Topographic-Charts, are specific delineations of military positions, in any given tract of country. Companies of topographers have been formed among the French, for the purpose of accurately and expeditiously pointing out to generals and commanding officers, all the relative points of locality, &c. See American Mil. Lib. article Reconnoitring.
CHASE of a gun. See [Chace].
To Chase the enemy, means to march after them on horseback in full speed. To pursue a ship at sea.
CHASSEURS. The French light infantry, answering to the American riflemen and German yagers, are called chasseurs a pied; they have also chasseurs a cheval. The word means literally a hunter.
CHAT, Fr. a piece of iron having one, two or three very sharp prongs, or claws; arranged in a triangular shape, when it has three prongs. This piece of iron is fixed to a shaft. It is used in the examination of a piece of ordnance, and by being introduced into the bore, shews whether it be honey-combed, damaged, or otherwise defective.
There is another species of Chat which differs a little from the one we have just described. It consists of two branches of iron, that are fixed to the end of a piece of the same metal, and have, each of them two steel prongs or claws. One of these branches contains a hinge with a spring so fixed, that when the chat is put into the bore, the least cavity releases the spring, and the defect is instantly discovered. Master Founders, who by no means like the invention, call the common chat Le Diable, the devil; and they distinguish the one with two branches, by terming it la màlice du diable, the malice of the devil.
CHATTER les pieces, Fr. to search, to probe, or examine pieces of ordnance with a chat, in order to discover whether there are any defects within the bore of a cannon.
CHAUDIERES, Fr. are vessels made use of in military magazines, to boil pitch in, for various purposes.
CHAUFFE, Fr. a spot where the wood is collected and burnt in a foundry. The chauffe stands three feet under the side of the furnace, the flames which issue from it, spread over every part of the inside of the furnace, and by their intense heat dissolve the metal.
Chausse-Trapes, Fr. are what we call crows-feet, they consist of nails with 4 or 5 points, of which one always stands upwards above the level of the ground; each point is 2, 3, 4 or 5 inches long. They are usually fixed in different parts of a breach, or in any place which is accessible to cavalry; to prevent its approach: sometimes they are of use to obstruct the passage of cavalry through the streets of towns.