DISLODGE, to drive an enemy from their post or station.
DISMISSED. An officer in the British service may be dismissed generally or specifically. When an officer is dismissed generally, it is signified to him, that there is not any further occasion for his services. When an officer is dismissed specifically, it is expressly notified, that he is rendered incapable of ever serving again. Sometimes, indeed this species of dismissal is attended with public marks of extreme disgrace and degradation. In the Austrian service a colonel has been dismissed at the head of his regiment, and has had his sword broken before him, &c. During the present war the colonel of a militia regiment has not only been rendered incapable of ever serving again, but has been expelled the house of commons for military misconduct. The charges against him, together with the circumstantial proofs of his guilt, and the king’s approbation of the sentence were read in the circle of every regiment throughout Great Britain, in 1795, and nothing but a plea of severe indisposition saved the culprit from having the minutes publicly communicated to him at the horse guards.
DISMOUNTING, in a military sense, is the act of unhorsing. Thus, to dismount the cavalry, &c. is to make them alight.
To Dismount cannon, is to break their carriages, wheels, axle-trees, or any thing else, so as to render them unfit for service. It also implies dismounting by the gin, &c.
DISOBEDIENCE of orders. Any infraction, by neglect or wilful omission, of general or regimental orders. It is punishable by the articles of war.
DISPART, in gunnery, is to set a mark on the muzzle ring, so that it may be of an equal height with the base ring: hence a line drawn between them, will be parallel to the axis of the concave cylinder, for the gunner to take aim by it, to hit the mark he is to fire at; for the bore and this imaginary line being parallel, the aim so taken must be true. This exactness cannot be made use of in an engagement, and but very seldom at a siege; for in those cases practice and the eye must be the only guides.
Dispart. The dispart of a gun is the half difference between the diameter of the gun at the base ring, and at the swell of the muzzle. The general dispart of all guns is about the ¹⁄₅₆ part of their length. See the disparts of French and English guns under the word [Tangent Scale].
Dispart-frontlet. See [Frontlet].
To DISPERSE. In a military sense, may be variously understood. In an active one, it signifies to disperse any body of men, armed or unarmed, who may have assembled in an illegal or hostile manner. The cavalry are generally employed on these occasions.
To Disperse, likewise means to break suddenly from any particular order, in line or column, and to repair to some rallying point. Hence to sound the disperse, is to give notice that the battalion or battalions are to retreat from their actual position, in a loose and desultory manner, and to reassemble according to the natural line of formation, taking the colors as their central points to dress by.