Part 144

=Ultimatum.= A term used in military negotiations, to express the final conditions upon which any proposition or treaty can be ratified.

=Umbon= (_Fr._). The pointed boss or prominent part in the centre of a shield or buckler.

=Umbria.= A district of Italy, the chief towns of which were Arminum, Fanum, Fortunæ, Mevania, Tuder, Narnia, and Spoletium. Under Augustus, it formed the sixth Regio of Italy. Its inhabitants, the Umbri, were one of the most ancient races of Italy, and were connected with the Opicans, Sabines, and those other tribes whose languages were akin to the Greek. The Umbri were at a very early period the most powerful people in Central Italy, and extended across the peninsula from the Adriatic to the Tyrrhene seas. They were afterwards deprived of their possessions west of the Tiber by the Etruscans, and confined to the country between this river and the Adriatic. Their territories were still further diminished by the Senones, a Gallic people, who took possession of the whole country on the coast, from Arminum to the Æsis. The Umbri were subdued by the Romans, 307 B.C., and after the conquest of the Senones by the Romans in 283, they again obtained possession of the country on the coast of the Adriatic. This district, however, continued to be called _Ager Gallicus_ down to a late period.

=Umbriere.= The visor of a helmet, a projection like the peak of a cap, to which a face-guard was sometimes attached, which moved freely upon the helmet, and could be raised like a beaver.

=Unarm.= To strip of armor or arms; to disarm.

=Unbreech.= To free the breech of, as a cannon, from its fastenings or coverings.

=Uncase, To.= To display or exhibit the colors of a regiment.

=Uncock.= To let down the cock of, as a gun.

=Unconditional.= At discretion; not limited by any terms or stipulations; as, an unconditional surrender.

=Unconquered.= Not subdued or defeated; in opposition to conquered or defeated.

=Uncover, To.= When troops deploy, the different leading companies or divisions, etc., successively uncover those in their rear, by marching out from the right or left of the column.

=Undaunted.= Not appalled by fear; valiant.

=Under.= A preposition of varied military application, in combination with other words. Thus troops are said to be _under arms_, when assembled in a state of military array, and having the necessary weapons of offense and defense, as rifles, swords, etc. To be _under command_ is being liable to be ordered on any particular duty. To be _under cover_ is to be shielded or protected. To be _under contribution_ is being liable to give, in money or kind, what may be authoritatively called for. Countries are sometimes put under contribution for the support of an army. To be _under fire_ or be _cool_ is not being disconcerted by the apprehension of death in battle. To be _under sentence_ is the liability to punishment, according to sentence passed; as, under the sentence of a general court-martial; under sentence of death.

=Under Canvas.= In a military sense, it is to be lying in tents.

=Undermine.= To dig an excavation under any fort, house, or other building, so as to cause it to fall down or to blow it up with powder.

=Under-officer.= An inferior officer, one in a subordinate situation.

=Undisciplined.= Not yet trained to regularity or order; not perfect in exercise or manœuvres.

=Undress.= In the military service, is the authorized habitual dress of officers and soldiers when not in full uniform.

=Unfix, To.= To take off; as, to unfix bayonets, on which the soldier disengages the bayonet from his musket, and returns it to the scabbard.

=Unfortified.= Not strengthened or secured by any walls, bulwarks, or fortifications.

=Unfortunate Peace, The.= A name given by historians to the peace of Chateau Cambresis (April 2, 1559), negotiated by England, France, and Spain. By this treaty Henry II. of France renounced all claim to Genoa, Corsica, and Naples, agreed to restore Calais to the English within eight years, and to give security for 500,000 crowns in case of failure.

=Unfurled.= A standard or color when expanded and displayed, is said to be unfurled.

=Ungentlemanlike or Unofficerlike=. Not like a gentleman or officer. Conduct unbecoming the character of either is so called. This clause, which will be always found to depend on the state of morals and manners, affords a vast latitude to a military court, which, after all, is not more free from prejudice or influence than any other tribunal, though they are both jurors and judges. Officers convicted thereof are to be dismissed from the service. See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 60, 61.

=Unguled.= In heraldry, a term applied to the tincture of the hoofs of an animal; _e.g._, Azure, a stag trippant or, attired and unguled gules, the arms of the family of Strachan in Scotland.

=Unharnessed.= Disarmed; divested of armor or weapons of defense.

=Unhelmed.= Divested of the helmet or helm.

=Unhorsed.= Thrown from the saddle; dismounted.

=Unicorn= (Lat. _unum cornu_, “one horn”). An animal, probably fabulous, mentioned by ancient Grecian and Roman authors as a native of India, and described as being of the size of a horse, or larger, the body resembling that of a horse, and with one horn of a cubit and a half or two cubits long on the forehead, the horn straight, its base white, the middle black, the tip red. The body of the animal was also said to be white, its head red, its eyes blue. It was said to be so swift that no horse could overtake it. The unicorn is perhaps best known as a heraldic charge or supporter. Two unicorns were borne as supporters of the Scottish royal arms for about a century before the union of the crowns; and the sinister supporter of the insignia of the United Kingdom is a unicorn argent, armed crined, and unguled or, gorged with a coronet composed of crosses patée and fleurs-de-lis, with a chain affixed, passing between the fore legs, and reflexed over the back, of the last.

=Unicorn.= The old name for the howitzer, as improved from the licorn, borrowed from the Turks during the last century by the Russians, and from the latter by Europe generally.

=Uniform= (one form). In its military sense, means the particular dress and equipment assigned by proper authority to each grade of officers and men. The clothing consists of one prevailing color, variously ornamented and “faced” according to the rank and corps. _In full uniform_, wearing the whole of the prescribed uniform; not in undress.

=Uniform Sword.= An officer’s sword of the regulation pattern prescribed for the army or navy.

=Union.= The national colors are called the _union_. When there is a blue field with white stripes, quartered in the angle of the American colors, that is, of the colors composed of red and white stripes, that blue field is called the _union_; and a small color of blue with white stars is called a _union-jack_.

=United States Military Academy.= See MILITARY ACADEMIES, and WEST POINT.

=United States Sea-coast Fuze.= See LABORATORY STORES.

=United States, The.= A Federal republic, composed of thirty-eight sovereign states and eleven territorial governments, occupying the temperate portion of North America. It is bounded on the north by British North America, east by New Brunswick and the Atlantic Ocean, south by the Gulf of Mexico and Mexico, and west by the Pacific Ocean. Its greatest length from the Atlantic to the Pacific, on the parallel of 42°, is 2768 miles, and its greatest breadth, from Point Isabel, Texas, to the northern boundary near Pembina, is 1601¹⁄₂ miles. The northern frontier is upward of 3350 miles in length, the Mexican 1500. The ocean coast, including the larger indentation, is estimated at 22,609 miles, of which 6861 are on the Atlantic, 3461 on the Gulf of Mexico, 2281 in California, 8000 on the coast of Alaska, and about 2000 on the Arctic Sea. This area has been obtained by successive annexations of territory, either by purchase, right of discovery, or conquest. In 1783, the territory ceded by Great Britain was confined to the country east of the Mississippi River, and north of Florida, having an area of 815,615 square miles. To this Louisiana was added by purchase from France in 1803; Florida, ceded by Spain, in 1821; Texas, annexed in 1845; Oregon, as settled by the treaty of 1846; California, etc., conquered from Mexico, 1847; New Mexico, etc., by treaty with Mexico, 1854; and Alaska, by purchase from Russia, 1867. For full description of the States and Territories, and histories appertaining thereto, see the articles respectively.

=Unkiar-Skelessi.= A small town on the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus, in the neighborhood of Scutari, gives its name to a treaty concluded between Turkey and Russia, July 8, 1833. This treaty, which consisted of six articles, was one of mutual defensive alliance; but a separate and secret article was subjoined, by which the sultan, in place of the military or naval aid which, by the first article of the treaty, he was bound to furnish to Russia, agreed to close the Strait of the Dardanelles, allowing no foreign vessels of war to enter it under any pretext whatever. In consequence of this treaty, Russia landed 15,000 men at Scutari, and stopped the victorious career of Ibrahim Pasha. The secret article was soon after divulged to Britain and France, both of whom regarded the treaty with dislike; and by the terms of that concluded at London, July 13, 1841, the stipulations of Unkiar-Skelessi were annulled.

=Unload.= To take the powder and ball out of a piece of ordnance or a musket.

=Unmilitary.= Contrary to rules of discipline; unworthy of a soldier.

=Unsheathe.= To draw from the sheath or scabbard, as a sword; hence, to unsheathe the sword, sometimes signifies to commence or make war.

=Unshot.= To remove the shot from, as a piece of ordnance; to take out the shot of.

=Unsling.= To take off the slings; to release from the slings; unsling knapsacks, etc.

=Unspike.= To remove a spike from, as from the vent of a cannon.

=Untenable.= Not to be held in possession; incapable of being defended.

=Untrained.= Not disciplined to exercise or manœuvre.

=Unvanquished.= Not conquered or defeated.

=Unwarlike.= Not fit for or used to war.

=Upbraid.= Any officer or soldier who shall upbraid another for refusing a challenge, shall himself be punished as a challenger. See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 28.

=Upon.= Denoting assumption; as, he took the office of commander-in-chief upon him. Also, to incur responsibility; as, the general took everything upon himself.

=Up-sar-o-ca.= See ABSOROKAS.

=Uruguay=, or =Banda Oriental del Uruguay=. A republic of South America, bounded north and northeast by Brazil, east by the Atlantic, south by the Rio de la Plata, and west by the Uruguay. Banda Oriental was, during the Spanish rule, the name of that portion of the vice-royalty of Buenos Ayres which lay to the east of the river Uruguay, and comprehended the present Uruguay and the territory formerly known as the Seven Missions. When Buenos Ayres declared itself independent of Spain, Banda Oriental formed a part of the new republic. In 1821, however, it was taken possession of by Brazil, and united with that state under the name of Provincia Cisplatina. By the treaty of 1828 between La Plata and Brazil, the southern and larger portion of Banda Oriental was formed into the republic of Uruguay. A civil war broke out in consequence of the invasion of the ex-president, Gen. Venancio Florès, June 26, 1863; Gen. Florès marched towards the capital in June; in February, 1865, Florès became provisional president. During an insurrection of the Blanco party (headed by Berro), at Montevideo, Gen. Florès was assassinated. The troops remained faithful. The insurrection was soon suppressed, and Berro shot, February 19, 1868.

=Usages of War.= See WAR.

=Usbegs=, or =Usbeks=. A people of Turkish race, who, at the close of the 15th century, invaded and conquered the numerous principalities into which Turkestan was at that time divided, and have ever since maintained dominion over the country. At the present day, they are for the most part a settled people, and are scattered over both Independent and Chinese Turkestan.

=Usher of the Black Rod.= See BLACK ROD.

=Usher of the Green Rod.= One of the officers of the order of the Thistle, whose duties consist in attendance on the sovereign and knights when assembled in chapter, and at other solemnities of the order. The rod from which the title is taken is of green enamel, 3 feet in length, ornamented with gold, having on the top a unicorn of silver, holding before him an escutcheon charged with the cross of St. Andrew.

=Usipetes=, or =Usipii=. A German people, who, being driven out of their abodes by the Suevi, crossed the Rhine and penetrated into Gaul; but they were defeated by Cæsar, and compelled to recross the river. They were now received by the Sygambri, and allowed to dwell on the northern bank of the Lippe; but we afterwards find them south of the Lippe; still later they became lost under the general name of Alemanni.

=Utah.= A Territory of the United States, which is bounded on the north by Idaho and Wyoming, east by Colorado, south by Arizona, and west by Nevada. Utah is an immense basin, from 4000 to 6000 feet above the level of the sea, surrounded by mountains, which at some points reach the altitude of 8000 to 13,000 feet. Utah was acquired by the United States from Mexico by the treaty of 1848, and was erected into a Territory in 1850. There have been serious difficulties between the U. S. government and the Mormons, who first arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. A terrible massacre of settlers took place at Mountain Meadows, Utah, by Indians, who it is said were instigated to commit the terrible atrocity by the Mormons. In order to put an end to all the disturbances in Utah, the President dispatched, in 1857, an expedition against Brigham Young, who was treated as an open rebel. Owing to the inclemency of the weather and other causes, the expedition did not arrive in Utah until May, 1858, when the governor, Cumming, reported to the President that Brigham Young had given up all hopes of resistance. The Territory has remained quiet ever since.

=Utahs=, or =Utes=. A tribe of North American Indians, who inhabit Utah, Nevada, part of Colorado, and New Mexico. They are at present peaceable, but do not engage in agriculture. See INDIANS AND THEIR AGENCIES.

=Utensil.= That which is used; an implement; an instrument; especially, an instrument or vessel used in a kitchen, or in domestic use. Utensils for camp and garrison are styled camp and garrison equipage, and are furnished by the quartermaster’s department.

=Utica= (ruins at _Bow-Shater_). The greatest city of ancient Africa, supposed to be older than Carthage. Like others of the very ancient Phœnician colonies in the territory of Carthage, Utica maintained a comparative independence, even during the height of the Punic power, and was rather the ally of Carthage than her subject. It stood on the shore of the northern part of the Carthaginian Gulf, a little west of the mouth of the Bagrades, and 27 Roman miles northwest of Carthage; but its site is now inland in consequence of the changes effected by the Bagrades in the coast-line. In the third Punic war, Utica took part with the Romans against Carthage, and was rewarded with the greatest part of the Carthaginian territory. It afterwards became renowned to all future time as the scene of the last stand made by the Pompeian party against Cæsar, and of the glorious, though mistaken, self-sacrifice of the younger Cato. It fell into the hands of the Vandals in 439; but its final destruction is due to the Saracens, who twice captured the town.

=Utrecht= (the Roman _Trajectum ad Rhenum_). A town of Holland, capital of a province of the same name, on the old Rhine. The union of the Seven United Provinces began here in 1579. The treaty of Utrecht, which terminated the wars of Queen Anne, was signed by the ministers of Great Britain and France, and all the other allies, except the ministers of the empire, April 11, 1713. This treaty secured the Protestant succession in England, the separation of the French and Spanish crowns, the destruction of Dunkirk, the enlargement of the British colonies and plantations in America, and a full satisfaction for the claims of the allies. Utrecht surrendered to the Prussians May 9, 1787; was acquired by the French January 18, 1795, and restored at the peace.

=Uxii.= A warlike people, of predatory habits, who had their strongholds in Mount Parachoathras, on the northern border of Persia, in the district called Uxia, but who also extended over a considerable tract of country in Media.

V.

=Vacancy.= The state of an office or commission to which no one is appointed.

=Vacant Companies.= Companies to the permanent command of which no person is appointed for the time being.

=Vacate.= To annul; to make void; to deprive of force; to make of no authority or validity; as, to vacate a commission.

=Vacca=, =Vaga=, or =Vaba= (now _Beja_). A city of Zeugitana, in Northern Africa, on the borders of Numidia, a good day’s journey south of Utica. It was destroyed by Metellus in the Jugurthine war, but was restored and colonized by the Romans. Its fortifications were renewed by Justinian, who named it Theodorias, in honor of his wife.

=Vadimonis Lacus= (now _Lago di Bassano_). A small lake of Etruria. It is celebrated in history for the defeat of the Etruscans in two great battles, first by the dictator Papirius Cursor in 309 B.C., from the effects of which the Etruscans never recovered; and again in 283, when the allied forces of the Etruscans and Gauls were routed by the consul Cornelius Dolabella.

=Værfvade.= The standing army of Sweden, recruited by voluntary enlistment. They receive pay, and serve from three to six years. They form the foot- and horse-guards, the artillery and engineers.

=Vair.= In heraldry, tinctures are either of metal, color strictly so called, or fur. The furs were originally but two,--ermine and vair. Vair is said to have been taken from the fur of a squirrel, bluish-gray on the back, and white on the belly, is expressed by blue and white shields, or bells in horizontal rows, the bases of the white resting on the bases of the blue. If the vair is of any other colors than white and blue, they must be specified. Various modifications of these furs were afterwards introduced, among others: _counter-vair_, or vair with the bells of one tincture placed base to base, and _potent counter-potent_, vair with crutch-shaped figures instead of bells.

=Vaivode= (_Fr._). An old Sclavonian word, which signifies prince or general. This title was formerly given to the sovereign princes of Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania.

=Valais= (Ger. _Wallis_). A frontier canton of Switzerland, bounded on the north by the cantons of Vaud and Bern, and on the south by Italy. At the period of the struggle of the Swiss with the Duke of Burgundy, the Upper Valais took possession of the Lower Valais, and reduced it to the position of a vassal state; and in this condition it remained until 1798, the period of the French conquest, when the distinction was set aside.

=Valdivia.= A town of Chili, capital of the province of the same name, on the river Valdivia, or Calle, 210 miles south from Concepcion. It was founded in 1551 by the conqueror Pedro de Valdivia. In 1590 it was taken and plundered by the Araucanians, the native inhabitants of the country.

=Valencia= (anc. _Valentia_). An ancient city of Spain, capital of the ancient kingdom and modern province of the same name, on the Turia, about 2 miles from the sea, and 190 miles east-southeast from Madrid. Valencia is a very ancient city. It was destroyed by Pompey, and rebuilt by Sertorius. It was taken by the Goths in 413, from whom it was captured by the Moors in 714. From the Moorish sway it was rescued in 1094 by the Cid, from whom it is sometimes called _Valentia del Cid_. The Moors once more got possession of it in 1101, but were compelled finally to relinquish it in 1238. It was taken by the Earl of Peterborough in 1705, but submitted to the Bourbons after the unfortunate battle of Almanza, in 1707. It resisted the attempts made on it by Marshal Moncey, but was taken from the Spaniards with a garrison of more than 16,000 men, and immense stores, by the French under Suchet, January 9, 1812; and held by them till 1813.

=Valenciennes.= A fortified town of France, in the department of the North, 27 miles southeast from Lille, at the confluence of the Rhonelle and the Scheldt. The town is defended by a citadel constructed by Vauban. The city was besieged from May 23 to July 28, 1793, when the French garrison surrendered to the allied English and Austrian armies, under the Duke of York. It was retaken by the French, August 27-30, 1794; on capitulation, the garrison and 1100 emigrants were made prisoners, with immense stores.

=Valenciennes.= See LABORATORY STORES.

=Valenza= (anc. _Valentia Valentinum Forum_). A city of Northern Italy, on an elevated plain on the right bank of the Po, 8 miles north of Alessandria. It is a very ancient town, belonged to the Liguri, and was conquered by Marcus Fulvius, the proconsul. In 1635 it was besieged for fifty days by the armies of France, Savoy, and Parma, and taken. In 1707 it came into the possession of Victor Amadeus II., Duke of Savoy; in 1805 the French destroyed its gates and fortifications; and in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon’s empire, it reverted to the king of Sardinia.

=Valetta=, or =La Valetta=. An important city and capital of the island of Malta, on the northeast side of which it is situated. The town and harbors are defended by a series of fortifications of great strength. They are mostly hewn out of the solid rock, and, mounted with the most powerful artillery, are considered impregnable. The city was founded by La Valette, grand master of the Knights of St. John, in 1566. Its history is identical with that of Malta (which see).

=Valetudinarium.= An infirmary or hospital for the sick. Among the Romans, _valetudinarium_, or hospital, was only established in time of war, when their armies marched beyond the boundaries of the republic.

=Valiant.= Personally brave, fearless of danger in war, etc.

=Valladolid.= A famous city of Spain, capital of the province of the same name, on the left bank of the Pisuerga, 150 miles northwest from Madrid. It is the Roman _Pincia_ and the Moorish _Belad Walid_; was recovered for the Christians by Ordogno II., the first king of Leon, 914-23. It was captured from the French by the English, June 4, 1813.

=Vallary Crown.= A crown bestowed by the ancient Romans as an honorary reward on the soldier who first surmounted the outworks, and broke into the enemy’s camp. It is in form a circle of gold with palisades attached. The crown vallary occasionally occurs as a heraldic bearing.

=Valls.= A town of Spain, in the province of Tarragona, 9 miles north from Tarragona. The French here defeated the Spaniards in 1809, and afterwards sacked the town; but they suffered a defeat themselves near the same place, in 1811, by some Spanish troops under Sarsfield.

=Vallum.= Among the Romans, the parapet which fortified their encampments. It consisted of two parts,--the _agger_ and the _sudes_; the agger was the earth thrown up from the vallum, and the sudes were a sort of wooden stakes to secure and strengthen it. _Vallus_ was the name of the stake which served as a palisade in the Roman intrenchment. Every soldier carried one of these _valli_, and on some occasions three or four bound together like a fagot.