Lorraine (Ger. Lothringen). A former extensive province of France, included in the departments of Vosges, Meurthe, Moselle, and Meuse. Under the Romans it formed part of the Belgic division of Gaul, and was afterwards united to the empire of Charlemagne. It subsequently became a duchy, and passed into possession of the dukes of the house of Austria. In 1836 it was ceded to Stanislas, ex-king of Poland, and after his death passed to the crown of France, from which it was wrested by the Germans at the close of the Franco-German war, May 10, 1871.
Los Angeles. A city, the capital of a county of the same name, in Southern California, about 350 miles southeast of San Francisco. It was captured from the Mexicans by the combined forces of Gen. Kearney and Commodore Stockton in 1846.
Loss. Killed, wounded, and captured persons, or captured property.
Losses. In the British army there is a regular provision made for indemnification for losses by fire, by shipwreck, in action with the enemy, by capture at sea, by destruction or capture of a public store-house, by the destruction of articles or horses, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy, etc. In the United States, it would seem just that Congress should establish some general rule regulating such matters. The principle of settling all such claims by special legislation cannot but bear hardly on a number of individuals, and also probably in the end imposes greater burdens upon the treasury.
Loudon. A parish of Ayrshire, Scotland, 4 miles east from Kilmarnock. In the neighborhood, at Loudon Hall, Bruce, with his forces, encountered the troops of the Earl of Pembroke in 1307.
Loudon-hill. See [Drumclog].
Louis, or Knights of St. Louis. The name of a military order in France, instituted by Louis XIV. in 1693. Their collars were of a flame color, and passed from left to right. The king was always grand master.
Louisburg. A famous fortress built by the French soon after the peace of Utrecht (1713) upon the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island. Since the existence of so strong a place threatened the colonial and English fisheries, it was determined in 1745 by the Legislature of Massachusetts Bay (France and Great Britain being then at war) to strike a blow at the town. Accordingly, a force of colonists consisting of 3250 Massachusetts militia, aided by 516 men from Connecticut and 304 from New Hampshire, set sail in 100 vessels, and landed near the town, April 30, 1745. An active but irregular siege (though the men were without tents and the proper means of conducting such operations) was terminated June 17, 1745, by the capitulation of the French under Duchambon. But the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) gave back all Cape Breton to France. The town was invested in 1758 by Gen. Amherst with 14,000 British troops, 20 line ships, 18 frigates and other vessels. After a tremendous bombardment, which quite destroyed the town, and breached the walls badly, the garrison and French fleet surrendered July 26, 1758. The English overthrew the fortifications at an expense of $50,000. The first cost was one hundred times that sum.
Louisiana. One of the Southern or Gulf States of the United States, lying between Arkansas and Mississippi on the north and east, the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and Texas on the west. The country was visited by La Salle, and the mouth of the Mississippi discovered in 1691, and though Iberville attempted to found a colony in 1699, his efforts were not successful. The country was transferred to Spain by France in 1762; restored to France in 1800; and purchased by the United States in 1803. That part of the Territory now known as the State of that name was admitted into the Union in 1812, and was within three years afterwards the scene of the great battle of New Orleans, fought January 8, 1815, between the British troops under Gen. Pakenham, and the Americans under Gen. Jackson, in which the former were defeated with great loss. The State seceded, and was the theatre of many important events during the civil war (1861-65).
Loup des Anciens (Fr.). Was an iron instrument, made in the shape of a tenaille, by means of which they grappled the battering-rams, and broke them in the middle.