Cheraw. A village of Chesterfield Co., S. C. It was a Confederate depot of supplies during the civil war, and was captured with all its stores by Gen. Sherman, March 3, 1865.
Cherbourg. A fortified seaport town and important naval station of France, department of Manche, on the English Channel. Edward III. of England unsuccessfully laid siege to Cherbourg in 1346, but in 1418 it was given up to the British. The French regained it in 1450, but the English again took it in 1758.
Cheriton Down. In the county of Hants, England. Here Sir William Waller defeated the royalists under Lord Hopton, May 29, 1644.
Cherokee Indians. A tribe of aborigines who formerly occupied the southern portion of the Appalachian Mountains, and a large tract of country on both sides of the range. In 1838 they were removed by the U. S. government to the west of the Mississippi, into what is now Indian Territory, and the portion of the tribe that now remains have a civilized government and a written language. For numbers, etc., see [Indians and their Agencies].
Cherusci. One of the most celebrated of all the German tribes at the time of Cæsar. Being excited to hostilities by the tyranny and rapacity of the Romans, they entered into a confederation with the neighboring tribes, and, under their leader Arminius, defeated a Roman army at Teutoburg Forest, in A.D. 9. Germanicus, a Roman general, afterwards tried to avenge this disgrace to their honor by subduing them, but was unsuccessful. Owing to their own internal dissensions they were subsequently subdued by the Chatti, another German tribe.
Chesses. Are the platforms which form the flooring of military bridges. They consist of two or more planks, ledged together at the edges by dowels or pegs.
Chest, Ammunition-. See [Ordnance, Carriages for, The Caisson].
Chest, Military. Is a technical name for money and negotiable securities carried by an army, and intended to defray its current expenses. In the British military system this department is managed by the commissariat; in the United States, by the paymaster-general and commissary-general.
Chester. A city of England, in the county of Cheshire. The British Caerleon and the Roman Deva, the station of the Twentieth Legion, Valeria Victrix, quitted by them about 477. The city was first built by Edelfleda about 908. Chester was ravaged by the Danes in 980; taken after three months’ siege for the Parliament in 1645. A projected attack of Fenians on Chester Castle was defeated by the vigilance of the authorities and the arrival of the military, February 11-12, 1867.
Cheval-de-frise. A piece of timber traversed with wooden spikes, pointed with iron, 5 or 6 feet long, used to defend a passage, stop a breach, or make a retrenchment to stop cavalry.