Part 18

=Cai-fong.= In China, capital of Honan, on the right bank of the Hoang-ho. It was besieged by 100,000 rebels in 1642. The commander of the relieving forces, in order to drown the enemy, broke down the embankments of the river. It is said all the besiegers and 300,000 of the citizens perished.

=Cairo=, or =Grand Cairo=. The modern capital of Egypt, partially built by the Saracens in 969; it is surrounded by stone walls which are surmounted with antique battlements; taken by the Turks from the Egyptian sultans, 1517; taken by the French under Napoleon Bonaparte; they entered the city July 23, 1798; captured by the British and Turks, when 6000 French capitulated, June 27, 1801; massacre of the Mamelukes, March 1, 1811.

=Caisson.= In gunnery, is a carriage used for conveying ammunition for a field battery. It is a four-wheeled carriage, consisting of two parts, one of which is a limber similar to that of a gun-carriage, and connected in a similar way by a wooden stock and lunette. On the axle-body of the rear part, and parallel to the stock, are placed three rails upon which are fastened two ammunition-boxes, one behind the other, and similar to the one on the limber; so that the caisson has three ammunition-boxes, which will seat nine cannoneers. The interior compartments of the ammunition-boxes vary according to the nature of the ammunition with which they are loaded. In the rear of the last box is placed a spare wheel-axle of iron, with a chain and toggle at the end of it. On the rear end of the middle rail is placed a carriage-hook similar to a pintle-hook, to which the lunette of a gun-carriage whose limber has become disabled may be attached, and the gun carried off the field. The caisson has the same turning capacity and mobility as the gun-carriage, so that it can follow the piece in all its manœuvres, if necessary. It also carries a spare wheel, spare pole, etc. See ORDNANCE, CARRIAGES FOR, THE CAISSON.

=Cake-powder.= See GUNPOWDER.

=Caking.= To prevent powder caking, the barrels should be taken outside the magazine and rolled on boards.

=Calabozo.= A town of Venezuela, South America; it was captured by Bolivar, 1820.

=Calabria= (anc. _Messapia_). A region of Southern Italy; it was conquered by the Romans 266 B.C. It formed part of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths under Theodoric, 493; was reconquered (for the Eastern empire) by Belisarius, 536; subdued by the Lombards and joined the duchy of Benevento, 572. After various changes, it was conquered by Robert Guiscard, the Norman, 1058.

=Calabuss.= An early kind of light musket with a wheel-lock. Bourne mentions it in 1578.

=Calagurris= (now _Calahorra_, Spain). A town of the Vascones and a Roman municipium in Hispania Tarraconensis, near the Iberus (Ebro), memorable for its adherence to Sertorius and for its siege by Pompey and his generals (78 B.C.), in the course of which mothers killed and salted their children.

=Calais.= A fortified seaport town of France, department of Pas-de-Calais, on the Strait of Dover. The town and harbor are defended by a castle and several forts, and can be rendered inaccessible by land by flooding the adjacent ground, which is low and marshy. It was taken by Edward III. after a year’s siege in August, 1347; retaken by the Duke of Guise, January, 1558. It was taken by the Spaniards, April, 1596; restored, 1598. Louis XVIII. landed here in 1814, after his exile.

=Calasiries=, or =Calosires=. One of the two divisions (the other being the Hermotybii) of the warrior-caste of Egypt. Their greatest strength was 250,000 men, and their chief abode in the western part of the Delta. They formed the king’s body-guard.

=Calatafimi.= A town of Sicily, province of Trapani. Here, in May, 1860, Garibaldi defeated the royalist troops under Gen. Landi.

=Calatañazor.= A small town of Spain in Old Castile. Here Al-Mansoor gained a great victory over the Christians in 1001.

=Calatayud.= A town of Spain, province of Saragossa. It was captured from the Moors by Alfonso of Aragon in 1118; taken from the descendants of Alfonso by the king of Castile in 1362.

=Calatrava, The Order of.= Was founded in 1158 by Sancho III. of Castile. For a long period the war against the Moors was carried on almost entirely by the knights of Calatrava. The knights bear a cross gules, fleur-de-lised with green, etc.

=Calcans.= The bucklers of the Turks were so called during the Middle Ages.

=Calcinato.= A town of Italy, on the river Chiese. The Duke of Vendôme here defeated the Austrians under Count de Reventlau in 1706.

=Calcium-light.= A brilliant light produced by projecting the oxyhydrogen flame upon a surface of lime. Called also the Drummond-light.

=Calcutta.= Capital of Bengal and British India; the first settlement of the English here was made in 1689. The town was attacked and taken by an army of 70,000 horse and foot and 400 elephants (146 of the British were crammed into the “Black-Hole prison,” a dungeon about 16 feet square, from whence 23 only came forth alive next day), June 20, 1756; it was retaken by Clive, January 2, 1757.

=Caldiero.= A village of Northern Italy. Here, just before the battle of Arcola, the French under Napoleon I. were repulsed by the Austrians under Alvinzi in 1796, and in 1805 were beaten under Masséna by the Archduke Charles.

=Caledonia.= The name given by the Romans to that part of Britain north of the Wall of Antoninus, and afterwards applied to the whole of the country now known as Scotland. The inhabitants were called Caledonii until about the beginning of the 4th century, when they began to be spoken of as Picts and Scots. In 84 they were defeated under their chief Galgacus by the Roman general Agricola, and a great part of the country was overrun by the Romans, who formed many encampments there; but the country was never reduced to a Roman province.

=Caliano.= A town of the Tyrol, Austria, on the left bank of the Adige. Here the Venetians were defeated by the Austrians in 1487.

=Caliber=, or =Calibre=. From the Latin _qua librâ_, “what pound,” applied first to the weight of a bullet, then to the diameter, which determined the diameter of the gun, now signifies the diameter of the bore of a cannon or any fire-arm, and is expressed in inches or fractional parts of an inch, as a 15-inch gun; a Springfield rifle, caliber .45. Cannon are sometimes also designated by the weight of metal which they throw, as a 24-pounder.

=Caliber-rule.= A gunner’s calipers; having two scales, to determine the weight of a ball from its diameter, and conversely.

=Calicut= (now _Kolikod_). A town in Southwestern India; the first Indian port visited by Vasco de Gama, May 20, 1498. It was seized by Hyder Ali, 1766, and taken by the English, 1790.

=California= (from the Spanish _Caliente Fornalla_, “hot furnace,” in allusion to the climate). Was discovered by Cortez in 1537; others say Cabrillo in 1542; and visited by Sir Francis Drake, who named it New Albion in 1579. The Spaniards established missionary and military stations in California, 1698; it became subject to Mexico in 1823; became independent in 1836; occupied by the army of the United States in 1846; ceded to the United States, 1848; admitted into the Union as a sovereign State, 1850.

=Caligæ.= A kind of half-boots worn by the Roman soldiers. These soldiers were sometimes called _Caligati_.

=Caliper-compass.= An instrument by which the bore of cannon, small-arms, etc., is measured; said to have been invented by an artificer of Nuremberg, 1540.

=Caliver.= A hand-gun or arquebuse; probably the old name for the match-lock or carabine.

=Call.= A military musical term, signifies a signal given by a trumpet, bugle, or drum.

=Callao.= A fortified seaport of Peru. Lord Cochrane gallantly cut out the “Esmeralda,” a Spanish ship-of-war, from under the guns of the fort in 1821. Its roadstead (the best on the Peruvian coast) was the scene of a combat between the Spaniards and the Independents; the Colombians took it in 1826. The attempt of the Spanish admiral Nuñez to bombard Callao on May 2, 1866, was defeated by the Peruvians.

=Calle, La.= A seaport on the coast of Algeria. The French, who possessed it before the revolution of 1789, lost it during that epoch; again occupied it in 1815, but lost it in 1827. It has been in the possession of the French since the conquest of Algeria.

=Callinger.= One of the hill-forts of Bundelcund. From its position and size, Callinger must at one time have been a place of great strength. It was stormed by the British in 1812.

=Calmar.= See KALMAR.

=Calones.= A term applied to menials of the Roman armies; also slaves belonging to the Roman soldiers, who followed their masters to the wars.

=Calore.= A river in Italy; on its banks the Romans (composed of slaves), commanded by Tiberius (Gracchus), defeated the Carthaginian general Hanno in 215. After the battle each Roman (slave) who could present the head of an enemy slain by him was granted his freedom.

=Calpee=, or =Kalpee=. A city of India, in Bundelcund, on the right bank of the river Jumna. It was conquered by the British in 1803, and in May, 1858, was captured by Gen. Rose from the mutinous Sepoys, it being the headquarters of the Gwalior contingent.

=Caltrop=, or =Crow’s-foot=. An instrument with 4 iron points, so disposed that, three of them being on the ground, the other projects upward. They are scattered on the ground where an enemy’s cavalry are to pass, to impede their progress by endangering the horses’ feet.

=Calumet.= A kind of pipe used by the North American Indians for smoking tobacco, having the bowl usually of soft red stone, and the tube a long reed ornamented with feathers. The calumet is used as a symbol or instrument of peace. To accept the calumet is to agree to the terms of peace, and to refuse it is to reject them. The calumet is used to seal or ratify contracts and alliances, and to receive strangers kindly.

=Calvi.= A seaport on the island of Corsica, situated on a peninsula in the Gulf of Calvi. It is strongly fortified and has a good port. It was captured by the English in 1794, after a siege of 51 days.

=Calvi.= A decayed town of Naples. Here the French gained a victory over the Neapolitans, December 9, 1798.

=Cam.= A river in England. On its banks was fought a battle between the Saxons and Danes during the reign of Edward I.

=Camail.= Ancient armor, consisting of a guard for the throat made of chain-mail coming down from the helmet.

=Cambrai=, or =Cambray=. A fortified city of France, department of the North. It was fortified by the Romans; besieged and captured by Childebert in 535; taken by Edward III., king of England, in 1337; in 1544 by Charles V.; by the Spaniards in 1595; captured by the French and annexed, 1667; taken by Clairfait, the Austrian general, on September 10, 1798. The French were defeated at Cæsar’s camp, in the neighborhood, by the allied army under the Duke of York, April 24, 1794. Cambray was seized by the British under Sir Charles Colville, June 24, 1815. Several important treaties were entered into at this place.

=Cambria.= See WALES.

=Cambridge.= The Roman _Camboricum_ and the Saxon _Granta_; a town of England, in Cambridgeshire. It was burned by the Danes in 870 and 1010. Roger de Montgomery destroyed it with fire and sword, to be revenged of King William Rufus. During Wat Tyler’s and Jack Straw’s rebellion, the rebels entered the town, seized the University records and burned them in the market-place, 1381.

=Cambuskenneth= (Central Scotland). Here Wallace defeated the English under Warrenne and Cressingham, September 10, 1297.

=Camden.= A village in Kershaw Co., S. C. Gen. Gates was defeated here August 16, 1780, by Lord Cornwallis, and April 25, 1781, Gen. Greene was here defeated by Lord Rawdon. During the civil war this place was captured, February 24, 1865, by the Federal forces under Gen. Sherman, and the bridge over the Wateree, the railroad depot, and a considerable quantity of stores, etc., burned by the 15th Corps.

=Camel.= See PACK AND DRAUGHT ANIMALS.

=Camelford.= A town of England, in Cornwall. It was the scene of a famous battle between King Arthur and his nephew Modred in 543, in which the former was victorious. The West Saxons, under Egbert, had a battle with the Britons here in 823.

=Cameron Highlanders.= The designation given to the 79th Regiment of Infantry in the British service, in consequence of the corps having been raised by Allan Cameron of Erroch in 1793. This gallant regiment, which wears the Highland garb, performed distinguished services in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and has been engaged in the principal warlike struggles of more recent times.

=Camisado.= A shirt formerly worn by soldiers over their uniform, in order to be able to recognize one another in the darkness, in a night attack.

=Camisado.= An attack by surprise at night, or at break of day, when the enemy is supposed to be in bed, by soldiers wearing the camisado.

=Camouflet= (_Fr._). A small mine containing about 10 pounds of powder, sufficient to compress the earth all around it without disturbing the surface of the ground. It is sometimes formed in the wall or side of an enemy’s gallery, to blow in the earth and cut off the retreat of the miner.

=Camp.= From the Latin word _campus_, a “plain”; is the whole extent of ground covered by an army when under canvas. Its breadth should not exceed the line occupied by the troops when drawn out in order of battle. As a general rule, camps should be located in a position convenient to wood and water, with the front close and well covered, and the rear perfectly open.

=Campaign.= A connected series of military operations, forming a distinct stage or step in a war. Formerly, when troops kept the field only during the summer months, the term was used to include all that was done from the time an army took the field until it went again into winter quarters. In modern times, when no ordinary degree of cold is allowed to arrest military operations, the term is frequently used to include all steps taken to accomplish one immediate object.

=Campaigner.= One who has served in an army several campaigns; an old soldier; a veteran.

=Camp and Garrison Equipage.= All the tents, fittings, utensils, etc., carried with an army, applicable to the domestic rather than to the warlike wants of the soldier. The allowance of camp and garrison equipage to U. S. troops is prescribed in general orders from the War Department.

=Campania= (Southern Italy). Was occupied by Hannibal and various cities declared in his favor, 216 B.C.; conquered by the Romans, 213. Its capital was Capua (which see).

=Camp-bedstead.= A bedstead made to fold up within a narrow space, as used in war; a trestle bedstead.

=Campbell’s Station.= A post-village of Knox Co., Tenn. Here on November 16, 1863, Gen. Burnside, marching from Knoxville to meet the Confederate forces under Gen. Longstreet, was attacked by them, and after several hours’ fighting succeeded in repulsing them. Burnside then withdrew to the neighborhood of Knoxville and fortified his position.

=Camp-boy.= A boy that serves in camp.

=Campeachy.= A city of Central America, and the principal seaport of Yucatan. The country was discovered about 1517, and settled in 1540. This city was taken by the English in 1659; by the buccaneers in 1678, and by the freebooters of St. Domingo in 1685. These last burnt the town and blew up the citadel.

=Campestre.= A kind of girdle or apron worn by Roman soldiers around their waists at certain exercises, where the rest of their bodies remained naked.

=Camp-followers.= The sutlers, traders, and dealers generally; also civilian employés, servants, and women who follow troops, and are amenable to the regulations and restrictions of the service.

=Camp-guard.= A camp-guard consists of one or two rows of sentinels placed around a camp, and relieved at regular intervals. The number of rows of sentinels, and the distance between each man, will depend upon the character of the ground and the degree of danger apprehended.

=Campidoctores.= Officers who drilled the Roman soldiery.

=Camp, Intrenched.= Is a position fortified by field-works, which may be selected by an army in the field, for important operations during a campaign or a war,--such as to secure itself while covering a siege, or in winter quarters to accommodate a corps of observation, while the active army is engaged elsewhere, or to defend a position near a fortified place.

=Camp of Instruction.= Is an encampment of troops in the field to habituate them to the duties and fatigues of war. They may be either temporary or permanent. Of the latter description are the camps at Aldershott, England, and the Curragh of Kildare, Ireland.

=Campo Formio.= A town of Northern Italy; here a treaty was concluded between France and Austria, the latter yielding the Low Countries and the Ionian Islands to France, and Milan, Mantua, and Modena to the Cisalpine Republic, October 17, 1797. By a secret article the emperor gained the Venetian dominions.

=Campo Mayor.= A stronghold which covers the district between the Guadiana and the Tagus, where the French, retreating from this place in March, 1811, were suddenly confronted by a large British force under Marshal Beresford, and a combat ensued which was disastrous to the French.

=Campoos.= Regiments of infantry in the service of the Mahratta confederates.

=Campo Santo.= A town of Northern Italy, situated on the Panaro. In 1743 a sanguinary battle was fought here between the Spanish and Austrian forces.

=Camp Out, To.= To rest for the night without a standing roof; whether under a light tent, a screen of boughs, or any makeshift that the neighborhood may afford.

=Camprodon.= A fortified town of Catalonia, Spain. This town was taken by the French in 1689, and again in 1794.

=Camp-stool.= A portable seat used on campaigns. It is usually made with crossed legs, so as to fold up, and with a full-sized seat of leather or canvas, or else of strips of dressed hide.

=Canada, Dominion of.= A country of North America which embraces all of the American possessions of Great Britain lying north of the United States. It was discovered by John and Sebastian Cabot, June 24, 1497; the French founded Quebec in 1608. The English general Wolfe captured Quebec in 1759, and the conquest of Canada was completed in 1760. The Americans under Montgomery invaded Canada, and surprised Montreal, November, 1775; expelled by Carleton, March, 1776; the Americans under Gen. Hull again invaded Canada; defeated at Brownstown, August 8, and surrendered August 16, 1812. The Americans took York April 27, Fort George May 27, 1814; they were defeated at Chippewa July 25, and peace was signed at Ghent, December 24, 1814. Several rebellions took place in Canada, but were speedily suppressed. Invasions of Canada by armed Fenians from the United States were attempted in 1866 and 1870, but were repelled without difficulty.

=Cananore.= A seaport town of British India, in the presidency of Madras; it is the chief military station of the British in Malabar. In 1501 a small fort was built here by the Portuguese, which was taken by the Dutch in 1664. These were subsequently driven out by Tippoo Saib, and in 1790 the British took possession.

=Candahar=, or =Kandahar=. A fortified city of Afghanistan; stands in a fertile plain, 200 miles southwest from Cabool. This city is supposed to have been founded by Alexander the Great. Candahar was held by Tartary, India, and Persia in turn. During all the disasters of the Afghan war, the British succeeded in holding possession of the city, 1839-42.

=Candia= (anc. _Crete_). An island in the Mediterranean Sea. It was conquered by the Romans, 68 B.C.; seized by the Saracens, 823; retaken by the Greeks, 960; sold to the Venetians, 1204; gained by the Turks after a 24 years’ siege, during which more than 200,000 men perished, 1669; ceded to the Egyptian pasha, 1830; restored to Turkey, 1840; in 1866 the Christian inhabitants revolted against the Turks, and demanded an annexation to the kingdom of Greece. This war excited much sympathy among Christian nations, but the Cretans were subdued in 1869.

=Candle Bombs.= Pasteboard shells filled with pyrotechnic compositions which make a brilliant display upon explosion. They are used for signaling, and are made up with a powder charge attached to one side; a strand of quick-match leads to the charge when placed in the mortar. The mortars used are very light, being simply hollow cylinders of stout paper, sole-leather, or wood. They are made very light for ease of transportation.

=Candy.= A kingdom of Ceylon; it was taken by a British detachment, February 20, 1803, who capitulated June 23, following, anxious to evacuate the place on account of its unhealthiness; on the third day many were treacherously massacred at Columbo. The war was renewed in October, 1814; the king made prisoner by Gen. Brownrigg, February 19, 1815, and the sovereignty vested in Great Britain, March 2, 1815.

=Canister.= In the U. S. service, a round of canister consists of a hollow tin cylinder filled with cast iron or lead balls, which vary in size and number with the caliber and kind of piece; the cylinder is closed at the bottom by a thick cast-iron plate, and at the top by one of sheet-iron. The interstices between the balls are filled with dry sawdust, the object of which is to give more solidity to the mass, and to prevent the balls from crowding on one another when the piece is fired. In the English service this is called case-shot.

=Canister-shot.= One of the lead or iron balls in a round of canister.

=Cannæ.= A town of Naples, province of Terra di Bari. It is celebrated for the great victory gained there by Hannibal over the Romans, in the summer of 216 B.C. The loss of the Romans is stated by Livy at 45,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry.

=Cannon.= A military engine of which the general form is that of a hollow cylinder closed at one end, and variously mounted, used for throwing balls and other instruments of death by force of gunpowder. Cannons are made of iron, brass, bronze, and sometimes of steel rods welded together, and are of different sizes. They are classified, from their nature, _guns_, _howitzers_, and _mortars_; also from their use, as _field_, _mountain_, _prairie_, _sea-coast_, and _siege_; also as _rifled_ and _smooth-bore_. See ORDNANCE.

The following are the most famous cannon of all ages, arranged according to the diameter of the bore:

1. The _Tsar Pooschka_, the great bronze gun of Moscow, cast in 1586; bore 36 inches, weight 86,240 pounds; threw a stone ball weighing 2000 pounds.

2. _Mallet’s Mortar_, English, 1857-58; built up of cast and wrought iron; bore 36 inches; cast-iron shell weighing 2986 pounds.

3. The _Malik-I-Mydan_, “Master of the Field,” the great bronze gun of Bejapoor, India; cast 1538; bore 28.5 inches; basalt ball, 1000 pounds.

4. _The Bronze Gun of Mahomet II._, A.D. 1464; bore 25 inches; granite ball, 672 pounds.

5. The _Dulle-Griete_ of Ghent, wrought iron, A.D. 1430; bore 25 inches; stone ball, 700 pounds.

6. The _Dhool-Dhanee_, bronze gun of Agra, India; bore 23.2 inches; stone balls, 520 pounds.

7. _Mons Meg_ of Edinburgh; wrought iron, A.D. 1455; bore 20 inches; stone ball, 400 pounds.

8. _Rodman Gun_, American, 1863; cast iron; bore 20 inches, weight 117,000 pounds; cast-iron solid shot weighing 1080 pounds.

The most powerful cannon the world has ever seen have been made within the present decade (1870-80). They are rifles.

The _100-ton Armstrong guns_ sold to Italy to arm the “Duilio” and “Dandolo”; bore 17 inches, weight of oblong shot of chilled iron 2000 pounds, charge of _Fossano powder_ 552 pounds. _Muzzle-loading._

The _80-ton Woolwich guns_ made to arm the “Inflexible”; bore 16 inches, weight of shot 1700 pounds, charge of _cubical powder_ 440 pounds. _Muzzle-loading._