Instructions for Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers of Cavalry, on Outpost Duty

by Alexander Carl Friedrich von Arentschildt

3. Upon arriving at the spot chosen for the Picquet, the Officer should ascertain the number of Videttes necessary, by observing the roads and hills in front; he should then place them in such a manner that they can each see what is coming towards the Picquet, and at the same time observe one another. In the mean time the Picquet should dismount, placing one Sentry a little in advance; and as soon as the Videttes are placed, two-thirds of the Picquet may unbridle. The Officer should make a little sketch, marking the roads, rivers, bridges, or fords, morasses, cavities, hollow roads, mountains, woods, towns, villages, and their distances. An officer cannot feel confident for the security of his post, unless he has acquired an exact knowledge of the country.

4. The principal rules for posting a Picquet at night, are to advance it two or three miles in front of the main body, behind a bridge, ravine, wood, or bog, through which the road may pass, to place Videttes in front, and on the flanks, and to send out Patrols of two or three men each at half an hour's interval. Sometimes a man should dismount and listen with his ear to the ground, by which means he will hear the march of Troops at a great distance. This precaution is necessary in stormy weather. Upon coming by night to a new spot, Patrols should be sent out in every direction before the Videttes are placed.

5. If the Enemy is near, no fire should be lighted, the post should be frequently changed, one-half of the Picquet should be mounted, one hundred yards in advance, and the other half should keep the bridles in their hands.

6. Upon relieving a Picquet, the new one should form in the rear of the old, the Videttes should be relieved, and the detail of duties should be thoroughly explained to the non-commissioned Officers and Privates. The Commander of the old Picquet should deliver over to the new one all written Orders, and the verbal Orders should be written down and signed by the Officer relieved: he should likewise inform him to whom reports are to be made, and give him every information he has relative to the Enemy, the Patrols, the Country, &c., and the night posts should be pointed out. At the relief of the Videttes, both officers of the old and new Picquet should be present, and listen to the instructions given by the old Vidette to the new one. These instructions should be from what part of the country the Enemy may be expected, where the neighbouring Videttes are stationed, in order to be able to repeat their signals. A Vidette should never move from the spot upon which he is placed, as the difference of a yard may prevent his observing, or being observed, at a great distance.

7. A dismounted Sentry should be placed in front of the Picquet, where he can observe the movements of the different Videttes. One-third of the horses must always be bridled up, and be ready to advance; the men must not take off their swords or belts; one-half may sleep in the middle of the day, the other half in the afternoon, so that they may be all perfectly alert at night. The men must not be allowed to leave the Picquet, or to go into the villages, or houses, in the neighborhood. When the men water their horses, they must bridle them up, and take everything with them; in short, a Picquet must be always ready for an attack in half a minute.

PATROLS.

8. In sending out Patrols, the following Rules should be observed: The First should go out in the morning in time for it to arrive at its destination before daybreak, where it should remain until the Officer who commands it has had time to go to some rising ground and look over the country. The Second at Ten. The Third at Two. The Fourth towards Evening. And the Fifth at midnight. This arrangement, however, depends upon the distance of the Enemy, except the morning Patrol, which is to go under all circumstances. A Patrol, in returning, should look often to the rear, as the Enemy frequently succeeds in following a negligent Patrol. The Non-commissioned Officer should be particularly careful not to allow the men to fatigue their horses; if it should be necessary to feed, it should never be done in a village, but in an open country, and a Vidette should be placed during the time. No man should be permitted to leave his horse for a moment, and any man who attempts to use an inhabitant of the country ill, or to take anything from the town by force, must be severely punished.

9. The time for the Picquet to go to the Night Post is when it becomes too dark for the Videttes to see at any distance. They are then called in, and the position for the night taken up. In case of any desertion, or that there are apprehensions of being betrayed to the enemy, by the inhabitants or spies, the Picquet should change its ground, but the Videttes remain.