Military Train. A highly important corps of the army of Great Britain, of which the function is to transport the provisions, ammunition, and all other material, together with the wounded in time of battle. It was formed after the Crimean war, on the dissolution of the Land-Transport Corps. In the year 1863 it comprised 6 battalions, in all 1840 officers and men. The corps ranks after the Royal Engineers, and is classed as Mounted Infantry, the officers receiving infantry rates, and the men cavalry rates of pay. The men are armed with carbine and sword, but rather for defensive than aggressive purposes. Attached to each battalion are 166 horses, with proportionate wagons and ambulances. It is proper to observe that the Military Train constitutes the nucleus of a transport service for a large army, and that in time of war it would be expanded by the addition of thousands of horses or mules, and the incorporation of many hundred drivers, etc. The advantage of possessing even a few men ready trained and capable of directing the movements of others was amply demonstrated by the failures of the Crimea in 1854-56; so that Parliament votes ungrudgingly the expense of this corps, although in time of peace it is comparatively without employment. It is now termed the Army Service Corps.
Military Ways. The large Roman roads which Agrippa caused to be made through the empire in the reign of Augustus for the marching of troops and conveying of carriages. They were paved from the gates of Rome to the utmost limits of the empire. The British have constructed a military road throughout India, with wells and other accommodations at certain distances.
Militia. From the Latin miles, a “soldier,” a term which was formerly synonymous with “military,” or the whole fighting force of a country, but in modern times has come to signify the domestic force for the defense of a nation, as distinguished from the regular army, which can be employed at home or abroad in either aggressive or defensive operations. Every nation has a reserve, under its law military, upon which its defense would fall on the discomfiture of the regular army; but the system differs in each country. France has her Gardes Nationaux, Prussia the [Landwehr] and [Landsturm], and similar organizations exist in other European states. It also comprehends the volunteer organizations of Great Britain and the United States. The laws of the United States require the enrollment into the militia of all able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, with certain exceptions specified in general and State laws. The militia of each State is required to be arranged into companies, battalions, regiments, brigades, and divisions, as the Legislature of the State may direct, and it shall be subject to military duty and shall serve a definite time. These organizations are to be officered by the respective States, the grades and number of officers being named in the laws requiring enrollment. The Constitution of the United States has given the power to Congress to provide for “calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions.” Congress by legislation has given the President the authority to call forth the militia under certain exigencies, as has been frequently done. When called into actual service of the United States, the militia receive pay from the government, and are subject to the Rules and Articles of War. The militia is therefore a part and parcel of the army of the United States, although in common use the term is limited to mean the regular army alone. The organized militia of the United States numbers 125,906 men, the number of men available for military duty unorganized, is 6,598,105.
Militia-man. One who belongs to the militia.
Mill, Gunpowder-. Is a machine used for mixing or incorporating the ingredients of which gunpowder is composed. The operation was formerly effected as follows: The ingredients being duly proportioned and put into the mortars of the mills, which are hollow pieces of wood, each capable of holding 20 pounds of paste, are incorporated by means of the pestle and spindle. There are 24 mortars in each mill, where are made each day 480 pounds of gunpowder, care being taken to sprinkle the ingredients in the mortars with water from time to time, lest they should take fire. The pestle is a piece of wood 10 feet high, and 41⁄2 inches broad, armed at the bottom with a round piece of metal. It weighs about 60 pounds. For more modern methods of incorporation, see [Gunpowder].
Mill Springs. A village of Wayne Co., Ky., about 100 miles south of Frankfort. Near here a Federal force under Gen. Geo. H. Thomas defeated a Confederate army under Gen. G. B. Crittenden, January 19, 1862. In this engagement the Confederate general F. K. Zollicoffer was killed.
Mill-cake. The incorporated materials for gunpowder, in the form of a dense mass or cake, ready to be subjected to the process of granulation.
Milliken’s Bend. A village of Madison Parish, La., on the right bank of the Mississippi River, about 25 miles above Vicksburg. On June 6, 1863, the Confederates under Gen. McCullough made an attack on this place, which was defended by a body of colored troops and part of an Iowa regiment, and were repulsed after a severe engagement.
Mim Bashy. In the East Indies, a commander of 1000 horse.
Minas, Sabbatha. A fort in Babylonia, built in the time of the later Roman empire on the site of Seleucia, which the Romans had destroyed.