When ordered only, the 2 first ranks all round the column, will kneel and the front rank slope their bayonets, the 2 next ranks will fire standing, and all the others will remain in reserve; the file coverers behind each officer of the sides will give back, and enable him to stand in the third rank.
March resumed under the same circumstances. On receiving the cautionary word of command, the several sections that had closed up, fall to their distances; the sections then wheel back into column; the officers, serjeants, &c. take their places on the flanks; and when the column is again put in motion, the companies that closed up, successively take their proper distances.
It will be remembered that unless the companies are above 16 file, they cannot be divided into 4 sections; so that in this case, a section may consist of 4 file or eight men, if therefore, they are under 16 file, and told off in sections of 5 or 3, the column will march at the distance of a section; and in forming the square, the 2 outward sections will wheel up, but the 3d one will stand fast, and afterwards, by dividing itself to right and left, will form a 4th rank to the others; in resuming column the outward sections wheel back, and the rear of the centre sections easily recover their places: as to all other circumstances, they remain the same.
The March, when applied to the movement of an army, consists in its arrangement with respect to the number and composition of columns, the precautions to be taken, the posts to be seized upon to cover it, &c. which arrangement must depend upon circumstances. The following are general rules:
The routes must be constantly opened to the width of 60 feet.
If the march be through an open country, without defiles, the cavalry march by divisions of squadrons, and the infantry by platoons or half companies.
In an inclosed country, or such as is intersected by hollow ways, or other defiles, the march must be by sections of 6 (by the heads of the section after facing to left, being wheeled to the right) or more files in the infantry, and ranks by threes or by twos in the cavalry, and the artillery must move in a single file, because the frequent breaking off and forming up again, may retard the march, and fatigue the troops.
In marches made parallel to, or with a view of gaining the enemy’s flank, divisions must preserve their wheeling distances, and the column must cover the same length of ground which it would occupy in line of battle; in marches directly perpendicular to the enemy’s position, the column must be closed up to half or quarter distance, in order to move in as compact a body as possible.
The pivot files must attend to preserve their distances exactly, each following precisely the path pointed out by the one before him; and keeping the regular marching step, by which means, upon a signal being given, the division is in a moment in order. The leader or guide of the pivot file may be occasionally changed.
At the head of every column, whether composed of infantry or cavalry, a well instructed non-commissioned officer must march as guide. He must carefully keep the regular step of the march, to which the troops are drilled, and upon this man the regular pace of the column will depend; by this method two essential points are ensured; one, that every column moves in exactly the same time, and of course enables the officer commanding to calculate the march with certainty; another that it ensures the troops not being over hurried, which they are more especially liable to be when cavalry leads the column; two non-commissioned officers should be appointed for this purpose, who must relieve each other.