Bostanji. The first Turkish foot-guards, about 12,000 strong; they guard the imperial castles and accompany the sultans to the field. They were originally employed as gardeners, guards for the seraglio, etc. Their number is now greatly reduced.
Boston. A city and capital of Massachusetts, situated on the west side of Massachusetts Bay, at the mouth of Charles River. It was built about 1627. Here originated that resistance to the British authorities which led to American independence. The act of Parliament laying duties on tea, papers, colors, etc. (passed June, 1767), so excited the indignation of the citizens of Boston, that they destroyed several hundred chests of tea, December 16, 1773. Boston seaport was shut by the English Parliament, until restitution should be made to the East India Company for the tea lost, March 25, 1774. The town was besieged by the British next year, and 400 houses were destroyed. A battle between the royalist and independent troops, in which the latter were defeated, took place June 17, 1775; the city was evacuated by the king’s troops, April, 1776. The inhabitants were very zealous against slavery in 1861.
Boston Massacre. A name popularly given to a disturbance which occurred in the streets of Boston on the evening of March 5, 1770, when a sergeant’s guard belonging to the British garrison fired upon a crowd of people who were surrounding them and pelting them with snowballs, and killed 3 men besides wounding several others. The leader of the townspeople was a black man named Crispus Attucks. The affair is of historical importance, as it prepared the minds of men for the Revolutionary struggle which followed.
Bostra, or Bozrah. A city of Arabia, in an oasis of the Syrian Desert, 76 miles south of Damascus; it was besieged, captured, and sacked by the Saracens, who were commanded by Khaled.
Bosworth Field. In Leicestershire, England, the site of the thirteenth and last battle between the houses of York and Lancaster, August 22, 1485, when Richard III. was defeated and slain by the Earl of Richmond, afterwards Henry VII. Sir William Stanley at a critical moment changed sides, and thus caused the loss of the battle. It is said that Henry was crowned on the spot with the crown of Richard found in a hawthorn bush near the field.
Bothwell Bridge. In Lanarkshire, Scotland. The Scotch Covenanters, who took up arms against the intolerant government of Charles II., and defeated the celebrated Claverhouse at Drumclog, June 1, 1679, were totally routed at Bothwell Bridge, June 22, 1679, by the Earl of Monmouth, and many persons were tortured and executed.
Botoné, or Bottony. In heraldry, a cross-botoné is a cross of which the ends are in the form of buds or buttons.
Bottle Cartridge. See [Cartridge, Bottle].
Bottoming. The foundation of a roadbed.
Botzen, or Bolzana (anc. Pons Drusi). The capital of the circle of Etsch in Tyrol. This town was captured by the French in 1809.