Part 87
When the battalion which has marched in perfect order, arrives on its ground, it keeps the _marked time_ until it is dressed, and receives the word _halt_, the step which is then taking is finished, and the whole halt. Eyes are cast to the centre, and the commanding officer places himself close to the rear rank, in order to see whether the battalion be sufficiently dressed, and in a direction perfectly parallel to the one it quitted.
When the battalion is advancing in line for any considerable distance, or moving up in parade, the music may be allowed at intervals, to play for a few seconds only, and the drums in two divisions to roll, but the wind instruments are alone permitted to play. When the line is retiring, the music are never to play.
_To march by any one face, the square or oblong having previously been formed by the 4th, 5th, and 6th, companies of a regular battalion standing fast._ Under these circumstances, the side which is to lead is announced; the colors move up behind its centre; the opposite side faces about: and the two flank-sides wheel up by sub-divisions, so as to stand each in open column, The square marches, two sides in line, and by their centre; and two sides in open column, which cover, and dress to their inward flanks on which they wheeled up carefully preserving their distances. The square halts, and when ordered to front square, the sub-divisions in column immediately wheel back, and form their sides, and the side which faced about again faces outwards.
_To_ MARCH _by the right front angle._ When the perfect square is to march by one of its angles, in the direction of its diagonal, a caution is given by which angle the movement is to be made, and the two sides that form it stand fast, while the other two sides face about. The whole then by sub-divisions, wheel up one-eighth of a circle, two sides to the right, and two sides to the left, and are thus parallel to each other, and perpendicular to the direction in which they are to move, the pivot-flanks being in this manner placed on the sides of the square, each side being thus in echellon, and the colors behind the leading angle, the whole are out in march, carefully preserving the distances they wheeled at, and from the flanks to which they wheeled.
When the oblong marches by one of its angles, its sub-divisions perform the same operation of wheeling up, each the eighth of the circle; but its direction of march will not be in the diagonal of the oblong, but in that of a square, viz. of the line which equally bisects the right angle.
It will be remembered, that the angular march of the square or oblong, may be made in any other direction, to the right or left of the above one; but in such case the sub-divisions of the two opposite sides, will have to wheel up more than the eighth of the circle, in order to stand as before, perpendicular to the new direction. The sum of these two wheels will always amount to that of a quarter circle, and their difference will vary as the new line departs, more or less, from the equal bisecting line; this will be known by the first wheeling up the two angular divisions, till they stand perpendicular with the new direction, and then ordering all the others to conform accordingly. This movement is very beautiful in the execution, but cannot be made with any degree of accuracy, unless the perpendicular situation of the division is correctly attained, and carefully preserved.
_To_ MARCH _in open ground, so as to be prepared against the attack of cavalry_. In order to execute this movement, with some degree of security, one or more battalions may move in column of companies at quarter distances, one named company in the centre of each being ordered to keep an additional distance of 2 files; in which shape a battalion is easily managed, or directed upon any point. When the column _halts_, and is ordered to _form the square_, the first company falls back to the second, the last company closes up to the one before it: the whole companies make an interval of 2 paces in their centre, by their sub-divisions taking each one pace to the flanks; 2 officers with their serjeants, place themselves in each of their front and rear intervals; two officers with their serjeants, also take post in rear of each flank of the company, from which the additional interval has been kept; and a Serjeant takes the place of each flank front rank man of the first division, and of each flank rear rank man of the last division; all other officers, serjeants, the 4 displaced men, &c. assemble in the centre of the companies, which are to form the flank faces. Those last named companies having been told off, each in 4 sections, wheel up by sections, 2 to the right, and 2 to the left; (the 2 rear companies at the same time closing up, and facing outwards,) the inner sections then close forward to their front ones, which dress up with the extremities of the front and rear companies, and 4 on each flank of the second companies, from the front and from the rear; _Face outwards!_--The whole thus stand faced outwards and formed 6 deep, with two officers and their serjeants in the middle of each face, to command it; all the other officers, as well as serjeants, &c. are in the void space in the centre, and the files of the officers in the faces, may be completed from serjeants, &c. in the interior, in such manner as the commandant may direct. The mounted field officers, must pass into the centre of the column, by the rear face, if necessary, opening from its centre 2 paces and again closing in.
When ordered only, the 2 first ranks all round the column, will kneel and the front rank slope their bayonets, the 2 next ranks will fire standing, and all the others will remain in reserve; the file coverers behind each officer of the sides will give back, and enable him to stand in the third rank.
MARCH _resumed under the same circumstances_. On receiving the cautionary word of command, the several sections that had closed up, fall to their distances; the sections then wheel back into column; the officers, serjeants, &c. take their places on the flanks; and when the column is again put in motion, the companies that closed up, successively take their proper distances.
It will be remembered that unless the companies are above 16 file, they cannot be divided into 4 sections; so that in this case, a section may consist of 4 file or eight men, if therefore, they are under 16 file, and told off in sections of 5 or 3, the column will march at the distance of a section; and in forming the square, the 2 outward sections will wheel up, but the 3d one will stand fast, and afterwards, by dividing itself to right and left, will form a 4th rank to the others; in resuming column the outward sections wheel back, and the rear of the centre sections easily recover their places: as to all other circumstances, they remain the same.
_The_ MARCH, when applied to the movement of an army, consists in its arrangement with respect to the number and composition of columns, the precautions to be taken, the posts to be seized upon to cover it, &c. which arrangement must depend upon circumstances. The following are general rules:
The routes must be constantly opened to the width of 60 feet.
If the march be through an open country, without defiles, the cavalry march by divisions of squadrons, and the infantry by platoons or half companies.
In an inclosed country, or such as is intersected by hollow ways, or other defiles, the march must be by sections of 6 (by the heads of the section after facing to left, being wheeled to the right) or more files in the infantry, and ranks by threes or by twos in the cavalry, and the artillery must move in a single file, because the frequent breaking off and forming up again, may retard the march, and fatigue the troops.
In marches made parallel to, or with a view of gaining the enemy’s flank, divisions must preserve their wheeling distances, and the column must cover the same length of ground which it would occupy in line of battle; in marches directly perpendicular to the enemy’s position, the column must be closed up to half or quarter distance, in order to move in as compact a body as possible.
The pivot files must attend to preserve their distances exactly, each following precisely the path pointed out by the one before him; and keeping the regular marching step, by which means, upon a signal being given, the division is in a moment in order. The leader or _guide_ of the pivot file may be occasionally changed.
At the head of every column, whether composed of infantry or cavalry, a well instructed non-commissioned officer must march as _guide_. He must carefully keep the regular step of the march, to which the troops are drilled, and upon this man the regular pace of the column will depend; by this method two essential points are ensured; one, that every column moves in exactly the same time, and of course enables the officer commanding to calculate the march with certainty; another that it ensures the troops not being over hurried, which they are more especially liable to be when cavalry leads the column; two non-commissioned officers should be appointed for this purpose, who must relieve each other.
At the head of every column of march, there must be a considerable number of pioneers to clear the rout.
Guns or carriages breaking down and disabled, are immediately to be removed out of the line of march, so as not to interrupt its progress.
Officers are most positively enjoined at all times to remain with their divisions, whether marching or halted.
The commanding officers of regiments must pay the greatest attention to their corps whilst passing a defile, and proper officers should be left to assist in this most essential part of the conduct of marches.
It is a standing rule in column, that every regiment should march with the same front, that the regiment does which precedes it, right or left.
No alteration should be made in any circumstance of the march, which is to be taken up from the regiment in front, until arrived exactly upon the same ground upon which that regiment made the alteration.
No officer should ride between the divisions on a march, except general and staff officers, the execution of whose duty renders it necessary for them to pass in all directions.
When a battalion passes a defile, and there is no room for the officers to ride on the flanks of their divisions, half of those who are mounted pass at the head of the battalion, and half in the rear.
All breakings off to enter a defile, and all formations again when passed through it, must be done extremely quick, by the parts that double, or that form up.
A sufficient number of faithful and intelligent guides must always be ready to march at the head of the battalions and columns.
MARCH _of the line_, in a collective sense of the word, is a military movement, executed upon established principles, governed by local circumstances, and influenced by the nature of the service for which it is performed. After a general has obtained an accurate knowlege of the country through which his army is to move, his next care must be the arrangement of all its different component parts, with which he will form his column of route.
MARCH _of the Column of Route_. The order in which a battalion should at all times move; that the columns of an army should perform their marches; that an enemy should be approached; and that safety can be ensured to the troops in their transitions from one point to another is in columns of divisions, and never on a less front than 6 files where the formation is 3 deep, or 4 files where it is 2 deep, nor does any advantage arise from such column, if it is an open column, exceeding 16 or 24 files in front, where a considerable space is to be gone over.
At no time whatever ought a column of manœuvre, or of route, to occupy a greater extent of ground in marching than what is equal to its front when in order of battle; no situation can require it as an advantage. Therefore, the marching of great bodies in file, where improper extension is unavoidable, must be looked upon as an unmilitary practice, and ought only to be had recourse to when unavoidably necessary. Where woods, inclosures, and bad or narrow routes absolutely require a march in file, there is no remedy for the delay in forming, and man may be obliged to come up after man; and if circumstances admit, and there are openings for their passage, the divisions or platoons may be faced to the left and wheeled to the right, and severally marched to the same front; but these circumstances, which should be regarded as exceptions from the primary and desired order of march on a greater front, should tend the more to enforce the great principle of preventing improper distances, and of getting out of so weak a situation as soon as the nature of the ground will allow of the front of the march being increased.
In common route marching, the battalion or more considerable column may be carried on at a natural pace of about 75 steps in a minute, or near two miles and an half in an hour: the attention of the soldier is allowed to be relaxed, he moves without the restraint of cadence of step, or carried arms; rear ranks are opened to one or two paces; files are loosened but never confounded; in no situation is the ordered distance between divisions ever to be increased, and the proper flank officers and under officers remain answerable for them.
If the column is halted, the whole must be put in march at the same time. The movement of the head division must be steady and equal; the descending of heights must not be hurried, that the part of the column ascending may properly keep up. Alterations occasioned by the windings of the route are executed without losing distance. Soldiers are not to break to avoid mud or small spots of water. The guides and pivots must trace out such a path for themselves as will best avoid small obstructions, and the men of the division will open from, and not press upon their pivots. When platoon officers are permitted to be mounted, each will remain on the flank of his division watching over its exactness, and that the proper distance of march is kept by the flank pivot and guide under the officer appointed to preserve it.
Where the arrival of a column at a given point is to be perfectly punctual, in that case the distance being known, the head, must move at an equal cadenced step, and the rear must conform; and a guide, expressly appointed, will, at the head of the column, take such step as the nature of the route shall permit the column to comply with.
Nothing so much fatigues troops in a considerable column, and is more to be avoided than an inequality of march. One great reason is, that the rear of the column frequently and unnecessarily deviates from the line which its head traces out; and in endeavouring to regain that line, and their first distances, the divisions must of course run or stop, and again take up their march. It is unnecessary to attempt the same scrupulous observances in common route marching, as when going to enter into the alignement; but even a general attention to this circumstance will in that case prevent unnecessary winding in the march, which tends to prolong it, and to harass the soldier.
When the probable required formation of the line will be to a flank, then the column of march is an open one, and except the cannon, no impediment or circumstance whatever must be allowed betwixt the divisions or in the intervals of battalions. When cannon can possibly move on the flank of the battalion, they ought, and mounted officers or bat horses must not be permitted between the divisions. If the probable formation may be to the front, then distances are more closed up, and bat horses, &c. may be allowed between the brigades of a column, but not between the battalions of a brigade.
It is always time well employed to halt the head of a considerable column, and enlarge an opening, or repair a bad step in the road, rather than to diminish the front, or lengthen out the line of march. No individual is to presume to march on a less front than what the leader of the column directs, and all doublings must therefore come from the head only. The preservation of the original front of march, on all occasions, is a point of the highest consequence, and it is a most meritorious service in any officer to prevent all unnecessary doublings, or to correct them as soon as made; no advantage can arrive from them, and therefore each commanding officer, when he arrives near the cause, should be assured that it is necessary before he permits his battalion so to double: on all occasions he should continue his march on the greatest front, that, without crowding, the road or openings will allow, although the regiment or divisions before him may be marching on a narrower front.
All openings made for the march of a column should be sufficient for the greatest front on which it is to march, they should be all of the same width, otherwise each smaller one becomes a defile.
At all points of increasing or diminishing the front of the march, an intelligent officer, per battalion or brigade, should be stationed to see that it is performed with celerity; and the commandant of a considerable column should have constant reports and inspections made that the column is moving with proper regularity; he should have officers in advance to apprize him of difficulties to be avoided, or obstacles to be passed, and should himself apply every proper means to obviate such as may occur in the march. (And at no time are such helps more necessary than when regiments are acting in line on broken ground, and when their movements are combined with those of others.) When the column arrives near its object of formation or manœuvre, the strictest attention of officers and men is to be required, and each individual is to be at his post.
The great principle on all occasions of diminishing or increasing the front of the column in march is, that such part as doubles or forms up shall slacken or quicken its pace, as is necessary to conform to the part which has no such operation to perform, but which continues its uniform march, without the least alteration, as if no such process was going on; and if this is observed, distances can never be lost, or the column lengthened out. Unless the unremitting attention and intelligence of officers commanding battalions and their divisions are given to this object, disorder and constant stops and runs take place in the column; the soldier is improperly and unnecessarily harassed; disease soon gains ground in a corps thus ill conducted, which is not to be depended on in any combined arrangement, is unequal to any effort when its exertion may be required, and is soon ruined from a neglect of the first and most important of military duties.
The most important exercise that troops can attend to is the march in column of route. No calculation can be made on columns which do not move with an ascertained regularity, and great fatigue arises to the soldier. A general cannot depend on execution, and therefore can make no combination of time or distance in the arrival of columns at their several points. In many situations an improperly extended column will be liable to be beat in detail, and before it can be formed. Troops that are seldom assembled for the manœuvres of war, can hardly feel the necessity of the modes in which a considerable body of infantry must march and move.
The distance of columns from each other, during a march, depends on the circumstances of ground, and the object of that march, with regard to future formations. The more columns in which a considerable corps marches, the less extent in depth will it take up, the less frequent will be its halts, and the more speedily can it form in order of battle to the front.
On the combinations of march, and on their execution by the component parts of the body, does the success of every military operation or enterprize depend. To fulfil the intentions of the chief every concurrent exertion of the subordinate officer is _required_, and the best calculated dispositions, founded on local knowlege, must fail, if there is a want of that punctuality of execution which every general must trust to, and has a right to expect from the leaders of his columns.
The composition of the columns of an army must always depend on the nature of the country and the objects of the movement. Marches made _parallel_ to the front of the enemy will generally be performed by the lines on which the army is encamped, each marching by its flank, and occupying when in march the same extent of ground as when formed in line. Marches made _perpendicular_ to the front of the enemy, either advancing or retiring, will be covered by strong van or rearguards. The columns will be formed of considerable divisions of the army, each generally composed both of cavalry and infantry: they will move at half or quarter distance, and the nature of the country will determine which kind of force precedes.
During a march to the _front_, the separation of the heads of the columns must unavoidably be considerable; but, when they approach the enemy, they must be so regulated and directed as to be able to occupy the intermediate spaces, if required to form in line. Some one column must determine the relative situation of the others, and divisions must be more closed up than in a march to a flank, and in proportion as they draw near to the enemy must exactness and attention increase. The general, in consequence of the observations he has made, will determine on his disposition: the columns which are now probably halted and collected will be subdivided and multiplied; each body will be directed on its point of formation, and the component parts of each will in due time disengage from the general column, and form in line.
The safety of marches to the _rear_ must depend on particular dispositions, on strong covering or rear guards, and on the judicious choice of such posts as will check the pursuit of the enemy. In these marches to front or rear, the divisions of the second line generally follow or lead those of the first, and all their formations are relative thereto. The heavy artillery and carriages of an army form a particular object of every march, and must be directed according to circumstances of the day. The safety of the march, by the arrangement of detachments and posts to cover the front, rear, or flanks of the columns, depends also on many local and temporary reasons, but form an essential part of the general disposition.
MARCH _in line_, must be uniformly steady, without floating, opening, or closing.
MARCH _in file_, must be close, firm, and without lengthening out.
_To_ MARCH _past_, is to advance in open or close column, in ordinary or slow time, with a firm and steady step, erect person, the eye glanced towards the reviewing general.
_The ordered or cadenced_ MARCH.--The prescribed movements in military tactics. All military movements are intended to be made with the greatest quickness consistent with order, regularity, and without hurry or fatigue to the troops. The uniformity of position, and the cadence and length of step, produce that equality and freedom of march, on which every thing depends, and to which the soldier must be carefully trained, nor suffered to join the battalion, until he be thoroughly perfected in this most essential duty. Many different times of march must not be required of the soldier. These two must suffice.
_Ordinary_ or _quick time_, and _slow_ or _parade time_. The first 75 steps of 24 inches in a minute; the second of 60 steps of 24 inches in a minute.