Grenado. The ancient term for a live shell.
Grenoble. A fortified town of France, in the department of the Isère. The town is surrounded with fortifications, and the heights which command the town are also fortified. This was the first place which openly received Napoleon I. on his escape from Elba, in 1815.
Gribeauval’s System of Artillery. About 1765 various improvements were introduced into European artillery by Gen. Gribeauval. He separated [field] from [siege artillery], lightened and shortened field-guns and diminished the charges. He adopted elevating screws and tangent scales, strengthened the carriages, and introduced neater uniformity in the dimensions, enabling spare parts to be carried for repairs.
Grices. In heraldry, are young wild boars.
Griffe (Fr.). Means literally a claw; but in a military sense, as accepted by the French, it signifies an iron instrument which is made like a hook, and is used by miners to pick out the small stones that are incorporated with cement, etc.
Griffin. A fabulous animal, usually represented in heraldry with the body and hind legs of a lion, and the beak, wings, and claws of an eagle.
Griffin Gun. A name sometimes given to the 3-inch rifle used in the U. S. field service from its inventor, Mr. Griffin, of the Phœnixville Iron-Works, Pa., where the gun was made.
Grip. The handle of a sword.
Grisons. The largest of all the cantons of Switzerland. The country was anciently inhabited by the Rhætii; it was conquered by the Roman emperor Constantius in the 4th century, and his camp (Curia, Chur, or Coire, the name of the present capital) was planted on the Rhine. In the 10th century the country of the Grisons was added to the German empire, and remained till 1268 subject to the Swabian dukes. With the decay of the imperial authority it came to be oppressed by a numerous nobility, the ruins of whose castles still crown the heights. Against them the people began, in the end of the 14th century, to form leagues in the different valleys. In 1472, these separate unions entered into a general confederation, which then formed an alliance with the Swiss cantons, but it was not till 1803 that it was admitted into the Swiss Confederation as the fifteenth canton. Grisons was overrun by the French in 1798 and 1799.
Grochow. Near Prague, a suburb of Warsaw. Here took place a desperate conflict between the Poles and Russians, February 19-20, 1831, the former remaining masters of the field of battle. The Russians shortly after retreated, having been foiled in their attempt to take Warsaw. They are said to have lost 7000 men, and the Poles 2000.