A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer. Thomas Wilhelm
called from Amerigo Vespucci, a Florentine navigator, who visited South America in 1499. It is composed of two vast peninsulas called North and South America, extending in a continuous line 9000 miles, connected by the Isthmus of Panama or Darien, which is only 28 miles wide at its narrowest part. The physical features of this large continent are on a most gigantic scale, comprising the greatest lakes, rivers, valleys, etc., in the world; and its discovery, which may be said to have doubled the habitable globe, is an event so grand and interesting that nothing parallel to it can be expected to occur again in the history of mankind. Upon its discovery, in the latter half of the 15th century, colonists, settlers, warriors, statesmen, and adventurers of all nations began to flock to its shores, until after a lapse of nearly four centuries of wars, struggles, civilization, progress, and amalgamation of the more powerful races, and weakness and decay of the effete, it ranks in wealth and enlightenment as the first of the great divisions of the earth. Of the different races, governments, etc., occupying its area, it is not necessary here to speak; events of importance in their histories will be found under appropriate headings in this work.
Ames Gun. The rifled guns made by Mr. Horatio Ames, of Falls Village, Conn., are made of wrought iron on the built-up principle. See Ordnance, Construction of.
Amiens. A city in Picardy (Northern France). It was taken by the Spaniards March 11, and retaken by the French September 25, 1587. The preliminary articles of the peace between Great Britain, Holland, France, and Spain were signed in London by Lord Hawkesbury and M. Otto, on the part of England and France, October 1, 1801, and the definitive treaty was subscribed at Amiens, March 27, 1802, by the Marquis of Cornwallis for England, Joseph Bonaparte for France, Azara for Spain, and Schimmelpennick for Holland. War was declared in 1803.
Amisus. A city in the ancient kingdom of Pontus, fortified by Mithridates, and captured by Lucullus in 71 B.C.
Ammedera. An ancient city in Africa, where the rebel Gildon was defeated by Stilicho in 398.
Ammunition. Is a term which comprehends gunpowder, and all the various projectiles and pyrotechnical composition and stores used in the service. See Ordnance, Ammunition for.
Ammunition Bread. That which is for the supply of armies and garrisons.
Ammunition-chest. See Ordnance for Caisson.
Ammunition Shoes. Those made for soldiers and sailors in the British service are so called, and particularly for use by those frequenting the magazine, being soft and free from metal.
Ammunition, Stand of. The projectile, cartridge, and sabot connected together.
Amnesty. An act by which two belligerent powers at variance agree to bury past differences in oblivion; forgiveness of past offenses.
Amnias. A stream in Asia near which the army of Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, was defeated by the troops of Mithridates in 92 B.C.
Amorce (Fr.). An old military word for fine-grained powder, such as was sometimes used for the priming of great guns, mortars, or howitzers; as also for small-arms, on account of its rapid inflammation. A port-fire or quick-match.
Amorcer (Fr.). To prime; to decoy, to make a feint in order to deceive the enemy and draw him into a snare; to bait, lure, allure.
Amorcoir (Fr.). An instrument used to prime a musket; also for a small copper box in which were placed the percussion-caps.
Amoy. A town and port in China, which was taken by the troops under Sir Hugh Gough, assisted by a naval force, in August, 1841.
Ampfing. A village in Bavaria, where Louis, king of Bavaria, defeated Frederick of Austria in 1322; here Gen. Moreau was attacked by a superior force of Austrians in 1800, and accomplished his celebrated retreat.
Amphea. A city of Messenia, captured by the Lacedæmonians in 743 B.C.
Amphec. A city in Palestine where the Philistines defeated the Israelites in the year 1100 B.C.
Amphictyonic Council. A celebrated congress of deputies of twelve confederated tribes of ancient Greece, which met twice every year. The objects of this council were to insure mutual protection and forbearance among the tribes, and for the protection of the temple of Delphi.
Amphipolis (now Emboli). A city situated on the Strymon in Macedonia; was besieged in 422 B.C., by the Athenians, where Cleon their chief was killed. Philip of Macedon captured the city in 363.
Amplitude. In gunnery, is the range of shot, or the horizontal right line, which measures the distance which it has run.
Ampoulette (Fr.). A wooden cylinder which contains the fuze of hollow projectiles.
Amsterdam. The capital of Holland. It was occupied by the French general Pichegru on January 19, 1795, and by the Prussians in 1813.
Amstetten. A village on the highway between Ems and Vienna, where the Russians were defeated by the French under Murat, November 5, 1805.
Amusette (Fr.). A brass gun, of 5 feet, carrying a half-pound leaden ball, loaded at the breech; invented by the celebrated Marshal Saxe. It is no longer used.
Amyclæ. An ancient town of Laconia, on the right bank of the Eurotas, famous as one of the most celebrated cities of the Peloponnesus in the heroic age. It is said to have been the abode of Castor and Pollux. This town was conquered by the Spartans about 775 B.C.
Anabash. In antiquity, were expeditious couriers, who carried dispatches of great importance in the Roman wars.
Anacara. A sort of drum used by the Oriental cavalry.
Anacleticum. In the ancient art of war, a particular blast of the trumpet, whereby the fearful and flying soldiers were rallied to the combat.
Anah. A city in Asiatic Turkey, which was captured and devastated in 1807 by the Wahabites, who were a warlike Mohammedan reforming sect.
Anam, or Annam, Empire of. Also called Cochin China, an empire in Southeastern Asia, which became involved in a war with France (1858–62), concluded by a treaty by which the emperor of Anam ceded the provinces of Cochin China, Saigon, Bienhoa, and Mytho to France. Subsequently three other provinces were annexed to France in 1867.
Anapa. A city in Circassia which was fortified by the Turks in 1784; stormed and taken by the Russians in 1791.
Anarchy. Want of government; the state of society where there is no law or supreme power, or where the laws are not efficient, and individuals do what they please with impunity; political confusion; hence, confusion in general.
Anatha. A fort on an island of the Euphrates; taken by Julian the Apostate in 363.
Anatolia, Nadoli, or Natolia. The modern name of Asia Minor, a peninsula in the most western territory of Asia, extending northward from the Mediterranean to the Euxine, or Black Sea, and eastward from the Grecian Archipelago to the banks of the Euphrates. It is a part of the Turkish dominions, and was in ancient times the seat of powerful kingdoms and famous cities.
Anazarba, or Anazarbus. A city in Asia Minor, where the Christians were defeated by the Saracens in 1130.
Anazehs. Nomadic Arabs, who infested the desert extending from Damas to Bagdad; they often laid under contribution the caravans on the way to Mecca.
Ancile. In antiquity, a kind of shield, which fell, as was pretended, from heaven, in the reign of Numa Pompilius; at which time, likewise, a voice was heard declaring that Rome would be mistress of the world as long as she should preserve this holy buckler.
Ancona.