A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer. Thomas Wilhelm
it, or from a military post; also from any company or collection of persons, or from the people at large for military service.
Draft. See Draught.
Draft, To. To draw from a military band or post, or from any company, collection, society, or from the people at large; to detach; to select. Written also draught.
Dragon. An old name for a musketoon.
Dragon et Dragon Volant (Fr.). Some old pieces of artillery were anciently so called. The Dragon was a 40-pounder; the Dragon Volant a 32-pounder. But neither the name nor the size of the caliber of either piece is now in use.
Dragonner (Fr.). According to the French acceptation of the term, is to attack any person in a rude and violent manner; to take anything by force; to adopt prompt and vigorous means; and to bring those people to reason by hard blows, who could not be persuaded by fair words.
Dragoon. From the old fable that the dragon spouts fire, the head of the monster was worked upon the muzzle of a peculiar kind of short muskets which were first carried by the horsemen raised by Marshal Brissac in 1600. This circumstance led to their being called dragoons; and from the general adoption of the same weapon, though without the emblem in question, the term gradually extended itself till it became almost synonymous with horse-soldier. Dragoons were at one time a kind of mounted infantry, drilled to perform the services both of horse and foot. At present, dragoon is simply one among many designations for cavalry, not very precise in its application. This term is not now used in the U. S. service.
Dragoon, To. Is to persecute by abandoning a place to the rage of the soldiers.
Dragoon Guards. In the British service, seven regiments of heavy cavalry bear this title.
Drag-rope. This is a 4-inch hemp rope, 28 feet long, with a thimble worked into each end, one of the thimbles carrying a hook. Six handles, made of oak or ash, are put in between the strands of the rope, and lashed with a marline. It is used to assist in extricating carriages from different positions by the men, for dragging pieces, etc.
Drag-rope Men. The men attached to light or heavy ordnance, for the purpose of expediting movements in action. The French servans à la prolonge are of this description.
Drain, or Drein. In the military art, is a trench made to draw water out of a ditch, which is afterwards filled with hurdles and earth, or with fascines or bundles of rushes, and planks, to facilitate the passage over the mud.
Drake. A small piece of artillery, no longer used.
Draught. The act of drawing men from a military band, army, or post, or from any company or society; draft; detachment; also, formerly, a sudden attack or drawing upon an enemy.
Draughted. The soldiers of any regiment allotted to complete other regiments are said to be draughted, or drafted.
Draught-hook. Either of two large hooks of iron fixed on the cheeks of a gun-carriage, two on each side, used in drawing the gun backward and forward.
Drawbridge. A bridge of which the whole or part is made to be let down, or drawn or turned aside, to admit or hinder communication at pleasure, as before the gate of a town or castle. It is called bascule, swivel, or rolling bridge according as it turns on a hinge vertically, on a pivot horizontally, or is pushed lengthwise on rollers.
Drawing. In a military sense, is the art of representing the appearances of all kinds of military objects by imitation or copying, both with and without the assistance of mathematical rules.
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