Breckenridge, John

C., an American statesman and general, was born near Lexington, Ky., in 1821. After engaging in the study of law, he was returned by the Democratic party to Congre in 1851 and 1853, and, upon the election of Mr. Buchanan to the chief magistracy was chosen Vice-President of the U. S. in 1856. In 1860 he was an unsucce ful candidate for the Presidential chair, receiving the bulk of the Southern vote, and in the following year was returned by his State to the national Senate. In this latter position he warmly espoused the cause of the Southern malcontents, and in Sept. of the same year, supplemented his words by acts, in taking up arms against the Union, and receiving from the govt. of the Southern Confederacy the rank of major general. In command of a division he bore his share in the battles of Stone River and Chick am aug a, defeated Gen. Sigel near New Market, Va., in 1864, and was appointed Confederate Secretary of War in Jan., 1865. He visited Europe after the collapse of the cause he had embraced, and after his return to the U. S., in 1868, withdrew from public life altogether. Died at Lexington, Ky., 1875. Breech-loading is the method of introducing the charge into a firearm at the breech instead of the muzzle. The breech is then closed by a block of metal held in place by a hinge and lever, by a bolt with a bayonet joint, and, in case of heavy guns, by a screw or a wedge. B. L. guns are said to have been in use in England early in the reign of Henry VI. There are several ancient specimens in the Tower of London. It it is only within recent years that the breech-loading principle has been made very effective. Among the best weapons of this cla now existing may be mentioned the Armstrong, Whit worth and Krupp guns, the mitrailleuse, and the Cha epot, Enfield, Lebel, Martini, Mauser, Sharps, Snider, Spencer, Krag-Jorgensen, and Remington rifles. The Pru ian needle-gun was the first rifle of this kind used in European armies. In this the breech is closed by a bolt carrying a long needle. This is driven by the hammer quite through the powder and ignites it in front by striking a patch of fulminate placed at the base of the sabot which carries the bullet. The various other rifles named have each some special device for closing the breech and igniting the powder, all based on the same general principle. In regard to artillery, the difficulty in closing the breech simply and effectually, and the greater cost, long stood in the way of the application of breech-loading devices. The Armstrong breech loading system, introduced in 1859, was soon after abandoned, and breech-loaders were not again made in England until 1880, after several other nations had adopted them. They are now everywhere in use. There are practically only three methods of closing the breech of a gun-the screw, the wedge, and the interrupted screw. The last of these, now employed in France and England, consists of a solid steel breech-block furnished with a screw-thread of the requisite pitch and strength, fitting into a similar female screw in the gun. The surface of the block is divided longitudinally into six or eight equal parts, and the screw thread planed away from alternate portions. In the gun the parts corresponding to the smooth portion are left, and those between them are slo ted away. A turn of one-sixth or one-eighth of a circle enables the block to be drawn out, and a carrier, hinged to the side, swings it clear of the bore. Breech-loading sporting guns are made on a distinctly different principle, called the drop-down action. Nearly all are based on the Lafaucheux action, invented in 1825. This consists of a piece of steel, called the lump, securely fastened to the under side of the breech end of the barrels, its fore end hinged by means of a pin to the corresponding part of the breech-piece. On this hinge the barrels are moved in opening and shutting the breech. The lump is usually cut into two divisions, which fit into slots in the breech-piece, and are locked there securely by ingenious arrangements. The outside hammer, however, is usually discarded in modern breechloaders, the cap being exploded by a hammer working internally. See CANNON. Breit'mann, Hans, pseudonym of CHARLES GODFREY LELAND (q. v.).