"Military knowledge, as far as it regards a general or commander-in-chief, may be divided into two parts, one comprehending mere discipline and settled systems for putting a certain number of rules into practice; and the other originating a sublimity of conception that method may assist, but cannot give."

"If a man be born with faculties that are naturally adapted to the situation of a general, and if his talents do not fit the extraordinary casualties of war, he will never rise beyond mediocrity."

"It is, in fact, in war as it is in painting, or in music. Perfection in either art grows out of innate talent, but it never can be acquired without them. Study and perseverance may correct ideas, but no application, no assiduity will give the life and energy of action; these are the works of nature."

"It has been my fate (observes the Marshal) to see several very excellent colonels become indifferent generals. I have known others, who have distinguished themselves at sieges, and in the different evolutions of an army, lose their presence of mind and appear ignorant of their profession, the instant they were taken from that particular line, and be incapable of commanding a few squadrons of horse. Should a man of this cast be put at the head of an army, he will confine himself to mere dispositions and manoeuvres; to them he will look for safety; and if once thwarted, his defeat will be inevitable, because his mind is not capable of other resources."

"In order to obviate, in the best possible manner, the innumerable disasters which must arise from the uncertainty of war, and the greater uncertainty of the means that are adopted to carry it on, some general rules ought to be laid down, not only for the government of the troops, but for the instruction of those who have the command of them. The principles to be observed are: that when the line or the columns advance, their distances should be scrupulously observed; that whenever a body of troops is ordered to charge, every proportion of the line should rush forward with intrepidity and vigor; that if openings are made in the first line, it becomes the duty of the second instantly to fill up the chasms."

"These instructions issue from the dictates of plain nature, and do not require the least elucidation in writing They constitute the A, B, C of soldiers. Nothing can be more simple, or more intelligible; so much so, that it would be ridiculous in a general to sacrifice essential objects in order to attend to such minutiae. His functions in the day of battle are confined to those occupations of the mind, by which he is enabled to watch the countenance of the enemy; to observe his movements, and to see with an eagle's or a king of Prussia's eye, all the relative directions that his opponents take. It must be his business to create alarms and suspicions among the enemy's line in one quarter, while his real intention is to act against another; to puzzle and disconcert him in his plans; to take advantage of the manifold openings which his feints have produced, and when the contest is brought to issue, to be capable of plunging with effect upon the weakest part, and carrying the sword of death where its blow is certain of being mortal. But to accomplish these important and indispensable points, his judgment must be clear, his mind collected, his heart firm, and his eyes incapable of being diverted, even for a moment, by the trifling occurrences of the day."

The administrative service of an army is usually divided into several distinct departments, as—

Pay department. Subsistence " Clothing " Medical "} } These in our service are united. Hospital " Barrack "}These in our service are combined Fuel "}in one, called the Quartermaster's Transportation "}department Recruiting " Military Justice, or Court Martial department.

It was intended to enter into the history, organization, and use of each of these civico-military departments of an army; but our limits are such as to preclude any thing like so detailed a discussion as would be necessary for a proper understanding of the subject. We therefore pass from the staff directly to the line or rather the four principal arms of an army organization.[30]

[Footnote 30: Of works that treat directly of staff organization and duties, those of Grimoard, Thiebault, Boutourlin, Labaume, are esteemed among the best. The writings of Jomini, Napoleon, Rocquancourt, Vauchelle, Odier, Scharnhorst, also contain much valuable information on this subject. The following list of books may be referred to for further information on the subjects alluded to in this chapter:

Aide-Memoire des officiers generaux et superieurs et des capitaines.

Precis de l'art de la guerre. Jomini.

Memoires de Napoleon. Montholon et Gourgaud.

Cours elementaire d'art et d'histoire militaires. Rocquancourt.

Cours elementaire d'administration militaire. Vauchelle.

Droite elementaire d'art militaire, &c. Gay de Vernon.

Annuaire militaire historique, &c. Sicard.

Cours abrege d'administration militaire. Bernier.

Cours d'administration militaire, &c. Odier.

De l'administration de l'armee d'Espagne. Odier.

De l'organization de la force armee en France. Carion-Nisas.

Elemens de l'art militaire, &c. Cugnot.

Memoires sur la guerre. Feuquieres.

Cours d'art militaire et d'histoire. Jacquinot de Presle.

Cours d'art militaire. Fallot.

Theorie de l'officier superieur. Leorier.

Histoire de l'administration de la guerre. Audouin.

Instructions diverses a l'usage de l'ecole d'application du corps royal d'etat-major.

Handbuch fuer offiziere, &c. Scharnhorst.

Having omitted all discussion of the several departments of the administrative service of an army organization, it is not deemed necessary to give the names of books of reference on the subjects of pay, courts-martial, medicinal and hospital departments, &c., &c.]



CHAPTER X

ARMY ORGANIZATION.[31]—INFANTRY AND CAVALRY

Infantry.—Infantry constitutes, in active service, by far the most numerous portion of an army; in time of peace its duties are simple, and, in most countries, of little comparative importance; but in our country the continually recurring difficulties on the Indian frontiers, render this arm peculiarly necessary and important, even in time of general peace. From the nature of infantry service—no peculiar technical knowledge (we speak of the privates and officers of the lower grades) being so absolutely indispensable as in the other arms—the soldier may in a short time be trained and instructed in his duties. For this reason the ratio of infantry in a peace establishment is ordinarily much less than in active service, this arm being always capable of great expansion when occasion requires.

[Footnote 31: In discussing our own organization, it may be well to compare it with the armies of some of the principal nations of Europe. Our limits will not allow us to go very much into details, nor to make a comparison with more than a single European power. We shall select France, inasmuch as her army organization has served as a model for the rest of Europe, and is still, in some respects, superior to most others.]

In the early periods of society, and in countries where horses abounded, men have usually preferred fighting on horseback; but civilization and a more thorough acquaintance with war has always increased the importance of infantry.

The Hebrews, and also the Egyptians, employed this arm almost exclusively. The Asiatics generally employed both infantry and cavalry, but with the Greeks the infantry was the favorite arm. Even their kings and generals usually fought on foot. The Romans conquered the world mainly with their infantry. This arm was also considered of the greatest importance by the ancient Germans and Gauls; but the migration of the Huns and other Mongolic tribes mounted on small and fleet horses, and the acquaintance formed by the Franks of northern Spain with the Moors, who were mounted on beautiful horses from Arabia and the plateau of Asia, introduced a taste for cavalry in western Europe. This taste was still further cultivated under the feudal system, for the knights preferred fighting on horseback to serving on foot. During the crusades the infantry fell into disrepute. But the invention of gunpowder changed the whole system of warfare, and restored to infantry its former importance.

"The Romans," says Napoleon in his Memoirs, "had two infantries; the first, lightly armed, was provided with a missile weapon; the second, heavily armed, bore a short sword. After the invention of powder two species of infantry were still continued: the arquebusiers, who were lightly armed, and intended to observe and harass the enemy; and the pikemen, who supplied the place of the heavy-armed infantry. During the hundred and fifty years which have elapsed since Vauban banished lances and pikes from all the infantry of Europe, substituting for them the firelock and bayonet, all the infantry has been lightly armed...... There has been since that time, properly speaking, only one kind of infantry: if there was a company of chasseurs in every battalion, it was by way of counterpoise to the company of grenadiers; the battalion being composed of nine companies, one picked company did not appear sufficient. If the Emperor Napoleon created companies of voltigeurs armed like dragoons, it was to substitute them for those companies of chasseurs. He composed them of men under five feet in height, in order to bring into use that class of the conscription which measured from four feet ten inches to five feet; and having been until that time exempt, made the burden of conscription fall more heavily on the other classes. This arrangement served to reward a great number of old soldiers, who, being under five feet in height, could not enter into the companies of grenadiers, who on account of their bravery, deserved to enter into a picked company: it was a powerful incentive to emulation to bring the giants and pigmies into competition. Had there been men of different colors in the armies of the emperor, he would have composed companies of blacks and companies of whites: in a country where there were cyclops or hunchbacks, a good use might be made of companies of cyclops, and others of hunchbacks."

"In 1789, the French army as composed of regiments of the line and battalions of chasseurs; the chasseurs of the Cevennes, the Vivarais, the Alps, of Corsica, and the Pyrenees, who at the Revolution formed half brigades of light infantry; but the object was not to have two different sorts of infantry, for they were raised alike, instructed alike, drilled alike; only the battalions of chasseurs were recruited by the men of the mountainous districts, or by the sons of the garde-chasse; whence they were more fit to be employed on the frontiers of the Alps and Pyrenees; and when they were in the armies of the North, they were always detached, in preference, for climbing heights or scouring a forest; when these men were placed in line, in a battle, they served very well as a battalion of the line, because they had received the same instructions, and were armed and disciplined in the same manner. Every power occasionally raises, in war-time, irregular corps, under the title of free or legionary battalions, consisting of foreign deserters, or formed of individuals of a particular party or faction; but that does not constitute two sorts of infantry. There is and can be but one. If the apes of antiquity must needs imitate the Romans, it is not light-armed troops that they ought to introduce, but heavy-armed soldiers, or battalions armed with swords; for all the infantry of Europe serve at times as light troops."

Most European nations, for reasons probably similar to those of Napoleon, keep up this nominal division of infantry of the line and light infantry; but both are usually armed and equipped alike, and both receive the same organization and instruction. The light infantry are usually made up from the class of men, or district of country, which furnishes the greatest number of riflemen and sharpshooters. In France, the light infantry is best supplied by the hunters of the Ardennes, the Vosges, and the Jura districts; in Austria, by the Croates and Tyrolese; in Prussia, by the "foersters," or woodsmen; and in Russia, by the Cossacks. Our own western hunters, with proper discipline, make the best tirailleurs in the world.

Light infantry is usually employed to protect the flanks of the main army, to secure outposts, to reconnoitre the ground, secure avenues of approach, deceive the enemy by demonstrations, and secure the repose of the other troops by patrolling parties. They usually begin a battle, and afterwards take their places in the line, either on the flanks, or in the intervals between the larger bodies. The battle of Jena furnishes a good example of the use of French light infantry; and at the battle of Waterloo, the Prussian tirailleurs were exceedingly effective in clearing the ground for the advance of Bluecher's heavy columns. The attack of Floh-hug by Augereau, of Vierzehn Heilegen by Suchet, of Iserstaedt by Desjardins, are models well worthy of study.

The infantry of the line acts in masses, and, on the field of battle, constitutes the principal fighting force. Its formations and the manner of engaging it have already been discussed under the head of tactics.

The importance of infantry is due, in considerable part, to the fact that it can be used everywhere—in mountains or on plains, in woody or open countries, in cities or in fields, on rivers or at sea, in the redoubt or in the attack of the breach; the infantry depends only on itself, whereas the other arms must depend in a considerable degree on the efficiency of their materials and the will and strength of brute force; and when the snows of Russia or the deserts of Egypt deprive their animals of the means of sustenance, they become perfectly useless.

Foot-soldiers, in olden times, were armed with a spear and sometimes with a sword, arrows, lance, and sling. At present they are armed with a gun and bayonet, and sometimes with a sword. In some European services, a few of the foot-soldiers are armed with a pike. Some of the light troops used as sharpshooters carry the rifle, but this weapon is useless for the great body of infantry. The short-sword is more useful as an instrument for cutting branches, wood, &c., than for actual fighting. The infantry have no defensive covering, or at least very little. The helmet or cap serves to protect the head, and the shoulders are somewhat defended by epaulets. It has often been proposed in modern times to restore the ancient defensive armor of the foot-soldier; but this would be worse than useless against fire-arms, and moreover would destroy the efficiency of these troops by impeding their movements. The strength of this arm depends greatly upon its discipline; for if calm and firm, a mass of infantry in column or in square is almost impenetrable.

The bayonet was introduced by Vauban in the wars of Louis XIV., and after the years 1703 and '4, the pike was totally suppressed in the French army. This measure was warmly opposed by Marshal Montesquieu, and the question was discussed by him and Marshal Vauban with an ability and learning worthy of these great men. The arguments of Vauban were deemed most conclusive, and his project was adopted by the king.

This question has been agitated by military writers in more recent times, Puysegur advocating the musket, and Folard and Lloyd contending in favor of restoring the pike. Even in our own service, so late as the war of 1812, a distinguished general of the army strongly urged the use of the pike, and the fifteenth (and perhaps another regiment) was armed and equipped in part as pikemen; but experience soon proved the absurdity of the project.

Napoleon calls the infantry the arm of battles and the sinews of the army. But if it be acknowledged, that, next to the talent of the general-in-chief, the infantry is the first instrument of victory, it must also be confessed that it finds a powerful support in the cavalry, artillery, and engineers, and that without these it would often be compromised, and could gain but a half success.

The French infantry is divided into one hundred regiments of three battalions each, a battalion being composed of seven companies. There are also several other battalions of chasseurs, zuaves, &c., being organized especially for service in Africa, and composed in part of native troops.

In our own army we have eight regiments of infantry, each regiment forming a single battalion of ten companies. The flank companies are intended for light infantry.

In all properly organized armies the infantry constitutes from three-fourths to four-fifths of the entire active force in the field, and from two-thirds to three-fourths, say about seven-tenths of the entire military establishment. In time of peace this proportion may be slightly diminished.

Cavalry.—The use of cavalry is probably nearly as old as war itself. The Egyptians had cavalry before the time of Moses, and the Israelites often encountered cavalry in their wars with their neighbors, though they made no use of this arm themselves until the time of Solomon.

The Greeks borrowed their cavalry from the Asiatics, and especially from the Persians, who, according to Xenophon, held this arm in great consideration. After the battle of Platea, it was agreed by assembled Greece that each power should furnish one horseman to every ten foot-soldiers. In Sparta the poorest were selected for this arm, and the cavalry marched to combat without any previous training. At Athens the cavalry service was more popular, and they formed a well-organized corps of twelve hundred horsemen. At Thebes also this arm had consideration in the time of Epaminondas. But the cavalry of Thessaly was the most renowned, and both Philip and Alexander drew their mounted troops from that country.

The Romans had made but little progress in this arm when they encountered the Thessalians, who fought in the army of Pyrrhus. They then increased their cavalry, but it was not numerous till after their wars with the Carthaginians. Scipio organized and disciplined the Roman cavalry like that of the Numidians. This arm was supplied from the ranks of the richest citizens, and afterwards formed an order intermediary between the Senate and the people, under the name of knights.

At a later period, the cavalry of the Gauls was particularly good. The Franks were without cavalry when they made their first irruption into Gaul. Under the reign of Childeric I. we see for the first time the "cavaliers francs" figure as a part of the national forces. At the battle of Tours the cavalry and infantry were in the proportion of one to five, and under Pepin and Charlemagne their numbers were nearly equal. Under Charles the Bald armies were composed entirely of cavalry, and during the middle ages the knights disdained the foot service, and fought only on horseback.

After the introduction of artillery, cavalry was still employed, though to little advantage. Gustavus Adolphus was the first to perceive the real importance of this arm in modern warfare, and he used it with great success. But it was left for Seidlitz to perfect it under the direction of Frederick the Great.

Marshal Saxe very justly remarked, that cavalry is the "arme du moment," for in almost every battle there are moments when a decisive charge of cavalry will gain the victory, but if not made at the instant it may be too late. The efficiency of cavalry depends upon the moral impression which it makes on the enemy, and is greater in proportion to the size of the mass, and the rapidity of its motion. This last quality enables a commander to avail himself immediately of a decisive moment, when the enemy exposes a weak point, or when disorder appears in his ranks. But this requires a bold and active spirit, which shrinks not from responsibility, and is able to avail itself with quickness and decision of every opportunity. If it be remembered that it is essential that this coup d'oeil, so rare and so difficult to acquire, be accompanied by a courage and vigor of execution which nothing can shake, we shall not be astonished that history furnishes so few good cavalry generals, and that this arm so seldom does such execution as it did under Frederick and Napoleon, with Seidlitz and Murat as commanders.

The soldier gains great velocity by the use of the horse in war; but in other respects he is the loser. The great expense and care required of the cavalier to support his horse; the difficulty experienced in surmounting ordinary obstacles, and in using his fire-arms to advantage, are all prejudicial to success.

The unequal size of the horse, and the great diversity in his strength and breed, have rendered it necessary to divide this arm into light and heavy cavalry, and a mixed class called dragoons. The heavy cavalry is commonly used in masses where force is mainly requisite; the lighter troops are used singly and in small detachments, where rapidity of movement is most desired.

The heavy cavalry are divided into carabiniers, cuirassiers, and sometimes lancers. The two latter are frequently united, the cuirassiers being armed with the lance. These troops are seldom used for scouts, vanguards, and convoys; but are frequently employed to sustain the light cavalry. Their main duty is "to appear on the field of battle and make the decisive charges."

The light cavalry is composed of chasseurs, or troopers, hussars, and lancers. The latter, when composed of large men and mounted on heavy horses, are attached to the heavy cavalry.

The dragoons were formerly a mixed body of horse and foot, but it being found impossible to unite these two distinct arms in one, and the attempt having destroyed the usefulness of the body to act in either capacity, the term was applied to a mixed kind of cavalry between the heavy and the light horse. In more recent wars they have also been instructed as infantry and employed as foot-soldiers, till horses could be found in the enemy's country with which to mount them. But we believe there is no instance in more modern wars in which they have been employed at the same time in both capacities.

This term is, very improperly, applied to all our cavalry; and some of the congressional wiseacres have recently experimented on one of our so-called regiments of dragoons, by dismounting it one year, selling its horses at auction, and changing its arms and equipments, and again, the next year, purchasing new horses, arms, and equipments for remounting it; and all this for economy!

The Roman cavalry at first wore a round shield and helmet, the rest of their body being nearly uncovered. Their arms were a sword and long thin javelin, or lance, with an iron head. They afterwards reduced the shield to a much smaller size, and made square, and their lance was greatly increased in size and length, and armed at both ends. In other respects they were armed in the same way as infantry. The use of the lance and the shield at the same time, of course rendered both nearly worthless. The Roman cavalry was superior to that of their enemies, except, perhaps, the light cavalry of the Parthians.

The heavy armor which was sometimes worn by the ancients, like the gens d'armes of the middle ages, rendered them greatly inferior to infantry in a close engagement. Tigranes, king of Armenia, brought an army of one hundred and fifty thousand horse into the field, against the Roman general Lucullus, who had only about six thousand horse and fifteen thousand foot. But the Armenian cavalry, called cataphratti were so overburdened with armor, that when they fell from their horses they could scarcely move or make any use of their arms. They were routed by a mere handful of Roman infantry.

The modern cavalry is much lighter, and, by dispensing with armor, shields, &c., it can move with much greater rapidity. A modern cavalry horse carries a weight of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds, viz.:

Heavy Light cavalry. cavalry.

The rider, . . . . 160 140 lbs. His arms and equipments, . . . 55 40 His horse equipments, . . . 60 45 Two days' rations of provisions and grain, 25 25 ————————- 300 250

The horse moves per minute—

At a walk, from 110 yards to 120 At a trot, 220 240 At a gallop, 330 360

But on a march over the ordinary average of good and bad roads, cavalry will walk about one hundred yards per minute, and at an easy trot, two hundred.

An ordinary day's march for cavalry is about thirty miles, but on a forced march this arm can march fifty miles within the twenty-four hours. A single horseman, or a small detachment, can easily exceed this distance.

"Light cavalry," says Napoleon, in his Memoirs, "ought to reconnoitre and watch the motions of the enemy, considerably in advance of the army; it is not an appendage to the infantry: it should be sustained and protected especially by the cavalry of the line. Rivalry and emulation have always existed between the infantry and cavalry: light cavalry is indispensable to the vanguard, the rearguard, and the wings of the army; it, therefore, cannot properly be attached to, and forced to follow the movements of any particular corps of infantry. It would be more natural to attach it to the cavalry of the line, than to leave it in dependence upon the infantry, with which it has no connection; but it should be independent of both."

"If the light cavalry is to form vanguards, it must be organized into squadrons, brigades, and divisions, for the purpose of manoeuvring; for that is all vanguards and rearguards do: they pursue or retreat by platoons, form themselves into several lines, or wheel into column, or change their position with rapidity for the purpose of outfronting a whole wing. By a combination of such evolutions, a vanguard, of inferior numbers, avoids brisk actions and general engagements, and yet delays the enemy long enough to give time for the main army to come up, for the infantry to deploy, for the general-in-chief to make his dispositions, and for the baggage and parks to file into their stations. The art of a general of the vanguard, or of the rear-guard, is, without hazarding a defeat, to hold the enemy in check, to impede him, to compel him to spend three or four hours in moving a single league: tactics point out the methods of effecting these important objects, and are more necessary for cavalry than for infantry, and in the vanguard, or the rear-guard, than in any other position. The Hungarian Insurgents, whom we saw in 1797, 1805, and 1809, were pitiful troops. If the light troops of Maria Theresa's times became formidable, it was by their excellent organization, and, above every thing, by their numbers. To imagine that such troops could be superior to Wurmser's hussars, or to the dragoons of Latour, or to the Archduke John, would be entertaining strange ideas of things; but neither the Hungarian Insurgents, nor the Cossacks, ever formed the vanguards of the Austrian and Russian armies; because to speak of a vanguard or a rear-guard, is to speak of troops which manoeuvre. The Russians considered a regiment of Cossacks who had been trained worth three regiments untrained. Every thing about these troops is despicable, except the Cossack himself, who is a man of fine person, powerful, adroit, subtle, a good horseman, and indefatigable; he is born on horseback, and bred among civil wars; he is in the field, what the Bedouin is in the desert, or the Barbet in the Alps; he never enters a house, never lies in a bed; and he always changes his bivouac at sunset, that he may not pass a night in a place where the enemy may possibly have observed him."

"Two Mamelukes kept three Frenchmen at bay, because they were better armed, better mounted, and better exercised; they had two pairs of pistols, a tromblon, a carbine, a helmet with a visor, a coat of mail, several horses, and several men on foot to attend them. But a hundred French did not fear a hundred Mamelukes; three hundred were more than a match for an equal number; and one thousand would beat fifteen hundred: so powerful is the influence of tactics, order, and evolutions! Murat, Leclerc, and Lasalle, cavalry generals, presented themselves to the Mamelukes in several lines: when the latter were upon the point of outfronting the first line, the second came to its assistance on the right and left; the Mamelukes then stopped, and wheeled, to turn the wings of this new line: this was the moment seized for charging them; they were always broken."

"The duty of a vanguard, or a rear-guard, does not consist in advancing or retiring, but in manoeuvring. It should be composed of a good light cavalry, supported by a good reserve of cavalry of the line, by excellent battalions of foot, and strong batteries of artillery: the troops must be well trained; and the generals, officers, and soldiers, should all be equally well acquainted with their tactics, each according to his station. An undisciplined troop would only embarrass the advanced guard."

"It is admitted that for facility in manoeuvring, the squadron should consist of one hundred men, and that every three or four squadrons should have a superior officer."

"It is not advisable for all the cavalry of the line to wear cuirasses: dragoons, mounted upon horses of four feet nine inches in height, armed with straight sabres, and without cuirasses, should form a part of the heavy cavalry; they should be furnished with infantry-muskets, with bayonets: should have the shakot of the infantry, pantaloons covering the half-boot-buskin, cloaks with sleeves, and portmanteaus small enough to be carried slung across the back when the men are on foot. Cavalry of all descriptions should be furnished with fire-arms, and should know how to manoeuvre on foot. Three thousand light cavalry, or three thousand cuirassiers, should not suffer themselves to be stopped by a thousand infantry posted in a wood, or on ground impracticable to cavalry; and three thousand dragoons ought not to hesitate to attack two thousand infantry, should the latter, favored by their position, attempt to stop them.

"Turenne, Prince Eugene of Savoy, and Vendome, attached great importance to dragoons, and used them successfully. The dragoons gained great glory in Italy, in 1796 and 1797. In Egypt and in Spain, during the campaigns of 1806 and 1807, a degree of prejudice sprung up against them. The divisions of dragoons had been mustered at Compiegne and Amiens, to be embarked without horses for the expedition of England, in order to serve on foot until they should be mounted in that country. General Baraguay d'Hilliers, their first inspector, commanded them; he had them equipped with gaiters, and incorporated with them a considerable number of recruits, whom he exercised in infantry manoeuvres alone. These were no longer cavalry regiments: they served in the campaign of 1806 on foot, until after the battle of Jena, when they were mounted on horses taken from the Prussian cavalry, three-fourths of which were unserviceable. These combined circumstances injured the dragoons; but in 1813 and 1814 their divisions acquired honor in rivalling the cuirassiers. Dragoons are necessary for the support of light cavalry in the vanguard, the rear-guard, and the wings of an army; cuirassiers are little adapted for van and rearguards: they should never be employed in this service but when it is requisite to keep them in practice and accustom them to war."

Napoleon further recommends that light cavalry be divided into two kinds, chasseurs or troopers, and light horse; and the heavy to be composed of dragoons and cuirassiers; the troopers to be mounted on horses of 4 ft 6 in.; light cavalry on horses of 4 ft. 7 or 8 in.; dragoons on horses of 4 ft. 9 in.; and cuirassiers on horses of 4 ft. 10 or 11 in.; which employ horses of all kinds for mounting the troops.

All cavalry must receive the same instruction; and all should be capable, in case of need, of performing any of the duties of mounted troops. The shock is the principal effect produced by this arm; therefore, the greater the velocity the greater must be this effect, provided the troops can be kept in mass. But it is found, by experience, that it is impossible to preserve them in line when put to the height of their speed. The best authorities therefore prefer, as we have said elsewhere, the charge at the trot, or at any rate the gallop should not be taken up till within a very short distance of the enemy. The charge of a compact mass at a trot is much greater than that of a wavering one at a gallop.

On the field of battle the cavalry of the line is considered as the arm of the shock, to break through any corps that may be in opposition; but it is unable of itself to resist a shock, and therefore should on no account wait to receive the charge of another body of mounted troops. It was on this account that Frederick directed his cavalry officers, under the severest penalties, never to receive a charge, but always to meet the attacking force half way. This is the only mode of preventing defeat.

A good infantry can always sustain itself against the charges of cavalry. At the battle of Auerstedt, in 1806, Davoust ordered the divisions of Gudin to form squares to resist the Prussian cavalry, which, by means of a fog, had gained a most advantageous position. Bluecher led his cavalry in repeated and impetuous charges, but all was in vain; the French infantry presented a front of iron. At the combat of Krasnoi, in 1812, the cavalry of Grouchy, Nansonty, and Bordesoult, attacked and overthrew the dragoons of Clarkof, but the Russian infantry under Neveroffskoi sustained itself against the repeated charges of vastly superior numbers of these French horse. At the battle of Molwitz, the grenadiers sustained the charges of the enemy's cavalry, although the cavalry of the great Frederick had already been completely overthrown.

But when the infantry is engaged with the infantry of the enemy, the charges of cavalry are generally successful, and sometimes decide the fate of the battle, as was the case at Rosbach, Zornsdorf, Wurtsburg, Marengo, Eylau, Borodino, &c.

Cavalry may also be very efficacious against infantry in wet weather, when the rain or snow renders it impossible for the foot soldiers to use their fire-arms to advantage, as was the case with the corps of Augereau, at Eylau, and with the Austrian left, at the battle of Dresden. Again, if the infantry be previously weakened, or thrown into disorder by the fire of batteries. The charge of the Russian cavalry at Hohenfriedberg, in 1745, is a remarkable example of this kind.

Cavalry should always be immediately sustained in its efforts either by infantry or other bodies of horse; for as soon as the charge is made, the strength of this arm is for a time exhausted, and, if immediately attacked, defeat becomes inevitable. The charge of the cavalry of Ney on Prince Hohenlohe at the battle of Jena, and of the French horse on Gossa at Leipsic, are fine examples of the successful charges of cavalry when properly sustained. Kunnersdorf and Waterloo are examples of the disastrous consequences of leaving such charges without support.

The choice of the field of battle is sometimes such as to render cavalry almost useless. Such was the case at the battle of Cassano, between the Duke of Vendome and the Prince Eugene. The field was so cut up by the Adda and the canals of Rittorto and Pendina, that Prince Eugene could make no use of his horse. If, when master of the bridge of Rittorto, he had been able to charge the French with a body of cavalry, there had been no doubt of his complete success.

After a battle, and in the pursuit of a flying enemy, cavalry is invaluable. If Napoleon had possessed a suitable number of mounted troops, with an able commander, at the battles of Lutzen and Ligny, the results of these victories had been decisive; whereas they were really without consequence. On the other hand, the Prussian army in 1806, after the battle of Jena, and Napoleon's army in 1815 at Waterloo, were completely cut to pieces by the skilful use of cavalry in the pursuit of a defeated and dispirited foe.

The want of good cavalry was severely felt in the war of the American Revolution. Had Washington possessed a few good squadrons of horse, his surprise and defeat in the lines of Brooklyn, and the consequent loss of New York, had never taken place. The efficient employment of a few good squadrons of cavalry might readily have prevented the defeat at Bladensburg, and the loss of the capitol, in 1814.

In a well-organized army, the cavalry should be from one-fourth to one-sixth of the infantry, according to the nature of the war.[32]

[Footnote 32: To gain a competent knowledge of the duties connected with the two arms of service mentioned in this chapter, the officer should make himself thoroughly acquainted with Scott's System of Infantry Tactics, for the United States' Infantry, or at least with Major Cooper's abridged edition of Infantry Tactics, and with the system of Cavalry Tactics, adopted in our army; also with the directions for the use of these two arms in a campaign, and their employment on the battle-field, given in the writings of Jomini, Decker, Okouneff, Rocquancourt, and Jacquinot de Presle.]

The following books may be referred to for further information respecting the history, organization, use, and instruction of infantry and cavalry:—

Essai general de tactique. Guibert.

Considerations generales sur l'infanterie francaise, par un general en retraite. A work of merit.

De l'infanterie, par l'auteur de l'histoire de l'expedition de Russie.

Histoire de la guerre de la peninsule. Foy. This work contains many interesting and valuable remarks on the French and English systems of tactics, and particularly on the tactics of Infantry.

Cours d'art et d'histoire militaires. Jacquinot de Presle.

Art de la guerre. Rogniat.

Instruction destinee aux troupes legeres, &c., redigee sur une instruction de Frederick II. a ses officiers.

English Infantry Regulations.

Ordonnance (French) pour l'exercice et les manoeuvres de l'infanterie, par le commission de manoeuvres.

Aide-memoires des officiers generaux et superieurs, et des capitaines.

Essai sur l'histoire generale de l'art militaire. Carion-Nisas.

Histoire de la milice francaise. Daniel.

Cours elementaire d'art et d'histoire militaires. Rocquancourt.

Traite elementaire d'art militaire, &c. Gay de Vernon.

Introduction a l'etude de l'art de la guerre. La Roche-Amyou.

Tactique des trois armes. Decker.

Examen raisonne des trois armes, &c. Okouneff.

The last two are works of great merit. The writings of Okouneff, however, are very diffuse.

Instruction pour le service de l'infanterie legere. Guyard.

Instruction de l'infanterie, &c. Schauenbourg.

Traite de tactique. Ternay et Koch.

Mecanism des manoeuvres de guerre de l'infanterie polonaise. Vroniecki.

Traite sur l'infanterie legere. Beurmann.

English Cavalry Regulations.

Ordonnance (French) sur l'exercice et les evolutions de la cavalerie.

Les troupes a cheval de France, &c. De Bourge.

Avant-postes de cavalerie legere. Brack. The author served with distinction under Lassale, Colbert, Maison, Pujol, and Excelmans.

Reflexions sur l'emploi de la cavalerie, &c. Caraman.

Observations sur l'ordonnance, &c., de la cavalerie. Dejean.

Tactique de la cavalerie. Itier.

Elements de tactique pour la cavalerie, par Mottin de la Balme. A work of rare merit.

De l'emploi de la cavalerie a la guerre. Schauenbourg.

Remarques sur la cavalerie. Warnery. This work has long enjoyed a high reputation among the cavalry officers of the European services. The Paris edition is enriched with notes by a French general officer.

Nachrichten und Betrachtungen ueber die Thaten und Schicksale der Reiterei, &c. This work discusses the operations of cavalry in the campaigns of Frederick the Great and of Napoleon, down to the battle of Lutzen in 1813.

Examen du livret provisoire, &c. Marbot.

Le Spectateur Militaire, contains many essays by cavalry officers on the various questions connected with the organization and use of this arm.

Die Gefechtslehre der beiden verbundenen Waffen-Kavallerie und reitenden Artillerie. Decker.

Manuel de l'officier. Ruhle de Lilienstern.

Aide-memoire, a l'usage des officiers de cavalerie.

Journal de l'infanterie et de la cavalerie.

Traite de tactique pour les officiers d'infanterie et de cavalerie.

Histoire des exploits et des vicissitudes de la cavalerie prussienne. Coutz.



CHAPTER XI.

ARMY ORGANIZATION.—ARTILLERY.

Artillery.—Previous to the invention of gunpowder in the thirteenth century, the machines of war were divided between two classes of military men, the engineers (engignours, as they were called in the middle ages) and the artillery, (artilliers, as they were formerly called,) the latter being particularly charged with the management of the lighter and more portable projectile machines, such as the balistas and arco-balistas, which were used for throwing different kinds of arrows—fleches, viretons, carreaux, matras, &c., while the former managed the battering-rams, cranes, helipoles, &c. And, indeed, for a long time after the discovery of gunpowder, this distinction was kept up, and the artillery retained all the more ordinary projectile machines, while the engineers constructed and managed the more ponderous weapons of attack and defence. But the new artillery was gradually introduced, without, however, immediately displacing the old, and there were for a time, if we may be allowed the expression, two artilleries, the one employing the old projectile machines, and the other those of the new invention. The latter were called canoniers, to distinguish them from the former, who still retained the name of artilliers.

The first cannon were invented in the early part of the fourteenth century, or, perhaps, among the Arabs as early as the middle of the thirteenth century, but they were not much known in Europe till about 1350. Cannon are said to have been employed by the Moors as early as 1249, and by the French in 1338. The English used artillery at the battle of Crecy in 1346. Both cannon and the ancient projectile machines were employed at the siege of Aiguillon in 1339, at Zara in 1345, at Rennes in 1357, and at Naples in 1380. At this last siege the ancient balista was employed to throw into the castle of Naples barrels of infectious matter and mutilated limbs of prisoners of war. We read of the same thing being done in Spain at a later period.

Cannon in France were at first called bombards and couleuverines, but were afterwards named from certain figures marked on them, such as serpentines, basilisks, scorpions,&c. In the infancy of the art they were made small, weighing only from twenty to fifty pounds, and were mounted on small moveable carriages. This species of fire-arms became quite numerous about the beginning of the fifteenth century. They were followed by heavier pieces, used in the attack and defence of towns. This siege artillery continued to be increased in dimensions till, towards the latter part of the fifteenth century, they reached such an enormous size as to be almost useless as a military machine. Louis XI. had an immense piece constructed at Tours, in 1770, which, it was said, carried a ball from the Bastille to Charenton, (about six miles!) Its caliber was that of five hundred pounds. It was intended for experiment, and burst on the second discharge. The famous culverin of Bolduc was said to carry a ball from that city to Bommel. The culverin of Nancy, made in 1598, was more than twenty-three feet in length. There is now an ancient cannon in the arsenal at Metz of about this length, which carries a ball of one hundred and forty pounds. Cannon balls were found at Paris as late as 1712, weighing near two hundred pounds, and from twelve to sixteen inches in diameter. At the siege of Constantinople in 1453, there was a famous metallic bombard which threw stone balls of an incredible size; at the siege of Bourges in 1412, a cannon was used which, it was said, threw stone balls "of the size of mill-stones." The Gantois, under Arteville, made a bombard fifty feet in length, whose report was heard at a distance of ten leagues!

The first cannon were made of wood, and covered with sheet-iron, or embraced by iron rings: longitudinal bars of iron were afterwards substituted for the wooden form. Towards the end of the fourteenth century, brass, tin, copper, wrought and cast iron, were successively used for this purpose. The bores of the pieces were first made in a conical shape, and it was not until a much later period that the cylindrical form was introduced.

In the wars between the Spaniards and Moors in the latter part of the fifteenth century, very great use was made of artillery in sieges and battles. Ferdinand the Catholic had at this time, probably, a larger artillery train than any other European power. The Spanish cannon, generally very large, were composed of iron bars about two inches in breadth, held together by bolts and rings of the same metal. The pieces were firmly attached to their carriages, and incapable of either horizontal or vertical movement. The balls thrown by them were usually of marble, though sometimes of iron. Many of the pieces used at the siege of Baza, in 1486, are still to be seen in that city, and also the cannon balls then in use. Some of the latter are fourteen inches in diameter, and weigh one hundred and seventy-five pounds. The length of the cannon was about twelve feet. These dimensions are a proof of a slight improvement in this branch of military science, which was, nevertheless, still in its infancy. The awkwardness of artillery at this period may be judged of by its slowness of fire. At the siege of Zeteuel, in 1407, five "bombards," as the heavy pieces of ordnance were then called, were able to discharge only forty shot in the course of a day; and it is noticed as a remarkable circumstance at the siege of Albahar, that two batteries discharged one hundred and forty balls in the course of the twenty-four hours!

In the Italian wars between France and Spain, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, the difficulty of moving the heavy cannon then in use was so great that only a very small number of pieces were brought upon the battle-field. At the battle of Cerignola, in 1503, the number of cannon in the French army was only thirteen. Indeed, during the greater part of this century, four or five pieces were considered sufficient for an ordinary army in the field, and many agreed to the doctrine of Machiavelli, that the only legitimate use of artillery was in the attack and defence of places. But in the wars of Henry IV. of France, this arm of service was again increased, and the troops which this king destined against the house of Austria had an artillery train of fifty pieces. Great improvements were also made about this period in the manufacture of powder, and all kinds of fire-arms. Sully gave greater development to this arm of service, improving its materials, and increasing its efficiency. Then, as at most other periods, the French were in advance of most other nations in artillery.

It was near the close of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, that the heavy and ill-shaped artillery began to give place to more wieldy and useful pieces. A certain M. de Linar demonstrated, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, that cannon twelve feet in length would give a greater range than those seventeen feet in length, the calibre being the same; but some years elapsed before advantage was taken of this discovery. In 1624, Gustavus Adolphus caused experiments to be made to verify this point, and, on being convinced of its truth, caused his batteries to be furnished with shorter and lighter pieces. This great king introduced, about the same time, a new and lighter kind of artillery, made of sheet iron and leather. Each piece had its chamber formed of thin metal and embraced by strong iron rings; over these was placed a form of hardened leather, which was again encircled with rings and held compactly together. These pieces were mounted on light carriages, so that two men could easily manoeuvre them. It was said that they would fire from eight to ten rounds without requiring repairs. Gustavus made use of them in all his military operations from 1628 to the time of his death. They did him excellent service on numerous occasions; being so very light they could be easily transported, and, on the field of battle, their movements could be made to conform to the movements of his troops.

As cannon and small arms were gradually introduced into general use, various inventions and improvements were proposed and introduced from time to time. Cannon were constructed with two or more barrels; some were arranged for being loaded in the breech, and others at the mouth of the piece; two pieces were sometimes connected by horizontal timbers, which revolved about a vertical axis, so that the recoil of one piece would bring the other into battery; and various other arrangements of this description, which have recently been revived and some of them patented as new inventions. The small arms employed at this period were much the same as those used at the present day, except the matchlock, which afterwards gave place to flint-locks. Arms of this description were sometimes made to be loaded at the breach, and guns with two, three, and even as many as eight barrels, were at one time in fashion. In the Musee de l'Artillerie at Paris may be found many arms of this kind, which have been reproduced in this country and England as new inventions. In this Museum are two ancient pieces, invented near the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, which very nearly correspond with Colt's patent, with the single exception of the lock![33]

[Footnote 33: It is not to be inferred that the modern improvements (as they are called) are copied from the more ancient inventions. Two men of different ages, or even of the same age, sometimes fall upon the same identical discovery, without either's borrowing from the other.]

The materiel of artillery employed in modern warfare is divided into two general classes: 1st. Siege Artillery, or such as is employed in the attack and defence of places. 2d. Field Artillery, or such as is used in battle, or in the field-operations of an army.

1. Siege Artillery is composed of mortars, large howitzers, Paixhan guns or Columbiads,[34] and all cannon of a large calibre. In our service this class of ordnance includes the twelve, eighteen, twenty-four, thirty-two, and forty-two-pounder guns, the eight, ten, and thirteen-inch mortars, the sixteen-inch stone mortar, the twenty-four-pounder coehorn mortar, the twenty-four-pounder carronade, and the eight, ten, and twelve-inch howitzers.

[Footnote 34: These pieces were first invented by Colonel Bomford, of the U.S. army, and used in the war of 1812. The dimensions of these guns were first taken to Europe by a young French officer, and thus fell into the hands of General Paixhan, who immediately introduced them into the French service. They were by this means first made known to the rest of Europe, and received the name of the person who introduced them into the European services, rather than that of the original inventor. All these facts are so fully susceptible of proof, that Europeans now acknowledge themselves indebted to us for the invention; even General Paixhan gives up all claim to originality in his gun, and limits himself to certain improvements which he introduced. The original gun, which was invented by Colonel Bomford, and whose dimensions were carried to General Paixhan in France, is now lying at the ordnance depot, in New York harbor.]

All these, except the smaller mortars, are made of cast iron. This substance is less tenacious than wrought iron or bronze, and the cannon made of it are, on this account, much heavier than of the other materials; but for the naval service, and the attack and defence of fortifications, the weight required to secure the necessary strength is not very objectionable. Wrought iron and bronze are much more expensive and less durable. Moreover, the difficulty of forging wrought iron in masses of sufficient size has been such as to prevent its being brought into general use for artillery. Numerous attempts have been made, at different periods, to construct large guns of this material, but none have yet been successful. Improvements which are now making in the manufacture of wrought iron, may render this the preferable material for the smaller pieces of artillery; but the best informed military men deem it objectionable for the heavier cannon, both on account of its cost and the imperfection of its manufacture. Even should the latter objection be removed, its cost must prevent its general application to the construction of siege artillery. Charlatans in military science, both in this country and in Europe, bring this subject up every fifteen or twenty years as a new invention, and flaming notices of the improvement, and predictions of the revolution it is to effect in the art of war, are circulated in the newspapers to "gull" a credulous public; and after some fifty or one hundred thousand dollars have been squandered on some court-favorite, the whole matter ends in the explosion of the "improvement," and probably the destruction of the "inventor," and perhaps also of his spectators. Let us be distinctly understood on this subject. There may be inventions and improvements in the manufacture of wrought iron, but there is nothing new in its application to the construction of cannon, for it has been used for this purpose as long ago as the first invention of the art.

2. Field Artillery is composed of the smaller guns and howitzers. In our service this class of cannon includes the six and twelve-pounder guns, and the twelve and twenty-four-pounder howitzers. All these are now made of bronze. This material is more expensive than cast-iron, but its superior tenacity renders it more useful where great weight is objectionable. Improvements in the manufacture of cast iron may render it safe to employ this metal in the construction of field-pieces. It is also possible the wrought iron may be forged in masses large enough, and the cost be so reduced as to bring it into use for field-pieces. It is here important to combine strength with lightness, and additional expense may very properly be incurred to secure this important object.

The projectiles now in use are solid shot, shells, strap-shot, case or canister-shot, grape-shot, light and fire-balls, carcasses, grenades, and rockets.

Solid shot are now almost invariably made of cast iron,[35] formed in moulds of sand or iron. This projectile is used under almost every circumstance, whether in the battle-field or in the attack and defence of places, and is the only one that is effectual against the stone walls of forts. Hot shot are used against shipping and wooden structures of every description. Red-hot balls were first employed by the king of Poland, in 1575, but, on account of the difficulty of heating them with rapidity, and the danger of loading the piece with them, this kind of projectile was not in general use till a much later period. It was at first supposed that the expansion of the metal would be so great, when heated to a red or white heat, as to prevent the ball from entering the piece; it is found, however, that the windage is still sufficient for loading with facility. These red-hot balls are principally used to fire wooden buildings, ships, and other combustible matter. They are therefore much used as a projectile for coast defence, and all fortifications on the seaboard should be provided with furnaces and grates, arranged so as to heat them with facility and rapidity.

[Footnote 35: In Mexico, where iron is scarce, copper is used for shot and shells; but it is a poor substitute.]

There are several kinds of hollow-shot and shells, called bombs, howitzes, grenades, &c. They are made of cast iron, and usually in a spherical shape, the cavity being concentric with the exterior surface. The cavity was formerly made eccentric with the exterior, under the belief that the heavier side would always strike first. The rotary motion of the shell during its flight rendered this precaution of no use. Fire is communicated to the combustible matter within the shell by means of a fuse, which is so regulated that the explosion shall take place at the desired moment. Hollow-shot are used with advantage to destroy ordinary buildings, ships, earthwork, and thin walls of masonry; they, however, are of little avail in breaking the massive walls of well-constructed forts. Howitzes and grenades are particularly effective against cavalry and columns of infantry, and are much employed on the battle-field; they are also much used in the attack and defence of places.

We find that as early as 1486 the Spaniards made use of a projectile similar to the modern bomb. "They threw from their engines large globular masses, composed of certain inflammable ingredients mixed with gunpowder, which, scattering long trains of light," says an eye-witness, "in their passage through the air, filled the beholders with dismay, and descending on the roofs of edifices, frequently occasioned extensive conflagration." In the siege of Constantinople by Mahomet II., shells were used, and also mortars of enormous size. In 1572 Valturus proposed to throw, with a kind of mortar, "globes of copper filled with powder." In 1588, an artificer of Venloo burned Wachtendeck by throwing bombs into the place. A similar attempt had just been made at Berg-op-Zoom. The use of this projectile became quite common in France under Louis XIII. Howitzes were not much used till the seventeenth century. They are of German origin, and the howitzer first bore the name of hausmitz.

The strap-shot consists of a round ball attached to a sabot of the same calibre, by means of two strips of tin passing over the shot at right angles, and fastened to a third, which is soldered around the sabot. One end of the sabot is arranged for attaching it to the cartridge, the other being hollowed out to receive the shot. The supposed advantages of this arrangement are, 1st, a diminution of the windage; 2d, the gun may be loaded with greater rapidity; and, 3d, the cartridge is transported with greater safety.

The case or canister-shot is prepared by filling a tin canister with grape-shot or musket-balls, and attaching it to the cartridge by means of a sabot. There being two sizes of grape-shot, and one of musket-balls, we have three kinds of canister-shot calculated to reach at different distances. The three sizes of shot are frequently mixed in the same canister. This projectile is particularly effective against lines of infantry and cavalry, when the distance is short.

The grape-shot is composed of small balls arranged round an upright pin attached to a plate of wood or iron. The concave cast-iron plate is preferable, as it increases the range of the shot. The balls are covered with canvass, and thoroughly confined by a quilting of strong twine. This shot is used for the same purposes as the canister.

Light and fire-balls are formed of an oval case of sacking, filled with combustible matter, and attached to a culot of cast-iron. The whole is covered with a net of spun-yarn. Light-balls are used to light up our own works, and are not armed; fire-balls being employed to light up the works or approaches of an enemy, it is necessary to arm them with pistol-barrels, in order to prevent, any one from extinguishing them. When made of very combustible materials, and used for setting fire to wooden structures, they are denominated incendiary balls.

Carcasses are employed for the same purpose as incendiary balls; they are of two kinds: 1st, the shell-carcass; and, 2d, the ribbed-carcass. The first is composed of a spherical shell, cast with five fuse-holes, one being at the top, and the other four in a plane perpendicular to this and at right angles with each other; the shell is filled with matter highly combustible. The second is formed of iron ribs connected by iron straps, and attached at the ends to culots of the same material, the whole being filled with combustible composition. This is more expensive than the shell carcass, and cannot be fired with as great accuracy; it is now seldom used. Carcasses may be armed in the same manner as fire-balls.

Smoke and suffocating balls are used to drive an enemy from galleries and mines. They are thrown by hand.

The personnel of the French artillery was for a long time retained, together with the engineers, under the general direction of the "Grand Master of Cross-bows." In 1420 the master-general of artillery was made independent of the grand-master of cross-bows; but previous to the reign of Louis XIV., the artillery troops had no organization as a separate corps. In 1668 six companies of canoniers were created, and soon after two companies of bombardiers. In 1693 the first regiment of fusiliers was changed into a royal regiment of artillery, and both the canoniers and bombardiers were eventually incorporated with it. The staff of artillery, towards the close of this reign, was composed of one grand-master, sixty lieutenants, sixty commissaries, and eighty officiers-pointeurs. In 1721 the artillery was divided into five battalions and stationed at Metz, Strasbourg, Grenoble, Perpignan, and La Fere, where they established schools of theory and practice. In 1756 the artillery was organized into seven regiments, each regiment having its own separate school. This organization continued without any remarkable change till the Revolution.

During the earlier campaigns of the French Revolution it is impossible to trace out the changes that took place in army organization, every thing was then so irregular and confused, the troops of different arms being frequently united together. In the campaign of 1792 there were some six or seven regiments of foot artillery, and ten companies of horse. This arm was greatly increased during the subsequent campaigns, and its organization was completely remodelled by Napoleon on his elevation to the head of the government. The personnel of the artillery was then composed of a general staff, nine regiments of foot and six of horse. In 1815 it was reduced to eight regiments of foot and four of horse.

The personnel of artillery in modern army organization is divided into four classes: the staff, guards, artificers, and troops.

I. The Staff, or Ordnance, as it is called in our service, is charged with the construction of all the materials of artillery, and the collection of powder and military stores. As the lives of persons using these materials, and, in a considerable degree, the success of war, depend upon the nature and quality of the stores thus manufactured and collected, it is obvious that the members of this branch of the artillery service should possess high and peculiar qualifications. In the French army the artillery staff is composed of two hundred and eighty-three officers of different grades: also twenty-four officers of the general staff are attached to this service. In our army the ordnance is composed of twenty-eight officers of different grades.

II. Artillery-guards.—These in our service are divided into two classes: 1st. Military Store-keepers. 2d. Ordnance Sergeants. Both are alike charged with the care and preservation of the artillery property and stores at the several garrisons, arsenals, and magazines. In our army we have fifty-eight of these guards, viz: fifteen commissioned military store-keepers, and forty-three ordnance sergeants. We seldom have more than this number of permanent posts; each one can therefore be supplied with an artillery guard for the care of the artillery stores. In the French service there are three hundred and fifteen of these artillery guards; they are divided into three classes.

III. Artificers.—This class of men are employed in the construction and repairs of military materials. In most of our arsenals and armories it is thought to be best to employ unenlisted workmen, by the piece or contract. Nevertheless a limited number of enlisted men of this description are found to be both useful and necessary. We have three hundred and thirty of these in our army, viz: two hundred and fifty enlisted "ordnance men," and eighty "artificers" attached to the regiments. In the French army they have for the service of the arsenals and establishments, one hundred and forty-nine "ouvriers," and twelve "artificers;" there are also three hundred and sixty "ouvriers" and seventeen "armuriers" attached to the corps of artillery, making in all five hundred and thirty-eight.

IV. Artillery Troops.—Artillery, as an arm of service, is divided in the same manner as its materiel; the field-artillery being intended for field service, and the garrison or siege-artillery, for the attack and defence of places. The troops of the artillery corps of a modern army usually do duty either in the field, or in sieges, or garrison, as occasion may require. When employed in the service of a campaign, artillery is usually divided into two classes: 1st. Foot Artillery; and 2d. Horse Artillery.

In the early history of artillery, as has already been shown, but few pieces were ever brought upon the battle-field. Charles VIII. crossed the Alps with a pretty large train; but a part of these were hand-guns, and but very few of the larger pieces were ever brought into battle; indeed, it was then thought that this arm would be of little use except in sieges. At the battle of Gravelines the army of Philip II. had only seventeen pieces of artillery; and at the battle of Ivry the French had only four pieces of cannon, and two culverins: the army of the League had also only four pieces. At the battle of Moncontour the opposing armies had but eight pieces each.

Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden not only improved the character of artillery, but also gave to it great development as an arm of service. At the battle of Breetenfield he had one hundred pieces of artillery, great and small, and at the camp of Nuremberg he numbered about three hundred. This king also made a more skilful use of his cannon by uniting them more in mass than had been done by his predecessors; his system was nevertheless very imperfect. In the disposition of this arm on the field of battle, a vast improvement was made by Conde, Turenne, and Prince Eugene of Savoy. Frederick the Great also made great use of this arm, and was the first to introduce horse artillery. This mode of using field-pieces has peculiar properties which in many circumstances render it an invaluable arm. The promptness and rapidity of its movements enable it to act with other troops without embarrassing them. The French soon introduced into their army the improvements made by the king of Prussia, and in 1763 the celebrated Gribeauval appeared. He improved the form of the cannon and greatly diminished the weight of field artillery, giving it an organization which has been but slightly changed since his time.

The successive improvements in artillery have for a long time constituted a prominent feature in war. The power of this arm to throw projectiles to a great distance, and to overturn and destroy opposing obstacles, renders it a necessary arm on the battle-field, and a strong barrier and safeguard of states. It is an essential element in all army organization.

In our army we have four regiments of artillery, forming the basis of forty batteries. In the French service there are fourteen regiments, forming the basis of two hundred and six field batteries.

The term battery, when applied to artillery as an arm of service, refers to a permanent organization of a certain number of cannon, with the men and other accessaries required to serve them. This is the unit of force in this arm. The regimental organization is a mere nominal arrangement, for in actual service artillery acts by batteries, and never by regiments. Its strength is therefore invariably estimated by the number of its batteries.

A battery is ordinarily composed of six pieces, two of them being howitzers. The lighter batteries would, in our service, be formed of six-pounder guns and twelve-pounder howitzers; and the heavier of twelve-pounder guns and twenty-four-pounder howitzers. These heavy batteries would usually form the reserve. Each piece being attended by its caisson, this formation would give twelve carriages to each battery, six for the guns and six for the caissons. The extra caissons form a part of the reserve, and move with the train. In some foreign services a battery is composed of eight pieces with their caissons.

This arm admits of three formations—in column, in battle, and in battery. In column it ordinarily moves by sections of two pieces, each piece being followed or preceded by its caisson. Columns of half-batteries are sometimes formed, and also columns of single pieces; but the latter ought never to be employed except in cases of necessity in passing a narrow defile, and at a distance from the enemy.

In order of battle, the pieces are drawn up in line, their caissons forming a second line, at the distance of a few paces.

When in order of battery, the pieces are formed in the same way as for battle, except that the guns are directed towards the enemy and prepared for firing.

The movements and manoeuvres of foot artillery correspond with those of infantry, and of mounted artillery with those of cavalry, a battery being regarded as a battalion or squadron, of which the pieces form the platoons. Mounted batteries can seldom move with greater rapidity than the trot, except in cases of emergency, and even then the gallop can be kept up only for a very short time; but this is of no great importance, as the batteries never accompany cavalry in the charge.

The French and German writers discuss artillery as employed in battle, under two distinct heads—1st, as an arm of preparation, and 2d, as an arm of succor.

I. As an arm of preparation it serves, 1st, to protect the deploying of the other troops; 2d, to disorganize the enemy's masses, and to facilitate the action of infantry and cavalry, by weakening the intended points of attack; 3d, to force an enemy to evacuate a position by overthrowing obstacles with which he has covered himself; 4th, to keep up the action till the other troops can be prepared to strike the decisive blow.

The force of this arm depends upon the rapidity and accuracy of its fire; rash valor is therefore far less desirable in artillery than skill, patience, and cool courage. Artillery always acts at a distance, and in mass; single pieces are seldom employed, except to cover reconnoitring parties, or to sustain the light infantry in a skirmish. Mounted batteries sometimes approach within two or three hundred yards of the enemy's infantry; but this is only done with a strong support of other troops, and to prepare the way for a charge of cavalry. The batteries do not accompany the charge, but they should always follow up and complete the success; mounted batteries are particularly useful in pursuit. If Murat, in 1812, had accompanied his attacks upon Neveroffskoi's retreating columns of sixty thousand infantry by two or three batteries of mounted artillery, the whole column must have been captured or destroyed.

Artillery, on the field of battle, is very liable to allow its fire to be drawn, and its projectiles wasted, while the enemy is at too great a distance to be reached. It is a very common thing in a battle, to employ two or three pieces of heavy calibre at the beginning of the fight, in order to provoke the opposing batteries to open their fire before the proper time. The waste of material is not the only loss attending this error; the troops are fatigued and disheartened, while the courage and confidence of their opponents are always revived by a weak and inaccurate fire. To avoid such an error the commanding officer of a battery of artillery should be perfectly familiar with the effective ranges of his pieces, and accustomed to form a correct estimate of distances. For this purpose the eye should be frequently practised in time of peace in estimating the ranges for different calibres.

The effective range of a 12-pounder field-piece

is about . . . . . . 1000 yds. " " " " 6 " " 800 " " " " " 24 " howitzer, 600 " " " " " 12 " " 500 " " " " " grape and case shot is from . . . . . . 300 to 500 "

Even at these distances the aim is usually so inaccurate that a large portion of the projectiles are lost. In the attack on Spires, a whole column of artillery expended its fire while at a distance of 900 yards from the enemy, who, of course, received little or no injury. In firing from fortifications, the aim is far more accurate, and the artillery may therefore be employed to advantage as soon as the enemy comes within the longest range.

II. As an arm of succor, the artillery serves, 1st, to give impulsive force to the attacking columns; 2d, to assist in arresting, or at least in retarding, the offensive movements of an enemy; 3d, to protect the avenues of approach, and to defend obstacles that cover a position; and, 4th, to cover a retrograde movement.

Mounted artillery is, like cavalry, much the most effective in attack; but batteries of foot are better calculated for defence. The cannoniers are so armed as to be capable of defending their pieces to the last extremity; they therefore cannot be easily captured by opposing columns of infantry. "As to pretending to rush upon the guns," says Napoleon, "and carry them by the bayonet, or to pick off the gunners by musketry, these are chimerical ideas. Such things do sometimes happen; but have we not examples of still more extraordinary captures by a coup de main? As a general rule, there is no infantry, however intrepid it may be, that can, without artillery, march with impunity the distance of five or six hundred toises, against two well-placed batteries (16 pieces) of cannon, served by good gunners; before they could pass over two-thirds of the way, the men would be killed, wounded, or dispersed. * * * * A good infantry forms, no doubt, the sinews of an army; but if it were required to fight for a long time against a very superior artillery, its good quality would be exhausted, and its efficiency destroyed. In the first campaigns of the wars of the Revolution, what France had in the greatest perfection was artillery; we know not a single instance in which twenty pieces of cannon, judiciously placed, and in battery, were ever carried by the bayonet. In the affair at Valmy, at the battles of Jemmapes, Nordlingen, and Fleurus, the French had an artillery superior to that of the enemy, although they had often only two guns to one thousand men; but that was because their armies were very numerous. It may happen that a general, more skilful in manoeuvring, more expert than his adversary, and commanding a better infantry, may obtain successes during a part of a campaign, although his artillery may be far inferior to that of his opponent; but on the critical day of a general engagement, his inferiority in point of metal will be severely felt."

History furnishes us numerous examples of the use of artillery in protecting avenues of approach:—such as the defile of Koeesen at the battle of Auerstedt; the avenues between the redoubts of Pultowa, &c., &c.

When an army is forced to retreat, it covers its rear by that portion of its cavalry and mounted artillery which has suffered least during the battle. By placing the squadrons of horse and the light batteries in echelon, the retiring column may be well protected. The artillery, by using the prolonge, may also continue its retreat while in battery and firing. It was in this way that at the battle of Albuera, in 1811, the French artillery on the left wing held in check the right and centre of the Anglo-Spaniards till the army effected its retreat; the artillery then retired in echelons, by batteries and fractions of batteries, under the protection of the cavalry.

We have already discussed, under the general head of tactics, the position and use of artillery on the battle-field a few additional remarks must suffice.

As a general rule, batteries should be placed in positions from which they can employ their fire to advantage, and also be free to move in any direction that the progress of the battle may require. Advantage should always be taken of natural or artificial obstacles, such as hedges, clumps of trees, logs, mounds of earth, &c., to cover and conceal the guns till the moment they open their fire. Elevated positions are, contrary to the common opinion, generally unfavorable, for artillery cannot fire to advantage at any considerable angle of depression. The slopes in front should be of considerable length, otherwise the balls would do very little execution upon that portion of the column of attack which occupied the valley. The ground should also be smooth, for if rough the balls will either bury themselves in the earth, or ricochet at a high angle of deflection, thus destroying a considerable part of the effect of the fire. The counterforts or spurs of hills are favorable for artillery, as they enable it to see, with an enfilading fire, the slopes of the principal range. Batteries should seldom be placed so as to fire over other troops, for they will not only be intimidated by this fire, but also exposed to the opposing fire of the enemy's artillery. A large number of pieces should never be crowded into the same place, but an interval should be left between the guns of forty or fifty feet, according to the locality. The most favorable position for this arm in ordinary ground, is in the intervals between the regiments or brigades of the line, and far enough in advance of this line not to draw upon the other troops the fire of the enemy's artillery. The flanks of the line are also favorable for the action of this arm.

Sometimes artillery has been employed to form a part of the line of battle; but such instances are exceptions, and can never be comprised in general rules. Whenever this disposition has been made, it has resulted from the defective character of the other arms, or from some peculiar circumstance in the battle which enabled a bold and skilful commander to deviate from the ordinary rules of tactics. Such was the case with Napoleon at Wagram. In Saxony, in 1813, he was several times obliged to substitute his artillery to supply the want of other arms.

In the defence and attack of field-works, and in the passage of rivers, artillery plays an important and indispensable part; but it here becomes an auxiliary to the dispositions of the engineers, or at least acts in concert with that arm.

The troops of artillery, in all well-regulated army organizations, should equal about two-thirds of the cavalry, or one-seventh of the infantry.[36]

[Footnote 36: To qualify himself for the duties connected with his arm of service, the artillery officer must make himself thoroughly acquainted with—.

_The Instruction for United States Field Artillery, horse and foot;

Capt. Anderson's Instruction for Garrison Artillery;

Kinsley's Notes on Pyrotechny;

Knowlton's Notes on Gunpowder_,&c.; and

The writings of Thiroux and Piobert on theoretical and practical instruction, and the writings of Jomini, Decker, and Okotmeff, on the use of this arm on the field of battle.

The following list of books of reference may be of use to those who wish to make themselves perfectly familiar with all the branches of artillery.

Histoire general de l'artillerie. Brunet.

L'artillerie a cheval dans les combats de cavalerie. Par un officier de l'artillerie Prussienne.

Considerations et experiences sur le tir des obus a bulles. Bormann. Essai sur les obusiers. Dusaert.

Essai sur l'organisation de l'artillerie. Le Bourg.

Traite sur l'artillerie, (traduit de l'Allemand.) Rouvroy.

Bombardier Francais. Belidor.

Memoires d'artillerie. St. Remy.

Essai sur l'usage de l'artillerie dans la guerre de campagne et celle de siege. Dupuget.

Memoires sur les nouveaux systemes d'artillerie. St. Aubin.

Treatise on Artillery. Mueller.

Artificial Fire-Works. Jones.

Table de tir les canons et obusiers. Lombard.

On Gunpowder. Antoni.

Recherches sur l'artillerie en general. Texier de Norbec.

Description de l'art de fabriquer les canons. Monge.

Procedes de la fabrication des armes blanches. Vandermonde.

Manuel de l'artilleur. Durtubie.

Traite du mouvement des projectiles. Lombard.

Treatise on Artillery. Scheel. (Translated from the German.)

Traite pratique des feux d'artifice. Morel.

Manuel du canonnier marin. Cornibert.

New Principles of Gunnery. Robins.

Memoires sur la fabrication des armes portatives. Cotty.

Recherches sur la poudre. Cossigny.

Supplement. Cossigny.

Fabrication de la poudre. Renaud.

American Artillerist's Companion. Toussard.

Tables des portees des canons et canonades de la marine. Cornilwert.

Traite d'artifices de guerre. Bigot.

Traite elementaire de la fabrication des bouches a feu. Dartein.

Traite de l'art de fabriquer la poudre a canon. Bottee et Riffault.

L'art du salpetrier. Bottee et Riffault.

Dictionary of Artillery. Hoyer. (German.)

New Experiments on Gunnery. Hutton—(Hutton's Tracts.)

Des bois propres au service des Arsenaux. Herbin de Halles.

Instruction sur le service de l'artillerie. Hulot.

Manoeuvres de force. Bigot.

Balistique. Obenheim.

Treatise on Artillery. German. Scharnhorst. (Translated into French, 1840.)

Essai sur l'art de pointer. Poumet.

Reflexions sur la fabrication des bouches a feu. Lamartilliere.

Memoire sur la planchette du canonnier. Obenheim.

Aide-Memoire. Gassendi.

Observations on the use of Artillery at the sieges of Badajos, St. Sebastian, &c.

Treatise on Artillery. Lallemand.

Elemens de pyrotechnie. Ruggieri.

Nouvelle force maritime. Paixhans.

Dictionnaire d'artillerie. Cotty.

Recherches balistiques. Coste.

Poudres fulminantes. Vergnaud.

Manuel de la metallurgie du fer. Culman.

Pyrotechnic militaire, (traduit de l'Allemand, par R. de Peretsdorff.)

Journal des Sciences Militaires.

Pyrotechny. Cutbush.

Traite elementaire d'artillerie. Decker.

Fusees de guerre. Montgery.

Documens sur la matiere a canons. Herve.

Observations sur le nouveau systeme d'artillerie. Allix.

Systeme d'artillerie de campagne. Allix.

Pocket Gunner. Adye.

On the Rocket System. Congreve.

Essai sur l'art des fontes. Serres.

Receuil de Memoires sur la poudre a canon. Proust.

Memorial de l'artilleur marin. Michel.

Observations sur le nouveau systeme de l'artillerie. Poumet.

Memorial d'artillerie.

British Gunner. Spearman.

Regles de pointage a bord des vaisseaux. Montgery.

Manuel du maitre de forges. Landrin.

Naval Gunnery. Douglass.

Metallurgie du fer (traduit de l'Allemand, par Culman.) Karsten.

Aide-Memoire a l'usage des officers d'artillerie. (Strasbourg.)

Traite de l'organisation et de la tactique de l'artillerie, (traduit de l'Allemand par Peretsdorff.) Grewenitz.

Supplement au dictionnaire d'artillerie. Cotty.

Memoir on Gunpowder. Braddock.

Manuel de l'armurier. Paulin-Desormeaux.

Journal des armes speciales.

Cours sur le service des officiers dans les fonderies. Serres.

Experiences sur la fabrication et la duree des bouches a feu en fer et bronze, (traduit de l'Allemand par Peretsdorff.) Meyer.

Applications du fer aux constructions de l'artillerie. Thierry.

Aide-Memoire d'art militaire. Lebas.

Memorial a l'usage de l'armee Belge.

Instructions and Regulations for the service and management of heavy ordnance in the British service.

Experiences sur les principes du tir, faites a Metz, en 1834.

Traite d'artillerie theorique et pratique. Piobert.

Aide-Memoire a l'usage des officiers d'artillerie, (avec approbation du comite d'artillerie.)

Manuel d'artillerie a l'usage des officiers de la Republique Helvetique. Bonaparte, (Napoleon Louis.)

Experiences comparatives entre des bouches a feu en fonte de fer, d'origine Franzaise, Anglaise et Suedoise, faites a Gavres, en 1836.

Experiences faites a Brest en 1831, sur les canons. Paixhans.

Essai sur l'organisation de l'artillerie. Le Bourg.

Experiences sur des projectiles creux, faites en 1829, '30, '31.

Instruction pratique sur l'emploi des projectiles, (traduit de l'Allemand par Peretsdorff.) Decker.

Effects of heavy ordnance as applied to ships of war. Simmons.

Experiences sur les poudres de guerre, faites a Esquerdes, en 1832, '33, '34, and '35. Maguin.

Cours d'artillerie a l'usage des sous-officiers. De Crepy.

Instruction theorique et pratique d'artillerie, a l'usage des eleves de St. Cyr. Thiroux.

Cours sur le service des officiers d'artillerie dans les forges.

Manuel historique de la technologie des armes a feu, (traduit de l'Allemand par M. Rieffel.) Meyer.

Formules relatives aux effets du tir sur affut. Poisson.

Manuel de l'artificer. Vergnaud.

Etat actuel de l'artillerie de campagne de toutes les puissances de l'Europe, (traduit par Maze; Ire partie, Artillerie Anglaise.) Jacobi. (Six other parts have been published in German, containing descriptions of the French, Belgian, Hessian, Wirtemburg, Nassau, and Swedish systems.)

Introduction a l'etude de l'artillerie. Madelaine.

Cours sur le service des officiers d'artillerie dans les fonderies. Description de la fabrication des bouches u feu a la fonderie royale de Liege. Huguenin.

Poudre u canon. Timmerhans.

Procedes de fabrication dans les forges, (extrait du cours sur le service des officiers dans les forges.)

Renseignements sur le materiel de l'artillerie navale de la Grande Bretagne. Zeni et des Hays.

Theorie des affuts et des voitures de l'artillerie. Migout et Bergery

Artillerist's Manual. Griffith.

Handbuch fuer die K.K. Oesterreichische Artillerie Offiziere, (manual for the Austrian artillery officers.)

Sammlung von Steindruckzeichnungen der Preussischen Artillerie, mit Erlaeuterungen, (collection of plates of the Prussian artillery, with explanatory text.)

Histoire des fusees de guerre.

Ordnance Manual, for the use of the officers of the United States Army.

Experiments on Gunpowder. Capt. Mordecai.

Pyrotechny, for the use of the Cadets at the United States Military Academy. Kinsley.

Notes on Gunpowder, Percussion Powder, Cannon, and Projectiles. Lt. Knowlton.]



CHAPTER XII.

ARMY ORGANIZATION—ENGINEERS.



Engineers.—The term engineer is derived from the unclassical Latin word ingenium, which was applied both to a machine and the mind or skill of the person who devised or constructed it.

It was Philip Augustus, say the French writers, who first introduced engineers (engigneurs, or engignours, as they were called) into France, and restored the art of sieges. The engineers of that age were seldom charged with the construction of works of military defence, but, like Archimedes at Syracuse, and Longinus at Palmyra, they directed their attention principally to devising implements of war and the most effective manner of using them. Engines of war were at that time divided between the engigneurs and the artilliers; the former being charged with the heavier machines, and the latter with the smaller weapons used for throwing projectiles. After the invention of gunpowder, the old battering-rams, cranes, helipoles, &c., disappeared, and with them the engigneurs, or masters of engines. The new inventions were united with the few old projectile machines that remained in the artillery, and the engineers were for a time left almost without employment. The revival of the art of fortification was very slow, and the modern system scarcely began to be developed till near the sixteenth century.

We must omit for the present giving even an outline of the history of military engineering, and pass to the troops of this arm, as constituting an essential element of an army organization. The subject of fortification, and the history of its various changes, will be examined in the next chapter.

The engineers, in modern army organization, constitute the fourth arm of service, as, compared with artillery, their relative numbers are about as two to three. They are divided in the same manner as the artillery, viz.:—1st, the staff; 2d, guards, or fort-keepers; 3d, artificers; and 4th, the troops.

I. The officers constituting the staff of this corps are charged in time of peace with planning, constructing, and repairing all fortifications and other defensive works; the construction and preparation of all military materials, and stores connected with this arm; and (in our service) with the disbursements of money connected with these operations: in time of war they are charged with the attack and defence of military works, the laying out and construction of field defences, redoubts, intrenchments, roads, &c.; in the attack they form a part of the vanguard, to remove obstructions; and in retreat they form a part of the rear-guard, to erect obstacles, destroy roads, bridges, &c., so as to retard an enemy's pursuit.