In planning huts give sufficient width for two rows of beds and a passage down the centre. A width of at least 6 feet should be allowed for each row of beds, and the passage may be from 2 to 4 feet wide.
BREAKING CAMP.
Ordinarily camp should not be broken before daybreak, as horses rest better from midnight until dawn than at any other hour.
Ample time should be left after a seasonable reveille for the men to breakfast, horses fed and the wagons to be packed.
Do not permit packing, pulling tent-pegs, or any noise before reveille. Men should be permitted to rest until the last moment.
Immediately after reveille have drivers and such other men as may be required feed and groom under supervision of the battery officer.
The grooming should consist in merely rubbing off the horses, and seeing that shoulders, backs, and parts under harness are in good condition and perfectly free from dirt. It is a mistake to groom too much in the field. It is distasteful to men, and does not improve the horses.
The other men should pack up, remove tent-pegs, and fold tents. Then breakfast. After breakfast let the men complete their packing and attend to personal requirements. Or tents may be left standing until after breakfast, depending on weather or other conditions. Drivers water and harness; cannoneers pack wagons and fill in sinks. Part of the cannoneers should be detailed to assist the drivers if required.
In packing the wagons it is well to have one or two men in the wagon who understand the work. Articles least required should be packed first. Those required by the cooks should be packed so that they can be easily gotten at immediately on reaching camp. When the camp has been cleared, an officer should ride over it carefully, and see that all tent-pins have been removed and no articles forgotten.
Signals for the performance of the various duties should be sounded by the trumpeter at prescribed hours.