Arrah. A town in British India, in the presidency of Bengal, the scene of several exciting incidents in the Indian mutiny. The English troops gained a victory here over the mutinous Sepoys in 1857.
Arras (Northeast France). The ancient Atrebates; conquered by Cæsar in 50 B.C.; captured and sacked by the Vandals in 407; captured by the Normans in 880; besieged by Charles VI. in 1414; captured by Louis XI.; held by the Austrians from 1493 till 1640, when it was taken by Louis XIII.; besieged by the Spaniards in 1654.
Arrawak Indians. A race or collection of tribes of Indians in Guiana, who were formerly numerous and powerful.
Array. Order; disposition in regular lines; hence, a posture for fighting; as, drawn up in battle array.
Arrayer. In some early English statutes, an officer who had care of the soldiers’ armor, and who saw them duly accoutred.
Arrest. The temporary confinement of officers in barracks, quarters, or tents, pending trial by court-martial, or the consideration of their imputed offenses previous to deciding whether they shall or shall not be tried. (See Appendix, [Articles of War], [65].) Private soldiers are usually placed under guard; by the custom of the service non-commissioned officers may be simply placed in arrest in quarters.
Arrest (Old Fr., now arret). A French phrase, similar in its import to the Latin word retinaculum; it consisted of a small piece of steel or iron, which was formerly used in the construction of fire-arms, to prevent the piece from going off. A familiar phrase among military men in France is, Ce pistolet est en arret, “this pistol is in arrest or is stopped.”
Arreste of the Glacis. Is the junction of the talus which is formed at all the angles.
Arretium. A city of the Gauls, now in the department of the Yonne, France, where the Gauls defeated the Romans in a bloody battle in 284 B.C.
Arrow. In fortification, a work placed at the salient angles of the glacis, communicating with the covert way.