Minor. Under age. Minors will not be enlisted in the army of the United States without the consent of their parents or guardians. If any have enlisted and it becomes known, the Secretary of War, on demand, is required to grant the discharges from the army of minors who have enlisted without the consent of their parents or guardians.
Minorca. One of the [Balearic Islands] (which see) in the Mediterranean. It was captured by Lieut.-Gen. Stanhope and Sir John Leake in 1708, and was ceded to the British by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713; taken by the Spanish and French in July, 1756, and Admiral Byng fell a victim to public indignation for not relieving it. It was restored to the British at the peace in 1793; besieged by the Spaniards, and taken February 5, 1782; captured by the British under Gen. Stuart, without the loss of a man, November 15, 1798; but was given up at the peace of Amiens in 1802.
Minturnæ (Minturnensis; now Trajetto). An important town in Latium, on the frontiers of Campania; was situated on the Appia Via, and on both banks of the Liris, and near the mouth of this river. It was an ancient town of the Ausones, or Aurunci, but surrendered to the Romans of its own accord, 296 B.C. In its neighborhood Marius was taken prisoner.
Minute. A hasty sketch taken of anything in writing. Hence minutes of a general or regimental court-martial.
Minute-gun. A gun discharged every minute, as a signal of distress or mourning.
Minute-man. A man enlisted for service wherever required, and ready to march at a moment’s notice;—a term used in the American Revolution.
Minutes of Councils in the Military Department. The notification of orders and regulations, which are directed to be observed by the British army in India, are so called. These minutes receive the sanction of the governor-general in council, and are the result of previous communications from the court of directors in Europe. The answer to the French word, resultat, which was prefixed to all orders and regulations that were occasionally issued by the military boards, or conseils de guerre, for the government of the army. The term, jugement d’un conseil de guerre, corresponded with our minutes of a general or garrison court-martial, and expressed not only the minutes, but the sentence of the court.
Miquelets (Fr.). Bandits, who have infested the Pyrenean Mountains; armed mountaineers of the Pyrenees; the name is now borne by the captain-general’s guard; in 1808, Napoleon organized a corps of miquelets Français, who rendered good services.
Miqueletti. A small body of mountain fusiliers, who formerly belonged to the Neapolitan army.
Mire (Fr.). In the French artillery, a piece of wood about 4 inches thick, 1 foot high, and 21⁄2 feet long, which is used in pointing cannon.