A military dictionary

by William Duane

General officers on service abroad, or commanding districts at home, may appoint their own aids-de-camp and brigade majors. The latter, however, are to be considered as officers attached to their several brigades, not personally to the officers commanding them. The former are their habitual attendants and domestic inmates. In the selection of aids-de-camp and brigade majors, too much attention cannot be given to their requisite qualifications; and that general would not only commit an act of injustice against the interests of his country, but deserve the severest censure and displeasure of his sovereign, who through motives of private convenience, family connexion, or convivial recommendation, could so far forget his duty, as to prefer an unexperienced stripling, to a character marked by a knowlege of the profession, a zeal for the service, and an irreproachable conduct.

In the day of battle the station of a general is with the reserve, where he remains so situated that he can see every thing which is going forward; and by means of his own observation, or through the communications of his aids-de-camp, is enabled to send reinforcements, as the exigencies of the conflict may require.

The celebrated Marshal Saxe has made the following remarks on the necessary qualifications to form a good general. The most indispensible one, according to his idea, is valor, without which all the rest will prove nugatory. The next is a sound understanding with some genius; for he must not only be courageous, but be extremely fertile in expedients; the third is health and a robust constitution.

“His mind must be capable of prompt and vigorous resources; he must have an aptitude, and a talent at discovering the designs of others, without betraying the slightest trace of his own intentions. He must be seemingly communicative, in order to encourage others to unbosom, but remain tenaciously reserved in matters that concern his own army; he must, in a word, possess activity with judgment, be able to make a proper choice of his officers, and never deviate from the strictest line of military justice. Old soldiers must not be rendered wretched and unhappy, by unwarrantable promotions, nor must extraordinary talents be kept back to the detriment of the service, on account of mere rules and regulations. Great abilities will justify exceptions; but ignorance and inactivity will not make up for years spent in the profession.

“In his deportment he must be affable, and always superior to peevishness, or ill-humor; he must not know, or at least seem to know, what a spirit of resentment is; and when he is under the necessity of inflicting military chastisement, he must see the guilty punished without compromise or foolish humanity; and if the delinquent be from among the number of his most intimate friends, he must be doubly severe towards the unfortunate man. For it is better, in instances of correction, that one individual should be treated with rigor (by orders of the person over whom he may be supposed to hold some influence,) than that an idea should go forth in the army, of public justice being sacrificed to private sentiments.

“A modern general should always have before him the example of Manlius; he must divest himself of personal sensations, and not only be convinced himself, but convince others, that he is the organ of military justice, and that what he does is irrevocably prescribed. With these qualifications, and by this line of conduct, he will secure the affections of his followers, instil into their minds all the impulses of deference and respect; he will be feared, and consequently obeyed.

“The resources of a general’s mind are as various as the occasions for the exercise of them are multiplied and chequered; he must be perfectly master of the art of knowing how to support an army in all circumstances and situations, how to apply its strength, or be sparing of its energy and confidence; how to post all its different component parts, so as not to be forced to give, or receive battle in opposition to settled plans. When once engaged, he must have presence of mind enough to grasp all the relative points of disposition and arrangement, to seize favorable moments for impression, and to be thoroughly conversant in the infinite vicissitudes that occur during the heat of a battle; on a ready possession of which its ultimate success depends. These requisites are unquestionably manifold, and grow out of the diversity of situations, and the chance medley of events that produce their necessity.

“A general to be in perfect possession of them, must on the day of battle be divested of every thought, and be inaccessible to every feeling, but what immediately regards the business of the day; he must reconnoitre with the promptitude of a skilful geographer, whose eye collects instantaneously all the relative portions of locality; and feels his ground as it were by instinct; and in the disposition of his troops, he must discover a perfect knowlege of his profession, and make all his arrangements with accuracy and dispatch. His orders of battle must be simple and unconfused, and the execution of his plan be as quick as if it merely consisted in uttering some few words of command; as, the first line will attack! the second will support it! or such a battalion will advance and support the line.

“The general officers that act under such a general, must be ignorant of their business indeed, if, upon the receipt of these orders, they should be deficient in the immediate means of answering them, by a prompt and ready co-operation. So that the general has only to issue out directions according to the growth of circumstances, and to rest satisfied, that every division will act in conformity to his intentions; but if, on the contrary, he should so far forget his situation as to become a drill serjeant in the heat of action, he must find himself in the case of the fly in the fable, which perched upon a wheel and foolishly imagined, that the motion of the carriage was influenced by its situation. A general, therefore, ought on the day of battle to be thoroughly master of himself, and to have both his mind and his eye rivetted to the immediate scene of action. He will by these means be enabled to see every thing; his judgment will be unembarrassed, and he will instantly discover all the vulnerable points of the enemy. The instant a favorable opening offers, by which the contest may be decided, it becomes his duty to head the nearest body of troops, and, without any regard to personal safety, to advance against his enemy’s line. [By a ready conception of this sort, joined to a great courage, general Desaix determined the issue of the battle of Marengo.] It is, however, impossible for any man to lay down rules, or to specify, with accuracy, all the different ways by which a victory may be obtained. Every thing depends upon variety of situations, casualties of events, and intermediate occurrences which no human foresight can positively ascertain, but which may be converted to good purposes by a quick eye, a ready conception, and a prompt execution.

“Prince Eugene was singularly gifted with these qualifications, particularly with that sublime possession of the mind, which constitutes the essence of a military character.