Bridges. When a river is more than 4 feet in depth, or when its bottom is of mud or quicksand, recourse must be had either to ferrying by means of boats, rafts, etc., or to military bridges. The latter are always to be preferred when circumstances will permit their establishment.
Military bridges are composed of a roadway and its supports; the first consists of beams or balks reaching across the adjacent supports, and covered with plank called chess.
The supports, from which the bridge takes its name, may be either fixed, as trestles, gabions, carriages, piles, or floating, as pontons, boats of commerce, rafts, etc.
Ponton bridges are preferable to all others when a passage by main force or surprise is to be undertaken. They may be constructed on any stream of sufficient depth; they may be replaced by rafts when the velocity of the stream does not exceed 6 feet per second. In swifter currents the latter are unmanageable, drag their anchors, and are liable to destruction from floating bodies.
Trestle bridges may be constructed in rivers whose depth does not exceed 9 feet, and whose velocity is not more than 6 feet. They may be employed with advantage in rivers of moderate depth and gentle current, with hard, even bottoms. When the bed of the river is uneven the adjustment of the trestles to the bottom is very tedious, and if the current is rapid, almost impossible. When the bed is of mud or fine sand, the settlement of the legs is liable to be irregular.
Gabion bridges are used over marshes and shallow streams. They consist of gabions constructed in the ordinary way, and of a height necessary to give a level road; these are placed in rows perpendicular to the axis of the bridge, are filled with stones, or gravel, and are capped with a piece of timber on which the balks rest.
Pile bridges are superior in point of stability to all other military bridges, but requiring much labor and time in their construction; they are usually restricted to securing the communications in rear of the army.
Bridge-head. A fortification covering the extremity of a bridge nearest the enemy. The French term for the same is tête du pont.
Bridle. An instrument with which a horse is governed and restrained, consisting of a head-stall, a bit and reins, with other appendages, according to its particular form and uses.
Bridle. In gunnery, the piece in the interior of a gun-lock, which covers and holds in place the tumbler and sear, being itself held by the screws on which they turn.
Bridle, Arm Protect. The term for a guard used by the cavalry, which consists in having the sword-hilt above the helmet, the blade crossing the back of the head, with the point of the left shoulder, and the bridle-arm; its edge directed to the left and turned a little upwards, in order to bring the mounting in a proper direction to protect the hand.
Bridoon. The snaffle rein of a military bridle, which acts independently of the bit, at the pleasure of the rider.
Brieg. A town of Silesia, Prussia, about 27 miles from Breslau; it was taken by Frederick II., April 4, 1741; dismantled by the French in 1807.
Briel, Brielle, or The Brill. A fortified seaport town on the north side of the island of Voorne, Holland. It was the nucleus of the Dutch republic, having been taken from the Spaniards by William de la Marck in 1572. This event was the first act of open hostility to Philip II., and paved the way to the complete liberation of the country from a foreign yoke. Briel was the first town of Holland which, without extraneous aid, expelled the French in 1813. The celebrated admirals De Witt and Van Tromp were natives of this place.
Brienne, or Brienne le Château. A town of France, department of the Aube. It has a fine castle, but it is chiefly celebrated as the place where Napoleon received the rudiments of his military education, and where, in 1814, a bloody battle was fought between the French and the allied forces of Russia and Prussia.
Brier Creek. In Warren Co., Ga. An American force 2000 strong, under Gen. Ashe, was defeated on this creek by the English under Prevost, March 4, 1779.
Brigade. A body of troops, whether cavalry, artillery, or infantry, or a mixed command, consisting of two or more regiments, under the command of a brigadier-general. Two or more brigades constitute a division, commanded by a major-general; two or more divisions constitute an army corps, or corps d’armée, the largest body of troops in the organization of the U. S. army.
Brigade. To form into a brigade, or into brigades.
Brigade. In the British service the artillery is divided into brigades, which consist of seven batteries each, under the command of a colonel. The Household Brigade is composed of the Horse Guards, Life Guards, and Foot Guards.
Brigade-Inspector. An officer whose duty it is to inspect troops in companies before they are mustered into the service.
Brigade-Major. An officer appointed to assist the general commanding a brigade in all his duties.
Brigadier-General. An officer in rank next above a colonel and below a major-general. He commands a brigade; and this officer is sometimes called simply brigadier.
Brigand. A species of irregular foot soldiers, frequently mentioned by Froissart. From their plundering propensities comes the modern use of the term.
Brigandine, or Brigantine. A coat of mail, consisting of thin, jointed scales of plate, pliant and easy to the body.
Brigantes. The most powerful of the British tribes, inhabited the whole of the north of the island from the Abus (now Humber) to the Roman wall, with the exception of the southeast corner of Yorkshire. They were conquered by Petilius Cerealis in the reign of Vespasian. There was also a tribe of this name in the south of Ireland.
Brignais (anc. Priscinniacum). An ancient fortress in France, department of the Rhone; it was captured in 1361 by bodies of adventurers, called Grandes Compagnies. Prince Jacques de Bourbon made an effort to dislodge them, but was completely defeated, and died of wounds received upon this occasion.
Brihuega. A town of New Castile, Spain; it was formerly surrounded by walls, of which traces still exist. Here, in 1710, during the War of the Succession, the English general Stanhope, owing to the dilatoriness of his allies in affording him support, was defeated by the Duke of Vendôme, and compelled to surrender with all his force, amounting to about 5500 men.
Brindisi (anc. Brundisium). A fortified seaport of Italy, on a small bay of the Adriatic; it was the usual place of embarkation for Greece and the East; taken by the Romans from the Sallentines in 267 B.C., and was afterwards the principal naval station of the Romans on the Adriatic. During the civil war between Cæsar and Pompey, this place was invested by Cæsar in 49 B.C.
Brins d’Est (Fr.). Large sticks or poles resembling small pickets, with iron at each end. They were used to cross ditches, particularly in Flanders.
Brise-mur (Fr.). A heavy piece of ordnance which was used during the 15th century to batter down walls, etc.
Brissarthe. A village of France, department of Maine-et-Loire. Here the Normans were defeated in 886 by Robert the Strong.
Bristol (West England). Built by Brennus, a British prince, 380 B.C.; is mentioned in 430 as a fortified city; taken by the Earl of Gloucester in his defense of his sister Maud, the empress, against King Stephen, 1138; taken by Prince Rupert, 1643; by Cromwell, 1645.
Brisure. In fortification, any part of a rampart or parapet which deviates from the general direction.
Britain (called by the Romans Britannia, from the Celtic name Prydhain). The Celts, the ancestors of the Britons and modern Welsh, were the first inhabitants of Britain; it is referred to by