A military dictionary

by William Duane

Cavalry—cloth trimmed with silver, or gold. Privates in cavalry regiments—large saddle cloths, the centre of which is yellow, with a border to agree with the facings of the regiment. The tenth regiment of light dragoons is an exception to this general custom. The privates of that corps have a large piece of broad blue cloth which is thrown over the saddle, and covers the horse’s loins.

At the commencement of the present war, officers were dispensed from wearing furnitures at reviews, because it was judged very properly that the expence of 14 or 15 guineas for an article which was worn one day in the year, was at such a moment unnecessary.

FUSES, in artillery, are chiefly made of very dry beach wood, and sometimes of horn-beam taken near the root. They are turned rough and bored at first, and then kept for several years in a dry place. The diameter of the hole is about ¹⁄₄th of an inch; the hole does not go quite through, having about ¹⁄₄ of an inch at the bottom; and the head is made hollow in the form of a bowl.

The composition for fuses is, salt petre 3, sulphur 1, and mealed powder 3, 4, and sometimes 5. This composition is driven in with an iron driver, whose ends are capped with copper, to prevent the composition from taking fire; and to keep it equally hard; the last shovel-full being all mealed powder, and 2 strands of quick match laid across each other, being driven in with it, the ends of which are folded up into the hollow top, and a cap of parchment tied over it until it be used.

When these fuses are driven into the loaded shell, the lower end is cut off in a slope, so that the composition may inflame the powder in the shell. The fuze must be of such a length as to continue burning all the time the shell is in its range, and to set fire to the powder as soon as it touches the ground, which occasions the shell instantly to burst into many pieces.

When the distance of the battery from the object is known, the time of the shell’s flight may be computed to a second or two; which being ascertained, the fuse may be cut accordingly, by burning two or three, and making use of a watch, or of a string by way of a pendulum, to vibrate seconds.

Fusee, according to the French acceptation of the word, is applied to various purposes, and belongs to various instruments of destruction which are used in war. The fusee is differently made by different artificers. Some make it consist of one pound of gunpowder, and two or three ounces of charcoal well mixed together; others of four pounds of gun-powder, two of saltpetre, and one of sulphur. It must be generally remarked, that the time a bomb, or grenade, will take to burst after it has been thrown out of the mortar, must depend entirely upon the length and quality of the fusee.

Fusees à bombes, Fr. bomb fuses. The intent and object of these fuses, are to communicate fire to the gun-powder, with which the bomb is filled, in order to force it to burst and separate in broken pieces on any given spot. These fuses are usually made in the shape of a wooden pipe or tap, out of the linden tree, the alder, or any other dry and solid wood, and are afterwards filled with a slow combustible composition. The materials are increased, or diminished, according to the nature of their application. Fuses are sometimes made of copper, and they must not have the least aperture or fissure.

There are fuses for bombs of 12, of 10, and of 8 inches diameter. Fuses for bombs of 12 inches diameter, are 8 inches 4 lines long, being 1 inch 8 lines broad at the thick, and 1 inch 2 lines broad at the thin end; the breadth or diameter of the light, or aperture, is 5 lines. Fuses decrease nearly 1 inch in length and 2 lines in diameter, according to the calibre of the bomb. The diameters of the lights or apertures, only diminish one half line.

The composition for bomb fuses consists of seven parts of priming powder to four of salt-petre, and three of sulphur. These different materials are (each separately) first passed through a silk sieve; and after they have been well mixed together, the whole mass is thrown into a moderate sized hair sieve, and again passed through.