which is so made that it resembles at each end a swallow’s tail.

QUEUE _d’Yronde_, _ou d’Yrondelle_, _Fr._ See SWALLOW’S TAIL.

QUEUE _du Camp_, _Fr._ Literally means the tail or extremity of the camp. It is the line which is drawn in the rear of the camp, and which is directly opposite to the one in front, called the head of the camp.

QUEUE _de Paon_, _Fr._ Literally means a peacock’s tail. It is used in architecture, to signify the different compartments or spaces which, in a circular figure, spread gradually from the centre to the circumference.

QUEUE _à Queue_, _Fr._ one after another.

_Etre à la_ QUEUE, _Fr._ To be behind, or in the rear.

_Avoir l’ennemi en_ QUEUE, _Fr._ To have the enemy close at your heels.

_To go in_ QUEST _of an enemy_. To send out vedettes, patroles, &c. for the purpose of ascertaining an enemy’s motions.

QUIBERON, _or Quibron_. A small peninsula of France, in Bretagne, in the bishoprick of Vannes, and to the north of Belleisle; as also a small island called the point of Quiberon, separated from the peninsula by a channel, and the sea next it is called the bay of Quiberon. This spot has been rendered remarkable by the expedition which took place in June, 1795. Upwards of 3000 regular troops (composed mostly of French emigrants that had served abroad, with the ill judged addition of some French prisoners, taken out of English gaols) were landed upon the coast. This force was intended as a co-operation with the insurgents of La Vendee, and was afterwards to have been increased by the descent of an English army, under the command of the earl of Moira; who had, indeed, already been instructed to detach a covering body for that purpose; but the British did not land, having been driven from the French coast by stress of weather. The French emigrants were all sacrificed.

QUICK, with celerity. It forms the cautionary part of a word of command when troops are ordered to move in quick time; as quick-march.

QUICK-_Step_, or _Quick-Time_, is 100 steps of 24 inches each, or 200 feet in a minute, and is the step used in all marchings but guard marching and reviews, when the slow march may be used.

QUICKEST-_Step_, or _Quickest-Time_, is 120 steps of 24 inches each, or 240 feet in a minute. In this step, all wheelings are performed, as also the doublings up of divisions, and their increase or diminution in front.

QUICK-_match_, in _laboratory-works_. See LABORATORY.

QUIETISM. Apathy. Indifference.

QUIETISME, _Fr._ The state of those persons who did not take an active part in the French revolution.

QUIETISTE, _Fr._ A man who did not meddle with the revolution.

QUILTING _grape-shot_, in _gunnery_. See LABORATORY, and TO MAKE GRAPE-SHOT.

QUINQUANGULAR. Having five corners or angles.

QUINTAIN, QUINTIN, An instrument used in the ancient practice of tilting. It consisted of an upright post, on the top of which a cross post turned upon a pivot; at one end of the cross-post was a broad board, and at the other a bag of sand. The practice was to ride against the board with a lance, and at such speed, as to pass by before the sand-bag could strike the tilter on the back.

QUINTAL, _Fr._ one hundred weight. The _Quintal_ varies in different places, according as the pound consists of more or fewer ounces. The English _Quintal_ is 112 pounds, and is divided into quarters.

QUINTE, _Fr._ a low thrust in fencing, delivered at the outside of the position, with the nails turned up, as in low carte. When this thrust is forced over the blade from the guard in carte, it is termed flanconade.

QUINTUPLE. Five fold.

QUIRITES. In ancient Rome, the common citizens were so called, as distinguished from the soldiery.

_To_ QUIT, to leave, to abandon. This word is variously used in military phraseology, viz.

_To_ QUIT _your post_, _To_ QUIT _your ranks_, To retire, without having received any previous order for that purpose, from a station entrusted to your care. Any officer or soldier, who, during the heat of an engagement, shall quit his ranks, may be shot, or otherwise dispatched upon the spot. A sentry who quits his post before he is regularly relieved, is ordered to suffer death, or such other punishment as may be inflicted by a general court-martial.

QUIT _your arms_. A word of command which was formerly given in infantry regiments, but is now laid aside.

QUITTANCE, _Fr._ receipt, acquittance.

QUITTANCE _de finance_, _Fr._ A term formerly used among the French, to express any sum paid into the king’s treasury, for an appointment or place.

QUITTER, _Fr._ to quit.

QUITTER _l’epée_, _Fr._ Figuratively to leave the profession of arms.

QUIVER. A case for arrows.

QUI _vive?_ QUI _va là?_ QUI _est là?_ _Fr._ Who comes there? terms used by the French sentries when they challenge.

_Etre sur le_ QUI _vive_, _Fr._ To be upon the alert.

QUILLON, _Fr._ the cross-bar of the hilt of a sword

_A_ QUIZ. This cant word is frequently used as a substantive to describe a strange, out of the way character. It is a term of ridicule.

_To_ QUIZ. A cant word much in use among fashionable bucks or blades, as certain creatures are called. It signifies to turn another into ridicule, by some allusion to his dress or manners, some ironical word or quaint expression. In other terms, to take unwarrantable liberties with the natural defects, or harmless habits of unoffending individuals. This absurd and childish practice, (which grows out of ignorance, is supported by privileged assumption, and ought to be discouraged by every sensible man) has sometimes found its way into the British army. We need scarcely add, that it has frequently been the cause of the most serious quarrels, and is always contrary to good order and discipline. Commanding officers should, on all occasions, exert their authority, whenever there appears the least tendency to this unmanly, unofficer like, and ungentleman like custom. It ought constantly to be remembered, that the influence of evil is much stronger upon the commonality of mankind, than that of good. If an officer suffer himself to be quizzed by a brother officer, he will, by degrees, become ridiculous to the soldiers; and if he resent it, as he ought to do in _primo limine_, by a manly explanation with the weak fool who attempts to be witty, without possessing one spark of real wit, it is more than probable, that much ill blood will be engendered between them. The British Articles of War have, in some degree, provided against this evil. It is there specifically stated, that no officer, non-commissioned officer, or soldier, shall use any reproachful or provoking speeches or gestures to another, upon pain, if an officer, of being put in arrest (or if a non-commissioned officer, or a soldier, of being imprisoned) and of asking pardon of the party offended, in the presence of his commanding officer.

_A_ QUIZZER. A creature, who without possessing any real wit or humor, affects to turn others into ridicule, by an insolent affectation of the talent. The _thing_ is generally found among those calling themselves fashionable young men, which, (to use a very apposite expression) has more money than wit, plumes itself upon wealth or connexion, and endeavors to make up by noise, turbulence, and privileged contradiction, what it wants in real knowlege and solid understanding. It is sometimes seen at a military mess, and about the purlieus of taverns and gaming tables.

QUOIL, in _gunnery_, a rope laid round in a ring, one turn over another.

QUOINS, in architecture, denote the corners of brick or stone walls.

QUOIN, (_Coin_, _Fr._) a wedge used to lay under the breech of a gun, to raise or depress the metal.

QUOIT, the ancient discus--an Olympic game, still practised in all parts of the world. It consists in throwing a large _iron ring_ to a considerable distance, at a wooden peg, driven into the ground.

QUOTIENT. In arithmetic, the number resulting from the division of a greater number by a smaller, and which shews how often the smaller, or the divisor, is contained in the greater or dividend.

R.

RABINET, formerly a name given to a small sort of ordnance between a falconet and a base, about one inch and a half diameter in the bore, five feet six inches long, and 300 pounds in weight, loaded with six ounces of powder, and carrying a shot one inch and three-eighths in diameter.

RACHAT _du pain_, _Fr._ a certain pecuniary allowance which was made in the old French service to the officers of each company, for the surplus rations of ammunition bread that were left in the purveyor’s hands. The same rule exists in the British service, when troops are in camp or barracks.

RACINE, _Fr._ See ROOT.

RACLOIR, _Fr._ A scraper. It is used in the artillery to cleanse out mortars.

RACOLER, _Fr._ To entice men to inlist.

RACOLEUR, _Fr._ a crimp, a bringer of recruits, one who entices others to inlist. Men of this description are to be found in all countries where military establishments prevail.

RACORDEMENT, _Fr._ This word is derived from _racorder_, which, in French architecture, signifies to join two pieces of building on one surface, or to unite an old building with a new one.

RADE, _Fr._ Road for ships to ride in.

RADEAUX, _Fr._ Rafters. They are frequently used in sieges, for the purpose of crossing ditches, &c. Chevalier Folard enters largely into the nature of these rafters, particularly in his 4th volume, page 67.

RADIOMETER, (_Radiomètre_, _Fr._) This instrument is sometimes called Jacob’s staff, _bâton de Jacob_. It is used by some to take the sun’s altitude, and by others to ascertain elevations at sea.

RADIUS, the semi-diameter of a circle. In fortification, the radius is distinguished into _exterior_, _interior_, _oblique_, and _right_ _radius_. The three former are noticed each under its initial letter. The latter is a perpendicular line drawn from the centre of a polygon to the exterior side.

RAFFINAGE, _Fr._ a term used by the French to express the operation through which saltpetre passes after it has been boiled once. The literal meaning is _refining_; the act of cleansing any thing from recrementitious matter.

RAFFINER, _Fr._ To refine.

RAFFINOIR, _Fr._ a wooden cask, or copper vessel, in which saltpetre is deposited after it has been boiled once. It usually remains thirty minutes, after which it is let out through a cock fixed for that purpose at the bottom of the vessel.

RAFRAICHISSEMENS, _Fr._ Provisions. See QUARTIER.

RAFRAICHIR, _Fr._ To cool; to spunge; as _rafraichir le canon_; to spunge a cannon.

RAFRAICHIR _une place_, _Fr._ to succor a place by sending in fresh troops and provisions.

RAFRAICHIR _des troupes_, _Fr._ to allow troops to repose; likewise to supply them with fresh provisions.

RAFTS, a kind of frames or floats made by laying pieces of timber together, or across each other, to serve as bridges for troops to pass over rivers.

RAFTERS, are pieces of timber, which, standing by pairs on the transom, wall plate, or raising piece, meet in an angle at the top, and form the roof of a building.

It is a rule in building, that no rafters should stand farther than 12 inches from one another: and as to their sizes and scantlings, that principal rafters, from 12 feet 6 inches to 14 feet 6 inches long, be 5 inches broad at the top, and 8 at the bottom, and 6 inches thick: those from 14 feet 6 inches, to 18 feet 6 inches long, to be 9 inches broad at the foot, 7 inches at the top, and 7 inches thick: and those from 18 feet 6 inches, to 21 feet 6 inches, to be 10 inches broad at the foot, 8 at the top, and 8 thick. Single rafters, 8 feet in length, must have 4¹⁄₂ inches, and 3³⁄₄ in their square. Those of 9 feet long, must be 5, and 4 inches square.

RAJPUTES, _or_ RAUJPOOTS, _Ind._ The second tribe of the four great classes of Hindus; the priests or _Bramins_ are the first. Both classes may be soldiers, and none but members of one or other of these classes can be kings or princes. Rauj means great, and poot means arms, that is great in arms; they are the descendants of the military tribe of Hindus.

RAJAH, _Ind._ This word means an authority equivalent to that of a king. The Rajahs became generally tributary to the Mogul, but were suffered to follow their own modes of government.

RAIE, _Fr._ properly means a seam, furrow, streak.

RAINURE, _Fr._ a grove.

RAIS, _Fr._ a spoke of a wheel.

_To_ RAISE _Troops_. See LEVY.

_To_ RAISE _a plan of a fortress_, is to measure with cords and geometrical instruments, the length of the lines, and the capacity of the angles, that by knowing the length, breadth, and thickness, of all the different parts of a fortification, it may be represented upon paper, so as to find out its advantages and disadvantages.

RAISON, _Fr._ this word is used by the French, in a mathematical sense, to express the relation which one number has to another, and in general, that which exists between one quantity and another. The term is distinguished into _raison arithmétique_, or arithmetical reasoning; and _raison géométrique_, or geometrical reasoning. French carpenters likewise use the term, to shew that pieces of wood, &c. are properly laid, viz. _Des pieces de bois en leur raison_.

RALLIEMENT, _Fr._ Rallying point. It is sometimes written raliment.

_Mot de_ RALLIEMENT, _Fr._ a word or countersign, which is given to out posts, and to sentries that are stationed beyond the lines.

RALLUMER, _Fr._ To light up again, to rekindle, to renew.

RALLY, one of the bugle horn soundings.

_To_ RALLY, (_Rallier_, _Fr._) To bring troops back to order that have been dispersed.

RALLYING, in _war_, re-establishing, or forming together again, troops broken and put to flight.

_To_ RAM, to drive with violence, as with a battering ram.

_To_ RAM down, to force anything downwards, or to fill with any thing driven hard together, as in the charge of firearms.

RAM _down cartridge_, a word of command used in the platoon exercise. See MANUAL.

_Battering_ RAM, in _antiquity_, a military engine used to batter and beat down the walls of places besieged.

The battering ram was of two sorts, the one rude and plain, the other compound. The former seems to have been no more than a great beam, which the soldiers bore on their arms and shoulders, and with one end of it, by main force, assailed the walls. The compound ram is thus described by Josephus: it is a vast beam, like the mast of a ship, strengthened at one end with a head of iron, something resembling that of a ram, whence it took its name. This was hung by the middle with ropes to another beam, which lay across two posts, and hanging thus equally balanced, it was by a great number of men drawn backwards and pushed forwards, striking the wall with its iron head.

Plutarch informs us, that Mark Antony, in the Parthian war, made use of a ram 80 feet long: and Vitruvius tells us, that they were sometimes 106, and 120 feet long: to this perhaps the force and strength of the engine was in a great measure owing. The ram at one time was managed by a whole century of soldiers; and they, being exhausted, were seconded by another century; so that it played continually, and without any intermission.

The momentum of a battering ram 28 inches in diameter, 180 feet long, with a head of cast iron of one ton and a half, the whole ram with its iron hoops, &c. weighing 41,112 pounds, and moving by the united strength of 1000 men, will be only equal to that of a ball of 36 pounds, when shot point blank from a cannon.

RAMMER, an instrument used for driving down stones or piles into the ground in military works; or for beating the earth, in order to render it more solid for a foundation.

RAMMER, _or_ RAMROD _of a gun_, the ramrod or gunstick; a rod used in charging a gun, to drive home the powder and shot, as also the wad, which keeps the shot from rolling out. The rammer of a piece of artillery, is a cylinder of wood, whose diameter and length are each equal to the diameter of the shot, with a handle fixed to it, at the end of which is another cylinder, covered with lamb-skin, so as to fit the gun exactly, and called a sponge: it is used to clean the piece before and after it is fired. The ramrod of a musquet is one entire piece of iron.

_Return_ RAMROD. See PLATOON EXERCISE, under MANUAL.

RAMPART, in _fortification_, or, as some call it, but improperly, _rampire_; the great massy bank of earth raised about a place to resist the enemy’s shot, and to cover the buildings, &c. On it is raised a parapet towards the country. It is not above 18 feet high, and about 60 or 70 thick, unless more earth be taken out of the ditch than can be otherwise disposed of. The rampart should be sloped on both sides, and be broad enough to allow the marching of waggons and cannon, besides the parapet which is raised on it. The rampart of the half moons is better for being low, that the small arms of the besieged may the better reach the bottom of the ditch; but it must be so high, as not to be commanded by the covert-way. The rampart is encompassed with a ditch, and is sometimes lined with a fausse-bray and a berme.