Artillery Company, Honorable. A band of infantry, rifles, and artillery, forming part of the militia, or city guards of London, England. It was instituted in 1585; having ceased, was revived in 1610. In the civil war, 1641–48, the company took the side of the Parliament, and greatly contributed towards its success. The company numbered 1200 in 1803, and 800 in 1861. Since 1842 the officers have been appointed by the queen. On the decease of the Duke of Sussex, in 1843, the prince consort became colonel and captain-general. He died December 14, 1861, and the Prince of Wales was appointed his successor, August 24, 1863.
Artilleryman. A man who manages, or assists in managing, large guns in firing.
Artillery-park. The camp of one or more field batteries; the inclosure where, during a siege, the general camp of foot artillery, and depots of guns, materiel, etc., are collected.
Artillery, Royal Regiment of. Is the collective name for the whole of the artillery belonging to the British army. There was no regular regiment or corps of artillery soldiers in the British army till the time of Queen Anne, when the present royal regiment was formed. Since that period, from some anomaly which is not easily explained, all the additions have been made to the same regiment, instead of forming new regiments, to be combined into a division or corps. The regiment is now almost an entire army in itself, and to increase the anomaly, it comprises horse as well as foot. Formerly the foot was divided into battalions and companies, and the horse into troops, but these terms have been abolished, in favor of brigade and battery, which apply both to horse and foot artillery. The regiment now consists of 33,500 men, thus distributed:
| 6 | brigades, | horse artillery, | 30 | batteries. |
| 8 | „ | field artillery, | 62 | „ |
| 14 | „ | garrison art., | 103 | „ |
| 3 | „ | mixed artillery, | 19 | „ |
| 214 | ||||
| 1 | „ | coast artillery not in batteries. | ||
| 1 | „ | depot artillery | „ | „ |
Of the above, the field, garrison, and mixed are foot artillery. This force represents from 1200 to 1300 guns fully equipped for action. Of the foot artillery, the garrison batteries are readily converted to field batteries by the addition of a few drivers.
Artillery Schools. Are special schools for instruction and training in artillery, which are organized through all civilized countries. In the United States, an artillery school was established at Fort Monroe, Va., 1867. Its object is to train both officers and enlisted men in the construction and service of all kinds of artillery and artillery material, and in gunnery and mathematics as applied in the artillery service. For artillery schools in other countries, see Military Academies.
Artillery, Systems of. See Systems of Artillery.
Artillery-train. A number of pieces of ordnance mounted on carriages, with all their furniture, fit for marching.
Arx. In the ancient military art, a fort, castle, etc., for the defense of a place.
Arzegages (Fr.). Batons or canes with iron at both ends. They were carried by the Estradiots, or Albanian cavaliers, who served in France under Charles VIII. and Louis XII.
Asapes. An inferior class of Turkish soldiers employed in sieges to work in intrenchments and perform other pioneer duty.
Asaraouas. A tribe in Algeria against whom the French undertook an expedition in 1837.
Ascalon (Syria). A city of the Philistines which shared the fate of Phœnicia and Judea. The Egyptian army was defeated here by the Crusaders under Godfrey of Bouillon, August 12, 1099; it was besieged by the latter in 1148, taken in 1153, and again in 1191. Its fortifications were destroyed through fear of the Crusaders, by the sultan, in 1270.
Aschaffenburg. On the Maine, Bavaria, Southwestern Germany; here, on July 14, 1866, the Prussians defeated the German Federal army, captured the town, and took 2000 prisoners.
Asculum (now Ascoli, Apulia, Southern Italy). Near it Pyrrhus of Epirus defeated the Romans 279 B.C. Asculum, a city of the Piceni, with all their country, was conquered by the Consul Sempronius 268 B.C. Andrea, general of the Emperor Henry VI., endeavoring to wrest Naples from Tancred, was defeated and slain in 1190.
Ashantees. Warlike negroes of West Africa. In 1807 they conquered Fantee, in which the British settlement of Cape Coast Castle is situated. On the death of their king, who had been friendly to the English, hostilities began; and on January 21, 1824, the Ashantees defeated about 1000 British under Sir Charles McCarthy at Accra, and brought away his skull with others as trophies. They were totally defeated August 27, 1826, by Col. Purdon. The governor of Cape Coast Castle began a war with them in the spring of 1863; but the British troops suffered much through disease, and the war was suspended by the government in May, 1864.
Ashburton Treaty. Concluded at Washington, August 9, 1842, by Alexander, Lord Ashburton, and John Tyler, President of the United States; it defined the boundaries of the respective countries between Canada and Maine, settled the extradition of criminals, etc.
Ashdod, or Azotus. An ancient city of Judea, identified with the site of the modern Asdood, about 12 miles northeast of Ascalon. It is celebrated by Herodotus as having stood a siege of 29 years from Psammatichus, king of Egypt (about 630 B.C.). It was taken by the Assyrians under Tartan, the general of Sennacherib (713 B.C.); taken and destroyed by Judas Maccabæus and his brother Jonathan; restored by Gabinius, and given by Augustus to Salome.
Ashdown, or Assendune. Now thought to be Ashton, Berks, England, where Ethelred and his brother Alfred defeated the Danes in 1171.
Asia Minor. See Anatolia.
Askeri Mohammedize. A name given to the Turkish regular troops organized according to modern tactics.
Aslant. Formed or placed in an oblique line.
Asow. An old fortified city in Southern Russia. Towards the end of the 14th century it fell into the hands of Timur; the Turks took possession of it in 1471; captured by the Cossacks in 1637; besieged without success by the Turks in 1641, they returned the following year with a large army to attack the city, when the Cossacks, thinking it impossible to hold the city against such a force, plundered and burned it; the Turks then rebuilt the city and fortified it; it was surrendered to Peter the Great in 1696; the city again came into the Turkish possession after the peace treaty on the Pruth. In the war between Turkey and Russia, Asow was besieged by Field-Marshal Munich; it surrendered to Gen. Lascy, July 4, 1736.
Aspe. A village in the department of the Lower Pyrenees, France, where a small detachment of the French army defeated 6000 Spaniards in 1792.
Aspect. An army is said to hold a menacing aspect, when by advanced movements or positions it gives the opposing enemy cause to apprehend an attack. A country is said to have a military aspect, when its general