ESPRIT de Corps, Fr. this term is generally used among all military men in Europe. It may not improperly be defined a laudable spirit of ambition which produces a peculiar attachment to any particular corps, company or service. Officers without descending to mean and pitiful sensations of selfish envy, under the influence of a true Esprit de corps rise into an emulous thirst after military glory. The good are excited to peculiar feats of valor by the sentiments it engenders, and the bad are deterred from ever hazarding a disgraceful action by a secret consciousness of the duties it prescribes.
ESQUADE. See [Squad].
ESQUIRE. See [Armiger].
S’ESQUIVER, Fr. to steal away.
ESSES, in the train of artillery, are fixed to draught chains and made in the form of an S, one end of which is fastened to the chain, and the other hooks to the horses harness, or to a staple: they serve likewise to lengthen and piece chains together.
ESSUYER le feu, Fr. to remain exposed to the fire of cannon or musquetry.
ESTABLAGE, Fr. the harness which is between the two shafts of a cart, and serves to support them.
To ESTABLISH, To fix, to settle. It is likewise a technical phrase, to express the quartering of any considerable body of troops in a country. Thus it is common to say: The army took up a position in the neighborhood of —— and established its head quarters at ——.
ESTABLISHMENT, in a military sense, implies the quota of officers and men in an army, regiment, troop, or company.
Peace-Establishment, is the reduction of corps to a certain number, by which the aggregate force of a country is diminished, and its expenditure lessened.