Cadence. A uniform time and pace in marching, indispensable to the correct movements of bodies of troops.
Cadency, Marks of. In heraldry, are marks on the shields of younger members of families, by which they are distinguished from the elder and from each other.
Cadet, Military (Fr. cadet, “younger,” “junior”). Is a youth studying for the military service in a school established for military training, such as the Military Academy at West Point, N. Y., the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, England, the Polytechnic School at Paris, etc. (See Military Academies.) There are also medical and engineer cadets, who are youths undergoing special instruction for the public service in the several professions implied by their names.
Cadetship. The rank or commission of a cadet; as, to get a cadetship.
Cadiz (anc. Gades). A fortified maritime city of Spain, in the province of the same name. The Carthaginians became masters of Cadiz during the first Punic war, but the Romans obtained possession of it in 206 B.C. It was taken and pillaged by the Earl of Essex in 1596, and was blockaded in 1656 by Admiral Blake, who captured two rich galleons. It was besieged by the French from February, 1810, until August, 1812. Captured by the Duc d’Angoulême, October 3, 1823, and held till 1828; declared a free port in 1829.
Cadore. A town of Venice, 22 miles northeast from Belluno. This place stands on the Piave, and is distinguished as the birthplace of Titian. In 1797 the French obtained a victory over the Austrians near this town.
Caen. A city of France, in Normandy. A place of importance before 912, when it became the capital of the possessions of the Normans, under whom it flourished. It was taken by the English in 1346 and 1417; but was finally recovered by the French, July 1, 1450. Here were buried William the Conqueror (1087) and his queen (1083).
Caernarvon. A town in North Wales. In the castle (founded in 1283 or 1284) Edward II. was born, April 25, 1284; and the town was chartered by Edward I. in the same year. The town suffered by the civil war of Charles, but was finally retained for the Parliament.
Caffa, Kaffa, or Theodosia. A town in European Russia, in the Crimea, at the end of a large bay on the northern shore of the Black Sea. In 1770 the Russians took this place by assault, and in 1774 it was ceded with the rest of the Crimea to the khan of Tartary, who made it his residence.
Caffraria, and Caffre War. See Kaffraria.
Cahors. A town of France, capital of the department of Lot. It is supposed to have been the capital of the Cadurca, before the conquest of Gaul. It was captured by assault in 1580, by Henry IV.
Caic. See Caique.
Caiffa. See Kaiffa.
Cai-fong. In China, capital of Honan, on the right bank of the Hoang-ho. It was besieged by 100,000 rebels in 1642. The commander of the relieving forces, in order to drown the enemy, broke down the embankments of the river. It is said all the besiegers and 300,000 of the citizens perished.
Cairo, or Grand Cairo. The modern capital of Egypt, partially built by the Saracens in 969; it is surrounded by stone walls which are surmounted with antique battlements; taken by the Turks from the Egyptian sultans, 1517; taken by the French under Napoleon Bonaparte; they entered the city July 23, 1798; captured by the British and Turks, when 6000 French capitulated, June 27, 1801; massacre of the Mamelukes, March 1, 1811.
Caisson. In gunnery, is a carriage used for conveying ammunition for a field battery. It is a four-wheeled carriage, consisting of two parts, one of which is a limber similar to that of a gun-carriage, and connected in a similar way by a wooden stock and lunette. On the axle-body of the rear part, and parallel to the stock, are placed three rails upon which are fastened two ammunition-boxes, one behind the other, and similar to the one on the limber; so that the caisson has three ammunition-boxes, which will seat nine cannoneers. The interior compartments of the ammunition-boxes vary according to the nature of the ammunition with which they are loaded. In the rear of the last box is placed a spare wheel-axle of iron, with a chain and toggle at the end of it. On the rear end of the middle rail is placed a carriage-hook similar to a pintle-hook, to which the lunette of a gun-carriage whose limber has become disabled may be attached, and the gun carried off the field. The caisson has the same turning capacity and mobility as the gun-carriage, so that it can follow the piece in all its manœuvres, if necessary. It also carries a spare wheel, spare pole, etc. See Ordnance, Carriages for, The Caisson.
Cake-powder. See Gunpowder.
Caking. To prevent powder caking, the barrels should be taken outside the magazine and rolled on boards.
Calabozo. A town of Venezuela, South America; it was captured by Bolivar, 1820.
Calabria (anc. Messapia). A region of Southern Italy; it was conquered by the Romans 266 B.C. It formed part of the kingdom of the Ostrogoths under Theodoric, 493; was reconquered (for the Eastern empire) by Belisarius, 536; subdued by the Lombards and joined the duchy of Benevento, 572. After various changes, it was conquered by Robert Guiscard, the Norman, 1058.
Calabuss. An early kind of light musket with a wheel-lock. Bourne mentions it in 1578.
Calagurris (now Calahorra, Spain). A town of the Vascones and a Roman municipium in Hispania Tarraconensis, near the Iberus (Ebro), memorable for its adherence to Sertorius and for its siege by Pompey and his generals (78 B.C.), in the course of which mothers killed and salted their children.
Calais. A fortified seaport town of France, department of Pas-de-Calais, on the Strait of Dover. The town and harbor are defended by a castle and several forts, and can be rendered inaccessible by land by flooding the adjacent ground, which is low and marshy. It was taken by Edward III. after a year’s siege in August, 1347; retaken by the Duke of Guise, January, 1558. It was taken by the Spaniards, April, 1596; restored, 1598. Louis XVIII. landed here in 1814, after his exile.
Calasiries, or Calosires. One of the two divisions (the other being the Hermotybii) of the warrior-caste of Egypt. Their greatest strength was 250,000 men, and their chief abode in the western part of the Delta. They formed the king’s body-guard.
Calatafimi. A town of Sicily, province of Trapani. Here, in May, 1860, Garibaldi defeated the royalist troops under Gen. Landi.
Calatañazor. A small town of Spain in Old Castile. Here Al-Mansoor gained a great victory over the Christians in 1001.
Calatayud. A town of Spain, province of Saragossa. It was captured from the Moors by Alfonso of Aragon in 1118; taken from the descendants of Alfonso by the king of Castile in 1362.
Calatrava, The Order of. Was founded in 1158 by Sancho III. of Castile. For a long period the war against the Moors was carried on almost entirely by the knights of Calatrava. The knights bear a cross gules, fleur-de-lised with green, etc.
Calcans. The bucklers of the Turks were so called during the Middle Ages.
Calcinato. A town of Italy, on the river Chiese. The Duke of Vendôme here defeated the Austrians under Count de Reventlau in 1706.
Calcium-light. A brilliant light produced by projecting the oxyhydrogen flame upon a surface of lime. Called also the Drummond-light.
Calcutta. Capital of Bengal and British India; the first settlement of the English here was made in 1689. The town was attacked and taken by an army of 70,000 horse and foot and 400 elephants (146 of the British were crammed into the “Black-Hole prison,” a dungeon about 16 feet square, from whence 23 only came forth alive