Wagon-master. A person in charge of one or more wagons, especially of those used for transporting freight, as the supplies of an army, and the like. The quartermaster-general is authorized to employ from time to time as many forage-masters and wagon-masters as he may deem necessary for the service, not exceeding 20 in the whole, who shall be entitled to receive $40 per month and three rations a day, and forage for one horse; and neither of whom shall be interested or concerned directly or indirectly in any wagon or other means of transport employed by the United States, nor in the purchase or sale of any property procured for or belonging to the United States, except as an agent of the United States.
Wagon-train. An indispensable companion of an army under this or some other title. It serves to convey the ammunition, provisions, sick, wounded, camp equipage, etc. Wagons in convoy travel at a rate of from 1 to 2 miles an hour, according to the state of the roads, and other circumstances; and a mile may be said to contain 100 wagons. A great object in the march of a convoy, is to preserve the draught animals as much as possible from fatigue. For this purpose, if the convoy amount to many hundred wagons, they must be formed into divisions of not more than 500 each. Should it consist of thousands, it will be advisable to form them into grand divisions, and then again into subdivisions of 500 each. By this means, and by calculating the time of departure, each division may remain at rest until just before its time of movement, and the necessity will thus be prevented of the latter part of a large convoy being harassed for a considerable time before its turn to move. The different divisions of the convoy should be numbered, and obliged each day to change the order of their marching. Whenever the progress of a wagon-train is arrested by the breaking down of one of the wagons, or other delay, all the wagons in rear of the stoppage should immediately drive up into the first open space, to as great a number as it will hold. This will keep the convoy together, and better under the care of the escort. The escort should be divided into front, centre, and rear guards; besides the divisions in the flanks, which should never be more than 400 yards from each other.
Wagram. A village of Lower Austria, on the left bank of the Rossbach, 11 miles northeast from Vienna. It is the site of a battle between the French under Napoleon, Davoust, Masséna, and Macdonald, and the Austrians under the Archduke Charles, in which the former were victorious, July 5-6, 1809. The Austrians retreated in the most orderly manner, carrying with them about 5000 prisoners, and leaving about 25,000 dead or wounded on the field of battle,—the French loss being about equal; the latter claim to have taken 20,000 prisoners.
Wahabees, Wahabis, or Wahabites. A warlike Mohammedan reforming sect, considering themselves the only true followers of the Prophet, arose in Arabia about 1750, under the rule of Abd-el-Nahab (Ibn-abdul-Wahab). His grandson Savoud (Saud, or Saood), in 1801, defeated an expedition headed by the caliph of Bagdad. The conquest of Hejaz was next undertaken by the Wahabees. In 1803, Saoud collected a large army, defeated Ghaleb, the ruler of Mecca, in several battles, laid siege to Mecca, which, after a resistance of two or three months, surrendered at discretion. Not the slightest excess was committed, but the people had to become Wahabees. Failing to take Jiddah, into which Ghaleb had thrown himself, the Wahabi forces went northwards, and, in 1804, took Medina, where they stripped the tomb of Mohammed of its accumulated treasures, and prohibited the approach to it of all but Wahabees. For several years after the conquest of Hejaz, Saoud continued to extend and consolidate his power. Plundering incursions were made to the very vicinity of Bagdad, Aleppo, and Damascus. On the east, Saoud took the island of Bahrein, and annexed a part of the Persian coast, on the east side of the Gulf, and exacted tribute from the sultan of Oman. This brought him into conflict with Great Britain, which sent (1808) a force and severely chastised the Wahabi pirates that infested the commerce of the Persian Gulf. Saoud’s son, Abdallah, long resisted Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, but in 1818 he was defeated and taken prisoner by Ibrahim Pasha, who sent him to Constantinople, where he was put to death. Ibrahim continued some months in Arabia, consolidating his conquests throughout Nejed and the adjoining provinces. But soon an insurrection broke out, and the Egyptians had to retire to Kasim, and Turki, a son of Abdallah, was proclaimed sultan of Nejed. Renewed expeditions were undertaken by the Egyptian commanders, driving, first, Turki from his capital for a time and then his son and successor, Feysul. But soon after the death of Mehemet Ali (1849) the Egyptians gave up the struggle; Feysul was recalled from exile; and under him and his son Abdallah II., who unites in a high degree the fanaticism and ferocity of the Wahabi, with great skill in military tactics, the Wahabi sway, according to the accounts of Palgrave in 1863, and of Col. Pelly in 1865, had become more powerful and extensive, and threatens to swallow up the entire peninsula.
Wahlstatt. See [Katsbach].
Wait. Ambush. To lay wait, to lie in ambush; to prepare an ambuscade. To lie in wait, to lie in ambush; to be secreted in order to fall by surprise on an enemy.
Waiting, In. This term is used in the British service, to mark out the person whose turn is next for duty; as, an officer in waiting. Field-officer in waiting, is the term applied to the monthly duty taken by the field-officers of the three regiments of Foot Guards, who attend the sovereign on court-days, to present the detail of his corps, and receive the parole or other orders from her personally, which are afterwards given to the guards in orders. The field-officer in waiting commands all the troops on duty, and has the immediate care of the sovereign’s person within-doors, as the gold stick has of it while in court. The latter also receives the parole from the sovereign.
Waiving Amain. A salutation of defiance, as by brandishing weapons, etc.
Waiwode, or Waywode. In the Turkish empire, the governor of a small province or town; a general.
Wakefield. A town of England, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, 26 miles from York. Near it is the site of a battle between Margaret, the queen of Henry VI., and the Duke of York, in which the latter was slain, and 3000 Yorkists fell upon the field, December 31, 1460. The death of the duke, who aspired to the crown, seemed to fix the good fortune of Margaret; but the Earl of Warwick espoused the cause of the duke’s son, the Earl of March, afterwards Edward IV., and the civil war was continued.