Roster, or Rollster. List of officers for duty. The principle which governs details for duty is from the eldest down; longest off duty first on duty. If an officer’s tour of duty for armed service, court-martial, or fatigue, happen when he is upon either duty, he is credited therewith. An officer returning from duty after sickness, takes the same place he had on the post roster before reporting sick; that being sick on the day of detail he gets the credit of the tour and awaits the return of his day, when, if well, he is again detailed. An officer returning from leave of absence is at once subject for detail. Customarily, an officer who returns from detached service is placed at the foot of the roster. The same rules should apply to non-commissioned officers and privates. A regiment or detachment detailed for any duty, receives credit for the duty when it marches off parade to perform the duty, but not if it is dismissed on parade. Officers on inlying pickets are subject to all details. In the British service, regiments proceed on foreign service according to the roster.
Rotterdam. An important commercial city in Holland, in the province of Southern Holland. Its importance dates from the 13th century; taken by the Spaniards by stratagem in 1572, and cruelly treated. It suffered much from the French revolutionary wars.
Rouen. A city in the north of France, the chief town of the department of the Lower Seine, and formerly the capital of Normandy, 68 miles northwest from Paris. It was held by the English till 1204; and was retaken by Henry V., January 19, 1419. Joan of Arc was burnt here, May 30, 1431. It was taken by Charles VII. of France in 1449; and by the Duke of Guise from the Huguenots, October, 1552, and in 1591.
Rough Rider. A non-commissioned officer in the British cavalry regiments, whose business it is to break in refractory horses, and assist the riding-master when required.
Rouleaux. Are round bundles of fascines, which are tied together. They serve to cover men when the works are pushed close to a besieged town, or to mask the head of a work.
Round. A general discharge of fire-arms by a body of troops, in which each soldier fires once. Round of cartridges, one cartridge to each man; as, to supply a regiment with a single round, or with twelve rounds.
Round, Gentleman of the. A gentleman soldier, but of low rank, only above the lance-pesade, whose office it was to visit and inspect the sentinels and advanced guards; also, one of a number of disbanded soldiers who had betaken themselves to the trade of begging.
Round Robin. This term is a corruption of ruban rond, which signifies a round ribbon. It was usual among French officers, when they signed a remonstrance, to write their names in a circular form, so that it was impossible to ascertain who signed first. Hence to sign a round robin against any person, was for any specific number of men to sign, one and all, a remonstrance against him.
Round Table, Knights of. Known in early English history as knights belonging to a celebrated order instituted by King Arthur, and whose exploits and adventures form the subjects of many ballads, and much of the early romantic poetry of England. The members of the order are said to have been 40 in number, and to have derived their name from their custom of sitting about a large, round, marble table, in order to avoid all distinction of rank.
Roundel, or Roundelle. Was a shield used by the Norman soldiers. The word is also applied to the semicircular bastions in early fortification, as introduced by Albert Dürer. This bastion consisted of a semicircle of masonry about 300 feet in diameter, containing roomy casemates for the troops, and for artillery and musketry, with which the ditch and curtains were flanked.