Part 201

HALF-BATTA. An extra allowance which has been granted to the whole of the officers belonging to the British east Indian army, except in Bengal, when out of the company’s district in the province of Oude. In the upper provinces double batta is allowed. All above full is paid by the native princes, as the troops stationed in that quarter are considered as auxiliaries. The full batta is an allowance granted to both officers and men whenever they are under canvas. Batta is equal to full pay.

HALF-CIRCLE guard, one of the guards used with the broad-sword to parry an inside cut below the wrist, formed by dropping the point of the sword outward in a semicircular direction, with the edge turned to the left, and raising the hand to the height of the face.

HALF-CIRCLE parade, a parade of the small sword, used against the thrust in low carte.

HALF-HANGER, or HALF-HANGING-GUARD, a position of defence in the art of broad-sword; differing from the hanging-guard, in the sword-hand not being raised so high, but held low enough to see your opponent over the hilt. See BROADSWORD.

HALF-MOON, or demi-lune, Fr. See FORTIFICATION.

HALF-PAY, a certain allowance which is made to officers in the British service who have been reduced, in consequence of some general order that effects whole corps, supernumerary companies or individuals.

It may likewise be considered as a compensation to individuals, who have been permitted to retire from the active functions of military life.

HALF-PAY officers are, to all intents and purposes, out of the reach of military cognizance. They cannot be tried by martial law; nor are they liable to be called upon either as members of a court martial, or for the purpose of actual service.

HALF-PIKE, (demi pique, Fr.) a small pike, which was formerly carried by officers.

HALF-SWORD, close fight, within half the length of a sword.

HALT [French halte], is a discontinuance of the march of any body of men, armed or unarmed, under military direction. It is frequently practised for the purpose of easing troops during their progress through a country, or to render them fresh and active previous to any warlike undertaking.

Frequent halts are made during the passage of obstacles, and in an intersected country, in order to obviate the inconvenience and danger which must attend a column whose head is advanced too far to preserve the regular succession of all its component parts. Nothing, indeed, can be more pregnant with mischief than such a chasm; for, if the enemy be in the neighborhood, both front and rear are exposed. The best way in the passage of defiles, &c. is to proceed to a distance beyond it which shall be sufficiently extensive to admit of the whole number; there to halt, and not to march forward until the rear has completely cleared the obstacle.

HALT, is likewise a word of command in familiar use when a regiment is on its march from one quarter to another. The men are permitted to refresh themselves half-way. It should be generally observed, that to prevent soldiers from straggling about, or getting among persons who might entice them to be disorderly, a strict order ought to be given by the commanding officer of every battalion not to allow any division or detachment to halt in or near a town or village. A convenient midway spot should be chosen for the purpose, and when the men have piled their arms (which may be done in line or in column), a few steady soldiers should be detached to guard the ground, and to prevent others from straggling beyond certain limits. Among the French it was usual for the commanding officer of a battalion, division, or detachment, in hot weather, to send a sergeant and a few steady grenadiers forward, in order to secure good water for the troops. This practice ought to be avoided as much as possible; for men are more exposed to suffer from drinking when overheated, than they would be by patiently enduring the thirst until they reached the spot where the day’s march is to terminate.

To HALT in open column for the purpose of wheeling up into line. When the several companies of one or more battalions have entered the alignement, and marched with their guides of manœuvre, or pivot flanks along the line, covering each other at their due distances (for which company officers are answerable), the open column is then in a state to be wheeled into line.

As soon, therefore, as the head or rear division, according to circumstances, arrives at the given point where it is to form line, the commander of the battalion gives the word mark time, in order to afford the several ranks time to correct their dressing and distance by their guides and pivots: on the delivery of this word, the foot which is then off the ground, finishes its proper step, and the other is brought up to it; and when the whole are dressed the word is given to halt. The instant the halt is ordered, the commanding officer from the head division of each battalion (taking care that an adjutant is placed in the true line) makes any small correction on a near point in that line that the pivots may require, although no such correction ought to be necessary.

To HALT after having wheeled from open column. The officers commanding companies, &c. having during the wheel turned round to face their men, and inclined towards the pivot of the preceding company, as they perceive their wheeling men make the step which brings them up to their several pivots, they give the word mark time--halt. The men, on receiving this last word of command, halt with their eyes still turned to the wheeling flank, and each officer being then placed before the preceding guide or pivot, to which his men are then looking, corrects the interior of his company upon that pivot, his own pivot, and the general line of the other pivots. This being quickly and instantaneously done, the officer immediately takes his post on the right of his company, which has been preserved for him by his serjeant. Thus the whole line, when halted, is imperceptibly dressed.

In cavalry movements, when the open column halted on the ground on which it is to form, wheels up into line, the following specific instructions must be attended to:

Distances being just, guides and pivot leaders being truly covered, the caution is given, Wheel into line! when the then pivot-flank leaders place themselves each on the reverse flank of such divisions, as by its wheel up brings them to their true place in the squadron. The leading division of each squadron sends out a guide to line himself with the pivot files. At the word march! the whole wheel up into line, which is marked by the guides or pivots, and also bounded by the horses’ heads of the faced guides of it.--Dress--halt! is then given (as well as the other words by each squadron leader) the instant before the completion of the wheel; the eyes are then turned to the standing flank (to which the correction of the squadron is made), and remain so till otherwise ordered; so that a line formed by wheels to the left, will remain with eyes to the right; and one formed by wheels to the right will remain with eyes to the left.

During the wheel up, the standard moves to its place in squadron, and at the halt every individual must have gained his proper post.

HALTE, Fr. See HALT.

HALTER-CAST. In farriery, an excoriation or hurt in the pastern, which is occasioned by the horse endeavoring to scrub the itching part of the body near the head and neck, and thus entangling one of his hinder feet in the halter. The consequence of which is, that he naturally struggles to get free and sometimes receives very dangerous hurts in the hollow of his pastern.

HALTING, in farriery, a limping, or going lame; an irregularity in the motion of a horse, arising from a lameness in the shoulder, leg, or foot, which obliges him to tread tenderly.

HAMLET, a small village.

Tower HAMLETS. The militia raised in the district of the Tower of London, is so called, and is divided into two battalions.

HAMMER, well-known instrument with an iron head, for driving nails, &c. The artillery aids each carry one in his belt, in order to clear the vent from any stoppage.

HAMMER, a piece of iron which stands in a perpendicular direction above the cover of the pan, being a part of the same, and serving to produce those sparks of fire that ultimately occasion the explosion of the gunpowder. The Germans call it pfannen deckel, the cover of the pan; but this expression does not convey a distinct and clear idea of the use that is made of it. Nothing, however, can be less appropriate than the term appears amongst us. We call the part which is struck against to produce sparks of fire the hammer; and the part which strikes, the cock; whereas that part of the cock which holds the flint is, in fact, the hammer, and the other is without a proper name. The Germans call the cock hahn. It is not within our province to propose new terms; we are therefore satisfied in having pointed out the contradiction.

HAMMER-SPRING, the spring on which the hammer of a gun-lock works. It is also called feather-spring.

HAMMOCK, (hamac, Fr.) a sort of bed made of cotton or canvas. Those used in America consisted of a broad piece of canvas which was suspended between two branches of a tree, or between two stakes, and in which the savages are accustomed to sleep.