A military dictionary

by William Duane

What is then requisite for the United States?

It will be said that there is some difficulty in effecting any improvement. Unquestionably so it is, and so it ever will be. But the government is bound not to regard difficulties, when they are put in competition with the dangers which may flow from neglect. The government possesses the power, and the army is bound, and the country is anxious to possess a more complete system in lieu of the once useful but at present useless tract of baron Steuben. The difficulties are not so great as may be at first sight supposed, and may be surmounted in a way rather to serve as a pleasure than a difficulty to the army and militia. The elements of modern exercise might be first introduced, they are neither so numerous, so perplexed, nor so unnatural as the old forms; neither are they so tiresome to the teacher or the taught. They have also another advantage, that the soldier is not as heretofore stiffened and set up like an embalmed Egyptian mummy; the modern method takes any number from 10 to 100 men, and places them in an easy position erect without constraint of head, or limbs, or body; and proceeds by familiarizing the ear to equal time by the action of the feet of the whole squad or company; after which they are all taught to face to either hand or about, indifferently, and never in one routine; the mode of moving the limbs and the time of movement is ever the same; and the words of command few, simple, and plain; where they in any case differ from the usual words of common life the teacher’s duty is to explain them often, until the ears of all are familiar with their practical meaning.

The next process is advancing, at a given length of pace in equal times; and this is combined with facings, and at last with wheelings, in whole ranks, or in sections of any given numbers, always varying, diminishing, and augmenting at discretion the numbers of the sections, by drawing from the right of each successive section in the rear of the first, to the left of the leading section, a number sufficient to augment the first to the number required, and so of every section from front to rear; the drill is thus carried on always with moving feet at the time of gay dancing music, and when marching always at a pace of 24 inches.

After the squad of 20 or 100 is found complete in these minute branches of marking time, advancing at time, facing and wheeling, augmenting and diminishing sections, they are taught the oblique wheelings and facings, or as the modern words are half or quarter facing, or half or quarter wheeling; and to march dressed in these several orders, so as to form exactly in the same relative position to each other when wheeled or faced to their primitive position.

Thus much may be well taught, and comprehended, and practised in two or three weeks, employing only two or three hours at each drill, and twice each day.

The instruction of the pivots or flank men of ranks and sections, go along with the first wheelings; and as soon as the uses of the pivots are generally understood, then the whole are formed into double ranks; and the men are prepared to execute any of the modern evolutions or manœuvres; it being always calculated that the officers are equally diligent and as well drilled as the men, and competent not only to comprehend but to correct an error when it occurs.

At this stage, and not before, arms should be put into their hands; and a manual exercise of some kind taught, for it is not material what the motions are so that the firing and loading motions are taught to be performed with dexterity and ease. The drill is then manœuvred once a day with arms, and the officer who feels a proper sense of the importance of the habit of command, and the advantage of giving troops the practice of movement, will diversify his own pleasures and gratify his men, by moving them into all the various positions of column, line, echellons, movements by heads of sections, changing flanks and fronts, taking new alignements, countermarching in the various modes of which modern military works furnish such useful and abundant examples.

The elements of the first drills with minute instructions might be comprised in a hand book of one half the compass of Steuben’s tract; and this elementary work placed in the hands of all descriptions of troops, infantry, artillery, and cavalry, should be the first rule of practice for them all in common. This introduced, the government could at leisure prepare instructions for a more comprehensive course of manœuvres, and particularly hand books upon the same simple principles of drills for artillery, riflemen, and cavalry, in their particular branches of duty. It being to be understood as a fundamental principle, that as the movements and action of all kinds of troops are regulated by the movements of infantry; or in other words, as infantry compose the main body, line, or column; the riflemen, artillery, and cavalry must be governed in their movements by the main body, to which they are appendages or auxiliaries; and it is therefore required that they should know themselves how to execute the infantry manœuvres, in order that they should not, like the French at Rosbach, be confounded by movements of which they are ignorant.

The profound mathematician may look down from the elevation of abstract science upon the cold common place of syllabic combination and Arabic numerical notation; but he owes his first knowlege to the alphabet of language and arithmetic; here he must have begun, and here the military man of whatever grade must also begin. He must learn the alphabet of military knowlege at the drill, he must take his lessons and learn them; he must study and practice what he has learned there, in order to teach; and the officer must learn both to command others and to obey. There is no science which may not be attained by earnest application and practice. But no science or art can be acquired or understood without both; and the more carefully that study is pursued and the more frequently it is practised, the more efficient will it be in the individual and in the regular mass of individuals. But practice is above all requisite, careful, frequent, constant, obstinately pursued practice.

But this is not yet a system.