Part 1

Transcriber’s Notes

Texts printed in italics in the source document have been transcribed between underscores. Small capitals have been changed to ALL CAPITALS. Characters between ~tildes~ represent extra large characters; ^{text} represents superscript text.

Please see the Transcriber’s Notes at the end of this file for some important notes about this text and the changes made to it.

MILITARY DICTIONARY,

OR,

EXPLANATION OF THE SEVERAL SYSTEMS OF DISCIPLINE OF DIFFERENT KINDS OF TROOPS,

INFANTRY, ARTILLERY, AND CAVALRY;

THE PRINCIPLES OF FORTIFICATION,

AND

ALL THE MODERN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE SCIENCE OF TACTICS:

COMPRISING

THE POCKET GUNNER, OR LITTLE BOMBARDIER;

THE MILITARY REGULATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES; THE WEIGHTS, MEASURES, AND MONIES OF ALL NATIONS;

THE TECHNICAL TERMS AND PHRASES OF THE ART OF WAR IN THE FRENCH LANGUAGE.

PARTICULARLY ADAPTED TO THE USE OF THE MILITARY INSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES:

BY WILLIAM DUANE,

LATE LIEUTENANT COLONEL IN THE ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES, AND AUTHOR OF THE AMERICAN MILITARY LIBRARY.

An army without discipline is but a mob in uniform, more dangerous to itself than to its enemy. Should any one from ignorance not perceive the immense advantages that arise from a good discipline, it will be sufficient to observe the alterations that have happened in Europe since the year 1700.

SAXE.

I am fully convinced that the tactics of Frederic II. the causes of his superiority, of his system of battles and lines, and of his most skilful movements have been wholly misunderstood to the present time, and that the actions of this great man have been attributed to maxims diametrically opposite to his real principles.

JOMINI.....1808.

PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM DUANE, NO. 98, MARKET STREET. 1810.

DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT:

BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Tenth day of August, in the Thirty Fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1810, William Duane of the said district, hath deposited in this office, the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit: “A Military Dictionary; or, Explanation of the several systems of discipline of different kinds of Troops, Infantry, Artillery, and Cavalry; the Principles of Fortification, and all the Modern Improvements in the Science of Tactics: comprising the Pocket Gunner, or Little Bombardier; the Military Regulations of the United States; the Weights, Measures, and Monies of all Nations; the Technical Terms and Phrases of the Art of War in the French language. Particularly adapted to the use of the Military institutions of the United States: by William Duane, late lieutenant colonel in the army of the United States, and author of the American Military Library. An army without discipline is but a mob in uniform, more dangerous to itself than to its enemy. Should any one from ignorance not perceive the immense advantages that arise from a good discipline, it will be sufficient to observe the alterations that have happened in Europe since the year 1700. Saxe. I am fully convinced that the tactics of Frederic II. the causes of his superiority, of his system of battles and lines, and of his most skilful movements have been wholly misunderstood to the present time, and that the actions of this great man have been attributed to maxims diametrically opposite to his real principles. Jomini....1808.”

In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States, intituled “an Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned.” And also to the Act, entitled “an Act supplementary to an Act, entitled ‘an Act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned,’ and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints.”

D. CALDWELL, Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania.

ELUCIDATORY PREFACE.

When the editor first undertook to prepare a MILITARY LIBRARY for general use, he was stimulated thereto by perceiving the total decay of military information, and the gross errors, in particulars the most simple and essential, which every where had superceded or obstructed useful knowlege. War at the moment seemed to be impending. There was no organization of the militia, nor any system established, excepting an incomplete elementary hand book, formed during the revolution, and adapted to fix those who had already some military experience of the first evolutions of a battalion, in a common method.