Stang-Balls are by some called balls of two heads; they are sometimes made of two half-balls joined together by a bar of iron from 8 to 14 inches long; they are likewise made of two entire balls; they are for the same purpose as the before-mentioned.
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Anchor-Balls are made in the same way as the light-balls, and filled with the same composition, only with this addition, that these are made with an iron bar two-thirds of the ball’s diameter in length, and 3 or 4 inches square. One half is fixed within the ball, and the other half remains without; the exterior end is made with a grapple-hook. Very useful to set fire to wooden bridges, or any thing made of wood, or even the rigging of ships, &c. for the pile end being the heaviest, flies foremost, and wherever it touches, fastens, and sets all on fire about it.
Message-Balls. See Shells.
BALLIUM, a term used in ancient military history. In towns the appellation of ballium was given to a work fenced with pallisades, and sometimes to masonry, covering the suburbs; but in castles it was the space immediately within the outer wall.
BALLOON, a hollow vessel of silk, varnished over and filled with inflammable air, by which means it ascends in the atmosphere. It has during the war been used by the French in reconnoitering, and with great success at Fleurus.
BALOTS, Fr.. sacks or bales of wool, made use of in cases of great emergency, to form parapets or places of arms. They are likewise adapted for the defence of trenches, to cover the workmen in saps, and in all instances where promptitude is required.
BAN, or Bann, a sort of proclamation made at the head of a body of troops, or in the several quarters or cantonments of an army, by sound of trumpet, or beat of drum; either for observing martial discipline, or for declaring a new officer, or punishing a soldier, or the like. At present such kind of proclamations are given out in the written orders of the day.
BAN and Arriere Ban, a French military phrase signifying the convocation of vassals under the feudal system. Ménage, a French writer, derives the term from the German word ban, which means publication; Nicod derives it from another German term which signifies field. Borel from the Greek pan which means all, because the convocation was general. In the reign of Charles VII. the ban and arriere ban had different significations. Formerly it meant the assembling of the ordinary militia. After the days of Charles VII. it was called the extraordinary militia. The first served more than the latter; and each was distinguished according to the nature of its particular service. The persons belonging to the arriere-ban were at one period accoutred and mounted like light-horse; but there were occasions on which they served like the infantry. Once under Francis I. in 1545, and again under Lewis XIII. who issued out an order in 1637, that the Arriere-Ban should serve on foot.