SLASH, a cut; a wound; also a cut in cloth. It is used to express the pieces of tape or worsted lace which are upon the arms of non-commissioned officers and corporals, to distinguish them from the privates.
SLASHED, cut in stripes or lines. Hence slashed sleeves and pockets, which are peculiar to the British cavalry, when the officers or men wear long coats.
Slashers. A nickname which was given during the American war to the British 28th regiment of foot, and which took its origin from the following circumstance: One Walker, a magistrate in Canada, having, during a severe winter, with great inhumanity, refused to give comfortable billets to the women belonging to the 28th, and some of them having perished in consequence of the inclemency of the season, so great was the resentment of the corps, that some officers dressed themselves like savages, entered his house whilst he was sitting with his family, danced round the table, and suddenly pulling him back upon his chair, cut off both his ears. They instantly disappeared. The deed was not discovered until after their departure. From this circumstance, and in consequence of various intrepid actions which the 28th performed during the course of the war, the men obtained the name of slashers.
SLATE, in military architecture, a kind of bluish fossile stone, very soft when dug out of the quarry, and therefore easily slit or sawed into thin long squares, to serve instead of tiles for the covering of all kinds of military buildings, &c.
SLAUGHTER, destruction by the sword, bayonet, and firearms.
SLEDGE, or sledge-hammer, a large iron-headed hammer.
SLEEPERS, the undermost timbers of a gun or mortar-battery. See [Platform].
SLEETS, are the parts of a mortar going from the chamber to the trunnions, to strengthen that part.
SLING, a leathern strap which is attached to a musquet, and serves to hang it across the soldier’s back as occasion may require.
Gun-Sling, or Belt. Although this useful article owes its invention to the ingenuity of an individual for the convenience of sportsmen, it may nevertheless be adapted with so much facility to military purposes, that a description of it cannot be thought superfluous.