Part 118
=Sagamore.= The head of a tribe among the American Indians,--generally used as synonymous with _sachem_, but some writers distinguished between them, making the _sachem_ a chief of the first rank, and a _sagamore_ one of the second rank.
=Sagette= (_Fr._). An arrow; a bolt used in ancient times.
=Sagittarii.= In the Roman army, under the emperors, were young men armed with bows and arrows, who, together with the _funditores_, were generally sent out to skirmish before the main body. They constituted no part of the _velites_, but seem to have succeeded them at the time when the Socii were admitted into the Roman legions; for at that period the _velites_ were discontinued.
=Sagra.= A small river in Magna Græcia, on the southeast coast of Bruttium, on the banks of which a memorable victory was gained by 10,000 Locrians over 120,000 Crotoniats. This victory appeared so extraordinary that it gave rise to the proverbial expression, “It is truer than what happened on the Sagra,” when a person wished to make any strong asseveration.
=Sagum.= An ancient military garment or cloak, made of wool, without sleeves, fastened by a girdle around the waist, and a buckle. It was worn by the Greeks, Romans, and Gauls. The generals alone wore the _paludamentum_, and all the Roman soldiers, even the centurions and tribunes, used the _sagum_.
=Saguntum= (now _Murviedro_). A wealthy and warlike town of ancient Spain, in Hispania Tarraconensis. It was besieged and destroyed by the Carthaginians under Hannibal in 218 B.C. Having withstood the siege for the greater part of a year, against an army of about 150,000 men, the Saguntines, now most severely pressed by famine, concluded, with an act of heroic defiance and self-sacrifice, a resistance that had been characterized by the most brilliant valor. Heaping their valuable effects into one vast pile, and placing their women and children around it, the men issued forth for the last time against the enemy; and the women, setting fire to the pile they had prepared, cast themselves upon it with their children, and found in flames the fate their husbands met in battle. The destruction of Saguntum directly led to the second Punic war.
=Saikyr.= In the Middle Ages, was a species of cannon smaller than a demiculverin, much employed in sieges. Like the falcon, it derived its name from a species of hawk.
=Saint Augustine.= A city, port of entry, and capital of St. John’s Co., Fla., 160 miles south of Savannah. It has the distinction of being the oldest town in the United States. The Spanish abandoned it in 1763, upon its cession to the English. Sir Francis Drake destroyed it in 1586; and it was besieged and burned by the governor of the Carolinas in 1702. Saint Augustine was a British depot during the Revolutionary war. It was of some importance as a military station during the Florida war, 1835-42.
=Saint Bartholomew, Massacre of.= See BARTHOLOMEW, ST.
=St. Bernard, Mount.= See BERNARD, ST., THE GREAT.
=Saint-Cloud.= A town of France, department of Seine-et-Oise, 5¹⁄₂ miles west from Paris. Henry IV. was assassinated at Saint-Cloud by Jacques Clément in 1589. Bonaparte here broke up the assembly of 500, and caused himself to be proclaimed first consul on November 9, 1799; and here, in July, 1830, Charles X. signed the _ordonnances_ which cost him his throne.
=Saint-Dizier.= See DIZIER, ST.-.
=Saint Domingo.= See DOMINGO, SAN, and HAYTI.
=St. George, Grand Cross of.= A Russian military honor, conferred on officers in the army and navy for distinguished bravery. It was conferred on the officer who sunk the Turkish monitor in May, 1877.
=Saint-Germain-en-Laye.= A town of France, in the department of the Seine-et-Oise, 14 miles west-northwest from Paris. The town, as well as the royal chateau, was sacked by the English in 1346, in 1419, and in 1438.
=Saint Helena.= See HELENA, SAINT.
=Saint John of Jerusalem, The Order of the Knights Hospitallers of.= Also called the Knights of Rhodes, and afterwards of Malta, the most celebrated of all the military and religious orders of the Middle Ages. It originated in 1048 in a hospital dedicated to St. John the Baptist, which was built for the reception of the pilgrims from Europe who visited the Holy Sepulchre. The nurses were at first known as the Hospitaller Brothers of St. John the Baptist of Jerusalem. The Seljuk (Seljook) Turks, who succeeded the Egyptian and Arabian Saracens in Palestine, plundered the hospice, and on the conquest of Jerusalem by the Crusaders under Geoffroy de Bouillon in 1099, the first superior, Gérard, was found in prison. Released from durance, he resumed his duties in the hospice, and was joined by several of the Crusaders, who devoted themselves to the service of the poor pilgrims. By advice of Gérard, the brethren took vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience before the Patriarch of Jerusalem. Pope Pascal II. gave his sanction to the institution in 1113. After Gérard’s death in 1118, Raymond du Pay succeeded as superior of the order, and to the former obligations of the order he added those of fighting against the infidels and defending the Holy Sepulchre. Various Hospices, called _commanderies_, were established in different maritime towns of Europe. The order having become military as well as religious, was recruited by persons of high rank and influence, and wealth flowed in on it from all quarters. On the conquest of Jerusalem by Saladin in 1187, the Hospitallers retired to Margate, Phœnicia, whence the progress of infidel arms drove them first, in 1285, to Acre, and afterwards, in 1291, to Limisso, where Henry II., king of Cyprus, assigned them a residence. By the statutes of Raymond, the brethren consisted of three classes,--_knights_, _chaplains_, and _serving brothers_; these last being fighting squires, who followed the knights in their expeditions. The order was subsequently divided into eight languages,--Provence, Auvergne, France, Italy, Aragon, England, Germany, and Castile. Each nation possessed several Grand Priories, under which were a number of commanderies. The chief establishment in England was the Priory of Clerkenwell, whose head had a seat in the upper house of Parliament, and was styled first baron of England. In 1310, the knights, under their grand master, Foulkes de Villaret, in conjunction with a party of Crusaders from Italy, captured Rhodes and seven adjacent islands from the Greek and Saracen pirates, by whom they were then occupied, and carried on from thence a successful war against the Saracens. In 1523, they were compelled to surrender Rhodes to the sultan Solyman, and retired first to Candia, and afterward to Viterbo. In 1530, Charles V. assigned them the island of Malta, with Tripolis and Gozo. The knights continued for some time to be a powerful bulwark against the Turks; but after the Reformation a moral degeneracy overspread the order, and it rapidly declined in political importance; and in 1798, through the treachery of some French knights and the cowardice of the grand master, D’Hompesch, Malta was surrendered to the French. The lands still belonging to the order were also about this time confiscated in almost all the European states; but though extinct as a sovereign body, the order has continued during the present century to drag on a lingering existence in some parts of Italy, as well as in Russia and Spain. Since 1801, the office of grand master has not been filled up; a deputy grand master has instead been appointed, who has his residence in Spain. The order at first wore a long black habit, with a pointed hood adorned with a cross of white silk, of the form called Maltese, on the left breast, as also a golden cross in the middle of the breast. In their military capacity, they wore red surcoats with a silver cross before and behind. The badge worn by all the knights is a Maltese cross, enameled white, and edged with gold; it is suspended by a black ribbon, and the embellishments attached to it differ in the different countries where the order still exists.
=Saint Louis.= A city of St. Louis Co., Mo., which stands on the right bank of the Mississippi, 18 miles below its confluence with the Missouri, and 174 miles above the mouth of the Ohio. In 1764, Saint Louis was the depot of the Louisiana Indian trading company; in 1768 it was captured by a detachment of Spanish troops; and in 1804 was ceded with the whole country west of the Mississippi to the United States. During the civil war a hostile camp of State militia was captured near the city, which enabled the Federals to secure the arsenal and a great store of arms, and eventual possession of the State of Missouri.
=St. Lucia.= An island in the West Indies, taken from the French in June, 1803, by the English troops under Gen. Greenfield.
=Saint-Malo.= See MALO, ST.
=Saint Petersburg.= See PETERSBURG, ST.
=Saint-Quentin.= A thriving town in the north of France, department of Aisne, is situated on the Somme, about 80 miles northeast of Paris. A battle was fought here August 10, 1557, between the Spaniards assisted by a body of English troops, and the French, in which the latter were severely defeated. A battle took place here between the French under Faidherbe and the Germans under Von Goeben on January 19, 1871, in which the former were defeated, and the latter occupied Saint-Quentin.
=Saint Regis.= Situated partly in Bombay township, Franklin Co., N. Y., and partly in St. Regis township, Huntingdon Co., Quebec, Canada, on the St. Lawrence River, opposite Cornwall, with which it is connected by ferry. It is inhabited by the St. Regis Indians, an Iroquois tribe speaking the Mohawk dialect. They are divided into two parties, the British and the American, and owe their allegiance not according to residence, but according to descent in the female line. Their reservation in the United States is 14,000 acres, and that in Canada rather larger. Their ancestors settled here in 1760. The American party number about 700 souls, and the British about 800.
=Saint Vincent, Cape.= See CAPE ST. VINCENT.
=Saintes.= A town of France, in the department of the Lower Charente, situated on the left bank of the Charente. The English were defeated here in 1242, by the French king Louis IX., afterwards Saint Louis.
=Saker= (Fr. _sacre_, _sacret_). An ancient 4- or 5-pounder of 13 feet, weighing from 2500 to 2800 pounds. According to Tartaglia, the _sacre_, in 1546, was a 12-pounder of 9 feet, and weighing 2150 pounds; it was similar to the _aspic_, but longer.
=Salade= (_Fr._). Helmet or kind of iron hat with a grated, movable visor, which was worn during the 15th century by foot-soldiers.
=Saladin.= At first the coat of arms was so called, because the Christians who conquered Palestine assumed it in imitation of the Turks, whose chief was at that time Saladin.
=Salahieh= (written also _Selahieh_). A town of Lower Egypt, 37 miles northeast of Belbeys. It was taken by the French in 1798, and again in 1800.
=Salamanca= (anc. _Salmantica_). A famous town of Spain, capital of the modern province of the same name, on the right bank of the Tormes, 50 miles east-northeast from Ciudad Rodrigo. It was taken by Hannibal. It was almost totally destroyed by the French in 1812. In its vicinity was won one of the most famous victories of the Peninsular war, by the British under Wellington against the French under Marmont, July 22, 1812.
=Salapia= (_Salapinus_; now _Salpi_). An ancient town of Apulia, was situated south of Sipontum. During the second Punic war it revolted to Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ, but it subsequently surrendered to the Romans and delivered to the latter the Carthaginian garrison.
=Salassi.= A brave and warlike people in Gallia Transpadana, in the valley of the Duria, at the foot of the Graian and Pennine Alps. They defended the passes of the Alps in their territory with such obstinacy and courage that it was long before the Romans were able to subdue them. At length in the reign of Augustus, the country was permanently occupied by Terrentius Varro with a powerful Roman force; most of the Salassi were destroyed in battle and the rest, amounting to 36,000, were sold as slaves.
=Salenckemen.= On the Danube; here a victory was gained by the Imperialists, under Prince Louis of Baden, over the Turks, commanded by the grand vizier Mustapha Kiuprigli, August 19, 1691.
=Salentini=, or =Sallentini=. A people in the southern part of Calabria, who dwelt around the promontory of Iapygium. They were subdued by the Romans at the conclusion of their war with Pyrrhus, and having revolted in the second Punic war, were again easily reduced to subjection.
=Salerno= (anc. _Salernum_). A town of Naples, capital of the province of Principato Citra, 30 miles southeast from Naples. It was captured during the Social war by the Samnite general Papius. After the fall of the Western empire Salerno rose to its height. It passed first into the hands of the Goths, then into those of the Lombards, from whom it was taken by the Saracens in 905; but fifteen years after, it was recovered by the Greek emperor, and subsequently reverted to the Lombards. In 1076 Salerno was taken, after a siege of eight months, by Robert Guiscard; and thenceforward became the capital of the Norman possessions south of the Apennines. In 1193 the town was destroyed by the emperor Henry VI.
=Salient.= In heraldry, an attitude of a lion or other beast, differing but slightly from rampant. He is supposed to be in the act of springing on his prey, and both paws are elevated. Two animals _counter-salient_ are represented as leaping in opposite directions.
=Salient Places of Arms.= In fortification, that part of the covered way which is opposite a salient of a bastion or demi-lune.
=Sallet.= The same as salade (which see).
=Sally.= A sudden offensive movement by the garrison of a fortified place, directed against the troops or works of the besiegers.
=Sally-port.= A gate or passage, by which the garrison of a fortress may make a sally or sudden attack on the besiegers. The name is applied to the postern leading from under the rampart into the ditch; but its more modern application is to a cutting through the glacis, by which a sally may be made from the covert way. When not in use, sally-ports are closed by massive gates of timber and iron.
=Salsette.= An island on the west coast of Hindustan, formerly separated from Bombay by a narrow channel 200 yards wide, across which a causeway was carried in 1805. Salsette formed part of the province of Aurungabad under the Mogul emperors; but fell into the hands of the Portuguese soon after their settlement in India. In 1739 it was conquered by the Mahrattas, and in 1774 it was taken by the British.
=Saltant.= In heraldry, in a leaping position, springing forward;--applied especially to the squirrel, weasel, rat, and also to the cat, greyhound, monkey, etc.
=Saltillo.= A city of Mexico, capital of the state of Coahuila, 250 miles west-southwest of Matamoras. Seven miles south is Buena Vista, famous for the battle fought there, February, 1847, when the Mexican forces were repulsed by an inferior U. S. army.
=Salting-boxes.= Were boxes of about 4 inches high, and 2¹⁄₂ inches in diameter, for holding mealed powder, to sprinkle the fuzes of shells, that they might take fire from the blast of the powder in the chamber.
=Saltire.= One of the ordinaries in heraldry. Its name is of uncertain etymology, representing a bend sinister conjoined with a bend dexter, or a cross placed transversely like the letter X. Like the other ordinaries, it probably originated, as Planché suggests, in the clamps and braces of the shield. The form of the saltire has been assigned to the cross on which St. Andrew is said to have been crucified; hence the frequency of this ordinary in Scotch heraldry. A saltire is subject to the variations of being engrailed, invented, etc., and may be _couped_. When two or more saltires are borne in a shield, they are couped, not at right angles, but horizontally; and as they are always so treated, it is considered superfluous to blazon them as couped. Charges disposed in the form of a saltire are described as placed _saltireways_, or _in saltire_. The former term is more properly applied to two long charges, as swords or keys, placed across one another (in which case the rule is, that the sword in bend sinister should be uppermost, unless otherwise blazoned); and the latter to five charges placed two, one, and two.
=Saltpetre.= Nitre, or nitrate of potassa, is composed of 54 parts nitric acid and 48 parts of potassa. It is spontaneously generated in the soil, and is a necessary ingredient of powder. It has occasionally been produced artificially in _nitre-beds_, formed of a mixture of calcareous soil with animal matter; in these, nitrate of lime is slowly formed, which is extracted by lixiviation and carbonate of potash added to the solution, which gives rise to the formation of nitrate of potassa and carbonate of lime; the latter is precipitated; the former remains in solution and is obtained in crystals by evaporation. Its great use is in the manufacture of gunpowder, and in the production of nitric acid. See GUNPOWDER.
=Salute.= A discharge of artillery in compliment to some individual; beating of drums and dropping of colors for the same purpose; or by earning or presenting arms according to the rank and position of an officer. A salute with cannon is a certain number of arms fired in succession with blank cartridges, in honor of a person, to celebrate an event, or to show respect to the flag of a country. The rapidity with which the pieces are discharged depends upon their caliber. Field-guns should have intervals of five seconds between discharges; siege-guns, eight; and guns of heavier caliber, ten. The minimum number of pieces with which salutes can be fired is 2 for field, 4 for siege, and 6 for sea coast guns.
Personages entitled to salutes, if _passing_ a military post, as also foreign ships of war, are saluted with guns of heavy caliber, the most suitable being the 10-inch smooth-bore. The United States _national_ salute is one for each State composing the Union; and the _international_ salute, or salute to the national flag, is 21 guns. The President of the United States and the sovereign or chief magistrate of a foreign state receive a salute of 21 guns, both upon arrival and final departure from a military post. Members of the royal family,--_i.e._, the heir-apparent and consort of the reigning sovereign of a foreign state,--21 guns. The Vice-President of the United States receives a salute of 19 guns. The following civil and diplomatic authorities receive salutes as follows: members of the Cabinet, the chief justice, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the governors within their respective States or Territories, a committee of Congress officially visiting a military post or station, the viceroy, governor-general, or governors of provinces belonging to foreign states, ambassadors extraordinary and plenipotentiary, 17 guns; envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary, 15 guns; ministers resident accredited to the United States, 13 guns; chargés d’affaires, or subordinate diplomatic agents left in charge of missions in the United States, 11 guns. A general-in-chief, field-marshal, or admiral receives a salute of 17 guns; a lieutenant-general, or vice-admiral, 15 guns; a major-general, or rear-admiral, 13 guns; a brigadier-general, or commodore, 11 guns. The officers of volunteers and militia, when in the service of the United States, receive the salute specified for their rank. Officers of foreign services visiting any military post, are saluted in accordance with their rank. Salutes are fired only between _sunrise_ and _sunset_, and, as a rule, never on Sunday. A national salute is to be fired at noon on the anniversary of the independence of the United States at each military post and camp provided with artillery and ammunition. The _international_ salute is the only salute that is returned, and this should be done as soon as possible; foreign ships of war, in return for a similar compliment, gun for gun on notice being officially received of such intention. If there be several forts in sight of or within 6 miles of each other, the principal only shall reciprocate compliments with ships in passing. The President of the United States, the sovereign or chief magistrate of a foreign country traveling in a public capacity, is saluted when _passing_ in the vicinity of a military post. Personal salutes at the same place and in compliment to the same person, whether civil, diplomatic, military, or naval, are never to be fired oftener than once in twelve months, unless such person has, in the mean time, been advanced in rank.
=Salvo.= Is a concentrated fire from a greater or less number of pieces of artillery. Against a body of men, a salvo is generally useless, as the moral effect is greater in proportion to the area over which devastation is spread; but with fortifications the case is otherwise. For the purpose of breaching, the simultaneous concussion of a number of cannon-balls on masonry, or even earthwork, produces a very destructive result. The effect of a salvo of modern artillery, with its enormous steel shot, against iron-plated ramparts, has never yet been tried in actual war. The concentrated fire of a ship’s broadside forms a powerful salvo.
=Samanide Dynasty.= Began with Ismail Samani, who overcame the army of the Safferides, and established himself in the government of Persia, 902; his descendants ruled till 999.
=Samarcand=, or =Samarkand= (anc. _Mazacanda_). The most celebrated city of Central Asia, khanate of Bokhara, but annexed to the dominions of the czar in 1868. It is situated at the foot of Mount Chobanata, and is 145 miles nearly east by north from Bokhara. It was seized by the Arabs, 707, and from this time belonged either to the califate or to some of the dynasties which were offshoots from it, till 1219, when it was taken by Genghis Khan. In 1359 it was captured by Timour, and ten years afterward became the capital of his empire. On the division of his empire after his death, it continued the capital of Turkestan till 1468, when the attacks of the Uzbeks put an end to its prosperity.
=Samaria.= Anciently a city of Palestine, the chief seat of the Ephraimitic Baal-worship, and, from the seventh year of Omri’s reign, the capital of the kingdom of Israel. It was twice besieged by the Syrians (901 and 892 B.C.), under Ahab and Joram, on both occasions unsuccessfully; but in 721 (720) B.C., it was stormed by Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, after a three years’ siege, and the inhabitants carried off into captivity. Their place was supplied by colonists from Babylon and other places. It was subsequently captured by Alexander the Great, when the “Samaritan” inhabitants were driven out, and their place supplied by Syro-Macedonians. It was again taken (109 B.C.) by John Hyrcanus, who completely destroyed it. Soon rebuilt, it remained for fifty years in possession of the Jews; but Pompey, in his victorious march, restored it to the descendants of the expelled Samaritans, who had settled in the neighborhood, and it was re-fortified by Gabinius. Its name was changed to Sebaste by Herod the Great. In the 3d century it became a Roman colony; but its prosperity perished with the Mohammedan conquest of Palestine, and is at present only a small village called Sebustieh, an Arab corruption of Sebaste.
=Sambas.= A town on the west coast of Borneo. It was attacked in 1812 and 1813 by the British, who were repulsed in their first attempt, but succeeded in capturing the town at the second attack.