=Abydus.= An ancient city of Mysia on the Hellespont nearly opposite Sestus on the European shore. Near this town Xerxes placed the bridge of boats by which his troops were conveyed across the channel to the town of Sestus, 480 B.C. =Abyssinia.= A country of Eastern Africa, forming an elevated table-land and containing many fertile valleys. Theodore II., the king of this country, having maltreated and imprisoned some English subjects, an expedition under Lord Napier was sent against him from Bombay in 1867. On April 14, 1868, the mountain fortress of Magdala was stormed and taken with but little trouble, and Theodore was found dead on the hill, having killed himself. The country is at present governed by Emperor John of Ethiopia, who was crowned in 1872. =Academies, Military.= See MILITARY ACADEMIES. =Accelerator.= A cannon in which several charges are successively fired to give an increasing velocity to the projectile while moving in the bore. See MULTI-CHARGE GUN. =Accessible.= Easy of access or approach. A place or fort is said to be accessible when it can be approached with a hostile force by land or sea. =Accintus.= A word in ancient times signifying the complete accoutrements of a soldier. =Accolade.= The ceremonious act of conferring knighthood in ancient times. It consisted of an embrace and gentle blow with the sword on the shoulder of the person on whom the honor of knighthood was being conferred. =Accord.= The conditions under which a fortress or command of troops is surrendered. =Accoutre.= To furnish with accoutrements. =Accoutrements.= Dress, equipage, trappings. Specifically, the equipments of a soldier, except arms and clothing. =Accused.= In a military sense, the designation of one who is arraigned before a military court. =Acerræ= (now _Acera_). A city in the kingdom of Naples, taken and burned by Hannibal in 216 B.C. In 90 B.C. the Romans defeated under its walls the allied rebels commanded by Papius. =Acerræ.= A city of the Gauls, taken by Marcellus in 222 B.C. =Achæan League.= A confederacy which existed from very early times among the twelve states of the province of Achaia, in the north of the Peloponnesus. It was broken up after the death of Alexander the Great, but was set on foot again by some of the original cities, 280 B.C., the epoch of its rise into great historical importance; for from this time it gained strength, and finally spread over the whole Peloponnesus, though not without much opposition, principally on the part of Lacedæmon. It was finally dissolved by the Romans, on the event of the capture of Corinth by Mummius, 147 B.C. The two most celebrated leaders of this league were Aratus, the principal instrument of its early aggrandizement, and Philopœmen, the contemporary and rival, in military reputation, of Scipio and Hannibal. =Achern.= A city in the grand duchy of Baden, on the river Acher. Near this place a monument marks the spot where Marshal Turenne was killed by a random shot in 1675.