Khelat. A hill fortress of considerable strength in the territory of Afghanistan, which was gallantly captured by the British troops in 1839.
Kherson. An ancient Dorian colony, which came under the sway of the great Mithridates about 120 B.C., and afterwards of that of Rome in 30. It continued important, and its possession was long disputed by the Russians and Greeks. It was taken by Vladimir, grand duke of Russia, in 988. The city was destroyed by the Lithuanians; and the Turks found it deserted when they took possession of the Crimea in 1475.
Khiva (anc. Chorasmia), Khaurezm, Kharasm, or Urgunge. A khanate of Turkestan, in Central Asia. In ancient times it was nominally subject to the Selucidæ; subsequently it formed part of the kingdoms of Bactria, Parthia, Persia, and the Caliphate, and became an independent monarchy in 1092 under a Seljuk dynasty. The Khivans, or as they were then called, the Khaurezmians, after conquering the whole of Persia and Afghanistan, were obliged to succumb to the Moguls, under Genghis Khan, in 1221. In 1370 it came into the hands of Timur. Timur’s descendants were subdued in 1511 by Shahy Beg, chief of the Uzbeks, a Turkish tribe, and his successors still rule over Khiva. In 1717, Peter the Great attempted to conquer it, but his army was totally defeated; the attempt was renewed in 1839 by the czar Nicholas, with the same result; the greater part of the Russian army perished in the desert. From 1873 to 1875, however, it was continually invaded by the armies of Russia, who in the latter year occupied a portion of the principality, which is now ruled by the Russian government under the name of the Trans-Caspian Territory.
Khodadaud Sircar (Ind.). The government or ruler blessed or beloved of God; it was a title assumed by Tippoo Sahib, the sovereign of the kingdom of Mysore, who fell in defense of his capital, Seringanatam, when it was stormed, May 4, 1799, by the British forces under Lieut.-Gen. Harris.
Khoi. A walled town of Persia, province of Azerbijan, on a tributary of the Khar. In the plain of Khoi, Shah Ismael signally defeated the Turks under Selim I. in 1514.
Khurd-Cabul. A village of Afghanistan, situated 16 miles southeast of Cabul. Here, in 1841, the British troops retreating from Cabul to Jelalabad became totally disorganized, and were murdered without resistance by the Afghans; and here, in 1842, Gen. Pollock encamped after the decisive defeat of the Afghans at Terzeen.
Khyber Pass. The most practicable of all the openings through the Khyber Mountains, is the only one by which cannon can be conveyed between the plain of Peshawur, on the right bank of the upper Indus, and the plain of Jelalabad, in Northern Afghanistan. It is 30 miles in length, being here and there merely a narrow ravine between almost perpendicular rocks of at least 600 feet in height. It may be said to have been the key of the adjacent regions in either direction from the days of Alexander the Great to the Afghan wars of 1839-42. Here a British army, on its retreat from Cabul in January, 1842, was absolutely annihilated.
Kibee. A flaw produced in the bore of a gun by a shot striking against it.
Kick. To recoil;—said of a musket, piece of ordnance, and the like.
Kickapoos. A tribe of Indians who formerly lived on the Wisconsin River, and were for a long time hostile to the white settlers, but after Wayne’s victory over the tribes in Ohio in 1794 submitted, and concluded a treaty of peace in 1795. In 1811 and 1812, however, they again renewed hostilities, and attacked Fort Harrison in the latter year. Being repulsed, they surprised and murdered 20 persons at the mouth of White River. For this and similar atrocities they were punished by the burning of some of their villages. After a desultory warfare, treaties of peace were again concluded with them, and after the treaty of 1819 they sold their lands and moved beyond the Mississippi River. A few settled down to agriculture, and their descendants now exhibit considerable indications of civilization; but the greater number roamed over the country committing depredations. Some of them are now settled on the Kansas agency, Kansas, and others on the Sac and Fox agency, in Indian Territory. See [Indians and their Agencies].