Word of Command, “Form Square;”
or
Bugle ....... “Alarm,” “Assembly.”
The formation commenced as before, but the enemy being too near to allow of its completion, the order is given—
Word of Command, “Rallying Squares;”
or,
Bugle ....... “Double Quick:”
upon which the support clubs into a solid mass, facing outwards on all sides; and with all skirmishers the “officers, exercising most actively their intelligence, in proper numbers and at proper distances, hold up their swords or caps, and the men rush round them into masses of defence.”—(See “The Essentials,” [art. VII.])
Advanced and Rear Guards.
An advanced guard, on a road on the line of march, consists of a large reserve, a small reserve, a support and skirmishers. The first of these, according to the “Field Exercise of the Army,” may be one subdivision, about five hundred yards in advance of the head of the main column; the second, a complete section, two hundred yards further on; and the third, one hundred yards more in advance, the remaining section of the company, throwing out one hundred yards again to its front a double file of skirmishers on the road, and a double file (if the strength of the section admits of so many) obliquely to each flank.