Hurdles. In fortification, twigs of willow or osiers, interwoven close together, and sustained by long stakes. They are made in the figure of a parallelogram, in length 5 or 6 feet, in breadth 3 or 31⁄2. The closer they are wattled together the better. They serve to revet, or render batteries firm, or to consolidate the passage over muddy ditches; or to cover traverses and lodgments for the defense of the workmen against the fireworks. Hurdles are constructed in nearly the same manner as gabions, excepting that the pickets are placed in a straight line instead of a circle.
Hurkaru. A messenger; one who brings intelligence; a scout.
Hurl. To send whirling or whizzing through the air; to throw with violence; to drive with great force; as, to hurl a lance, etc.
Huron Indians (also called Wyandots). A tribe of aborigines now almost extinct, who were settled in Canada and in a part of the United States. They fought against the United States in the war of 1812-15.
Hurst. A charge in heraldry representing a small group of trees, generally borne upon a mount in base.
Hurter, or Heurtoir. A square beam placed at the foot of a parapet where there is an embrasure to prevent the wheels of the gun, when the latter is run up, from injuring the interior slope. A short fascine or military fagot is sometimes substituted for a beam. A hurter is placed on the front part of a siege platform, under the wheels. The motion of gun-carriages is checked, front and rear, by pieces of wood or iron bolted to the top rails called hurters and counter-hurters.
Hussar. A name given to the national cavalry of Hungary and Croatia. They were first raised in 1458, and received their name either from the method in which they were called out, or from the Tartar uswar, which signifies cavalry. In the armies of modern Europe hussars are light horse, and differ from light dragoons only in some peculiarities of dress and equipments.
Hussites. Is the name of the followers of Huss. Immediately after his martyrdom they arose in Bohemia, and took a frightful revenge on the priests, monks, and prelates of the Roman Catholic Church. Wenceslaus succeeded, however, in appeasing the storm by granting them religious freedom. But when the king died in 1419, and the pope issued an order for the conversion of the Hussites by force, a civil war began. They assembled under the leadership of John Ziska, on Mount Tabor, captured Prague, pillaged and burnt the monasteries, and defeated at Deutchbrod in 1422, and in several other minor encounters, the troops of Sigismund, the German emperor and heir of Wenceslaus. Ziska died in 1424, but his successor, Procopius, a former monk, was still more successful. He defeated Sigismund at Miess and Tachau, and carried the war into Austria, Bavaria, Franconia, and Saxony. Meanwhile, the Hussites had separated into two parties, the Taborites and Calixtines. In the beginning they acted in perfect concert with each other. But in 1433 the Council of Basle succeeded in coming to an agreement with the Calixtines and in drawing them out of the contest; the result of which was that the Taborites were totally defeated at Bomishbrod in 1434. Toleration was granted, and Sigismund entered Prague, August 23, 1436. The Hussites opposed his successor, Albert of Austria, and called Casimir of Poland to the throne, but were defeated in 1438. A portion of the Hussites existed in the time of Luther, and were called “Bohemian Brethren.”
Hut. Is a wooden structure, more or less rough in details, for the housing of troops. It is substituted very often for the tent, when the sojourn in a camp or cantonment is likely to be of consideration, as, for instance, through a winter,—a hut, however rude, which is wind- and water-tight, being as superior in comfort to a tent as the latter is to the open air. Huts may be made of almost any size, and are sometimes for one officer; at others for as many as 100 men. The quarters occupied by U. S. troops on the American frontiers are very frequently huts made by the troops.
Huy. A town of Belgium, 18 miles southwest from Liege. This town has withstood several sieges. Its fortifications were dismantled in 1718, but in 1815 its castle was rebuilt.