Part 134

=Tae-pings=, or =Tai-pings=. The name given to the Chinese rebels who made their appearance in 1850, and desolated some of the best provinces of China. Peking was taken by the English and French on October 12, 1860. Its capture was followed by the ratification of the treaty of Tien-tsin, which, granting important privileges to European merchants, made it the direct interest of the English, French, and American governments to re-establish order in China. The repulse of the rebels at Shanghai in August, 1860, had been followed by several engagements between them and the imperialists, in which they were defeated. Ward, an American, who had taken service under the emperor, and who showed a remarkable talent for organizing irregular troops, had wrought a wonderful improvement in the imperialist army, and he was the chief means of their success. In the beginning of 1862, the Tae-pings again advanced on Shanghai, and were twice defeated. In the autumn of the same year, Ward was killed; Ward’s force was handed over to an English officer, and took the name of Gordon’s brigade. Gordon’s brigade rendered essential service to the imperial government. The rebels were defeated in upwards of sixteen engagements; and in 1864, almost every important city was taken from them. The conduct of the imperial authorities at Su-chow, where a horrible massacre took place, led to the withdrawal of the English military force; but the rebellion had been effectually checked. Toward the end of 1864, the Tae-pings, however, still offered an opposition to the imperialists in Kiang-tsu, all the more formidable in consequence of the prevalence of brigandage and insurrectionary movements in parts of the empire not affected by the Tae-ping rebellion. In January, 1865, the Mohammedan Tartars of Songaria, on the Siberian frontier, assisted by the free Kirghis tribes, took the town of Tarbagatai, and afterwards Kouldja. In the following June, a still more serious insurrection broke out in China proper, that of the Nien-fei, or rebels of the north, whose special object was to overturn the reigning dynasty. One body of them, in the beginning of 1866, caused serious alarm in Hankow, and would have attacked the European settlement but for the arrival of some English gunboats. It is believed that the last embers of the Tae-ping rebellion were trodden out in February, 1866, when from 30,000 to 50,000 rebels were routed by the imperial army at Kia-ying-chou in Kwan-tung. The victorious general then set out to attack the Nien-fei, or northern rebels, at Hankow, and the imperial troops were several times defeated by them in 1867; but late in 1868, their operations became unimportant.

=Taganrog.= A town of Russia in Europe, in the government of Ekaterinoslav, near the northwest extremity of the Sea of Azov, 172 miles northeast from Kertch. The town was bombarded by a fleet of French and British gunboats in 1855.

=Tagliacozzo.= A town of Southern Italy, in the Aleruzzi Mountains, where on August 23, 1268, Charles of Anjou, the usurping king of Naples, defeated and made prisoner the rightful monarch, young Conradin, who had been invited into Italy by the Ghibelline party; their opponents, the Guelphs, or papal party, supporting Charles.

=Tagliamento.= A river in Lombardy, Northern Italy, near which the Austrians, under the Archduke Charles, were defeated by Bonaparte, March 16, 1797.

=Tail of the Trenches.= The post where the besiegers begin to break ground, and cover themselves from the fire of the place, in advancing the lines of approach.

=Taishes.= Armor for the thighs.

=Take.= To lay hold of; to seize. To obtain possession of by force or artifice; to capture; to make prisoner. To attack; to seize; as, to take an army, a city, or a ship. _To take aim_, to direct the eye or weapon; to aim. _To take arms_, to commence war or hostilities. _To take advantage of_, to avail one’s self of any peculiar event or opening, whereby an army may be overcome. _To take ground to the right or left_, is to extend a line, or to move troops in either of those directions. _To take down_, is to commit to paper that which is spoken by another. _To take on_, an expression in familiar use among soldiers that have enlisted for a limited period, to signify an extension of service by re-enlisting. _To take the field_, is to encamp, to commence the operations of a campaign. _To take up_, to seize; to catch; to arrest; as, to take up a deserter. _To take up quarters_, to occupy locally; to go into cantonments, barracks, etc.; to become stationary for more or less time. _To take up the gauntlet_, is to accept a challenge.

=Takel= (_Anglo-Saxon_). The arrows which used to be supplied to the fleet.

=Talavera de la Reyna.= A town of Spain in New Castile, in the modern province of Toledo, on the Tagus, 75 miles southwest from Madrid. Here on July 27 and 28, 1809, Sir Arthur Wellesley, with 19,000 English and German troops, and about 34,000 Spaniards, who, however, with very trifling exceptions, were not engaged, defeated upwards of 50,000 veteran French troops under Joseph Bonaparte and Marshals Jourdan and Victor.

=Talk.= Among the Indians of North America, a public conference, as respecting peace or war, negotiation, and the like; or an official verbal communication made from them to another nation or its agents, or made to them by the same.

=Talus.= The old word in fortification for a slope.

=Tambour.= In fortification, is a small work, usually a timber stockade, about 6 feet high, and loop-holed. Its object is to defend a gateway, the road into a village, or to afford flanking fire on a bridge, etc. The tambour on the covered way is the traverse which closes an entrance from the glacis.

=Tampion=, or =Tompion=. The wooden plug placed in the mouth of a piece of ordnance to preserve it from dust and damp. In naval gunnery, the tampion is the wooden bottom for a charge of grape-shot.

=Tam-tam= (Hind. _tom-tom_). A drum used by the Hindoos, made of an alloy of copper and tin, and very sonorous.

=Tanagra= (now _Grimadha_, or _Grimada_). A celebrated town of Bœotia, on the left bank of the Asopus, 200 stadia from Platææ, in the district Tanagræa. Being near the frontiers of Attica, it was frequently exposed to the attacks of the Athenians; near it the Spartans defeated the Athenians, 457 B.C., but were defeated by them in 426, when Agis II. headed the Spartans, and Nicias the Athenians.

=Tang.= The tang of the breech of a musket, is the projecting part by which the barrel is secured to the stock. Also, that part of a sword-blade to which the hilt is riveted.

=Tangent Scale.= In gunnery, a brass plate, the lower edge of which is cut to fit the base-ring or base-line of the piece, and the upper edge cut into notches for each one-fourth degree elevation. It is used in pointing, by placing the lower edge on the base-ring, or base-line, with the radius of the notch corresponding with the highest point of the base-ring or line; and sighting over the centre of the notch; and the highest point of the muzzle, or top of the muzzle-sight.

=Tangier.= A seaport of Morocco, on a small bay or inlet of the Strait of Gibraltar. Tangier was taken by the Portuguese in 1471, and ceded to the English in 1662, and held by them for twenty-two years. It was bombarded by the French in 1844.

=Tanjore.= A town of British India, capital of a district of the same name, in the presidency of Madras. In 1678 Tanjore was conquered by the Mahratta chief, Vencajeo, brother of Sevajee. In the reign of the rajah Tooljajee, the nabob of Arcot, supported by the Madras government, laid claim to tribute from Tanjore, and the rajah was deposed, but was subsequently restored.

=Tannadar.= In the East Indies, a commander of a small fort or custom-house.

=Tannenberg= (East Prussia). Here Ladislaus V., Jagellon of Poland, defeated the Teutonic Knights with great slaughter, the grand master being among the slain, July 15, 1410. The order never recovered from this calamity.

=Tap.= A gentle blow on the drum.

=Taps.= A sound of drum or trumpet which takes place usually about a quarter of an hour after tattoo, and is an indication that all lights in the soldiers’ quarters will be extinguished, and the men retire to bed.

=Tapuri.= A powerful people, apparently of Scythian origin, who dwelt in Media, on the borders of Parthia, south of Mount Coronus. They also extended into Margiana, and probably farther north on the eastern side of the Caspian, where their original abodes seem to have been in the mountains called by their name.

=Tara.= A hill in Meath, Ireland, where it is said a conference was held between the English and Irish in 1173. Near here, on May 26, 1798, the royalist troops, 400 in number, defeated the insurgent Irish 4000 strong.

=Taranto= (anc. _Tarentum_). A town of Southern Italy, province of Terra d’Otranto, is situated on a rocky islet formerly an isthmus between the Mare Piccolo (Little Sea), and the Mare Grande (Great Sea), or Gulf of Taranto, on the west. Ancient Tarentum was a far more splendid city than its modern representative. Its greatness dates from 708 B.C., when the original inhabitants were expelled, and the town was taken possession of by a strong body of Lacedæmonian Partheniæ under the guidance of Phalanthus. It soon became the most powerful city in the whole of Magna Græcia, and exercised a kind of supremacy over the other Greek cities in Italy. It possessed a considerable fleet of ships of war, and was able to bring into the field, with the assistance of its allies, an army of 30,000 foot and 3000 horse. The people of Tarentum, assisted by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, supported a war which had been undertaken in 281 B.C. by the Romans, to avenge the insults the Tarentines had offered to their ships when near their harbors; it was terminated after ten years; 300,000 prisoners were taken, and Tarentum became subject to Rome. Except the citadel, Tarentum was captured by the Carthaginians, 212, but recovered by Fabius, 209 B.C. Tarentum has shared in the revolutions of Southern Italy.

=Tarazona.= A town of Spain, in the province of Zaragoza, on the Queyles, a tributary of the Ebro. It is the ancient _Turiaso_, and here a few Roman troops routed a Celtiberian army. It became a _municipium_ under the Romans.

=Tarbes.= A town of France, in the department of Hautes Pyrenees, on the left bank of the Adour. For a long time it belonged to the English monarchs, and it was the residence of the Black Prince. On March 20, 1814, a combat took place here between the British under Wellington and the French under Soult, in which the former gained the victory.

=Tar-bucket.= See IMPLEMENTS.

=Tard-venus=, or =Malandrins= (_Fr._). Freebooters, banditti, who elected their own chief, and appeared first in France in 1360.

=Tarentum.= See TARANTO.

=Target.= In its modern sense, is the mark for aiming at in practicing with the cannon, rifle, or bow and arrow. In its more ancient meaning, a target, or _targe_, was a shield, circular in form, cut out of ox-hide, mounted on light but strong wood, and strengthened by bosses, spikes, etc. Of modern targets, the simplest is that used for archery. With regard to rifle-targets, the numerous rifle-matches have caused ranges to be constructed over the whole country. The necessities are: a butt, artificially constructed or cut in the face of a hill, to prevent wide balls from scattering; a marker’s shot-proof cell, near the targets; and a range of such length as can be procured. The targets used at the Creedmoor range on Long Island, and by the U. S. army, are divided into three classes and are of the following sizes: The _third class_, to be used at all distances up to and including 300 yards, is a rectangle 6 feet high and 4 feet wide. Three concentric circles are described, with the middle point as a centre and radii of 4, 13, and 23 inches respectively. The inner circle is black, and so are the lines marking the circumference of the middle and outer circles; the rest of the target is white. The _second class_ is a square, 6 feet high. Three concentric circles are drawn, with the middle point as a centre and radii of 11, 19, and 27 inches respectively. The inner circle is black, as well as the circumferences of the other circles; the rest of the target is white. This target is used at all distances over 300, to, and including, 600 yards. The _first class_, to be used at all distances over 600 yards, is a rectangle, 6 feet high and 12 feet wide. It has two concentric circles, described with a radii of 18 and 27 inches respectively, the centre being at the middle point of the target, and two lines drawn parallel to, and 3 feet from, each end (leaving the _inner_, square, 6 feet by 6 feet). The target is white, except the lines just indicated and the inner circle, which are black. The smallest circle, always painted black, is called the _bull’s-eye_, and when struck, counts 5 for the marksman; the ring embraced between the bull’s-eye and the circumference of the next larger circle is called the _centre_, which counts 4; and the ring between the second and third circles is called the _inner_, which scores 3; and the space outside of the larger circle is called the _outer_, and scores 2. In the first-class target the space between the second circle and the vertical lines is the _inner_, and the space outside the vertical lines is the _outer_.

In artillery practice, targets of considerable size are used at long ranges. The usual practice is over the sea; targets are then painted on the sides of old vessels, or are floated by buoys. For trying the power of ordnance, solid targets are constructed to resemble the sides of iron-plated ships, portions of fortification, etc.

=Targeted.= Furnished or armed with a target.

=Targeteer=, or =Targetier=. One armed with a target or shield.

=Tariere= (_Fr._). A machine of war similar to the battering-ram (which it preceded), excepting that the head was pointed. It made the first opening in the wall, which was increased by the _belier_.

=Tarifa.= A seaport town of Spain, 20 miles southwest from Gibraltar. It was successfully defended in 1811 by Col. Gough, with a body of 2500 British and Spanish troops against a French force of 10,000 men, under Victor and Laval.

=Tarquinii.= An ancient city of Etruria, on the left bank of the Marta, about 4 miles from the Mediterranean. In 398 B.C., while the Romans were at war with the Veii, they were attacked by the Tarquinians, who seem from this time to have been frequently united with the other Etruscan cities against Rome. War was carried on with varying success and some intermissions till 351, when a truce of forty years was agreed upon. After its expiration, hostilities were again for a short time renewed; but in 309 another truce was concluded, in the course of which Tarquinii seems to have gradually become subject to Rome. It continued to be a flourishing town under the empire, and after its fall, until it was destroyed by the Saracens.

=Tarragona= (anc. _Tarraco_). A seaport city of Spain, capital of the province of the same name, at the mouth of the Francoli, in the Mediterranean, 52 miles west-southwest from Barcelona. The ancient Tarraco was originally a Phœnician settlement; it afterwards became the capital of the Roman province called by its name. After the fall of the empire, it was taken by the Goths; and at a later period was laid in ruins by the Moors. In the 11th century the modern town was founded on the site of the former. In 1705, it was captured by the English, but was afterwards abandoned; and in 1811 it was taken and sacked by the French under Suchet.

=Tarred-links.= See PYROTECHNY.

=Tarsus= (now _Tersus_). Anciently the chief city of Cilicia, and one of the most important in all Asia Minor, situated on both sides of the navigable river Cydnus, about 18 miles from the sea. In the time of Xenophon, who gives us the first historical notice of Tarsus, it was taken by Cyrus. At the time of the Macedonian invasion, it was held by the Persian troops, who were prevented from burning it by Alexander’s arrival. It played an important part as a military post in the wars of the successors of Alexander, and under the Syrian kings. As the power of the Seleucidæ declined, it suffered much from the oppression of its governors, and from the wars between the members of the royal family. At the time of the Mithridatic war, it suffered, on the one hand, from Tigranes, who overran Cilicia, and, on the other, from the pirates, who had their strongholds in the mountains of Cilicia Aspera, and made frequent incursions into the level country. From both these enemies it was rescued by Pompey, 66 B.C. In the civil war it took part with Cæsar. For this the inhabitants were severely punished by Cassius, but were recompensed by Antony, who made Tarsus a free city. It was the scene of important events in the wars with the Persians, the Arabs, and the Turks, and also in the Crusades.

=Tartares= (_Fr._). A word used in the French army to distinguish officers’ servants and batmen from the soldiers who serve in the ranks. _Tartare_ likewise means a groom.

=Tartary= (properly _Tatary_). Is the name under which, in the Middle Ages, was comprised the whole central belt of Central Asia and Eastern Europe, from the Sea of Japan to the Dnieper, including Mantchuria, Mongolia, Eastern Turkestan, Independent Turkestan, the Kalmuck and the Kirghis steppes, and the old khanates of Kasan, Astrakhan, and the Crimea, and even the Cossack countries; and hence arose a distinction of Tartary into European and Asiatic. But latterly the name Tartary had a much more limited signification, including only that tract bounded on the north by Siberia, and on the south by China and Thibet, along with Independent Turkestan; and at the present day, many writers apply it as a synonym for Turkestan. The Tartars (or, more properly, Tatars) was originally a name of the Mongolic races, but came to be extended to all the tribes brought under Mongolic sway by Genghis Khan and his successors, including Tungusic and Turkic races. The term is therefore not to be considered as ethnological, though all, or almost all, the peoples included under it, in its widest sense, belong to the Turanian family, but is rather to be understood in the same sense as the term “Franks” used by the Mohammedans. During the decline of the Roman empire, these tribes began to seek more fertile regions; and the first who reached the frontier of Italy were the Huns, the ancestors of the modern Mongols. The first acknowledged sovereign of this vast country was the famous Genghis Khan. His empire by the conquest of China, Persia, and all Central Asia (1206-27), became one of the most formidable ever established; but it was split into parts in a few reigns. Timur, or Tamerlane, again conquered Persia, broke the power of the Turks in Asia Minor (1370-1400), and founded the Mogul dynasty in India, which began with Baber in 1525, and formed the most splendid court in Asia, till the close of the 18th century. The Calmucks, a branch of the Tartars, expelled from China, settled on the banks of the Volga in 1672, but returned in 1771, and thousands perished on the journey.

=Tasa.= In the East Indies, a kind of drum, formed of a hemisphere of copper, hollowed out and covered with goat-skin. It is hung before from the shoulders, and beat with two rattans.

=Taslet.= A piece of armor formerly worn on the thigh.

=Tasse.= Formerly a piece of armor for the thighs; an appendage to the ancient corselet, consisting of skirts of iron that covered the thighs, fastened to the cuirass with hooks.

=Tattoo.= The evening sound of drum or trumpet, after which the roll is called, and all soldiers not on leave of absence should be in their quarters.

=Tau, Cross.= In heraldry, a cross of a form somewhat resembling the Greek letter _Tau_. St. Anthony is generally represented with a cross of this description, embroidered on the left side of his garment.

=Taulantii.= A people of Illyria, in the neighborhood of Epidamnus. One of their most powerful kings was Glaucias, who fought against Alexander the Great.

=Taunton.= A town of England, county of Somerset, on the river Tone. It was taken by Perkin Warbeck, September, 1497; and here he was surrendered to Henry VII. October 5 following. The Duke of Monmouth was proclaimed king of Taunton, June 20, 1685; and it was the scene of the “bloody assize” held by Jeffreys upon the rebels in August.

=Taupins=, or =Francs-Taupins= (_Fr._). A name which was formerly given to a body of free-arches, or francs-archers, in France. This body consisted chiefly of countrymen and rustics.

=Tauromenium.= An ancient Greek city in Sicily, on the east coast of the island, about half-way between Messina and Catania. In 394, Dionysius besieged the new city, and spent the greater part of a winter in an unsuccessful effort to take it. A peace was concluded in 392, in terms of which Tauromenium became subject to Dionysius, who immediately expelled the former inhabitants, and supplied their place by mercenaries of his own. In 358, Andromachus collected the survivors of the original inhabitants of Naxos, and settled them at Tauromenium. Under Andromachus the city made rapid progress. He assisted Timoleon in his expedition to Sicily. At a later period the city was conquered by Hiero of Syracuse, and it remained subject to that city until, with the whole of Sicily, it passed into the power of the Romans. In the Servile war in Sicily (134-32 B.C.), it was captured by the insurgent slaves, and held by them till the last extremity, suffering the utmost calamities, until the citadel was betrayed to the Romans. It was taken and destroyed by the Saracens after a siege of two years, in 906.

=Taxiarchs.= In the Athenian army, were ten in number (every tribe having the privilege of electing one), and commanded next under the _strategeoi_. Their business was to marshal the army, give orders for their marches, and appoint what provisions each soldier should furnish himself with. They had also power to cashier any of the common soldiers, if convicted of a misdemeanor; but their jurisdiction was only over the foot.

=Tchernaya.= A river in the Crimea. On August 16, 1855, the lines of the allied army at this place were attacked by 50,000 Russians under Prince Gortschakoff without success, being repulsed with the loss of 3329 slain, 1658 wounded, and 600 prisoners. The brunt of the attack was borne by two French regiments under Gen. d’Herbillon. The loss of the allies was about 1200; 200 of these were from the Sardinian contingent, which behaved with great gallantry, under the command of Gen. La Marmora. The Russian general Read, and the Sardinian general Montevecchio, were killed. The object of the attack was the relief of Sebastopol, then closely besieged by the English and French.

=Tearless Victory.= In 367 B.C. Archidamus, king of Sparta, defeated the Arcadians and Argives in the “Tearless Battle,” so called because he had won it without losing a man.

=Tebet= (_Fr._). A kind of axe which the Turks carry at their saddle-bow during war.

=Teepe.= See WIGWAM.

=Teflis=, or =Tiflis=. A city of Russia in Asia, in Transcaucasia, capital of the province of Georgia. It was founded about the middle of the 5th century, by a powerful monarch called Waktang; and afterwards rose to great importance. It was taken by Genghis Khan in the 12th century, and by Mustapha Pasha, 1576. In 1723 it was taken by the Turks, in 1734 by Kouli Khan, and it was destroyed by Aga Mohammed in 1795. It came into the possession of the Russians in 1801. A treaty of peace was concluded here between Russia and Persia, October 12, 1813.

=Tefterdar Effendi.= The commissary-general is so called among the Turks.