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BAYONET , a See also:short thrusting weapon, fixed to the muzzle or fore-end of a See also:rifle or See also:musket and carried by troops armed with the latter weapons. The origin of the word is disputed, but there is some authority for the supposition that the name is derived from the See also:town of See also:Bayonne, where the short See also:dagger called bayonnette was first made towards the end of the 15th See also:century. The See also:elder Puysegur, a native of Bayonne, says (in his See also:Memoirs, published posthumously in See also:Paris, 1747) that when he was commanding the troops at See also:Ypres in 1647 his musketeers used bayonets consisting of a See also:steel dagger fixed in a wooden haft, which fitted into the muzzle of the musket—in fact plug-bayonets. Courts-See also:martial were held on some See also:English soldiers at See also:Tangier in 1663-1664 for using their daggers on their comrades. As bayonets were at first called daggers, and as there were few or no pikemen in Tangier until 1675, the probable conclusion is that the troops in Tangier used plug-bayonets. In 1671 plug-bayonets were issued to the See also:French See also:regiment of fusiliers then raised. They were issued to See also:part of an English See also:dragoon regiment raised in 1672 and disbanded in 1674, and to the Royal Fusiliers when raised in 1685. The danger incurred by the use of this bayonet (which put a stop to all See also:fire) was See also:felt so See also:early that the younger Puysegur saw a See also:ring-bayonet in 1678 which could be fixed without stopping the fire. The English defeat at Killie crankie in 1689 was due (among other things) to the use of thu plug-bayonet; and shortly afterwards the defeated See also:leader, See also:General See also:Mackay, introduced a ring-bayonet of his own invention. A trial with badly-fitting socket or zigzag bayonets was made after the See also:battle of See also:Fleurus, 1690, in the presence of See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis XIV., who refused to adopt them. Shortly after the See also:peace of See also:Ryswick (1697) the English and Germans abolished the See also:pike and introduced these bayonets, and plates of them are given in Surirey de St Remy's Memoires d'Artillerie, published in Paris in that See also:year; but owing to a military See also:cabal they were not issued to the French See also:infantry until 1703. Henceforward the bayonet became, with the musket or other firearm, the typical weapon of infantry.
This bayonet remained in the See also:British service until 18o5, when See also:Sir See also:John See also:Moore introduced a bayonet fastened to the musket by a See also:spring clip. The triangular bayonet (so called from the See also:cross-See also:section of its blade) was used in the British See also:army until the introduction of the See also:magazine rifle, when it was replaced by the See also:sword-bayonet or dagger-bayonet. Sword-bayonetsweapons which could be used as sword or dagger apart from the rifle—had See also:long been in use by See also:special troops such as See also:engineers and rifles, and many ingenious attempts have been made to produce a bayonet fitted for several uses. A long curved sword-bayonet with a saw-edged back was formerly used by the Royal Engineers, but all troops are now supplied with the See also:plain sword-
558
bayonet. The bayonet is usually hung in a See also:scabbard on the See also:belt of the soldier and only fixed during the final stages of a battle; the See also:reason for this is that the " jump " of the rifle due to the See also:shock of See also:explosion is materially altered by the extra See also:weight at the muzzle, which thus deranges the sighting. In the short See also:- LEE
- LEE (or LEGIT) ROWLAND (d. 1543)
- LEE, ANN (1736–1784)
- LEE, ARTHUR (1740–1792)
- LEE, FITZHUGH (1835–1905)
- LEE, GEORGE ALEXANDER (1802-1851)
- LEE, HENRY (1756-1818)
- LEE, JAMES PRINCE (1804-1869)
- LEE, NATHANIEL (c. 1653-16g2)
- LEE, RICHARD HENRY (1732-1794)
- LEE, ROBERT EDWARD (1807–1870)
- LEE, SIDNEY (1859– )
- LEE, SOPHIA (1950-1824)
- LEE, STEPHEN DILL (1833-1908)
Lee-See also:Enfield rifle of 1903, the bayonet, not being directly attached to the See also:barrel, does not See also:influence accuracy, but with the long rifles, when the bayonet is fixed, the sight must be raised by two or three graduations to ensure correct See also:elevation. In the See also:Russian army troops almost invariably carry the bayonet (triangular) fixed; the See also:model (1891) of See also:Italian See also:carbine has an inseparable bayonet; the See also:United States rifle (the new short model of 1903) has a See also:knife bayonet, the model of 1905, which is 2o•5875 in. long, with the See also:lower edge of the blade sharpened along its entire length and the upper edge sharpened 5 in. from the point; this bayonet is carried in a wooden and See also:leather scabbard attached to the See also:cartridge belt. The British bayonet (See also:pattern 1903) has a blade r ft. in length. The length of the rifle and bayonet together, considered as an arme See also:blanche, varies consider-ably, that of the French See also:Lebel pattern of 1886 being 6 ft., as against the 4 ft. 84 in. of the British short Lee-Enfield of 1903. The See also:German rifles (1898) have a length with bayonet of 5 ft. 94 in.; the Russian (1894) 5 ft.
9 in.; and the See also:Japanese 5 ft. 5' in. In 1908 a new British bayonet was approved, 5 in. longer than its predecessor of 1903, the shape of the point being modified to obtain the thrusting effect of a See also:spear or See also:lance See also:head.
End of Article: BAYONET
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