Hounds. Are pieces of wood used in the construction of limbers for gun-carriages to connect the splinter-bar with the axle.
Hours of Sitting (Courts-martial). See Appendix, [Articles of War], [94].
Household Troops. See [Guards].
Housing. Cover or cloth over or under a horse’s saddle used for cleanliness, or as an ornamental or military appendage; a saddle-cloth; a horse-cloth.
Howitzer (derived by Grimm and Littré from the Bohemian haufnice, “catapult”). A short, light cannon, having a chamber intended to throw large projectiles with comparatively small charges. A howitzer is of larger caliber than a gun of like weight; is mounted in a similar manner, and is used for shorter ranges. It is said to have been first introduced by the Dutch in the early part of the 17th century, and soon afterward came into almost general use. The Russians in 1777 introduced the licorne, an improved howitzer. Howitzers project larger shells than guns with which they are associated; are well adapted for ricochet fire, the destruction of field-works, breaking down palisades, and setting fire to buildings; and the projectiles used are shells, spherical-case, canister, grape, and carcasses. Howitzers, except for siege and mountain service, are no longer manufactured in the United States, as our present guns are equally suitable for shell-firing in field or garrison service. The ones now in use in the U. S. service are 8-inch and 24-pounder mountain howitzers. The former is used for siege purposes, and for the defense of ditches in fortifications. The 24-pounder flank defense howitzer, now out of use, was formerly employed for this purpose. The 8-inch howitzer has, strictly speaking, no chamber; the bore is, however, terminated by a semi-ellipsoid, the axis being 6 inches in length. This piece weighs 2600 pounds, and the shell (not filled) 45 pounds. The mountain howitzer (12-pounder) is a small, light, bronze piece about 3 feet long, weighing 220 pounds, capable of being easily removed from its carriage, and transported upon the back of a mule. The shell weighs, when strapped and charged, 9.35 pounds, and the maximum range of the piece is about 1000 yards. There are two distinct kinds of carriage used with it, one similar to the carriage of the ordinary field-piece, but smaller and lighter, the other having four wheels and called the prairie carriage. This piece has been extensively employed in our numerous Indian wars upon the plains and mountains of the West, and has done good service.
Hualpais, or Hualapais Indians. A tribe of aborigines who are located on the Colorado River near the Mojaves.
Hub. The hilt of a weapon; as, to drive a dagger into a body up to the hub.
Hubbardton. A village of Rutland Co., Vt., about 46 miles south-southwest of Montpelier. Here an American force of three regiments of Warner, Francis, and Hale, numbering about 1300, were defeated by the British under Col. Fraser, July 7, 1777.
Hubert, St., Order of. The highest Bavarian order of knighthood, founded in 1444.
Hubertsberg. A village of Saxony, 24 miles east from Leipsic. The treaty of peace, by which the Seven Years’ War was ended, was signed in the royal castle of this place in 1763.