Part 29

Any non commissioned officer or soldier, who shall, without leave from his commanding officer, absent himself from his troop or company, or from any detachment with which he shall be commanded, shall, upon being convicted thereof, be punished according to the nature of the offence, at the discretion of a court-martial.

No non commissioned officer or soldier shall inlist himself in any other regiment, troop, or company, without a regular discharge from the regiment, troop, or company in which he last served, on the penalty of being reputed a deserter and suffering accordingly: and in case any officer shall knowingly receive and entertain such non commissioned officer or soldier, or shall not, after his being discovered to be a deserter, immediately confine him, and give notice thereof to the corpse in which he last served, he, the said officer so offending, shall by a court-martial be cashiered.

Whatsoever officer or soldier shall be convicted of having advised any other officer or soldier, to desert our service, shall suffer such punishment as shall be inflicted upon him by the sentence of the court-martial.

_Penalty for concealing_ BRITISH DESERTERS, or _buying their arms, clothes_, &c. Provided always, that if any person shall harbor, conceal, or assist any deserter from his majesty’s service, knowing him to be such, the person so offending shall forfeit for every such offence, the sum of 5_l._ or if any person shall knowingly detain, buy, or exchange, or otherwise receive, any arms, clothes, caps, or other furniture belonging to the king, from any soldier or deserter, or any other person, upon any account or pretence whatsoever, or cause the color of such clothes to be changed; the person so offending, shall forfeit for every such offence the sum of 5_l._ and upon conviction by the oath of one or more credible witness or witnesses, before any of his majesty’s justices of the peace, the said respective penalties of 5_l._ and 5_l._ shall be levied by warrant under the hands of the said justice or justices of the peace, by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of the offender; one moiety of the said first mentioned penalty of 5_l._ to be paid to the informer, by whose means such deserter shall be apprehended; and one moiety of the said last mentioned penalty of 5_l._ to be paid to the informer; and the residue of the said respective penalties to be paid to the officer to whom any such deserter or soldier did belong: and in case any such offender, who shall be convicted, as aforesaid, of harboring or assisting any such deserter or deserters, or having knowingly received any arms, clothes, caps, or other furniture belonging to the king or having caused the color of such clothes to be changed, contrary to the intent of this act, shall not have sufficient goods and chattels, wherein distress may be made, to the value of the penalties recovered against him for such offence, or shall not pay such penalties within 4 days after such conviction; then, and in such case, such justice of the peace shall and may, by warrant under his hand and seal, either commit such offender to the common gaol, there to remain without bail or mainprise for the space of three months, or cause such offender to be publicly whipped at the discretion of such justice.

DESERTEUR, _Fr._ See DESERTER.

DESIGN, in a general sense, implies the plan, order, representation, or construction of any kind of military building, chart, map, or drawing, &c. In building, the term _ichnography_ may be used, when by design is only meant the plan of a building or a flat figure drawn on paper: when some side or face of the building is raised from the ground, we may use the term _orthography_; and when both front and sides are seen in perspective, we may call it _scenography_.

DESIGNING, the art of delineating or drawing the appearance of natural objects, by lines on a plane.

DESORDRE, _Fr._ See DISORDER.

DESTINATION, the place or purpose, to which any body of troops is appointed in order to do or attempt some military service.

_To_ DETACH, is to send out part of a great number of men on some particular service, separate from that of the main body.

DETACHED _pieces_, in fortification, are such out-works as are detached, or at a distance from the body of the place; such as half-moons, ravelines, bastions, &c.

DETACHEMENT, _Fr._ See DETACHMENT.

DETACHMENT, in military affairs, an uncertain number of men drawn out from several regiments or companies equally, to march or be employed as the general may think proper, whether on an attack, at a siege, or in parties to scour the country. A detachment of 2000 or 3000 men is a command for a general officer; 800 for a colonel, 500 for a lieutenant-colonel, 200 or 300 for a major, 80 or 100 for a captain, 40 for a lieutenant or ensign, 12 for a serjeant, and 6 for a corporal. Detachments are sometimes made of intire squadrons and battalions. One general rule in all military projects that depends upon us alone, should be to omit nothing that can insure the success of our detachment and design; but, in that which depends upon the enemy, to trust something to hazard.

DETAIL, _Fr._ _faire le détail d’une armée, d’une compagnie, ou d’une corps de gens de guerre_; is to keep a strict eye upon every part of the service, and to issue out instructions or orders, that every individual belonging to a military profession may discharge his trust with accuracy and fidelity. _Faire le détail d’une compagnié_, likewise means to make up a company’s report, &c.

DETAIL _of duty_, in military affairs, is a roster or table for the regular and exact performance of duty, either in the field, garrison, or cantonments. The general detail of duty is the proper care of the majors of brigade, who are guided by the roster of the officers, and by the tables for the men, to be occasionally furnished. The adjutant of a regiment keeps the detail of duty for the officers of his regiment, as does the serjeant-major that for the non-commissioned, and the latter that for the privates.

DEVASTATION, in military history, the act of destroying, laying waste, demolishing, or unpeopling towns, &c.

DEVELOPPER, _Fr._ to unfold, to unravel; as _Se développer sur la tête d’une colonne_, to form line on the head of a column.

DEVICE, the emblems on a shield or standard.

DEUIL _militaire_, _Fr._ military mourning.

DEVUIDER, in the _manege_, is applied to a horse that, upon working upon volts, makes his shoulders go too fast for the croupe to follow.

DIABLE. _Fr._ See CHAT.

DIAGONAL, reaching from one angle to another; so as to divide a parallelogram into equal parts.

DIAGONAL MOVEMENTS. See ECHELLON.

DIAMETER, in both a military and geometrical sense, implies a right line passing through the centre of a circle, and terminated at each side by the circumference thereof. See CIRCLE.

The impossibility of expressing the exact proportion of the diameter of a circle to its circumference, by any received way of notation, and the absolute necessity of having it as near the truth as possible, has put some of the most celebrated men in all ages upon endeavoring to approximate it. The first who attempted it with success, was the celebrated Van Culen, a Dutchman, who by the ancient method, though so very laborious, carried it to 36 decimal places: these he ordered to be engraven on his tomb-stone, thinking he had set bounds to improvements. However, the indefatigable Mr. Abraham Sharp carried it to 75 places in decimals; and since that, the learned Mr. John Machin has carried it to 100 places, which are as follows:

If the diameter of a circle be 1, the circumference will be

3.1415926535,​8979323846,​2643383279,​5028841971,​6939937510,​ 5820974944,​5923078164,​0528620899,​8628034825,​3421170679,​+

of the same parts; which is a degree of exactness far surpassing all imagination.

But the ratios generally used in the practice of military mathematics are these following. The diameter of the circle is to its circumference as 113 is to 355 nearly.--The square of the diameter is to the area of the circle, as 452 to 355. The cube of the diameter is, to the solid content of a sphere, as 678 to 355.--The cubes of the axes are, to the solid contents of equi-altitude cylinders, as 452 to 355.--The solid content of a sphere is, to the circumscribed cylinder, as 2 to 3.

_How to find the_ DIAMETER _of shot or shells_. For an iron ball, whose diameter is given, supposing a 9-pounder, which is nearly 4 inches, say, the cube root of 2.08 of 9 pounds is, to 4 inches, as the cube root of the given weight is to the diameter sought. Or, if 4 be divided by 2.08, the cube root of 9, the quotient 1.923 will be the diameter of a 1-pound shot; which being continually multiplied by the cube root of the given weight, gives the diameter required.

Or by logarithms much shorter, thus: If the logarithm of 1.923, which is .283979, be constantly added to the third part of the logarithm of the weight, the sum will be the logarithm of the diameter. Suppose a shot to weigh 24 pounds: add the given logarithm .283979 to the third part of .460070 of the logarithm 1.3802112 of 24, the sum .7440494 will be the logarithm of the diameter oi a shot weighing 24 pounds, which is 5.5468 inches.

If the weight should be expressed by a fraction, the rule is still the same: for instance, the diameter of a 1¹⁄₂ pound ball, or ³⁄₂, is found by adding the logarithm .2839793, found above, to .0586971 ¹⁄₃ of the logarithm of ²⁄₃, the sum .3426764 will be the logarithm of the diameter required, _i. e._ 2.2013 inches.

As the diameter of the bore, or the calibre of the piece, is made ¹⁄₂₀ part larger than that of the shot, according to the present practice, the following table is computed for this proportion.

DIAMETERS _of the shots and calibres of English guns_.

+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |lb.| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | 0 |1.923|2.423|2.775|3·053|3.288| | 0 +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | 0 |2.019|2.544|2.913|3.204|3.568| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |4.143|4.277|4.403|4.522|4.635|4.743| | 1 +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |4.349|4.490|4.623|4.748|4.866|4.981| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |5.220|5.305|5.388|5.409|5.547|5.623| | 2 +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |5.480|5.579|5.661|5.742|5.824|5.893| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |5.975|6.041|6.105|6.168|6.230|6.290| | 3 +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |6.275|6.343|6.410|6.475|6.?41|6.604| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |6.576|6.631|6.684|6.737|6.789|6.640| | 4 +-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | |6.904|6.962|7.018|7.076|7.128|7.182| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ |lb.| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |3.498|3.679|3.846|4.000|diam. | | 0 +-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |3.668|3.861|4.038|4.200|calib.| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |4.846|4.945|5.040|5.131|diam. | | 1 +-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |5.088|5.192|5.292|5.368|calib.| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |5.697|5.769|5.839|5.908|diam. | | 2 +-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |5.982|6.057|6.129|6.203|calib.| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |6.350|6.408|6.465|6.521|diam. | | 3 +-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |6.666|6.707|6.788|6.846|calib.| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |6.890|6.940|6.989|7.037|diam. | | 4 +-----+-----+-----+-----+------+ | |7.234|7.287|7.338|7.383|calib.| +---+-----+-----+-----+-----+------+

EXPLANATION.

The numbers in the first line of the table are units, and those in the first column of the left side of the table tens; the other numbers, under the one, and opposite to the others, are the respective diameters of shot and calibres. Thus, to find the diameter of the shot, and the calibre of a 24 pr. look for the number 2 on the left-hand side, and for 4 at top; then the number 5.547, under 4, and opposite 2, will be the diameter of the shot in inches and decimals, and the number 5.824, under the first, the calibre of a 24-pounder &c.

DIAMETERS _of the Bullets and Calibres of English musquets_.

+-+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | +-+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |0| 0 |1.671|1.326|1.158|1.05 | .977| .919| .873| .835| .803| +-+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |1|.715| .?51| .730| .711| .693| .677| .663| .650| .637| .626| +-+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |2|.615| .605| .596| .587| .579| .571| .564| .557| .550| .544| +-+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |3|.538| .536| .526| .521| .517| .511| .506| .501| .497| .493| +-+----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+

The diameter of musquet bores differs about ¹⁄₅₀th part from that of the bullet.

DIAMETER _of powder measures_. See POWDER MEASURES.

DICTATOR, a magistrate of Rome, made in times of exigence and public distress, and invested with absolute authority.

DIFFERENCE. The sum paid by an officer in the British service, when he exchanges from half to full pay. It likewise means the regulation price between an inferior and a superior commission. Officers who retire upon half pay, and take the difference, subject themselves to many incidental disadvantages, should they wish to return into active service.

DIGGING. See MINING.

DIGLADIATION, a combat with swords.

DIGUON, _Fr._ a staff at the end of which is suspended a vane or streamer. This term is properly marine.

DIKE or DYKE, a channel to receive water, also a dam or mound, to prevent inundation. See FORTIFICATION.

DIMACHÆ, in ancient military affairs, were a kind of horsemen, answering to the dragoons of the moderns.

DIMICATION. See BATTLE.

_To_ DIMINISH _or increase the front of a battalion_, is to adapt the column of march or manœuvre according to the obstructions and difficulties which it meets in advancing. This is one of the most important movements, and a battalion which does not perform this operation with the greatest exactness and attention, so as not to lengthen out in the smallest degree, is not fit to move in the column of a considerable corps.

DIRECTEUR _General_, _Fr._ A military post of nominal importance which was originally instituted by Louis XIV. This charge was entrusted to eight lieutenant generals, four to command and superintend the infantry, and four for the cavalry. They possessed, however, little or no authority over the army in general; being subordinate in some degree to the general officer whose corps they might inspect, and to whom they rendered a correct account of its interior œconomy. They were likewise assisted by Inspectors general. The four directors were afterwards replaced by the inspectors, from a principle of œconomy. The permanent ones of that appellation were: director general of the royal artillery school; director general of military hospitals; director general of fortification; director general of the cavalry; director general of stores.

DIRECTION, in military mechanics, signifies the line or path of a body in motion, along which it endeavors to force its way, according to the propelling power that is given to it.

_Angle of_ DIRECTION, that formed by the lines of direction of two conspiring powers.

_Quantity of_ DIRECTION, a term used by military mathematicians for the product of the velocity of the common centre of gravity of a system of bodies, by the sum of their quantities of matter: this is no ways altered by any collisions among the bodies themselves.

DIRK, a kind of dagger used by military men, and by the highlanders in Scotland.

_To_ DISARM. To deprive a soldier of every species of offensive or defensive weapon.

DISARMED. Soldiers divested of their arms, either by conquest, or in consequence of some defection.

DISBANDED, the soldiers of any regiment, who are in a body dismissed from the conditions of their military service.

DISBARK. See DISEMBARK.

DISCHARGE, in a military sense, is the dismissing a soldier from the troop or company he belonged to, either at his own request, or after long services.

This term is also applied to the firing of cannon or musquets, as a discharge of cannon, or of small arms.

DISCIPLINARIAN, an officer who pays particular regard to the discipline of the soldiers under his command.

DISCIPLINE, in a military sense, signifies the instruction and government of soldiers.

_Military_ DISCIPLINE, _Military Constitution_, By _military constitution_ is meant, the authoritative declared laws for the guidance of all military men, and all military matters; and by _discipline_ is meant, the obedience to, and exercise of those laws. As health is to the natural body, so is a sound military constitution to the military one; and as exercise is to the first, so is discipline to the last. Bravery will perchance gain a battle; but every one knows that by discipline alone the long disputed prize of a war can be ultimately obtained.

The kingdom of Prussia was a striking example in favor of perfect discipline; for while that state had a strong army, and maintained that army in strict discipline, it had held a very considerable share in the system of Europe.

_Marine_ DISCIPLINE, is the training up soldiers for sea service, in such exercises and various positions as the musquet and body may require: teaching them likewise every manœuvre that can be performed on board ships of war at sea, &c.

DISCIPLINE _militaire_. See MILITARY DISCIPLINE.

DISCRETION, _Fr._ discretion. _Se rendre à discrétion_, to surrender at discretion, implies to throw one’s self upon the mercy of a victorious enemy. The French likewise say, _les soldats vivent à discrétion dans un pays_; which in familiar English signifies, soldiers live _scot-free_ in a country.

_To_ DISENGAGE, to clear a column or line, which may have lost its proper front by the overlapping of any particular division, company, or section when ordered to form up. To do this, ground must be taken to the right or left. It is however, a dangerous operation when the army or battalion gets into a line of fire. In that case the files that overlap must remain in the rear, and fill up the first openings.

_To_ DISENGAGE, is also to extricate yourself and the men you command from a critical situation. A battalion, for instance, which may have advanced too far during an action, and got between two fires, may, by an able manœuvre, disengage itself.

_To_ DISENGAGE _the wings of a battalion_. This is necessary when the battalion countermarches from its centre, and on its centre by files. The battalion having received the word “by wings, inward face,” is next ordered “by wings, three side steps to the right, march,” by which the wings are disengaged from each other, or this may be done by a quarter face to the right and left alter facing inward. In counter-marching, &c. the leading files must uniformly disengage themselves.

_To_ DISENGAGE, in fencing, to quit that side of your adversary’s blade, on which you are opposed by his guard, in order to effect a cut or thrust where an opportunity may present.

DISMANTLE, to strip a town or fortress of its outworks.

_To_ DISMANTLE _a gun_. To render it unfit for use. Guns are frequently dismantled and left upon the field of battle.

DISCOMFIT, defeat, rout, overthrow.

DISCOVERER, a scout; one who is set to descry the enemy.

DISEMBARK, to land from on board any vessel or craft, used to convey troops on the sea.

DISEMBODIED. See DISBANDED.

_To_ DISEMBODY. To disband.

DISGARNISH, to take guns from a fortress.

DISLODGE, to drive an enemy from their post or station.

DISMISSED. An officer in the British service may be dismissed generally or specifically. When an officer is dismissed generally, it is signified to him, that there is not any further occasion for his services. When an officer is dismissed specifically, it is expressly notified, that he is rendered incapable of ever serving again. Sometimes, indeed this species of dismissal is attended with public marks of extreme disgrace and degradation. In the Austrian service a colonel has been dismissed at the head of his regiment, and has had his sword broken before him, &c. During the present war the colonel of a militia regiment has not only been rendered incapable of ever serving again, but has been expelled the house of commons for military misconduct. The charges against him, together with the circumstantial proofs of his guilt, and the king’s approbation of the sentence were read in the circle of every regiment throughout Great Britain, in 1795, and nothing but a plea of severe indisposition saved the culprit from having the minutes publicly communicated to him at the horse guards.

DISMOUNTING, in a military sense, is the act of unhorsing. Thus, to dismount the cavalry, &c. is to make them alight.

_To_ DISMOUNT _cannon_, is to break their carriages, wheels, axle-trees, or any thing else, so as to render them unfit for service. It also implies dismounting by the gin, &c.

DISOBEDIENCE _of orders_. Any infraction, by neglect or wilful omission, of general or regimental orders. It is punishable by the articles of war.

DISPART, in gunnery, is to set a mark on the muzzle ring, so that it may be of an equal height with the base ring: hence a line drawn between them, will be parallel to the axis of the concave cylinder, for the gunner to take aim by it, to hit the mark he is to fire at; for the bore and this imaginary line being parallel, the aim so taken must be true. This exactness cannot be made use of in an engagement, and but very seldom at a siege; for in those cases practice and the eye must be the only guides.

DISPART. The dispart of a gun is the half difference between the diameter of the gun at the base ring, and at the swell of the muzzle. The general dispart of all guns is about the ¹⁄₅₆ part of their length. See the disparts of French and English guns under the word TANGENT SCALE.

DISPART-_frontlet_. See FRONTLET.

_To_ DISPERSE. In a military sense, may be variously understood. In an active one, it signifies to disperse any body of men, armed or unarmed, who may have assembled in an illegal or hostile manner. The cavalry are generally employed on these occasions.

_To_ DISPERSE, likewise means to break suddenly from any particular order, in line or column, and to repair to some rallying point. Hence to sound the disperse, is to give notice that the battalion or battalions are to retreat from their actual position, in a loose and desultory manner, and to reassemble according to the natural line of formation, taking the colors as their central points to dress by.

DISPLACED, officers in the British service are sometimes displaced from a particular regiment in consequence of misconduct proved upon the minutes of a general court martial; but they are at liberty to serve in any other corps.

_To_ DISPLAY, in a military sense, is to extend the front of a column, and hereby bring it into line. See DEPLOY.

DISPOSE, to dispose cannon, is to place it in such a manner, that its discharge may do the greatest mischief. For instance, to dispose cannon along the front of the line.

DISPOSITION, in a general sense, is the just placing an army or body of men upon the most advantageous ground, and in the strongest situation for a vigorous attack or defence.

DISPOSITION _de guerre_, _Fr._ warlike arrangement, or disposition. Under this head may be considered the mode of establishing, combining, conducting, and finally terminating a war, so as to produce success and victory.