H. (continued 2)

Horse Guards. The name was applied to a large public office in Whitehall, London, appropriated to the departments under the general-commanding-in-chief, and guarded by a squadron of Horse Guards. In 1871 the headquarters were removed to Pall Mall.

Horse Guards, Royal (Oxford Blues). Is the third heavy cavalry regiment of the Household Brigade (English). The regiment was raised in 1661 from the remnants of the disbanded army of the late Commonwealth. It took part in Marlborough’s campaigns; served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, and has always been considered one of the finest heavy cavalry corps in the world.

Horseman. A mounted soldier.

Horsemanship. The act or art of riding, and of training and managing horses; manege.

Horse-power. A measure for the quantity of work of which an engine or motor is capable in a given time. It is 33,000 foot-pounds in one minute.

Horse-shoe. In fortification, is a small round or oval work, with a parapet; generally made in a ditch, or marsh.

Horse-tail. A Turkish standard. Commanders are distinguished by the number of horse-tails carried before them, or planted in front of their tents. Thus, the sultan has seven, the grand vizier five, and the pashas three, two, or one.

Hospital. A place appointed for the sick and wounded men, provided with physicians, surgeons, nurses, servants, medicines, beds, etc.

Hospital, Field. Is the staff and apparatus for the surgical treatment of the wounded in the field, and the locality assigned for the resort of the latter to obtain it. In the United States there is a hospital at every military post, under the superintendence of the army medical department.

Hospital, Regimental. In Great Britain, each regiment has a hospital for the reception of the sick belonging to it. This hospital is under the immediate care of the regimental surgeon, who is subordinate to the general medical board.

Hospital Steward. In the U. S. service, is a non-commissioned officer of the general staff, whose duty consists in making up prescriptions, administering medicines, and in a general supervision of the sick, under the instructions of an army medical officer.

Hospital Tent. A large tent used for hospital purposes. See Tent.

Hospitallers. A celebrated brotherhood founded at various times and in different countries for the care of the sick in hospitals. The vow to devote themselves to this work of mercy is, in all these brotherhoods, superadded to the ordinary vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, which are common to all the religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church. One of the earliest recorded instances of a hospital served by such a brotherhood is that of Constance, in the 13th century. See Saint John of Jerusalem and Teutonic Knights.

Hospodar. A title borne by the governors of Wallachia and Moldavia, under the Turks. Although nominated by the porte, they possessed absolute power within their own dominions. By the treaty of Adrianople in 1829, the principalities were placed under Russian protection, and from that time till the treaty of Paris in 1856, the hospodars were virtually the nominees of Russia.

Host. An army; any large body of men assembled together in arms.

Hostages. Are persons given in pledge for the performance of conditions. When a town capitulates, victors and vanquished usually give into the custody, one of the other, several officers, as pledges that each party will duly carry out the terms stipulated. When the terms are fulfilled, the hostages are exchanged; but if the terms be evaded, the opposite side holds the right to put to death, or otherwise punish, the hostages in its possession; of late years the practice is going out of use.

Hostile. Belonging to an enemy; appropriate to an enemy; showing ill-will and malevolence, or a desire to thwart and injure; occupied by an enemy or a hostile people; inimical; unfriendly; as, a hostile force, hostile country, etc.

Hostilities. A rupture between the natives of different countries. The first hostile act that is committed by either party is considered the commencement of hostilities. Between nations, the first act of hostility presupposes a declaration of war.

Hosting. An encounter; a battle. A muster or review. This term is now obsolete.

Hot Shot. Shot made red-hot for the purpose of setting fire to buildings, shipping, etc. The charges for hot shot are from one-fourth to one-sixth the weight of the shot. With small velocities, the shot splits and splinters the wood, so as to render it favorable for burning. With great velocity the ball sinks into the wood, is deprived of air by the closing of the hole, and chars instead of burning the surrounding wood. It should not penetrate deeper than 10 or 12 inches. Red-hot balls do not set fire to the wood until some time after their penetration. They retain sufficient heat to ignite wood after having made several ricochets upon water. The wads for hot shot should be made of clay or hay, the latter to be well soaked in water, and before being used, the water pressed out of it. With proper precautions in loading, the ball may be permitted to cool in the gun without igniting the charge. The piece, however, should be fired with as little delay as possible, as the vapor would diminish the strength of the powder. They are heated by means of furnaces erected for the purpose, which hold sixty or more shot. The shot being placed, and the furnace cold, it requires one hour and fifteen minutes to heat them to a red heat; but after the furnace is once heated, a 24-pounder shot is brought to a red heat in twenty-five minutes. Red-hot shot is not in general use.

Hotchkiss Projectile. See Projectile.

Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon. Consists of five barrels grouped around a common axis; they are revolved in front of a solid breech-block, which has in one part an opening to introduce the cartridges, and another opening through which to extract the empty shells. The cartridges are fired after being revolved and while motionless in front of the solid portion of the breech. In exterior aspect it resembles the Gatling gun, but is entirely different in its interior mechanism. See Machine Guns.

Hotchkiss Rifle. See Magazine Guns.

Hôtel des Invalides (Fr.). A spacious building which was erected by Louis XIV. in Paris, upon the river Seine, as a public monument of his charity and munificence. All disabled, infirm, and wounded officers and soldiers were received, lodged, and subsisted during the remainder of their lives within its walls.

Hotte (Fr.). A sort of hand-basket, which is often made use of in the construction of batteries and other works, and serves to carry earth from one place to another. Hence the word hod, a well-known machine for carrying bricks.

Hougines (Fr.). Parts of ancient armor covering the thighs, legs, and arms.

Hounds. Are pieces of wood used in the construction of limbers for gun-carriages to connect the splinter-bar with the axle.

Hours of Sitting (Courts-martial). See Appendix, Articles of War, 94.

Household Troops. See Guards.

Housing. Cover or cloth over or under a horse’s saddle used for cleanliness, or as an ornamental or military appendage; a saddle-cloth; a horse-cloth.

Howitzer (derived by Grimm and Littré from the Bohemian haufnice, “catapult”). A short, light cannon, having a chamber intended to throw large projectiles with comparatively small charges. A howitzer is of larger caliber than a gun of like weight; is mounted in a similar manner, and is used for shorter ranges. It is said to have been first introduced by the Dutch in the early part of the 17th century, and soon afterward came into almost general use. The Russians in 1777 introduced the licorne, an improved howitzer. Howitzers project larger shells than guns with which they are associated; are well adapted for ricochet fire, the destruction of field-works, breaking down palisades, and setting fire to buildings; and the projectiles used are shells, spherical-case, canister, grape, and carcasses. Howitzers, except for siege and mountain service, are no longer manufactured in the United States, as our present guns are equally suitable for shell-firing in field or garrison service. The ones now in use in the U. S. service are 8-inch and 24-pounder mountain howitzers. The former is used for siege purposes, and for the defense of ditches in fortifications. The 24-pounder flank defense howitzer, now out of use, was formerly employed for this purpose. The 8-inch howitzer has, strictly speaking, no chamber; the bore is, however, terminated by a semi-ellipsoid, the axis being 6 inches in length. This piece weighs 2600 pounds, and the shell (not filled) 45 pounds. The mountain howitzer (12-pounder) is a small, light, bronze piece about 3 feet long, weighing 220 pounds, capable of being easily removed from its carriage, and transported upon the back of a mule. The shell weighs, when strapped and charged, 9.35 pounds, and the maximum range of the piece is about 1000 yards. There are two distinct kinds of carriage used with it, one similar to the carriage of the ordinary field-piece, but smaller and lighter, the other having four wheels and called the prairie carriage. This piece has been extensively employed in our numerous Indian wars upon the plains and mountains of the West, and has done good service.

Hualpais, or Hualapais Indians. A tribe of aborigines who are located on the Colorado River near the Mojaves.

Hub. The hilt of a weapon; as, to drive a dagger into a body up to the hub.

Hubbardton. A village of Rutland Co., Vt., about 46 miles south-southwest of Montpelier. Here an American force of three regiments of Warner, Francis, and Hale, numbering about 1300, were defeated by the British under Col. Fraser, July 7, 1777.

Hubert, St., Order of. The highest Bavarian order of knighthood, founded in 1444.

Hubertsberg. A village of Saxony, 24 miles east from Leipsic. The treaty of peace, by which the Seven Years’ War was ended, was signed in the royal castle of this place in 1763.

Hue and Cry. In Great Britain, an official gazette, which serves to advertise deserters from her majesty’s service.

Huguenots. A term (derived by some from the German Eidgenossen, “confederates,” by others from Hugues, a Genevese Calvinist) applied to the Reformed party in France, followers of Calvin. They took up arms against their persecutors in 1561. After a delusive edict of toleration, a great number were massacred at Vassy, March 1, 1562, when the civil wars began, which lasted with some intermission till the edict of Nantes in 1598 (revoked in 1685). The massacre of St. Bartholomew’s day, August 24, 1572, occurred during a truce.

Huissier d’Armes (Fr.). Tipstaff; an officer formerly so called in France, who was attached to the royal household. They were at first distinguished by the name of sergens d’armes, or sergeants-at-arms. Some were directed to bear the mace before the king during the day, and obtained on that account the appellation of huissiers d’armes; in later times they were called the huissiers, or tipstaffs of the king’s chamber. Others kept watch in the king’s bed-chamber during the night, and were sworn to expose their lives for the safety of his person, whence they obtained the name of archers de la garde, which term was changed to gardes du corps, or body-guards.

Hulan. See Uhlan.

Hull, or Kingston-upon-Hull. A seaport town of England, in Yorkshire, situated on the great inlet of the Humber, at the point where it is entered by the river Hull. It is a very ancient town; during the civil war it declared for the Parliament, and sustained two severe sieges by the royalists.

Humaitá. A strong post on the river Paraguay, defended by a battery of 300 cannon, and believed to be impregnable by Lopez, the president of Paraguay; was forced by the Brazilian ironclads February 17, 1868. On the 19th, Caxias, the Brazilian general, stormed a work to the north of Humaitá, and captured many stores.

Hungary. A portion of the Austrian empire. It was a part of the ancient Pannonia and Dacia; was subjected to the Romans about 106, and retained by them till the 3d century, when it was seized by the Goths, who were expelled about 376 by the Huns, under Attila. After his death in 453, the Gepidæ, and in 500 the Lombards held the country. It was acquired by the Avars about 568, and retained by them till their destruction by Charlemagne in 799. About 890 the country was settled by a Scythian tribe, named Vingours, or Ungri (whence the German name Ungarn), and the Magyars of Finnish origin. The progress of the Magyars westward was checked by their defeat by the emperor Henry the Fowler, 934. After various changes of rulers it came permanently under the dominion of Austria in 1526. A revolution took place in Hungary in 1848 under the leadership of Kossuth.

Huns. The name of a considerable nation of antiquity, which from time to time made incursions on the Roman dominions, and which eventually, under Attila, the most renowned of its leaders, brought in the 5th century the Eastern and Western empires to the verge of destruction. They were originally of Asiatic origin, and probably akin to the Scythians and Turks. In the latter part of the 4th century they settled along the Danube, in the territory abandoned by the Goths, and subsequently they pressed onward towards further conquests. In the 5th century they had acquired considerable power, but after Attila’s death it was broken. Many of them afterwards took service with the Romans; others joined the invaders from the north and east that were attacking the moribund Roman empire.

Hunters, Death-. Followers of an army, who, after an engagement, look for dead bodies in order to strip them.

Hurdices. Ramparts, scaffolds, fortifications, etc.

Hurdles. In fortification, twigs of willow or osiers, interwoven close together, and sustained by long stakes. They are made in the figure of a parallelogram, in length 5 or 6 feet, in breadth 3 or 3¹⁄₂. The closer they are wattled together the better. They serve to revet, or render batteries firm, or to consolidate the passage over muddy ditches; or to cover traverses and lodgments for the defense of the workmen against the fireworks. Hurdles are constructed in nearly the same manner as gabions, excepting that the pickets are placed in a straight line instead of a circle.

Hurkaru. A messenger; one who brings intelligence; a scout.

Hurl. To send whirling or whizzing through the air; to throw with violence; to drive with great force; as, to hurl a lance, etc.

Huron Indians (also called Wyandots). A tribe of aborigines now almost extinct, who were settled in Canada and in a part of the United States. They fought against the United States in the war of 1812-15.

Hurst. A charge in heraldry representing a small group of trees, generally borne upon a mount in base.

Hurter, or Heurtoir. A square beam placed at the foot of a parapet where there is an embrasure to prevent the wheels of the gun, when the latter is run up, from injuring the interior slope. A short fascine or military fagot is sometimes substituted for a beam. A hurter is placed on the front part of a siege platform, under the wheels. The motion of gun-carriages is checked, front and rear, by pieces of wood or iron bolted to the top rails called hurters and counter-hurters.

Hussar. A name given to the national cavalry of Hungary and Croatia. They were first raised in 1458, and received their name either from the method in which they were called out, or from the Tartar uswar, which signifies cavalry. In the armies of modern Europe hussars are light horse, and differ from light dragoons only in some peculiarities of dress and equipments.

Hussites. Is the name of the followers of Huss. Immediately after his martyrdom they arose in Bohemia, and took a frightful revenge on the priests, monks, and prelates of the Roman Catholic Church. Wenceslaus succeeded, however, in appeasing the storm by granting them religious freedom. But when the king died in 1419, and the pope issued an order for the conversion of the Hussites by force, a civil war began. They assembled under the leadership of John Ziska, on Mount Tabor, captured Prague, pillaged and burnt the monasteries, and defeated at Deutchbrod in 1422, and in several other minor encounters, the troops of Sigismund, the German emperor and heir of Wenceslaus. Ziska died in 1424, but his successor, Procopius, a former monk, was still more successful. He defeated Sigismund at Miess and Tachau, and carried the war into Austria, Bavaria, Franconia, and Saxony. Meanwhile, the Hussites had separated into two parties, the Taborites and Calixtines. In the beginning they acted in perfect concert with each other. But in 1433 the Council of Basle succeeded in coming to an agreement with the Calixtines and in drawing them out of the contest; the result of which was that the Taborites were totally defeated at Bomishbrod in 1434. Toleration was granted, and Sigismund entered Prague, August 23, 1436. The Hussites opposed his successor, Albert of Austria, and called Casimir of Poland to the throne, but were defeated in 1438. A portion of the Hussites existed in the time of Luther, and were called “Bohemian Brethren.”

Hut. Is a wooden structure, more or less rough in details, for the housing of troops. It is substituted very often for the tent, when the sojourn in a camp or cantonment is likely to be of consideration, as, for instance, through a winter,—a hut, however rude, which is wind- and water-tight, being as superior in comfort to a tent as the latter is to the open air. Huts may be made of almost any size, and are sometimes for one officer; at others for as many as 100 men. The quarters occupied by U. S. troops on the American frontiers are very frequently huts made by the troops.

Huy. A town of Belgium, 18 miles southwest from Liege. This town has withstood several sieges. Its fortifications were dismantled in 1718, but in 1815 its castle was rebuilt.

Hyccara (now Muro di Carini). A town of Sicani, on the north coast of Sicily, west of Panormus. It was taken by the Athenians and plundered, and its inhabitants sold as slaves, 415 B.C.

Hydaspes. A river in India, where Alexander the Great defeated Porus, after a severely contested engagement, in 327 B.C.

Hyder. The Arabic term for lion. This title is frequently given to men of rank in India.

Hydraulic Jack. A powerful portable apparatus for moving heavy weights through short distances, by an application of the principles of the hydrostatic press. There are two forms, the lifting- and pulling-jack. Those used in the American military service are of 80 tons capacity.

Hydraulic Loading Apparatus. The apparatus used in manœuvring heavy turret-guns in the English navy, invented by Mr. George Rendel (a member of Sir William Armstrong’s firm), and first tested in the working of a 38-ton gun on the “Thunderer.” It was determined to similarly equip the “Inflexible,” with her 80-ton armament. The apparatus was thoroughly tested, in working the 100-ton guns delivered to the Italian government, in experiments at Spezzia, 1876. The working of the gun, including all the operations of loading and sponging, is effected by means of hydraulic pumps, which are all operated by one small steam-engine. The gun is placed with its trunnions resting on two heavy blocks of metal, which, being retained by guides, slide on large beams or girders built in the floor of the turret. In front and rear of the blocks are pistons, working in cylinders in the direction of the floor-beams. These pistons, under the influence of water-pressure, move the gun in and out of battery. The breech is raised and lowered by similar means. When the gun and trunnion-blocks rush back under the impulse of the recoil from firing, the water in the rear cylinders is forced out through escape-valves, which are held down by springs under a tension of 50 atmospheres. The recoil is thus checked in the space of 3 or 4 feet. If a larger charge is used the tension of the springs can be increased. The springs only come into play in resisting the desperate force of recoil. The water pumped into the cylinders (a valve at the rear opening outwards being raised) is sufficient to run the gun forward without displacing the recoil-valves, the working-pressure required being less than 50 atmospheres.

When the gun is to be loaded, it is run forward and the muzzle depressed till it is in front of an armored hood, which shields an iron door in the main deck. The door slides back, a sponge appears on the end of a staff, which enters the bore and lengthens itself like a telescope till the bottom is reached, when, in obedience to the touch of a valve, a flood of water is ejected from the sponge to extinguish fire and wash the bore. The shot and cartridge next appear, lifted from below on a small truck, which is run out on a trap-door. The cartridge is lifted in front of the muzzle, the sponge—now converted into a rammer—pushes it a short distance into the gun, is then withdrawn, and when the shot rises pushes both to the bottom of the bore. The sponge is then withdrawn below deck and the trap closes. Each of these movements is effected entirely by water-pressure, the course of the water and the corresponding operation being determined by manipulating the proper valve. The power is supplied by a small steam-engine specially designed for the purpose. When no manœuvre is to be performed, the engine occupies itself in pumping water from the tank against the recoil-valves. When the pressure rises above 50 atmospheres these valves allow a small quantity to escape, which runs back into the tank. The engine barely moves in this work. When any manœuvre is to be performed, such as running the gun forward, a handle is touched, the cylinder-valves open a passage to the water, and, the enormous resistance being removed, the engine rattles with energy, and the gun moves forward as by magic. The valve being closed by the operator, the engine returns to its sisyphean labor of pumping water against the loaded valves till some new outlet gives it a specific task.

Every part of this apparatus, notwithstanding its provisional mounting, worked perfectly in the experiments at Spezzia.

The only defect in the principle was developed by the bursting of one, the 38-ton gun of the “Thunderer” (January 2, 1879), which was worked by this apparatus. The disaster has been generally attributed to the presence in the gun of a double charge of both shot and powder. This could hardly have occurred in hand-loading. Steps have been taken to remedy the apparatus in this regard.

Hygrometer. An instrument for measuring the degree of moisture of the atmosphere.

Hygrometer, Daniell’s. A form of hygrometer consisting of a bent glass tube terminating in two bulbs, the one covered with muslin, the other of black glass, and containing ether and a thermometer. Ether being poured on the muslin, the black ball, cooled by the evaporation of the ether within, is soon covered with dew, at which moment the receding of the inclosed thermometer, compared with that of another in the air, gives the dew point.