Part 36

_To the right_, FACE. 2 motions.--1st, Place the hollow of the right foot smartly against the left heel; 2d, Raise the toes, and turn (a quarter of the circle) to the right on both heels.

_To the right about_, FACE, 3 motions.--1st, Place the ball of the right toe against the left heel; 2d, Raise the toes, and turn (half of a circle) to the right about on both heels; 3d, Bring the right foot smartly back in a line with the left.

_To the left_, FACE. 2 motions.--1st, Place the right heel against the hollow of the left foot; 2d, Turn (a quarter of the circle) to the left on both heels.

_To the left about_, FACE. 3 motions.--1st, Place the right heel against the ball of the left foot; 2d, Raise the toes, and turn (half of a circle) to the left about on both heels; 3d, Bring up the right foot smartly in a line with the left.

_Quarter_ FACE to the right or left, is now substituted for the old and awkward mode of oblique marching, the quarter facing being referred to the positions of action being all on the face of a semicircle; half of which is facing to the _right_ or _left_; that is the side of the soldier is thrown to the previous front; in quarter facing the side is thrown diagonally between the front and flanks; marching quarter face is called marching by the _line of science_.

Great precision must be observed in these facings; otherwise the dressing will be lost in every movement.

FACES _of a square_. The different sides of a battalion, &c. when formed into a square are all denominated faces, viz. the _front face_, the _right face_, the _left face_, and the _rear face_. See SQUARE.

FACE _ou pan de bastion_, _Fr._ See FACE _of a bastion_.

FACE _d’une place_, _Fr._ See TENAILLE.

FACINGS, are the different movements of a battalion, or of any other body of men, to the right, to the left, or right and left about. All facings must be executed with a straight knee; and the body must be kept firm, and turn steadily, without drooping forward or jerking. The plant of the foot, after facing about, must be sharp.

FACINGS, likewise signify the lappels, cuffs, and collar of a military uniform, and are generally different from the color of the coat or jacket.

FACTION, _Fr._ the duty done by a private soldier when he patroles, goes the rounds, &c. but most especially when he stands centry. The French usually say, _entrer en faction_, to come upon duty; _être en faction_, to be upon duty; _sortir de faction_, to come off duty.

FACTIONNAIRE, _Fr._ _Soldat factionnaire_, a soldier that does every species of detail duty.

The term _factionnaire_, was likewise applicable to the duty done by officers in the old French service. _Premier factionnaire du regiment_ implied, that the officer, so called, was the fourth captain of a battalion; as the colonel, lieutenant colonel, major, and the captain of grenadiers did not mount the ordinary guards.

FAGOTS, in the military history were men hired to muster by officers whose companies are not complete; by which means they cheated the public of the men’s pay, and deprive the country of its regular establishment. See _False return_.

A British general in the East Indies made an immense fortune by _bullock_ fagots. Artillery are all drawn by oxen in Asia, as well as all baggage; upon an _inspection_ of bullocks, the inspector counted 12,000: it appeared there were only 4,000, they were drawn up in front of a wood, and as soon as the bullocks on the right were inspected; they were drawn off successively by the rear, and appeared again in ranks on the left; so that every bullock was three times inspected, and the round number returned.

FAGOTS. See FASCINES.

FAILER. See DESERTER.

FAILURE, an unsuccessful attempt, as the failure of an expedition.

FAIRE _faux feu_, _Fr._ to miss fire; to flash in the pan.

FALAISE, _Fr._ Any part of the sea-coast is so called by the French, when it is extremely steep, and broken into precipices.

FALAISER, _Fr._ to break upon. _La mer falaise_ signifies, the sea breaks upon the shore.

FALCHION, a short crooked sword.

FALCON, or _Faucon_, an ancient name given to a 3-pounder. See CANNON.

FALCONET, an ancient name given to a 1¹⁄₂-pounder. See CANNON.

FALL. The fall of a place after it has been besieged. See SURRENDER.

_To_ FALL _back_, to recede from any situation in which you are placed. This phrase is frequently, indeed, always made use of in the drill, or exercise of soldiers; particularly during the formation of a line, when individuals, or whole divisions are apt to overstep their ground and get beyond the dressing point.

FALL _in_, a word of command for men to form in ranks, as in parade, line, or division &c.

_To fall in_ likewise means the minute arrangement of a battalion, company, guard or squad, by which every man is ordered to take his proper post. The long roll, a peculiar beat of the drum, is the usual signal for soldiers to assemble and fall in.

_To_ FALL _into_, to become the property of another, as, we fell in with a large convoy of the enemy, which after a short resistance made by the escort, _fell into our hands_.

_To_ FALL _in with_. A military technical phrase, signified any sudden or unlooked for rencontre of any enemy. As our light cavalry patroles fell in with a party of foragers belonging to the enemy’s army.

_To_ FALL _off_, to desert; to fail; to relax in exertion.

_To_ FALL _out_, to quit the rank or file in which you were first posted. Dirty soldiers on a parade are frequently ordered to fall out, and remain in the rear of their companies. The phrase is applicable in a variety of other instances:

_To_ FALL _upon_. To attack abruptly, as, _we_ no sooner came in sight of the enemy, but our advanced guard instantly fell upon his out-posts and beat them in. According to the celebrated General Monk it is very fit, that a general should often command his horse and dragoons to fall upon his enemy’s outermost horse quarters; which mode, he says is one of the easiest, readiest, and securest ways to break an enemy’s army.

FALOTS, _Fr._ small lanthorns fixed upon the end of a stick or pole. Small lamps are likewise used, attached in the same manner, for the purpose of carrying them readily about to light a camp, or besieged towns, as occasion may require.

FALSE _alarms_, an alarm or apprehension which is either designedly or unintentionally created by noise, report, or signals without being dangerous.

FALSE _attack_, an approach which is made as a feint for the purpose of diverting your enemy from the real object of attack.

FALSE _fires_, any fire or light which is made use of for the purpose of deceiving an enemy. False fires or lights are frequently resorted to when an army finds it necessary to retreat from an advanced position. On this occasion large fires are lighted in different parts of the camp and round the lines, previous to the departure of the troops, which generally happens in the night.

FALSE _lights_, in debarkations under cover of the night, may likewise be used as signals of deception, when it is found expedient to attract the attention of the invaded country towards one part of the coast or territory, whilst a real attack is meditated against another.

FALSE _muster_, an incorrect statement of the effective number of men or horses, by which government is defrauded. By the articles of war every officer, paymaster, or commissary, found guilty of false mustering, is ordered to be cashiered.

FALSE _report_. A false report in military matters, may be truly said to be the ground work of a false return and a false muster, and consequently the primary cause of imposition upon the public. The strictest attention should, therefore, be paid to the most trifling report which is made in a troop or company respecting the presence or absence of men or horses, the state of clothing, accoutrements, or necessaries. This can only be done by the commanding officer of such troop or company having constantly the general good of the service at heart in preference to his own convenience, or to that of others. Every serjeant or corporal of a squad should be severely punished when detected in making a false report.

FALSE _return_, a wilful report of the actual state of a brigade, regiment, troop, or company, by which the commander in chief or the war-office is deceived, as to the effective force of such regiment, troop or company.

FANION, _Fr._ corrupted from the Italian word _gonfanone_, a particular standard which was carried in the front of the ordinary baggage belonging to a brigade in the old French service. It was made of serge, and resembled in color the uniform or livery of the brigadier, or of the commandant of any particular corps.

FANTASSIN, _Fr._ A foot soldier. The term is derived from the Italian _fante_, a _boy_, the light troops in the 14th and 15th centuries being formed of boys who followed the armies, that were formed into corps with light arms, hence the origin of the word _infantry_; the French still use the words _mes enfans_.

FARAILLON, _Fr._ a light house.

FARIAL, _Fr._ a light house; also a watch light.

FARRIER, in a general acceptation of the term, any person who shoes horses, or professes to cure their diseases. In a practical military sense a man appointed to do the duty of farriery in a troop of cavalry. Troop farriers should be under the immediate superintendance and controul of a veterinary surgeon, to whom they ought to apply whenever a horse is ill or lame, that he may report the same to the officer commanding the troop. No farrier should presume to do any thing without having first received directions from his superior.

When the farrier goes round, after riding out, or exercise on horseback, he must carry his hammer, pincers, and some nails to fasten any shoe that may be loose.

When horses at out quarters fall particularly ill, or contract an obstinate lameness, the case must be reported to the head quarters of the regiment; and if the veterinary surgeon cannot prescribe for him at a distance, he must, if time and distance will permit, be personally sent to examine the horse.

No farrier should make up any medicine or any external application contrary to the receipt given him by the veterinary surgeon.

If any farrier, through carelessness or inattention, lames a horse belonging to another troop, he ought to be at all the expence in curing the horse so lamed. In some well regulated cavalry corps this forms one of the standing regimental orders.

Farriers are in every respect liable to be tried according to the articles of war. They may be ordered to inflict punishments; and they must constantly recollect, that the circumstance of being a farrier is no extenuation for dirty appearance, or excuse for drunkenness. The guilt of the latter vice, indeed, is aggravated by the responsibility of their situation.

FARRIER-_Major_, a person who was formerly appointed by the colonel of a dragoon regiment to superintend the farriers of troops, who are named by the several commanding officers of them. He has since been superceded or replaced by a veterinary surgeon, who, as the farrier-major was formerly directed, is to have free access to every stable of the regiment whenever he chuses. It is his duty to go frequently into the cantonments of the different troops, and examine the horses feet; and if he finds a shoe contrary to the regimental pattern, or discovers any thing amiss in the management of the troop horses, he is to report it immediately to the officer commanding the regiment. In all his duty he is to receive the utmost support from every officer and quarter master; and any farrier that dares to act contrary to his instructions, should be punished. There ought, in fact, to be a chain of mutual support and co-operation from the veterinary surgeon, up to the commanding officer of every cavalry regiment, each farrier looking to the veterinary surgeon for correct instructions relative to the preservation of every horse’s health.

FASCINES, in fortification, are a kind of fagots, made of small branches of trees or brush wood, tied in 3, 4, 5, or 6 places, and are of various dimensions, according to the purposes intended. Those that are to be pitched over, for burning lodgments, galleries, or any other works of the enemy, should be 1¹⁄₂ or two feet long. Those that are for making epaulements or chandeliers, or to raise works, or fill up ditches, are 10 feet long, and 1 or 1¹⁄₂ feet in diameter. They are made as follows: six small pickets are struck into the ground, 2 and 2, forming little crosses, well fastened in the middle with willow bindings. On these tressels the branches are laid, and are bound round with withes at the distance of every 2 feet. Six men are employed in making a fascine; 2 cut the boughs, 2 gather them, and the remaining 2 bind them. These six men can make 20 fascines every hour. Each fascine requires five pickets to fasten it.

FASTNESSES, strong places not easily forced.

FATHOM, in fortification, originally denoted that space which a man could reach when both his arms were extended; but it now means a measure of 6 feet or 2 yards, equivalent to the French word toise. See TOISE.

FAUCON. See FALCON.

_Faucon_ ou FAUCONNEAU, _Fr._ a small piece of ordnance, carrying from 1 to 1¹⁄₄ pound ball.

FAUCHION. See FALCHION.

FAUCONET. See FALCONET.

FAULX, _Fr._ an instrument nearly resembling a scythe. It is often used to defend a breach, or to prevent an enemy from scaling the walls of a fortified place. This weapon was first resorted to with some success, when Louis the XIV. besieged Mons. On the surrender of that town, the besiegers found large quantities of faulx, or scythes in the garrison.

FAUSSE-BRAIE. See FAUSSE BRAYE.

FAUSSE-BRAYE, in fortification, is a low rampart encircling the body of the place; its height is about 3 feet above the level ground, and its parapet about three or four toises from that of the body of the place. These works have been entirely rejected by the modern engineers, excepting M. Vauban, who makes them only before the curtains; and then they are called more properly tenailles.

FEATHERS, are ornamental marks worn by officers and soldiers in their caps or hats. The following distinctions are made, and directed by authority to be observed in the British service. In the royal artillery, both officers and men, have white feathers. The cavalry and battalion corps scarlet and white; the grenadiers all white, and the light-infantry all green.

FEDERATE. See CONFEDERATE.

FEES, are sums of money claimed by persons in office, and to the payment of which every British officer is subject. Fees are paid at the British war office for different commissions, and are charged to their respective owners by the army agents.

FEINT, a mock attack, or assault, often made to conceal the true one.

FELLOES, or FELLIES, in artillery, are the parts of a wheel which form its circumference. The dimensions of fellies of British wheels are as follow: for a 24-pounder, 5 inches thick, and 6.5 inches broad; for a 12-pounder, 4.5 inches thick, and 6 inches broad; for a 6-pounder, 4 inches thick, and 5.5 inches broad, &c. made of dry elm. There are generally 6 in each wheel. See WHEEL.

FELLOW _soldier_ one who fights under the same commander, a comrade. Dr. Johnson very properly calls this term an endearing appellation used by officers, to their soldiers. The French use an equivalent expression, _camarade_, or comrade; the officers also call the soldiers _mes enfans_, my _boys_ or my _children_. The toils and perils, in fact of a military life, are so many, that an army fighting under the same banners may be truly called one family, and every officer should look upon himself as the father, the guardian, and the protector of his men.

FENCE, a guard, security, outwork, &c.

_To_ FENCE, to practice with foils; to fight with swords; to secure any place by pallisades, &c.

FENCIBLE, any thing capable of defence. Such regiments as are raised for limited service, and for a limited time, are called fencible regiments. They rank junior to the line.

FENCING, is the art or science of making a proper use of the sword, as well for attacking an enemy, as for defending one’s self. Fencing is a genteel exercise, of which no military gentleman should be ignorant. It is learned by practising with steel foils. See FOILS.

Fencing is either simple, or compound. Simple is that which is performed nimbly, and off hand, on the same line. In this the principal intention, in respect to the offensive part, should be to attack the enemy in the most unguarded quarter; and in the defensive, to parry or ward off the enemy’s thrusts or blows.

_Attitude, in_ FENCING, the head upright, though the body hath a forward inclination on a longe; and all the weight resting on the left haunch when on guard. The feet, hand, body, arm, and sword, must be to the line.

_Appel, in_ FENCING, is a sudden beat of your blade, on the contrary side to that you join your adversary on, and a quick disengagement to that side again.

_Beating, in_ FENCING, is when you parry with a sudden short beat, to get a quick repost; or when you beat with your foot, to try if you are firm on it, or on both feet.

_Battering, in_ FENCING, is to strike the feeble of your adversary’s blade on the side opposite to that you join, &c.

_Back-quarte_, is a parade of a late invention, and is a round quarte over the arm.

_Cave, in_ FENCING, is a tierce on a quarte side, also the thrust of a prime, or a seconde, at the low quarte side.

_Darting, in_ FENCING, to defend a blow with some contraction of your arm, and to dart a thrust right forward.

_Feint forward, in_ FENCING, made by advancing your point a little from its line and coming to it again.

_Guard, in_ FENCING, is any of the parades you stand on.

_On guard_, is being placed properly on your feet, and well covered with your weapon.

_Lurching, in_ FENCING, to make an opening, to invite your adversary to thrust at you, when you, being ready, may find a favorable repost at him.

_Locking, in_ FENCING, is to seize your adversary’s sword arm by twining your left arm round it, after you close your parade, shell to shell, in order to disarm him.

_Guards in_ _carte_, _tierce_, implies the putting of the body and sword in such a state of defence, as to prevent the antagonist from wounding you, by either of the thrusts so denominated. These are the principal positions on which to engage. The others, _viz._ prime, seconde, quinte, half-circle, &c. are termed parades, when used with the small sword.

_Hanging-guard_, one of the broad-sword guards. See BROAD-SWORD.

_Thrusts_ are of various denominations, according to the direction of the point, and position of the wrist.

The thrusts directed at the inside of the body, are called prime, carte, and low-carte; those at the outside, are seconde, tierce, carte over the arm, quinte and flanconade.

In teaching, the thrusts are not arranged according to the above order; it is usual to begin with carte (or quarte) and tierce, the names of which prove them to have been originally the 4th and 3d positions in the art; but which are now justly considered as the chief and most elegant.

_Parrying in_ FENCING, the action of warding off the blows aimed at each other.

_Flanconade, in_ FENCING, is the action of dropping the point of your sword under your adversary’s hilt, in seizing with force the feeble of his blade; which binding, without quitting it, form the parade in octave and then throw in your thrust. See _Art of defence with swords by the author of Am. Military Library_.

_Glissade, in_ FENCING, is performed by dexterously making your sword slip along your adversary’s blade, and forming at the same time your extension, &c.

FER, _Fr._ Iron. Figuratively, this word is used for a sword or dagger; as _manier le fer_, to wear the sword, to follow the profession of arms, _Battre le fer_, to fence.

FER _à cheval_, _Fr._ In fortification, a horse-shoe, which see. It further means according to the French acceptation of the term, a work constructed for the purpose of covering a gate, by having within it a guard-house, to prevent the town from being surprised.

FERDWIT, in ancient military history, a term formerly used to denote a freedom from serving upon any military expedition; or according to some, the being quit of manslaughter committed in the army.

FERRIES, water conveyances, made use of to cross rivers, or branches of the sea.

FERTH or FORTH. See ARMY.

FEU, _Fr._ Fire. _Faire feu_, to discharge any sort of firearms.

FEU, _fire_, is also understood to mean any light combustible, which is kept up in the front of a camp, and at each post during the night to keep the soldiers alert, and to prevent them from being surprised.

Every species of fire, or light is, however, strictly forbidden on a march, when the object is to surprize an enemy. Soldiers on these occasions are not permitted to smoke. Bundles, and large wisps of lighted straw, which are hung out from the tops of steeples, or from any other elevation, frequently serve to give the alarm when an enemy is discovered in the act of passing a river.

Lights are likewise resorted to on various other occasions. See LIGHTS.

FEU _de joie_. See RUNNING-FIRE.

FEU _rasant_, _Fr._ a grazing fire, or a discharge of ordnance or musquetry so directed that the shot shall run parallel with the ground they fly over, within 3 or 4 feet of the surface.

That is likewise called a _feu rasant_, or grazing fire, which is sent in parallel directions with the faces of the different works belonging to a fortification.

FICHANT. See LINE OF DEFENCE, FORTIFICATION.

FIELD. The ground of battle. A battle, campaign, or the action of an army while it keeps the field.

FIELD-_bed_, a folding bed used by officers in their tents.

{_Colors_, } {_Camp colors_. {_Officers_,} {_Officers_. Field-{_Pieces_, }See{_Cannon_. {_Staff_, } {_Lintstock_. {_Works_, } {_Field fortification_.

FIELD-_Fort_. See FORT.

FIELD-_marshal_, a military rank superior to all others, except the captain general.

This rank formerly existed and has been again revived in England. The French in their modern system, have given it an effective character, it being the superior rank of distinguished generals; the number of which have a temporary limitation. Their corps d’armée or legions of 25,000 men, are each commanded by a marshal.

FIFE, a military instrument of the wind kind, generally used as an accompaniment to the drum.

FIFRE, _Fr._ Fife. In French, this word likewise means fifer.

FIGHT. See BATTLE.

FIGHTING-_men_, such as are effective, and able to bear arms.

_Running_-FIGHT, that in which the enemy is continually chased.

FIGURE, in fortification, the plan of any fortified place, or the interior polygon. Of this there are two sorts, regular, and irregular; a regular figure is that where the sides and angles are equal; an irregular one where they are unequal.

FILE, in the art of war, is an unlimited term, comprehending any number of men, drawn up in a direct line behind each other; as a rank on the other hand, includes any number drawn up beside each other; whether in either respect, they be in close or open order. Or rather, by _file_ is meant the line of soldiers standing one behind another, which makes the depth of the battalion; and is thus distinguished from the rank, which is a line of soldiers drawn up side by side, forming the length of the battalion. A file is 2 or 3 deep; hence a battalion or regiment drawn up, consists of 2 or 3 ranks, and of as many files as there are men in a rank.

The files of a battalion of foot were formerly 12 and 6 deep, but now only 3, which is its natural formation. Those of the cavalry are but 2 deep.

_A_ FILE on horseback, in marching order, occupies in the ranks 3 feet; thus 3 file 9 feet. A file on foot occupies in the ranks 22 inches.