Espauliere (Fr.). A defense for the shoulder, composed of flexible, overlapping plates of metal, used in the 15th century; the origin of the modern epaulette.
Espiere. A town of Belgium, 8 miles from Courtrai, where the allied Austrian and English army defeated the French, May 22, 1794.
Espingard, or Epingare (Fr.). An ancient name for a small gun under a 1-pounder. They were used as early as the 14th century.
Espingole, or Spingole (Fr.). A blunderbuss; a kind of blunderbuss which, in early times, was loaded with several balls; the charges were separated from each other by tampions in which a hole was made, and thus the balls were fired in succession.
Espinosa de la Monteros. A town of Spain, on the Trueba, 50 miles from Burgos. The French defeated the Spaniards here in 1808.
Esplanade. In fortification, is the open space intentionally left between the houses of a city and the glacis of its citadel, so that the enemy may not be able to erect breaching batteries under cover of the houses. In old works on fortification, the term is often applied to the glacis of the counterscarp, or the slope of the parapet of the covered way towards the country.
Espontoon (Fr.). A sort of half pike, about 3 feet in length, used in the 17th century. The colonels of corps as well as the captains of companies always used them in action. This weapon was also used by officers in the British army.
Espringal. In the ancient art of war, a machine for throwing large darts, generally called muchettæ.
Esprit de Corps (Fr.). This term is generally used among all military men in Europe. It may not improperly be defined a laudable spirit of ambition which produces a peculiar attachment to any particular corps, company, or service. Officers without descending to mean and pitiful sensations of selfish envy, under the influence of a true esprit de corps rise into an emulous thirst after military glory. The good are excited to peculiar feats of valor by the sentiments it engenders, and the bad are deterred from ever hazarding a disgraceful action by a secret consciousness of the duties it prescribes.
Esquimaux. The tribes inhabiting Greenland and Arctic America. Those inhabiting the continent are found in sparse settlements from Behring Strait to Labrador. They are generally peaceable. Some of these in Greenland have been civilized by the influence of the Danes.