Part 31

=Drawn Battle.= A fight from which the combatants withdraw without either side claiming the victory.

=Draw off, To.= In a military sense, means to retire; also to abstract or take away; as, to draw off your forces. To _draw on_ is to advance; also to occasion; as, to draw on an enemy’s fire. To _draw over_ is to persuade to revolt; to entice from a party. To _draw out_ is to call the soldiers forth in array for action. To _draw up_ is to form in battle array. To _draw out a party_ is to assemble any particular number of armed men for military duty. The French say, _faire un detachement_.

=Drayton-in-Hales=, or =Market Drayton=. A town of England, in Shropshire. Here the partisans of the house of York defeated the Lancastrians in 1459.

=Dresden.= The capital of the kingdom of Saxony, and one of the best built towns of Europe. Taken by Frederick of Prussia in 1756; by the Austrians in 1759; bombarded in vain by Frederick, July, 1760. On August 26-27, 1813, the allies were defeated in a terrible battle by the French under the walls of this city; and about a mile from it is a granite block, surmounted by a helmet, marking the spot where Moreau fell in the conflict, while conversing with the emperor Alexander.

=Dress.= A word of command for alignment of troops; also of the alignment itself.

=Dressers.= See GUIDES.

=Dress, Full.= Dress uniform. The French is _grande tenue_, or _grande uniforme_.

=Dress Parade.= Parade in full uniform; one of the ceremonies prescribed in tactics.

=Dress, To.= To cause a company or battalion to take such a position or order as will preserve an exact continuity of line in the whole front, or in whatever shape the command is to be formed. Soldiers dress by one another in ranks, and the body collectively by some given object. To _dress the line_ is to arrange any given number of soldiers, so as to stand perfectly correct with regard to the several points of an alignment that have been taken up.

=Dress Uniform.= The dress prescribed for occasions of ceremony.

=Dreux.= An old town of France, in the department of the Eure and Loire, on the Blaise. In 1188 this town was burned by the English; and in 1562 the Prince of Condé was taken prisoner in a severe action fought between the Huguenots and Roman Catholics in its neighborhood.

=Drift.= A tool used in driving down compactly the composition contained in a rocket, or like firework.

=Drift.= A deviation peculiar to oblong rifle projectiles. See PROJECTILES.

=Drill.= Is a general name for the exercises through which soldiers and sailors are passed, to qualify them for their duties. There are many varieties of drill,--that of the cavalry, infantry, and artillery,--all have different drills conformable to their different organizations.

=Drill-Sergeant.= A non-commissioned officer, whose office it is to instruct soldiers as to their duties, and to train them to military evolutions.

=Drogheda.= A seaport town of Ireland, in the counties of Meath and Louth, built on both sides of the Boyne. From the 14th to the 17th century, Drogheda was the chief military station in Ulster. In 1641 the town was besieged by O’Neal and the northern Irish forces, but was gallantly defended by Sir Henry Tichbourne, and after a long blockade relieved by the Marquis of Ormond, who also relieved it a second time when invested by the Parliamentary army under Col. Jones. In 1649, Cromwell was twice repulsed in besieging this town; but in the third attempt he was successful, when most of the garrison were slaughtered. This place surrendered to William III. the day after the battle of the Boyne, which was fought in 1690 at Oldbridge, 4 miles west of Drogheda.

=Drum.= A musical instrument of percussion, formed by stretching a piece of parchment over each end of a cylinder formed of thin wood, or over the top of a caldron-shaped vessel of brass; the latter is hence called a kettle-drum. The large drums which are beaten at each end are called _double drums_, or _bass drums_, and are used chiefly in military bands. Kettle-drums are always used in pairs; one of which is tuned to the key-note, the other to the fifth of the key. The drum is principally used for military purposes, especially for inspiring the soldiers under the fatigue of march or in battle. It is supposed to be an Eastern invention, and to have been brought into Europe by the Arabians, or perhaps the Moors. In the French army the drum is now, to some extent, abolished.

=Drum.= To execute on a drum, as a tune;--with _out_, to expel with beat of drum; as, to drum out a deserter, etc.; with _up_, to assemble by beat of drum; to gather; to collect; as, to drum up recruits, etc.

=Drumclog.= In Western Scotland; here the Covenanters defeated Graham of Claverhouse, June 1, 1679. An account of the conflict is given by Walter Scott, in “Old Mortality.”

=Drum-head.= The head or upper part of a drum.

=Drum-head Court-martial.= A court-martial called suddenly by the commanding officer to try offenses committed on the line of march, and which demand an immediate example. This method is not resorted to in time of peace.

=Drum-Major.= Is that person in a regiment of infantry who has command of the drummers and teaches them their duty. He also directs the movements of the regimental band, while on parade.

=Drummer.= The soldier who plays a drum. The majority of drummers are boys, generally the sons of soldiers. In former times it was the part of a drummer’s duty to flog men sentenced to corporal punishment.

=Drumming Out.= The ceremony of ignominiously discharging a soldier from the service. The culprit is marched out of the garrison at the point of the bayonet, the drummers or musicians playing the “Rogue’s March.”

=Drum-stick.= A stick with which a drum is beaten, or shaped for the purpose of beating a drum.

=Drunk on Duty.= See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 38.

=Druses.= A warlike people dwelling among the mountains of Lebanon, derive their origin from a fanatical Mohammedan sect which arose in Egypt about 996, and fled to Palestine to avoid persecution. They now retain hardly any of the religion of their ancestors. In 1860, in consequence of disputes, the Druses attacked their neighbors, the Maronites, whom they massacred, it was said, without regard to age or sex. This led to a general massacre of Christians soon after. But the Turkish troops, with French auxiliaries, interfering on behalf of the Christians, invaded Lebanon in August and September, when the Druses surrendered, giving up their chiefs, January, 1861.

=Dry Camp, To Make a.= Troops on the march are said _to make a dry camp_ when they are compelled by exhaustion, or other causes, to camp at a place where there is no water. For such camps water is usually transported with the troops.

=Dualin.= See EXPLOSIVES.

=Dubicza=, or =Dubitza=. A town and fort of European Turkey, in Bosnia, on the Unna. The Austrians took this town in 1738.

=Dublin.= The capital city of Ireland, on the Liffey, close to its entrance into Dublin Bay. It is alleged that this city has been in existence since the time of Ptolemy. In the earlier part of the 9th century, Dublin was taken by the Danes, who infested it for several centuries thereafter. In 1169 it was taken by storm by the English under Strongbow. From about this period the history of Dublin is that of Ireland.

=Ducenarius.= An officer in the Roman armies who commanded two centuries.

=Dudgeon.= A small dagger (rare).

=Duel.= Was the old form of a combat between two persons, at a time and place indicated in the challenge, cartel, or defiance borne by one party to the other. A duel generally takes place in the presence of witnesses, called seconds, who regulate the mode of fighting, place the weapons in the hands of the combatants, and enforce compliance with the rules which they have laid down. In the United States the practice of fighting duels, being declared illegal by statutes, is very seldom resorted to.

=Dueling.= See APPENDIX, ARTICLES OF WAR, 26, 27.

=Duffadar.= A rank in the East Indian Native Cavalry, corresponding with that of sergeant.

=Duffadar, Kot.= A non-commissioned officer in the East Indian Native Cavalry, corresponding with a troop sergeant-major.

=Duffadar Major.= A rank in the East Indian Native Cavalry, corresponding with that of regimental sergeant-major.

=Duke.= From the Latin _dux_, a “leader,” a title that first came into use when Constantine separated the civil and military commands in the provinces. This title was successively borrowed by the Goths and Franks, and since the time of the Black Prince, who was created first duke in England (Duke of Cornwall) in 1335, it has been a title of the nobility, ranking next below the blood royal.

=Dukigi-Bachi.= Second officer in the Turkish artillery, who commands the Topelas, or gunners and founders.

=Duledge.= A peg of wood which joins the ends of the felloes, forming the circle of the wheel of a gun-carriage; and the joint is strengthened on the outside of the wheel by a strong plate of iron, called the _duledge plate_.

=Dumdum.= The name of a town and of a valley in India, well known in the military history of the country; it is 8 miles to the northeast of Calcutta, having extensive accommodations for troops, and a cannon-foundry. The place is famous in connection with the mutiny of 1857, as the scene of the first open manifestation on the part of the Sepoys against the greased cartridges.

=Dumfries.= A royal burgh and parish of Scotland, the capital of Dumfriesshire, on the Nith. This town was exposed to repeated calamities from the invasions of the English during the border wars. In this town John Comyn, the competitor for the Scottish throne, was stabbed by Robert Bruce in 1305.

=Dünaburg.= A strongly fortified town of Western Russia, on the Düna. It is of great military importance, owing to the strength of its fortifications. It was founded by the Knights of the Sword in 1277.

=Dunbar.= A seaport town of Scotland, in Haddingtonshire, at the mouth of the Frith of Forth. On the high rocks at the entrance to the new harbor are a few fragments of the ruins of an old castle, which was once very strong, and an important security against English invasions. Edward I. took it, and Edward II. fled thither after the battle of Bannockburn; it was demolished in 1333, and rebuilt in 1336; it was successfully defended in a siege of six weeks against the Earl of Salisbury by Black Agnes, countess of Dunbar, in 1338; it sheltered Queen Mary and Bothwell in 1567; and in the same year it was destroyed by the regent Murray. In 1650, Cromwell, at the “Race of Dunbar,” defeated the Scottish army under Leslie.

=Dunblane=, or =Dumblane=. A town and parish of Scotland, in Perthshire, on the Allan. Not far from this place is Sheriffmuir, where, in 1715, a battle was fought between the royal troops and the followers of the Pretender.

=Dungan Hill= (Ireland). Here the English army, commanded by Col. Jones, signally defeated the Irish, of whom 6000 are said to have been slain, August 8, 1647.

=Dungeon= (originally _Donjon_, which see). A prison; a dark and subterraneous cell or place of confinement.

=Dunkirk.= A fortified seaport town in the extreme northern part of France, in the department of the North. In 1558 the English, who had for some time held possession of the town, were expelled from it by the French, who, in the ensuing year, surrendered it to the Spaniards. In the middle of the 17th century it once more passed into the hands of the French, who, after a few years’ occupation of it, again restored it to Spain. In 1658 it was retaken by the French and made over to the English. It was sold to the French king by Charles II. in 1662. In 1793 it was attacked by the English under the Duke of York, who, however, was compelled to retire from before its walls with severe loss.

=Dunnottar.= A parish of Scotland, in Kincardineshire. It contains the castle of Dunnottar, now in ruins. In the time of the civil wars, this was the fortress in which the Scottish regalia were deposited. After being besieged by Cromwell’s forces for six months, it capitulated; but, before this, the regalia were secretly conveyed from it.

=Dunsinane.= In Perthshire, Scotland. On the hill was fought the battle between Macbeth, the thane of Glammis, and Siward, earl of Northumberland, July 27, 1054. Macbeth was defeated, and it was said pursued to Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, and there slain, 1056 or 1057.

=Durazzo= (anc. _Epidamnus_). A town of Albania, European Turkey. It is fortified, and is a place of considerable antiquity. Durazzo was founded about 627 B.C. by a conjoined band of Corcyræans and Corinthians under one Phaleus, a Heracleidan. It became a great and populous city, but was much harassed by the internal strifes of party, which ultimately led to the Peloponnesian war. Under the Romans it was called _Dyrrachium_ (whence its modern name). Here Pompey was for some time beleaguered by Cæsar. In the 5th century it was besieged by Theodoric, the Ostro-Goth; in the 10th and 11th centuries by the Bulgarians; and in 1081 it was captured, after a severe battle, by the Norman, Robert Guiseard of Apulia.

=Düren.= A town of Prussia, on the Roer. This was a Roman town, and is mentioned by Tacitus by the name of _Marcodurum_. Charlemagne held two diets here in 775 and 779, when on his way to attack the Saxons. It was taken by assault and burned by Charles V., after an obstinate resistance, in 1543. In 1794 it fell into the hands of the French, but was ceded to Prussia in 1814.

=Dürkeim.= A town of Rhenish Bavaria, 20 miles north from Landau. The summit of a height near this town is crowned by a rampart of loose stones 6 to 10 feet high, 60 to 70 feet wide at the base, and inclosing a space of about two square miles called the _Heidenmauer_ (“heathens’ wall”), which the Romans are said to have built to keep the barbarians in check, and where Attila is said to have passed a winter, after having wrested the fortress from the Romans, when passing on his way to Rome.

=Durrenstein.= A town of Austria, on the Danube. In the neighborhood, on a rock, are the ruins of the castle in which Richard Cœur de Lion was imprisoned in 1192. In 1805 the Russian and Austrian armies were defeated here by the French.

=Duties.= This word is used in military parlance to express the men paraded for any particular duty, such as guards, etc.

=Duty.= There is no word oftener used in military parlance than this. In the technical sense it refers to the various services necessary for the maintenance, discipline, and regulation of armies,--as _signal duty_, _staff duty_, _the duties of a sentinel_, etc. To be _on duty_ is to be in the active exercise of military functions; to be _off duty_ is to have these functions temporarily suspended; to be _put on duty_ is to be assigned to duty by order of a superior. Military duties are variously classed as _duties of detail_, which are recurring and governed by a roster, such as guard, fatigue, etc.; _special duties_ which are determined by appointment, selection, or order; _extra duty_, continuous special duty of enlisted men, entitling them to pay; _daily duty_, short terms of special service for enlisted men. In a higher and broader sense _duty_ is that which is due one’s country. It covers all the soldier’s obligations, and forms his simplest and sublimest rule of action.

=Dyer Projectile.= See PROJECTILE.

=Dynamite=, called in the United States “giant powder,” is formed by mixing nitro-glycerine with certain porous substances, and especially with certain varieties of silica or alumina, these substances absorbing the nitro-glycerine. It was invented in 1867 by the Swedish engineer Nobel, who proposed to prevent the frequent and unexpected explosions of nitro-glycerine, at the same time without sacrificing any of its power. This he effected by the use of certain silicious earths as a base for the absorption of the nitro-glycerine, the experiment resulting in the new compound which he called dynamite, its transportation and handling being no more dangerous than that of ordinary gunpowder. It is not liable to spontaneous explosion like pure nitro-glycerine, nor can it be exploded by moderate concussion; when unconfined, if set fire to, it will burn without explosion; it may be safely kept at any moderate temperature; is inexplosive when frozen, and acts effectively under water. Its effects are proportional to the quantity of nitro-glycerine held in absorption; but under circumstances where a sustained bursting pressure is required, not being as instantaneous in its action as nitro-glycerine, its effects are more powerful than those of an equal weight of the pure material. The best absorbent of nitro-glycerine for the formation of dynamite is a silicious earth found at Oberlohe, Hanover. During the siege of Paris, a scientific committee of investigation, engaged in experimenting on different substances as a substitute for this earth, selected as the best silica, alumina, and boghead cinders. Any of these, they declared, when combined with nitro-glycerine, formed a substance which possessed all the remarkable qualities attributed to the dynamite of Nobel. During the siege of Paris dynamite was used successfully by the French engineers to free a flotilla of gunboats caught in the ice on the Seine, below Charenton, by simply placing a quantity of it on the surface of the ice. The explosion dislodged the ice for a great distance, and the masses thus loosened, being directed into the current by the aid of a small steamer, floated down the stream, and left the river open. There are various other compounds of nitro-glycerine, such as dualin, glyoxiline, etc., all differing in the matter used as a base, they being generally some explosive substances; but none of them appears to have come into such general use or to be as reliable as dynamite. Many preparations of chlorate and picrate of potassium have also been used from time to time as explosive agents; but their great sensibility to friction or percussion renders them extremely dangerous; they are, therefore, not liable to come into general use. A preparation of potassium chlorate and sulphur, not liable to explode by concussion, but very sensitive to friction, is used with great effect as a charge for explosive bullets.

=Dynamometer.= An instrument for measuring the force of recoil in a small-arm, consisting usually of a spiral spring so arranged as to be compressed by the butt of the gun in firing. An index shows the number of pounds required to produce a similar compression. The instruments now used by the U. S. Ordnance Department are graduated to show the effect of the recoil in _foot-pounds_ or _units of work_. This sensible change was made at the suggestion of Lieut. Henry Metcalfe of that department.

E.

=Eagle.= In heraldry, is used as an emblem of magnanimity and fortitude. In the Roman armies the eagle was used as a military standard, and even previous to that time the Persians under Cyrus the Younger used the same military emblem. In modern times, France, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and the United States have adopted the eagle as a national military symbol. The Austrian eagle is represented as double-headed.

=Eagle, Black.= A Prussian order of knighthood, founded in 1701; united with the order of the Red Eagle, or order of Sincerity, instituted by the margraves of Bayreuth.

=Earl Marshal.= Of England, is one of the officers of state; is the head of the college of arms, which has jurisdiction in descents and pedigrees; determines all rival claims to arms; and he grants armorial-bearings, through the medium of the kings-of-arms, to parties not possessed of hereditary arms.

=Early Cannon.= See ORDNANCE, HISTORY OF.

=Earth-bag.= See BAGS.

=Earth-house=, or =Eird-house=. The name generally given throughout Ireland and Scotland to the underground buildings (which in some places are called also “Picts’ houses”) which served to hide a few people and their goods in time of war. The earth-house is a single irregularly-shaped chamber, from 4 to 10 feet in width, from 20 to 60 feet in length, and from 4 to 7 feet in height, built of unhewn and uncemented stones roofed by unhewn flags, and entered from near the top by a rude doorway, so low and narrow that only one man can slide down through it at a time. Implements of various kinds have been found in them,--such as bronze swords, gold rings, etc.

=Earthworks.= In fortification, is a general name for all military constructions, whether for attack or defense, in which the material employed is chiefly earth.

=East Indian Army.= In 1861 the British Secretary of State for India brought forward a measure for reorganizing the Indian army, which has been passed into a law. The British portion of the Indian army is to form part of the queen’s army generally, with certain honorary distinctions, and is to take its turn at home and in the colonies like the rest; but the expenses are to be paid out of Indian, not Imperial revenues. The native portion is to be wholly in India; in its reconstruction many improvements are made to lessen the chances of future revolt.

=Ebersberg=, or =Ebelsberg=. A town of Upper Austria, on the Traun, 8 miles northwest from Ens, remarkable for being the scene of the defeat of the Austrians by the French in 1809.

=Eboulement= (_Fr._). The crumbling or falling of the walls of a fortification.

=Ebro.= A river in Spain, the scene of a signal defeat of the Spaniards by the French under Lannes, near Tudela, November 23, 1808; and also of several important movements of the allied British and Spanish armies during the Peninsular war (1809-13).

=Eccentric.= A device applied to the truck wheels of top carriages and beds of mortars in sea-coast artillery to give either rolling or sliding friction at will. The wheels turn on axle-arms which project eccentrically from the ends of an axle passing through both cheeks; when the axle is turned the axle-arms carry the wheels up or down; when at the lowest point the weight of the carriage is borne by the wheels, and the system moves on rolling friction; the wheels are then said to be _in gear_; when _out of gear_, or at their highest points, the wheels do not touch the rails or platform plates, but the cheeks rest on them, and the carriage moves upon sliding friction. A similar device is attached to the chassis near the pintle to enable it to be readily traversed when _in gear_, and give it stability when _out of gear_.

=Eccentric Projectiles.= A spherical projectile in which the centre of inertia does not coincide with the centre of figure. Such projectiles are subject to great deviations, which can be predicted as to direction by knowing the position of the centre of inertia of the shot in the bore of the gun. (See PROJECTILES, DEVIATION OF.) The side of the ball upon which the centre of inertia lies can be found by floating it in a bath of mercury, and marking the highest point where it comes to a state of rest; the centre of inertia lies nearest the opposite side; its exact position is determined by a kind of balance called the _eccentrometer_; the ball is placed in the balance with the marked point nearest the fulcrum; the distance of the centre of inertia or gravity from the fulcrum is obtained by dividing the product of the counterbalancing weight and its distance from the fulcrum by the weight of the projectile.

=Echarge, Feu=, or =Feu d’Echarge=. Is employed to signify that a column of troops is struck at a very oblique angle.

=Echaugette.= In military history, signifies a watch-tower, or kind of sentry-box.