A Military Dictionary and Gazetteer / Comprising ancient and modern military technical terms, historical accounts of all North American Indians, as well as ancient warlike tribes; also notices of battles from the earliest period to the present time, with a concise explanation of terms used in heraldry and the offices thereof. The work also gives valuable geographical information. Compiled from the best authorities of all nations. With an appendix containing the Articles of war, etc.

by Thomas Wilhelm

Piece, Battering-. See [Battering-pieces].

Piece, Field-. See [Field-piece].

Piedmont. An Italian principality, which now forms the northwest part of the kingdom of Italy. In 1796 it was seized by the French, and parceled out into six departments, five being incorporated with France, and one with the kingdom of Italy, but after the fall of Napoleon, the house of Savoy recovered possession of it. Since 1860 the name Piedmont, as a provincial designation, has been disused; and in the new division of Italy into provinces, the boundaries of Piedmont as a distinct country have been disregarded.

Piegans. A tribe of Blackfeet Indians, numbering about 2000, who reside in Montana, and were frequently at war with the Shoshones, Flat Heads, and Gros Ventres. Like the majority of nomadic tribes, they at various times make raids on the settlers, and as a natural result require the correctionary discipline of the military forces. In 1870 they were severely punished by Col. Baker, and, owing to disease and pestilence, they will probably soon cease to exist.

Pierced. In heraldry, a term used to indicate that a charge is perforated so as to show the field beneath it. The aperture is presumed to be circular, unless some other form, as square-pierced or lozenge-pierced, be specified in the blazon.

Piercer. See [Ordnance, Construction of, Boring and Turning].

Pieria. A narrow slip of country on the southeastern coast of Macedonia, extending from the mouth of the Peneus in Thessaly to the Haliacmon, and bounded on the west by Mount Olympus and its offshoots. The inhabitants of this country, the Pieres, were a Thracian people, and are celebrated in the early history of Greek poetry and music. After the establishment of the Macedonian kingdom in Emathia in the 7th century B.C., Pieria was conquered by the Macedonians, and the inhabitants were driven out of the country.

Pierrier. Was a term originally applied to an engine for casting stones; then to a small kind of cannon; now to a mortar for discharging stones, etc.

Piers. The columns upon which a bridge is erected.

Pies (Fr.). Counts palatine who were created in 1560, by Pope Pius IV., and who had precedence at Rome over knights of the Teutonic order and order of Malta.