Support Arms. Is to hold the musket vertically on the left shoulder, supported by having the hammer rest on the left forearm, which is passed across the breast.
Supporters. In heraldry, figures placed on each side of an armorial shield, as it were to support it. They seem to have been, in their origin, a purely decorative invention of mediæval seal-engravers, often, however, bearing allusion to the arms or descent of the bearer; but in the course of time their use came to be regulated by authority, and they were considered indicative that the bearer was the head of a family of eminence or distinction. The most usual supporters are animals, real or fabulous; but men in armor are also frequent, and savages, or naked men, often represented with clubs, and wreathed about the head and middle. There are occasional instances of inanimate supporters. On early seals, a single supporter is not unfrequent, and instances are particularly common of the escutcheon being placed on the breast of an eagle displayed. The common rule, however, has been to have a supporter on each side of the shield. The dexter supporter is very often repeated on the sinister side; but the two supporters are in many cases different; when the bearer represents two different families, it is not unusual for a supporter to be adopted from the achievement of each.
Suppress. To overpower and crush; to subdue; to put down; to quell; to destroy; as, the troops suppressed the rebellion.
Surat. A large but declining city of British India, 150 miles north of the city of Bombay, on the south shore of the Tapti, and 8 miles from its mouth in the Gulf of Cambay. Surat was sacked in 1512 by the Portuguese soon after their arrival in India. In 1612 an English force arrived here in two vessels, under the command of Capt. Best, who defeated the Portuguese, and obtained a firman from the Mogul emperor, authorizing the residence of a British minister, and established a factory. An attack of the Mahratta chief Sivajee on the British factory was defeated by Sir George Oxenden, 1664. The English were again attacked in 1670 and 1702, and often subsequently. The East India Company, in 1759, fitted out an armament which dispossessed the admiral of the castle (the Great Mogul had here an officer who was styled his admiral); and, soon after, the possession of this castle was confirmed to them by the court of Delhi. Surat was vested in the British by treaty in 1800 and 1803.
Surcingle. A belt, band, or girth, which passes over a saddle, or over anything laid on a horse’s back, to bind it fast.
Surcoat. A short coat worn over the other garments; especially the long and flowing drapery of knights, anterior to the introduction of plate-armor, and which was frequently emblazoned with the arms of a family.
Surface. In fortification, that part of the side which is terminated by the flank prolonged, and the angle of the nearest bastion; the double of this line with the curtain is equal to the exterior side.
Surgeon. A staff-officer of the medical department. He has the rank of major, but “shall not in virtue of such rank be entitled to command in the line or other staff departments of the army.”
Surgeon-General. The chief of the medical department, with the rank of brigadier-general, but subject to the same restriction of command as other officers of the medical department.
Surgeons, Acting Assistant- (Contract). In the U. S. army, are physicians employed from civil life, at a certain compensation, to perform the duties required of commissioned medical officers, when the number of the latter is insufficient. While they have no rank they still have the allowances of an assistant-surgeon (first lieutenant). A physician so employed cannot displace a commissioned officer by choice of quarters; but to obviate being displaced by a commissioned officer, the commanding officer of a post may assign him an allowance of first lieutenant’s quarters near the hospital, under the provisions authorizing the commanding officer to assign quarters to officers convenient to their troops. Acting assistant-surgeons are entitled to the same protection and respectful conduct from enlisted men as commissioned officers are, so far as relates to their duties as surgeons. A contract physician in the army is regarded as a “quasi-officer.”