Part 479

To prevent a SURPRISE. Turpin in his Art of War, observes, that it is not sufficient for the security of the quarters, that they are well distributed, that the guards of horse are posted on the outside, and guards of foot on the inside, and that patroles also are added to them; detachments must be sent out in advance of the guards, in order to make discoveries.

A quarter should never be imagined to be totally secure, whilst there are only guards before it: it would not be difficult for the enemy to come close up to them, particularly if the country is enclosed, either during the day or night; and if it is an open country, in the night time only.

Detachments in advance of the quarters are absolutely necessary, even when there are guards; they should be increased according to the number of the troops, and in proportion to the extent of country to be guarded.

These detachments should march separately in the front, and they should occupy as much country as possible upon the flanks; they must march upon the roads leading to the enemy. In the day time, they must scour the hedges, thickets, and woods, the villages, the hollows, and every sort of place that may serve for an ambuscade: in the night time, they must draw near the quarter, and remain at the distance of at least four hundred paces, and even further if the country is open. In the night, detachments must march very leisurely, not advancing, but crossing each other; and beside the word given out in orders, they will have another particular one to recognize each other. Every now and then they must stop and listen, in order to discover, whether they can hear any thing. The officers commanding the detachments should avoid fighting till the last extremity; they should constantly bear in mind, that the sole purpose of their being ordered to advance, is to preserve the quarters from a surprise.

These detachments should not continue out above six or eight hours, and consequently should never dismount. If there are any hussars in the quarters, they should be employed in these detachments preferably to any other troops, as they are better calculated to scour a country than heavy cavalry, or even dragoons; their horses being more in wind and less liable to be fatigued. It is, besides, the sort of war which is natural to hussars.

As soon as these detachments are returned, others should be sent out for the same purpose, as the quarters should never be uncovered in front. If these detachments hear any thing in the night, the commanding officer should send to discover what it is, and must afterwards convince himself of the truth of it: if it should be occasioned by troops, he will directly send an hussar to the commanding officer of one of the guards, if there are any in the front of the quarters; but if not, then to the commandant of the first quarter, who will apprise the general. He must conceal himself in some place, from whence, without being discovered, he will with greater ease be able to form a judgment of what is marching towards him; and when he shall be more confirmed that they are enemies, he will send a second hussar to give notice to the first post, who will inform the general; and will always continue to observe their motions by marching either on their flank, or before them. See Am. Mil. Lib.

To SURRENDER, (Rendre, Fr.) To give up a town, post, or other fortification, agreeably to articles, &c.

To SURRENDER, (Se rendre, Fr.) To lay down your arms, and give yourself up as a prisoner of war.

SURRENDER, (Reddition, Fr.) The act of giving up. As the surrender of a town or garrison.

SURRENDER of general Burgoyne, 17th October, 1777, at Saratoga.

SURRENDER of general Cornwallis 19th October, 1779, at Yorktown.

To SURROUND. In fortification, to invest. In tactics, to outflank and cut off the means of retreating.

SURROUNDED. Inclosed; invested. A town is said to be surrounded when its principal outlets are blocked up; and an army, when its flanks are turned, and its retreat cut off.

SURSOLID. The fourth multiplication or power of any number whatever taken as the root.

SURVEILLANCE, Fr. Inspection; superintendance; the act of watching. The substantive is new among the French, and comes from Surveiller, to watch.

SURVEY. A survey is an examination of any place or stores, &c. to ascertain their fitness for the purposes of war, &c.

SURVEYING. In military mathematics, the art or act of measuring lands; that is, of taking the dimensions of any tract of ground, laying down the same in a map or drawing, and finding the content or area thereof.

Surveying, called also geodæsia, is a very ancient art; it is even held to have been the first or primitive part of geometry, and that which gave occasion to, and laid the foundation of all the rest.

Surveying consists of three parts: the first is the taking of the necessary measures, and making the most necessary observations, on the ground itself: the second is, the laying down of these measures and observations on paper: and the third, the finding the area or quantity of ground there laid down. The first is what we properly call surveying; the second we call plotting, protracting, or mapping; and the third casting up.

The first, again, consists of two parts, viz. the making of observations for the angles, and the taking of measures for the distances. The former of these is performed by someone or other of the following instruments, viz. the theodolite, circumferenter, semi-circle, plain table, or compass. The latter is performed by means either of the chain, or perambulator.

The second branch of surveying is performed by means of the protractor, and plotting scale. The third, by reducing the several divisions, inclosures, &c. into triangles, squares, trapeziums, parallelograms, &c. but especially triangles; and finding the areas or contents or these several figures. See American Mil. Lib.

SURVEYOR of the Ordnance. See ORDNANCE.

SUSBANDE, Fr. The iron band or plate which covers the trunnion belonging to a piece of ordnance, or to a mortar, when either is fixed upon its carriage.

SUSPECT, Fr. A term adopted by the modern French to signify any person suspected of being an enemy, or indifferent to the cause of the revolution. Hence--Classe des suspects, Fr. The list of the suspected. Reputé suspect, Fr. Looked upon as a suspected person.

To SUSPEND, (Suspendre, Fr.) In a military sense to delay, to protract. Hence to suspend hostilities. It is likewise used to express the act of depriving an officer of rank and pay, in consequence of some offence. This sometimes happens by the sentence of a general court-martial, or by the summary order of the president through the secretary at war. In both cases it is usual for the commanding officer of the regiment to report him to the general of the district, by whom he is again reported to the commander in chief through the adjutant-general. He is then directed, by letter to the commanding officer of the regiment, to be suspended agreeably to the nature of the transgression. In a trifling case, he is only suspended from pay, and is respited accordingly upon the next muster roll for the government of the regimental agent. But when the offence is aggravated by palpable neglect, or obstinacy in not sending a satisfactory reason for his absence, (which can only be done by vouchers from the medical board, &c.) he is suspended from both rank and pay. So that to be suspended is either partially or generally to be deprived of the advantages of a military appointment.

To SUSPEND hostilities. To cease attacking one another.

SUSPENSION of Arms. A short truce that contending parties agree on, in order to bury their dead without danger or molestation; to wait for succours; or to receive instructions from a superior authority.

SUSPENSION, as a military punishment, was probably intended to operate as pecuniary fining does in that of the common law; but (to use Mr. Sullivan’s words, in his treatise on martial law) it can neither be considered as deprivation or degradation. It does not divest an officer of his military character, though it puts him under a temporary incapacity to exercise the duties of his station: he still possesses his rank, though he does not reap any immediate advantage from it: It, in fact, may be looked upon and considered as borrowed from the ecclesiastical system of jurisdiction, which admitted suspension as a minor excommunication.