Government.—Under this head may be included instruction in tactics and discipline, the preservation of order and subordination, and the cultivation of a military spirit and pride in the profession among the men. It involves the appointing and reduction of non-commissioned officers, and the subject of rewards and punishments.
Administration.—Providing the clothing and subsistence, and keeping the accounts of soldiers in order, that they may be paid, and attending to the transportation of the men and their supplies, belong under this head. They involve the keeping of the records of the company, and the pay and clothing accounts of the men; the drawing and distributing of supplies, and the care and accountability of public and company property. The efficient administration of the affairs of a company greatly facilitates the discipline and government of the company, makes the men content and cheerful in the performance of their duties, and attaches them to their commander.
Captaincy. The rank, post, or commission of a captain.
Captaincy-general. The office, power, territory, or jurisdiction of a captain-general.
Captain-General. This was the proper appellation of a commander-in-chief till Marlborough’s time, if not later. The rank is sometimes still given on extraordinary occasions. It was born by the Marquis of Wellesley during his government in India, and is applied to the governor-general of the Canadas. In the United States, the governor of a State is captain-general of the militia. Captain-lieutenant, an officer, who with the rank of a captain, and pay of lieutenant, commands a company or troop.
Captainry. The power, or command, over a certain district; chieftainship; captainship.
Captainship. The condition, rank, post, or authority of a captain or chief commander. Also skill in military affairs; as, to show good captainship.
Captive. A prisoner taken by force or stratagem in war, by an enemy; made prisoner, especially in war; kept in bondage or confinement.
Captivity. The state of being a prisoner, or of being in the power of the enemy, by force or the fate of war.
Captor. One who takes, as a prisoner or a prize.
Capture. The act of taking or seizing by force; seizure; arrest; as, the capture of an enemy. The thing taken; a prize; prey taken by force, surprise, or stratagem.
Captured Property. As civilization has advanced during the last centuries, so has likewise steadily advanced, especially in war on land, the distinction between the private individual belonging to a hostile country and the hostile country itself, with its men in arms. The principle has been more and more acknowledged that the unarmed citizen is to be spared in person, property, and honor, as much as the exigencies of war will admit. A victorious army appropriates all public money, seizes all public movable property until further direction by its government, and sequesters for its own benefit or that of its government all the revenues of real property belonging to the hostile government or nation. The title to such real property remains in abeyance during military occupation, and until the conquest is made complete. As a general rule, the property belonging to churches, to hospitals, or other establishments of an exclusively charitable nature, to establishments of education, or foundations for the promotion of knowledge, whether public schools, universities, academies of learning, or observatories, museums of the fine arts, or of a scientific character—such property is not to be considered public property; but it may be taxed or used when the public service may require it. Classical works of art, libraries, scientific collections, or precious instruments, such as astronomical telescopes, as well as hospitals, must be secured against all avoidable injury, even when they are contained in fortified places whilst besieged or bombarded. And if they can be removed without injury, the ruler of the conquering state or nation may order them to be seized and removed for the benefit of the said nation. The ultimate ownership is to be settled by the ensuing treaty of peace.
The United States acknowledge and protect, in hostile countries occupied by them, religion and morality; strictly private property; the persons of the inhabitants, especially those of women; and the sacredness of domestic relations. Offenses to the contrary are rigorously punished. This does not interfere with the right of the victorious invader to tax the people or their property, to levy forced loans, to billet soldiers, or to appropriate property, especially houses, land, boats or ships, and churches for temporary and military uses. Private property can be seized only by way of military necessity, except the owner forfeits his right to it by committing a crime or offense against the victorious power. All captures and booty belong, according to the modern law of war, primarily to the government of the captor. See Stores, Military.
Capua. A town of Naples, in the province of Terra di Lavoro; took the part of Hannibal when his army wintered here after the battle of Cannæ, 216 B.C., and, it is said, became enervated through luxury. In 211, when the Romans retook the city, they scourged and beheaded all the surviving senators; many of them having poisoned themselves after a banquet previous to the surrender of the city. During the Middle Ages, Capua was successively subjugated by the Greeks, Saracens, Normans, and Germans. It was restored to Naples in 1424, and was taken, November 2, 1860, by Garibaldi.
Capuchons (Fr.). A society formed in France from 1181 to 1183, for the suppression of the brigandage of the Routiers; they exterminated 7000 brigands in an engagement near Verdun.
Caracas (South America). Part of Venezuela, discovered by Columbus in 1498. It was reduced by arms, and assigned as property to the Welsers, German merchants, by Charles V.; but for their tyranny they were dispossessed in 1550, and a crown governor appointed. The province declared its independence, May 9, 1810.
Caracole (Sp. caracol). A French term used in horsemanship or the manège to denote a semi-round or half-turn. When cavalry advance to charge in battle they sometimes perform caracoles in order to perplex the enemy, and excite a doubt whether they will attack the flank or the front.
Caravaggio. A walled town of Italy, in the province of Bergamo. Here a battle was fought, September 15, 1448, between the Milanese and Venetians, in which the latter were defeated.
Carberry Hill. In Southern Scotland; here on June 15, 1567, Lord Hume and the confederate barons dispersed the royal army under Bothwell, and took Mary, queen of Scots, prisoner. Bothwell fled.
Carbine. A short light musket, used by cavalry. It is so called from a kind of light horse (Carabins), whose weapon it was. They were employed by Henry II. of France in 1559.
Carbineers, or Carabineers. Dragoons armed with carbines, who occasionally acted as infantry. All regiments of light-armed horse were formerly called carbineers; but since the establishment of hussars and lancers, they have, for the most part, lost that denomination.
Carbon. See Charcoal.
Carcass. In gunnery, is a spherical shell having three additional holes, of the same dimensions as the fuze-hole, pierced at equal distances apart in the upper hemisphere of the shell, and filled with a composition which burns with intense power from 8 to 10 minutes, and the flame issuing from the holes sets fire to everything combustible within its reach; it is used in bombardments, setting fire to shipping, etc., and is projected from cannon like a cannon-shell.
Carcassonne (anc. Carcaso). A city in the south of France, capital of the department of Aude. It was taken from the Visigoths by the Saracens in 724.
Carchera. A name given by the Corsicans to their cartridge-belts.
Cardiff. A seaport and county town of Wales, in Glamorganshire. Cardiff is an ancient place, and is surrounded by walls, in which were four gates. Its castle, once large and strongly fortified, was erected about the year 1079. Robert, duke of Normandy, was confined in it for 28 years after the