CHAPTER XXX.
A SOLDIER’S FUNERAL.
When a soldier dies notice is at once given to the officer in command of his troop or company, and an inventory is taken of his effects.
The coffin is made (and paid for by means of the effects of the man, which are sold by auction in the garrison after his funeral), and this, with a few trifling fees, is the only expense. The coffin is carried to the grave either on a gun carriage or by men belonging to the man’s company, according to the service to which the man belongs.
The band, or the drums and fifes or bugles, of the regiment to which the man belonged attend the funeral, and lead, playing the dead march; then come a firing party, which are provided with three rounds of blank cartridge; then the coffin and pall bearers, after which the mourners.
When any of the relatives of a soldier attend his funeral they follow immediately behind the coffin; then come the men of the troop or company, the order at a funeral being, that the juniors march nearest the coffin, the seniors last. In all cases of the funeral of private soldiers there is an officer in attendance, usually a subaltern officer, who commands the party, and in the march follows in rear.
The firing party mainly indicates the military rank of the deceased soldier. A private soldier or corporal being entitled to thirteen rank and file; a sergeant to nineteen; a cornet or ensign to thirty; a lieutenant to forty; a captain to one hundred; a major to two hundred; a lieutenant-colonel to three-hundred, and a colonel by his own regiment.