Meigs Gun. See [Magazine Guns].
Melanippus. The name of four Trojan warriors, who fought valiantly in the wars of their native country.
Melazzo (West Sicily). Here Garibaldi, on July 20-21, 1860, defeated the Neapolitans under Gen. Bosco, who lost about 600 men; Garibaldi’s loss being 167. The latter entered Messina; and on July 30 a convention was signed by which it was settled that the Neapolitan troops were to quit Sicily. They held the citadel of Messina till March 13, 1861.
Mêlée (Fr.). A military term, which is used among the French to express the hurry and confusion of a battle. Mêlée corresponds with the English expression “thick of the fight.”
Melegnano. See [Marignano].
Melfi. A town of Naples, province of Basilicata (Potenza), 75 miles east-northeast of Naples, and 34 south of Foggia. It was formerly the capital of the Norman possessions in Southern Italy, and was defended by walls, now in a ruinous condition, and by an ancient Norman castle. The town was taken, and 18,000 of its inhabitants massacred by the French, under Lautrec de Foix, in 1528.
Meloria, or Melora. A small island in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Tuscany, 4 miles west of Leghorn. Near Meloria the Pisan fleet defeated the Genoese in 1241, capturing many bishops going with much treasure to a council. The total destruction of the Pisan fleet on August 6, 1284, by the Genoese near the same place, after a most sanguinary conflict, was considered to be the just punishment of impiety.
Melos (now Milo). One of the Cyclades in the Ægean Sea, colonized by the Spartans about 1116 B.C.; it was captured during the Peloponnesian war, after a seven months’ siege, by the Athenians, who massacred all the men and sold the women and children as slaves, 416 B.C.
Melrose. A village at the foot of the Eildon Hills, on the south bank of the Tweed. It is famous for the ruins of its noble abbey founded by King David I. in 1136, its original pile having been destroyed during the Wars of the Succession. Melrose was burned by Kenneth, king of Scots, in 839.
Melton-Mowbray. A town of England, in Leicestershire, situated at the confluence of the Wreak and Eye. It is remarkable as the scene of a defeat of the Parliamentary troops by the royalists in 1644.