Part 113

=Ressaldar.= In the East Indies, is a native officer in a native cavalry regiment. He commands the right troop of a squadron, and on parade leads the squadron.

=Ressaldar Major.= In the East Indies, is the native commandant of a native cavalry regiment.

=Rest.= In tactics, a word of command whereby the men are brought to a position of rest; as, parade rest, in place rest.

=Rest on Arms.= A word of command which is used at military funerals.

=Retained Pay.= In the U. S. army, is pay that is retained from the soldier until the expiration of his term of service.

=Retainers.= See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 63.

=Retaliation.= This should never be resorted to as a measure of mere revenge, but only as a means of protective retribution, and, moreover, cautiously and unavoidably; that is to say, retaliation is only to be resorted to after careful inquiry into the real occurrence and the character of the misdeeds that may demand retribution.

=Retiarius.= A kind of gladiator who fought in the amphitheatre during the time of the Romans. He was dressed in a short coat, having a _fuscina_, or trident, in his left hand, and a net, from which he derived his name, in his right. With this he endeavored to entangle his adversary, that he might then with his trident easily dispatch him. On his head he wore only a hat tied under his chin with a broad ribbon.

=Retinue.= Applied strictly to the admiral’s suite or followers, though it means an accompanying train in general; whether military, naval, or civil.

=Retirade.= In fortification, a retrenchment, which is generally made with two faces, forming a re-entrant angle, and is thrown up in the body of a work, for the purpose of receiving troops, who may dispute the ground inch by inch.

=Retire.= Signifies to fall back a short distance. Also, a bugle-sound intimating to skirmishers that they are to fall back. This bugle-sound in the U. S. service is termed “to the rear.”

=Retired Flank.= In fortification, a flank having an arc of a circle with its convexity turned toward the place.

=Retired Full Pay.= See FULL PAY, RETIRED.

=Retired List.= Is a list of officers retired from the army or navy. In every service, to maintain a reasonably low age among the persons actively employed, it is essential that some scale should be fixed for retirement of old and worn-out officers. In the British army, medical officers are allowed to retire after twenty-five years full-pay service; other officers after thirty years on full pay, or twenty-five years on half-pay. In the navy, officers are placed on the retired list at sixty years of age, with the rank they then hold. In most cases, in both services, the retiring officer is allowed a step of honorary rank; but this higher rank carries neither present nor prospective advantage. Officers of the U. S. army may be retired on their own application after thirty years’ service. If an officer has been borne on the army register for forty-five years, or if he has attained the age of sixty-two years, he may be retired at the discretion of the President. Officers retired from active service receive 75 per cent. of the pay of the rank upon which they were retired. Retired officers of the army may be assigned to duty as professors of colleges and at the Soldier’s Home, and shall not be assignable to any other duty. Any officer may be retired on account of disability contracted in the line of duty. When an officer has served forty years as a commissioned officer he shall, if he makes application therefor, be placed on the retired list. Officers retired shall be withdrawn from command and promotion. Officers may be wholly retired for disability not incident to the service and dropped from the rolls of the army with one year’s pay. Officers of the marine corps shall be retired in the same manner and with the same relative conditions as are provided for officers of the army.

=Retreat.= The retrograde movement of any army or body of men who retire from the enemy. It signifies a more prolonged and systematic movement to the rear than retire. _Full retreat_ is when an army retires with all expedition before a conquering enemy. The retreat is also a beat of the infantry drums, or sounding of the bugles or trumpets, which takes place every day at sunset, and at which troops fall in and the roll is called; the details for duty the following day, and orders, are published. _To retreat_ is to make a retrograde movement. An army or body of men are said to retreat when they turn their backs upon the enemy, or are retiring from the ground they occupied; hence, every march in withdrawing from an enemy is called a retreat.

=Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks.= The 10,000 Greeks who had joined the army of the Younger Cyrus in his revolt against his brother, Artaxerxes Mnemon, were victors, but Cyrus was defeated and slain at Cunaxa, 401 B.C. Artaxerxes having enticed the Greek leaders into his power and killed them, Xenophon was called to the command of his countrymen. Under continual alarms from sudden attacks, he led them across rapid rivers, through vast deserts, over the tops of mountains, till he reached the sea. The Greeks returned home after a march of 1155 parasangs, or leagues (3465 miles), which was performed in 215 days, after an absence of fifteen months.

=Retrench.= To furnish with a retrenchment; as, to retrench bastions.

=Retrenchment.= In fortification, is a defensive work, comprising at least ditch and parapet, within some other work of a fortress, and intended as a place of retreat for the defenders, whence they may prolong the defense, or capitulate after the faces of the work itself have fallen into the enemy’s hands. The retrenchment bears a considerable resemblance to the _reduit_, except that it is almost always of earth. Retrenchments are made in ravelins, and the re-entering _place d’armes_ at the time of constructing the works. A retrenchment is thrown across the gorge of a redan or bastion, or from shoulder to shoulder, when it is apprehended that the salient angle will fall into the possession of the besiegers; these retrenchments are usually made when wanted. Such a retrenchment across the interior of the Redan at Sebastopol caused the sanguinary repulse of the British on September 8, 1855.

=Return.= An official account, report, or statement, rendered to the commander or other superior; as, the return of men fit for duty; the return of the number of the sick; the return of provisions, etc. For punishment of officers making false returns, see APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 8.

=Returns of a Mine.= Are the turnings and windings of the gallery leading to the mine.

=Returns of a Trench.= Are the various turnings and windings which form the lines of the trench, and are, as near as they can be, made parallel to the place attacked, to avoid being enfiladed.

=Reveille.= The beat of the drum about break of day, to give notice that it is time for the soldiers to rise, and for the sentinels to forbear challenging.

=Reveil-matin= (_Fr._). A double cannon; an ancient 96-pounder.

=Revel=, or =Reval=. A strongly fortified seaport town of Russia, government of Esthonia, on a small bay on the south side of the Gulf of Finland, 200 miles west-southwest from St. Petersburg. It was long held by the Teutonic Knights; was made over to Sweden in 1562; bombarded by the Danish and Lübeck fleets in 1569; besieged by Peter the Great, and annexed to the Russian empire in 1710. In 1713 a naval harbor, in addition to the commercial harbor, was founded.

=Reverse.= A change for the worse, or partial defeat.

=Reverse Fire.= See FIRE, REVERSE.

=Reverse Flank.= See FLANK, OUTWARD.

=Reversed.= Upside down; as, arms reversed. Arms are said to be reversed when the butts of the pieces are slung, or held upwards.

=Reversed.= In heraldry, a term applied to a charge turned upside down.

=Revet.= In fortification, to face with masonry, wood, or material, as an embankment.

=Revetment.= In permanent fortification, is a retaining wall of masonry built for the purpose of holding back the earth of which works are composed. The most ordinary position of revetments is for the escarp and counterscarp of the ditch. The most important of these two is the escarp, which has to hold back the great mass of earth represented by the rampart, parapet, banquette, etc. It is usually of solid brick-work or stone, 5 feet thick at the top, and sloping outwards as it descends (on the ditch side only) to the extent of 1 in 6. Prior to Vauban’s time, the escarp revetment was commonly raised to the top of the parapet; but as in this case the artillery of a besieger played on the top of the wall, and ruined it soon after the siege commenced, that engineer adopted the principle--thenceforth followed--of raising it no higher than the crest of the glacis, or about 7 feet above the natural ground, leaving the parapet above of sloped earth only. When the main ditch is 24 feet deep, the scarp revetment will be about 30 feet high. Additional strength is imparted to the revetment wall by massive buttresses at every 15 feet, called _counter-forts_, and these again are sometimes connected and strengthened by masonry arches outside the revetment. The revetment forms a terrible barrier to an assaulting party. In field-works temporary revetments may be made of timber, turf, hurdles, or any other materials on hand.

=Review.= An examination or inspection of troops under arms, by a general or commander, for the purpose of ascertaining the state of their discipline, equipments, etc.

=Revision.= A re-examination for correction. Where an officer, who orders a court-martial, does not approve their proceedings, he may, by the custom of war, return them to the court for revision, and no additional evidence can be taken on such revision.--_Hough._

=Revocable.= That may be recalled. Nominations for appointments in the army are made by the President of the United States, subject to the concurrence of the Senate, who, if they disagree, revoke the appointment.

=Revolt.= To renounce allegiance or subjection; to rise against the government in declared rebellion.

=Revolution.= In politics, any extensive change in the constitution of a country suddenly brought about. The most important events in history known under this name are: The destruction of the Assyrian empire, and the foundation of that of the Medes and Persians by Cyrus the Great, 536 B.C.; the foundation of the Macedonian empire on the destruction of the Persian, by the defeat of Darius Codomanus, by Alexander the Great, 331 B.C.; the establishment of the Roman empire on the ruins of the republic by Julius Cæsar, 47 B.C.; the establishment of the empire of the Western Franks under Charlemagne, 800; the revolution in Portugal, by which the Portuguese threw off the Spanish yoke and placed John, duke of Braganza, on the throne, 1640; the English revolution of the 17th century, which began in the early part of the reign of Charles I., with the struggle between that king and his Parliament. In 1642, the struggle became a civil war, in which the Parliament obtained the ascendency, and brought Charles to the block in 1649. A republic followed, under the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, which was succeeded in 1660 by the restoration of monarchy in the person of Charles II.; but the arbitrary rule of James II. brought the king and people again into antagonism, and James having fled the country, William III. was called to the throne under such conditions and safeguards as secured the balance of the constitution. The revolutions in Russia, 1730 and 1762. The French revolution was a violent reaction against that absolutism which had come in the course of time to supplant the old feudal institutions of the country. It began with an outbreak of insurrectionary movements at Paris in July, 1789, including the destruction of the Bastile. On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI. was beheaded. A disastrous reign of terror followed (see REIGN OF TERROR), which was brought to an end in 1794. The revolution in Sweden, 1772 and 1809; in Holland, 1795, and counter-revolution in 1813; in Poland, 1704, 1795, and 1830. The American Revolution of 1775, by which the United States threw off their dependence on Great Britain. The French revolution of 1830, which drove Charles X. into exile, and raised Louis Philippe, duke of Orleans, to the throne by the will of the people; as also the revolution of 1848, when France rose against Louis Philippe and adopted for a time a republican form of government; which was followed by the revolution of 1851. The revolutions in the Netherlands, and in Brunswick, 1830; in Brazil, 1831; in Hungary, 1848; in Rome, 1798 and 1848; in Italy, 1859-60, when the various minor sovereigns were driven into exile, and the whole of the peninsula, with the exception of the Roman and Venetian territory, became subject to the constitutional sway of Victor Emmanuel; in the United States, 1860-65; in the Danubian principalities, 1869; and the Papal States, suppressed, October, 1867.

=Revolutionary.= Tending or pertaining to a revolution in government; as, a revolutionary war.

=Revolutionary Tribunal.= The name specially given to the infamous court of judgment--the most extreme republican will scarcely affirm that it was a court of justice--instituted by the French Convention in March, 1793, on a motion made by Danton, who considered that such a court had become necessary, inasmuch as the recent disasters that had befallen the national armies on the frontiers had led to dangerous conspiracies against the revolutionary government. Its members were chosen from the various departments, and their appointment was ratified by the Convention. Their function was to sit in judgment on all persons accused of crimes against the state, and from their sentence, delivered with appalling promptitude, there was no appeal. During the “Reign of Terror” (which see), when Fouquier-Tinville was “public accuser,” it acquired a horrible notoriety, abolishing soon almost all forms of justice, neither hearing witnesses on behalf of the accused, nor allowing him an opportunity of defense, but blindly executing the orders of the “Committee of Public Safety,” which was merely a tool in the hands of Robespierre. In the provinces, similar tribunals, under the name of “Revolutionary Committees,” were established, the commissaries-general of which, as, for instance, Carrier, shot or drowned _suspects_ in crowds.

=Revolvers.= See SMALL-ARMS, REVOLVER.

=Revolving Light.= A light or lamp in a light-house so arranged as to appear and disappear at fixed intervals, either by being turned about an axis so as to show light only at intervals, or by having its light occasionally intercepted by a revolving screen.

=Reward.= A recompense given for the performance of a meritorious or gallant act; as, the soldiers were rewarded with medals for their gallantry. In the U. S. service a reward of $30 is paid for the apprehension of a deserter.

=Rezonville.= See GRAVELOTTE.

=Rhagæ= (ruins at _Rai_, southeast of _Tehran_). The greatest city of Media, lay in the extreme north of Great Media, at the southern foot of the mountains (Caspius Mons) which border the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. It was destroyed in the Parthian wars, but rebuilt by Arsaces; it was finally destroyed by the Tartars in the 12th century.

=Rhegium= (now _Reggio_). A celebrated Greek town on the coast of Bruttium, on the south of Italy, was situated on the straits which separate Italy and Sicily. Rhegium was founded about the beginning of the first Messenian war, 743 B.C., by Æolian Chalcidians from Eubœa, and by Doric Messenians, who had quitted their native country on the commencement of hostilities between Sparta and Messenia. Even before the Persian war Rhegium was sufficiently powerful to send 3000 of its citizens to the assistance of the Tarentines. Dionysius carried on war against the city for a long time, and after two or three unsuccessful attempts he at length took the place, which he treated with the greatest severity. The Rhegians having applied to Rome for assistance when Pyrrhus was in the south of Italy, the Romans placed in the town a garrison of 4000 soldiers, who had been levied among the Latin colonies in Campania. These troops seized the town in 279, killed or expelled the male inhabitants, and took possession of their wives and children. When Pyrrhus was driven out of Italy, the Romans took signal vengeance upon these Campanians, and restored the surviving Rhegians to their city.

=Rheims=, or =Reims=. A town of France, in the department of Marne, 82 miles east-northeast from Paris. The town was taken by the Russians in 1814, but before they had been in possession many hours Napoleon came down upon them, and gained here one of his last successes before victory deserted his standards. Gen. MacMahon was at Rheims with his army, including the remains of the corps of Failly and Canrobert, and marched from here in hopes of joining Bazaine; the crown-prince of Prussia started in pursuit, August 23, 1870. It was occupied by the Germans and the king, September 5, 1870.

=Rhin, Bas= and =Haut= (Lower and Upper Rhine). Recently departments of France, which formed the former French province of Alsace. See ELSASS.

=Rhine= (anc. _Rhenus_, Ger. _Rhein_). An important river in Germany, and one of the most noted in Europe, takes its rise in the Swiss canton of Grisons, and after a north-northwest course of about 800 miles, falls in the German Ocean. Cæsar was the first Roman general who crossed the Rhine; he threw a bridge of boats across it. It was fortified as the frontier of the Roman empire 298 and 369, and became the boundary of the French republic in 1776.

=Rhode Island.= One of the original thirteen United States of America, and the smallest, on the southern coast of New England, is about 47 miles from north to south, and 37 miles from east to west. It is bounded north and east by Massachusetts, south by the Atlantic, and west by Connecticut. Rhode Island is believed to have been the Vineland of the Norsemen, who are supposed by some antiquarians to have explored this coast in the 10th century. It was settled in 1636 by Roger Williams and his companions, Baptists, who were expelled for their religious opinions from the Puritan colony of Plymouth. The colony suffered from the Indian wars until the defeat and death of Philip, king of the Wampanoags. Rhode Island took a prominent part in the Revolutionary war, and in the late civil war (1861-65) she filled her quotas cheerfully for the cause of the Union, her soldiers winning distinction and honor in the field.

=Rhodes= (Lat. _Rhodus_, Gr. _Rhodos_.). An island of Asiatic Turkey, in the Mediterranean, off the southwest coast of Asia Minor, long an important, wealthy, and independent state of ancient Greece. At the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, Rhodes was one of those maritime states which were subject to Athens; but in the twentieth year of the war (412), it joined the Spartan alliance, and the oligarchal party, which had been depressed, and their leaders, the Eratidæ, expelled, recovered their former power under Dories. In 408 the capital, called Rhodus, was built. The history of the island now presents a series of conflicts between the democratical and oligarchal parties, and of subjection to Athens and Sparta in turn, till the end of the Social war, 355, when its independence was acknowledged. Then followed a conflict with the princes of Caria, during which the island was for a time subject to Artemisia. At the Macedonian conquest, they submitted to Alexander; but upon his death they expelled the Macedonian garrison. In the ensuing wars they formed an alliance with Ptolemy, the son of Lagus, and their city, Rhodus, endured a most famous siege by the forces of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who at length, in admiration of the valor of the besieged, presented them with the engines he had used against the city, from the sale of which they defrayed the cost of the celebrated Colossus. The state now for a long time flourished with great maritime power. At length they came into connection with the Romans, whose alliance they joined in the war against Philip III. of Macedon. In the ensuing war with Antiochus, the Rhodians gave the Romans great aid with their fleet. A temporary interruption of their alliance with Rome was caused by their espousing the cause of Perseus, for which they were severely punished, 168; but they recovered the favor of Rome by the important naval aid they rendered in the Mithridatic war. In the civil wars they took part with Cæsar, and suffered in consequence from Cassius, 42. They were at length deprived of their independence by Claudius. In 1309 the island came into the possession of the Knights of St. John (see SAINT JOHN OF JERUSALEM), who baffled every effort made by Mahomet II., the conqueror of Constantinople, to drive them from the island, and held it until they were compelled to evacuate it by Solyman the Great in 1522, after one of the most memorable sieges recorded in history.

=Rhoxolani=, or =Roxolani=. A warlike people in European Sarmatia, on the coast of the Palus Mæotis, and between the Borysthenes and the Tanais, usually supposed to be the ancestors of the modern Russians. They frequently attacked and plundered the Roman provinces south of the Danube; and Hadrian was even obliged to pay them tribute. They are mentioned as late as the 11th century. They fought with lances, and with long swords wielded with both hands; and their armies were composed chiefly of cavalry.

=Ribadoquin.= An ancient 1- or 1³⁄₄-pounder gun. Also, a powerful cross-bow for throwing long darts.

=Ribaud= (_Fr._). A soldier of the foot-guards of Philip Augustus of France; but afterwards this term was applied only to the most infamous characters.

=Ribaudaille= (_Fr._). A term of reproach formerly applied to cowardly soldiers. Philip of Valois thus called his Genoese mercenaries, who he thought had betrayed him.

=Ribaudequin= (_Fr._). A warlike machine or instrument which the French formerly used. It was made in the form of a bow, containing 12 or 15 feet in its curve, and was fixed upon the wall of a fortified town, for the purpose of casting out a prodigious javelin, which sometimes killed several men at once. According to Monstrelet, a French writer, _ribaudequin_, or _ribauderin_, signified a sort of garment which was worn by the soldiers when they took the field.

=Ribbon.= In heraldry, a diminutive of the ordinary called the _bend_, of which it is one-eighth in width.

=Ribbon Cockades.= In the British service, the cockades which are given to recruits, and are commonly called the _colors_.

=Richmond.= The capital of Virginia, on the left bank of the James River, at the head of the tide-water, 150 miles from its mouth, and 100 miles south of Washington. In June, 1861, it was selected as the Confederate capital, and from that period was the objective-point of a series of formidable military expeditions for its capture, under Gens. McDowell, McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and Grant, and defended by Gen. Lee with a large army and formidable lines of fortifications, until the seizure of the lines of supply by Gens. Grant and Sheridan compelled its evacuation after a series of sanguinary battles, April 3, 1865. A considerable portion of the city was destroyed by the retreating Confederates.

=Rickarees=, =Arickarees=, or =Rees=. A tribe of Indians of the Pawnee stock living at Fort Berthold agency, on the Upper Missouri River; they warred with the Dakota tribes for a number of years, and were hostile to the whites; but were defeated and dispersed by U. S. troops in 1823; made a treaty in 1825; were driven up the Platte Valley, 1831; returned to the Missouri some years later. They numbered in 1876 about 700 souls.