A military dictionary

by William Duane

Add to this that whenever it was found necessary to make a sortie, the loss of men did not fall upon one company, but was divided among the whole battalion.

A general rendezvous or parade was fixed for all the regiments who were to do duty in the trenches; they assembled in that quarter, and were drawn up in line, with all the grenadiers on the right, and the whole of the piquets upon the same alignement. At the hour appointed the latter began to file off, and each regiment followed according to its seniority. The lieutenant general whose tour of command was in the trenches, placed himself at the head of those troops who were to attack from the right; the major general at the head of those belonging to the left, and the brigadier general took the centre; the oldest regiment headed the right, the next in seniority stood in front of the left, and the third preceded the centre.

As soon as the troops reached the tail of the trench, the men marched by Indian files, or rank entire, and each one took his post. Sentries were stationed, and the necessary detachments were made. The colors were planted upon the parapet of the trench. At night the adjutants of corps went to head quarters, to receive instructions relative to the projected attack, and got the parole and countersign from the general. The senior adjutant communicated his orders to the rest, who conveyed the same, first to their several colonels, and afterwards to the serjeants of each regiment.

When on duty in the trenches, soldiers must not, on any account, quit their firearms; and the instant the least noise is heard, it is their duty to throw themselves upon the back of the trench, and there remain till the order is given to march. When an attack is directed to be made, the execution of it is always entrusted to the grenadiers. These are supported by the different piquets, and the main body of the corps follows with the colors.

When the chamade was beat by the besieged with a view to capitulate, it was a rule among the French, that the battalions which were posted in the trenches, might refuse to be relieved, and could remain at their station until the garrison marched out. When the capitulation was signed, it fell to the oldest regiment belonging to the besieging army to take possession of the gate that was delivered up, and that corps remained in the town until a governor was named, and a regular garrison appointed.

Garde du camp, Fr. See [Quarter Guard].

Garde avancée, Fr. a small body of cavalry, consisting of 15 or 20 horsemen, under the command of a lieutenant, whose station is beyond, but still in sight of the main guard. The particular duty of those men is to watch the motions of the enemy for the greater security of the camp.

During the famous crusade to the Holy Land, the Christians having taken the town of Damietta, and finding it impossible to make further progress, on account of the overflowings of the river Nile, effected a passage over, but neglected to entrench themselves according to the custom of those days. The consequence was, that the Arabs insulted them in their camp, and frequently murdered their sentries at their very tents. In order to prevent these incursions, advanced guards of the description just mentioned were resorted to. Vedettes were posted round the camp, and from hence most probably was derived their origin.

Many methods have been proposed by the military writers of all ages to secure advanced guards from surprise. Frochetta advises fires to be lighted during the night in one quarter, while the rendezvous and station of the guard are in another. His reason is this: if the enemy should approach the quarter which is lighted up, the soldiers belonging to the advanced guard may readily discover him, without being themselves exposed to a direct attack. Onosander is of the same way of thinking. Silence on these occasions is indispensably requisite. Xenophon, on the other hand, has proposed, that the station should be often changed, and that the guard should consist of different numbers. His object is to form a considerable ambuscade in front of the spot where the guard has been usually posted, so that when the enemy approaches towards it, he may be suddenly surprised by a larger body of men than he expected, and instead of carrying off the ordinary guard, be himself taken prisoner.

Garde du pont, Fr. Guard for the security of a bridge. The same author (Frochetta) proposes that one or two sentries be posted at each end of the bridge, if it be of any length. His motive is to prevent too heavy loads from being conveyed upon it, and to check bodies of cavalry who might be disposed to gallop or trot across it. If the bridge be constructed upon barges or boats, there must always be a certain number of wooden scoops to drain off the water as it rises, or gets through small apertures upon the surface. The commanding officer of the guard must order frequent rounds to be made, both night and day, lest the enemy should send divers to get under the boats and pierce the bottoms.