BATTERY, in military language, has two meanings: the one relating to field opera tions; the other, to fortification. A B. in field-operations consists of from 4 to 8 (in the British army, usually 6) pieces of ordnance, together with the necessary gun-carriages, animunition-wagons, horses, artillerymen, and officers. A 13. of foot-artillery (see Aieriu.Euv. ROYAL REGIMENT OF) is usually called a field B., as distinguished from a horse II. There are also hear)/ and light batteries, accordiog to the weight of the ord nance. The term B. is also applied in a narrower sense to the personnel, or complement of men and officers attending such a set of guns. The designation for this used to be, in the foot-artillery, a rompanw, and in the horse-artillery, a troop; but by an order issued in 18.50. both these terms are now nearly superseded by the word B., thereby giving complexity to a term already used in two different meanings. The personnel of a field 13. of six 12-pounder rifled guns, is thus composed: 1 major, 1 captain, 3 lieutenants, 1 surgeon. 1 battery sergeant-major, 1 battery quartermaster-sergeant, 6 sergeants, 4 cor por ils, 4 bombardiers, 06 gunners, 2 trumpeters, 1 farrier and carriage-smith, 3 smiths, 2 collar-makers, 1 wheeler, 61 drivers (privates)—in all 158. In war, gunners and drivers would be added till the total strength of the battery became 277. Two bat teries together form the command of a licut.col., and have the services of a veterinary surgeon between them, The matt:rid of a 12-pounder B. of 6 gams comprises 6 carriages for the guns, 1 spare gun-carriage, :3 store-wagons, 1 store-cart, 1 forge-wagon, 1 rocket-wagon, 12 gun-ammu nition wagons. and 0 wagons for small-arms amommition for the use of the infantry. To thaw these guns and vehicles are required in war about 212 horses, together with S5 saddle-horses, and 8 baggage•horses The vehicles and boxes are prepared for the recep tion of 1284 roundytof&amninnition the guns, 150 rockets, and 93,280 ride cartridges.
There is also carried a supply of empty cartridges, port-fires, fuses, quick match, slow match; and au immense lumber of tools and small articles, besides stores for the wheel ers. shoein!"-smiths, and collar-makers. Nearly all these supplies are equally divided, so as to make each Independent of the others; but some of the stores are in reserve, for the use of the whole battery.
A 13., in fortification, is a row of large guns of any number from 2 to 20 or upwards, mounted on an earthwork or other platform. It differs from an artillery or field B. in having no horses or vehicles immediately belonging to it. Siege-guns are mostly placed in or on such batteries; and when an army is preparing to resist the occupation of a particular place by an enemy, a B. of position is frequently one of the defensive means adopted. On the other hand, the fortifications on and within the walls of a stronghold generally obtain other names than that of B.; although particular rows of guns in cer tain places may be so called. Military engineers distinguish many different kinds of batteries, according to the nature of the duty which they are to fulfill, or of the ground on which they are placed. An elevated.B. has the parapet raised above the ground; the earth for forming it being obtained from a ditch in front. A half sunken B. has the interior slope sunk a little below the surface. A sunken 13. has the base from 24 to 42 in. below the level of the ground. The guns mounted on these three kinds of batteries partake in the varying elevations of the batteries themselves, and are adapted to different modes of firing on the enemy. A siege 13. consists of a range of heavy guns, for silencing the enemy's fire, ruining parapets and buildings, and making a breach which infantry may enter. A cavalier B. is especially elevated, to fire over a parapet without embrasures. In the Moncrieff B., the gun is mounted so as to fire over a parapet 10 ft. high, the recoil causing it to descend after the shot. Enfilade, en revere, en echarpe, rico chet, cross, oblique, etc., batteries differ in the direction in which they pour out their fire. The distinction between gun-batteries, howitzer-batteries. and mortar-batteries, depends on the kind of ordnance employed. A mortar 13. has a ditch of extra width, to afford spare earth for a platform of extra strength and solidity. A military engineer, in planning a B., makes his calculations in such form that the quantity of earth taken out at one spot may about equal that heaped up in another.